software? well, you could use that today. but back in the civil war, people would either use a metal decoder ring that would bear some resemblance to the one that folks might have seen on a christmas story movie. or they could use a table that basically is a bunch of alpha t alphabets that are slightly staggered. it s a little bit complicated. but you can sit down and figure it out with a paper and pencil. tell me, who do you think sent this message and what does this tell you about the state of the war on that day? okay. well, if you imagine the city of vicksburg perched on the east side of the mississippi river, there s an important strong hold in the civil war because it basically would control who had access to to the river, which was a main route of transportation. and the person who sent a message was a confederate general who was stationed on the opposite side of the river. so he was sending the message to