Never say “never.” I recently blogged about Thomas Jefferson’s Library, a reprint of our third President’s library catalogue as recreated by his secretary, Nicholas P. Trist. I’ve always been intrigued by Trist’s subsequent checkered diplomatic career, so I added, “Trist later had a controversial career as a diplomat – if I ever find a Government publication concerning him, you’ll hear all about it,” assuming that the chances of finding a book like that were practically nil. Meanwhile, I had requested copies of a number of publications from the Center for Cryptologic History at the National Security Agency to blog about. After they arrived, I began thumbing through Masked Dispatches: Cryptograms and Cryptology in American History, 1775-1900. Of course, the title of Chapter 15 is “Nicholas Trist Code.” That’s why I decided to discuss this book first.
Masked Dispatches presents some of the Founding fathers as active participants in spycraft. America’s first espionage code was devised by Benjamin Tallmadge, General George Washington’s director of secret service, for use by a spy ring set up in New York in 1778. Another chapter discusses Washington’s supplying of invisible ink to Tallmadge. What would Parson Weems have thought?
Not surprisingly, Thomas Jefferson’s contribution to the world of codes and ciphers was a mechanical device – a wheel cylinder. Although not much came of this invention, which was developed some time before 1802, in 1922 the Army adopted a similar device, bearing out President John F. Kennedy’s White House remarks to a roomful of Nobel Prize winners: “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
Even less surprisingly, Aaron Burr, that brilliant and ever-controversial character, appears in Masked Dispatches, as does John Quincy Adams in his role as America’s representative at the Prussian court. While in Berlin, he developed a sliding strip cipher – apparently not the easiest device to use, but another tribute to early American ingenuity and aptitude for secrecy.
The book includes much more – a chapter on Civil War ciphers, the use of codes during the 1876 Tilden-Hayes Presidential election scandal, and several descriptions of State Department codes. Particularly intriguing are the many reproductions of the various codes and ciphers, so puzzle lovers and would-be spies can spend hours encoding and decoding.
Masked Dispatches and other publications on the history of cryptology can be ordered from the Center for Cryptologic History area of the National Security Agency’s web site, or you can find it in a library. I’ll be blogging about some more of these excellent books in the near future.
Oh, wait, Nicholas Trist! According to Masked Dispatches, when he was Chief Clerk of the State Department, President James K. Polk sent him to Mexico as a secret agent in an effort to end the Mexican War. From Mexico, Trist wrote to Secretary of State James Buchanan and explained his design for a code. It was a book code, but the title of the particular book he used was a mystery until the 1980’s, when shrewd scholarly detective work revealed that it was an obscure book on the Spanish language (Verdaderos principios de la lengua castellana by Joseph Borras). Trist successfully negotiated the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo, which ended the war, but only after ignoring his recall by Polk. The President accepted the treaty but fired his emissary – and Trist didn’t even get paid for his time in Mexico!
interesting article ..
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It is good our founding fathers knew how to use spycraft to bring our republic to life.
Secret codes sound cool !!!
Interesting Article, i am waiting for your next review….
I love gov blogs as well. Very interesting! Thanks.
Very neat article post.Much thanks again. Will read on…
its for sure not many people know about this part of the printing office. i enjoy working with the congressional library,and the congressional record. thanks for this section. are/is there another such blog in the printing office.?
Thanks for the comment! This is the only blog for the Government Printing Office at this time. Regards, GPOBookstore
It’s good to see a site where I can dig both old and latest articles. Just like the simplicity with which even the most difficult topics are written. Thanks for the info, great stuff!
Gabby… thanks for the compliment! We at GPO appreciate it… Cheers!
secret Code, wow, very unusual, I really like if an open secret in public, and I am also very grateful to you, because it already provides this information. Okay thanks admin
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Ooooo… the secret codes
wow very fascinating indeed! thx for all the additional info you share in the comments as well, very valuable
yeh you have a nice little blog here and i just learned about the founding fathers of codes
That’s amazing piece of American history
Great information. Thanks for the post. Yeah, I too wonder how the founding father would react with the government issues of today.
Thanks for this article. I find the lesser known (somewhat secret) history of this nation very interesting. I’m going to have to take a look at the Masked Dispatches book too.
Wow i never thought about espionage until i read this post.Hope you can write more posts like this.
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These codes are awesome.. This should remain secret to all though
How much of an helpful report, continue to keep composing partner
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Reading your article reminds me of the movie buried treasure with nicholas cage where they uses all the cyphers and codes to find the treasure of our founding fathers. Great stuff!
Isn’t it “Guadalupe Hidalgo”?
Yes, I don’t know how that extra “o” got in there. Thanks!
I am a big colonial times and war of indepence(revolutionary war buff, I was just curious if secret codes of the founding fathers is a available from the GPO to buy by people like me.
Go to http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/prewii/masked_dispatches.pdf and you can order a free copy. Enjoy!
well, that was interesting after the story after the story above
Thanks
ACTUALLY THIS IS AN WONDERFUL ARTICLE!ACCORDING THE BOOK “MASKED DISPATCHES:CRYPTOGRAMS AND CRYPTOLOGY” CODES LIKE THEM , WERE THE BASE IN ESPIONAGE FOR MANY YEARS IN THE PAST.INTISPUTABLY , THESE CODES WERE A VERY EFFECTIVE DEVICE , WITH GOOD RESULTS!I WISH YOU HAD MORE INFORMATION ON THIS INTRIGUING TITLE!
Wonderful article. Thank you for writing it. That our Founding Fathers dabbled in espionage shouldn’t be surprising. It is, after all, the second oldest profession.
After reviewing the post on Secret Codes, I was struck by the depth of genius of the men who created the concept of America. How forward thinking they were. What quality they embodied. I am proud to be a citizen.
[...] [...]
Direct link to the publication from the NSA website http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/prewii/masked_dispatches.pdf ; no further searching required.
It is good our founding fathers knew how too use spycraft too bring our republic too life.
A tribute to our Founding Fathers who would not approve of all the bureacracy that exists in our government today; especially when it comes to Food Stamps and the stipulations to get them. What happened to the original Food coupons that were administered by the Dept.of Agriculture?
I can’t answer your question, but here are some links to the SNAP program that may help:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/ebt/
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/snap.htm
I wish you had included more bibliographic information on this intriguing title.
I’m not sure how much additonal information you need, but here’s what I have:
United States Cryptologic History, Series 1, Pre-World War I, Volume 1.
Author: Ralph E. Weber
Published by the Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency. First edition: 1993; Second Edition: 2002.
I hope this helps.
Yes i agree with you, there need more bibliographic info
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