The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Eckert, Thomas Thompson

ECKERT, Thomas Thompson, American telegrapher: b. Saint Clairsrille, Ohio, 23 April 1825; d. 20 Oct. 1910. In 1852-59 he was superintendent of the telegraph line between Pittsburgh and Chicago; in 1859-61 superintendent of a gold-mining company in North Carolina; and in the latter year was appointed superintendent of the military telegraph department of the Potomac. Subsequently he was general superintendent of the military telegraph of the army, and was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for his services. In 1864-66 he was Assistant Secretary of War; in 1866-75 general superintendent of the eastern division of the Western Union Telegraph Company; in 1875-81 president of the American Union Telegraph Company, and in 1892 became president and general manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company. He retired in 1902.