Encrypted Civil War Message Finally Decrypted, 147 Years Later

from the wasn't-that-hard,-actually dept

Tue, Dec 28th 2010 7:49pm — Mike Masnick

When talking about encryption, people often talk about just how long it would take a certain level of computing to crack the code, so there may be some interest in the fact that it apparently took 147 years to decipher a coded Civil War message... but it turns out that the main reason it took so long was that no one looked. The message had been stored in a bottle and was apparently delivered to Confederate General John Pemberton during the battle of Vicksburg (which the Confederacy lost) on July 4th, 1863. The bottle was given to the Museum of the Confederacy back in 1896 by a former soldier, but the museum staff never bothered to pull the message out of the bottle until a few months ago. After discovering the message was coded, the museum asked some top code breakers to see if they could decipher it, and it apparently took them a few weeks. The message? It probably wasn't that important either, as it basically told General Pemberton he was in trouble and wasn't getting any reinforcements:

"You can expect no help from this side of the river."

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Filed Under: ciphers, civil war, encryption

19 Comments

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Jake, 28 Dec 2010 @ 8:04pm

You might want to check the date of that battle before anyone notices. Not that there weren't plenty of people spoiling for a rematch in 1963, of course.
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- Ian (profile), 28 Dec 2010 @ 8:18pm
  
  Re:
  Ditto! Actually had to read that a couple of times before it clicked!
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  - coldbrew, 28 Dec 2010 @ 8:32pm
    
    Re: Re: yeah, that's a neat trick
    It's pretty cool that the dude turned it over to a museum 60-some years before it was delivered. I'm gonna patent that in case some one else figures out how to do it some time in the future...
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    - ltlw0lf (profile), 28 Dec 2010 @ 10:04pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: yeah, that's a neat trick
      It's pretty cool that the dude turned it over to a museum 60-some years before it was delivered.
      
      I believe the dude's name, if I remember it correctly, was Clint Eastwood or Marty McFly, or something like that. He had a Delorian that he said needed to get up to 87 miles per hour for the flux capacitor to work. I thought he was smoking crack at the time, since my time travelling device just has a spinning lotto wheel on the back of it.
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      - coldbrew, 28 Dec 2010 @ 10:13pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: yeah, that's a neat trick
        Exactly. One point twenty-one gigawatts, and then we can stop the terrorists from killing us. Or, something like that. I'm sure they'll remake it soon so I can remember.
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 29 Dec 2010 @ 12:33am
  
  Re:
  You might want to check the date of that battle before anyone notices
  
  Yeah... whoops. Fixed. :)
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reechard (profile), 28 Dec 2010 @ 8:40pm

This changes everything
I'm off to edit Wikipedia right now! Who knew the Civil War was going on all the trime?
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- Chase, 28 Dec 2010 @ 8:52pm
  
  Re: This changes everything
  That also explains why so many died during that war! :)
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  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2010 @ 12:55am
    
    Re: Re: This changes everything
    It also explains why us southerners hate all Yankees.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Dec 2010 @ 9:38pm

"top code breakers to see if they could decipher it, and it apparently took them a few weeks."

Wow, some regular "coder" can crack WEP in a few minutes, yet this prehistoric code takes two weeks to crack?
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 Dec 2010 @ 9:45pm
  
  Re:
  Heck, even the FBI can crack WEP.
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- anonymous coward, 28 Dec 2010 @ 10:31pm
  
  ;)
  Just like to point out that the script kiddies can crack WEP in a "few minutes" because some very smart people spent a lot of time figuring it out for them.
  
  Using a program made by someone else, does not a "coder" make. :D
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  - Anonymous Coward, 28 Dec 2010 @ 11:01pm
    
    Re: ;)
    I know, I was joking.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2010 @ 12:38am
      
      Re: Re: ;)
      Then you forgot the tag. Ha!
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  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2010 @ 5:28am
    
    Re: ;)
    I read a more detailed article about this and it looked like it took weeks because none of the code breakers took the job as a high priority. The code was a simple shift cypher that was easily cracked once someone sat down and worked on it.
    
    The bullet was in the bottle so that it would sink if it was tossed into a river.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Dec 2010 @ 9:39pm

Piling on
The longest civil war ever!

LoL

But different from others above I will point to the exact point where it is.

(which the Confederacy lost) on July 4th, 1963(this should be maybe 1863)
.

Now it is easy to find it, just by highlighting it and clicking CTRL+F(on Firefox).
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Sydney (profile), 28 Dec 2010 @ 9:50pm

The Full message
"Gen'l Pemberton:

You can expect no help from this side of the river. Let Gen'l Johnston know, if possible, when you can attack the same point on the enemy's lines. Inform me also and I will endeavor to make a diversion. I have sent some caps (explosive devices). I subjoin a despatch from General Johnston."
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Silvo, 28 Dec 2010 @ 9:58pm

So much text and it decodes to only this one sentence?!
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Susan, 29 Dec 2010 @ 2:22am

Security by obscurity? ;)
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