Using the two tables below you can write in code so that only you and your friends know what you have written. This is very easy to do but is really difficult to figure out unless you have the “cheat sheet” below. (This was used by the Confederacy in the Civil War)
You need to make two copies of the above table. If you are decoding secret messages between more than two people, then make as many as you need. The trick is that they all need to be the same. Once you master this one, you can try moving the letters around to make your own new secret code. As long as the writers and readers have the same letter pattern, this will always work. It is very easy to do, here is how it works:
I have illustrated how to write the letters A and B above. To do this you draw the shape of the structure the letters are in. If the letter is on the left-hand side they you just use the shape of the structure, if the letter is on the right-hand side then you draw the structure plus a dot.