The governor and his staff communicated by telegraph with the highest and most prominent
government and military leaders in the North, including President Abraham Lincoln, Secretary
of War Edwin M. Stanton, United States Senators and Representatives, other Northern state
governors, and generals commanding in all the theaters of operations. As perhaps the most
influential of the Northern state governors during the Civil War, Morton exerted significant
influence over federal policies and military planning.
 A tireless worker for Union victory, he communicated his ideas, plans, news, and opinions
by telegraph wires to other leaders to shape war policy. As such, these volumes may be
the best documentation of an important Northern governor during the Civil War to survive.
The physical Civil War Governor Morton Telegraph books are located at the Indiana State
Archives, who collaborated with IUPUI University Library to make this digitization project
possible.
   Historians studying politics and military planning at the highest levels of federal and state
government during the Civil War will find many important communications. Persons studying
the organization and actions of Indiana volunteer regiments and batteries will gain useful
insights. Biographers, local historians, and genealogists will all learn much from consulting
these records.