Editing Telegraphy (section)

=== Wigwag ===

{{main|Wigwag (flag signals)}}
Wigwag is a form of [[flag signals|flag signalling]] using a single flag. Unlike most forms of flag signalling, which are used over relatively short distances, wigwag is designed to maximise the distance covered—up to {{convert|20|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} in some cases. Wigwag achieved this by using a large flag—a single flag can be held with both hands unlike flag semaphore which has a flag in each hand—and using motions rather than positions as its symbols since motions are more easily seen. It was invented by US Army surgeon [[Albert J. Myer]] in the 1850s who later became the first head of the [[Signal Corps (United States Army)|Signal Corps]]. Wigwag was used extensively during the [[American Civil War]] where it filled a gap left by the electrical telegraph. Although the electrical telegraph had been in use for more than a decade, the network did not yet reach everywhere and portable, ruggedized equipment suitable for military use was not immediately available. Permanent or semi-permanent stations were established during the war, some of them towers of enormous height and the system was extensive enough to be described as a communications network.<ref>Rebecca Raines, [https://history.army.mil/html/books/030/30-17-1/CMH_Pub_30-17-1.pdf ''Getting the Message Through''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026142001/https://history.army.mil/html/books/030/30-17-1/CMH_Pub_30-17-1.pdf |date=26 October 2019 }}, US Government Printing Office, 1996 {{isbn|0160872812}}.</ref><ref>Albert J. Myer, [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433009343363 ''A Manual of Signals''], D. Van Nostrand, 1866, {{oclc|680380148}}.</ref>