Homefront Tennessee:  Children and the Civil War

Lincoln Letters for Kids and the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum

In conjunction with

The City of Harrogate and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area present

Homefront Tennessee: Children in the Civil War Coded Messages

Written by Natalie Sweet

Civil War soldiers and spies sometimes used codes to send secret messages about battle plans and troop movements. Sometimes, they would have to crack the code. See if you can decode the following message without looking at the code. If you need extra help, your commander has given you the clue that the first word is “The.” Good luck!

John:

GSV VMVNB NLEVH ZG WZDM GLNLIILD. SV RH NLERMT MLIGS ZOLMT GSV IREVIYZMP. VCKVXG Z HFKIRHV ZGGZXP GLNLIILD. HVMW ZWERHV GL TVMVIZO ZH HLLM ZH KLHHRYOV.

-Thomas

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N M L K J I H G F E D C B A