Petrified Collection/ The Image Bank/ Getty Images. The word telegraph is derived from Greek and means to write far; so it is a very exact word, for to write far is precisely what we did when we sent a telegram.
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At the height of it use, telegraph technology involved a worldwide system of wires with stations and operators and messengers, that carried messages and news by electricity faster than any other invention before it.
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Morse realized early on that he was incapable of handling the business end of the telegraph and hired Amos Kendall, a former Postmaster General and a member of Andrew Jackson’s “Kitchen Cabinet,” to manage his business affairs. By 1848 Morse had consolidated the partnership to four members.
https://eh.net/encyclopedia/history-of-the-u-s-telegraph-industry/
The telegraph was similar to many other inventions of the nineteenth century. It replaced an existing technology, dramatically reduced costs, was monopolized by a single firm, and ultimately was displaced by a newer technology.
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Long-Range Weapons and the Minie Bullet. Prior to the Civil War, most combatants used smooth-bore muskets which had a maximum range of about 300 feet. However, shortly before the start of the war, the invention of rifling (grooves in the musket barrel) meant bullets could spin and travel up to 900 feet.
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These not only changed the course of the Civil War, but also the face of warfare to this day. Communications and Transport. Telegraph. The telegraph was invented by Samuel Morse in 1844, and telegraph wires soon sprang up all along the East Coast. During the war, 15,000 miles of telegraph cable was laid purely for military purposes. Mobile telegraph wagons reported and received communications from just behind the frontline. President Lincoln would regularly visit the Telegraph Office to get the latest news.
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/civil-war-innovations/
Balloon operators used another wartime innovation, the telegraph, to let commanders on the ground know of Confederates movements. This allowed Union guns to be repositioned and fired accurately at troops more than three miles away-a first in military history.
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/civil-war-innovations/
The Effects of the Telegraph. The travel time from New York City to Cleveland in 1800 was two weeks, with another four weeks necessary to reach Chicago. By 1830, those travel times had fallen in half, and by 1860 it took only two days to reach Chicago from New York City.
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This was the seed of knowledge that led the mind of Samuel Morse to invent the telegraph. In November of 1832, Samuel Morse found himself on the horns of a dilemma.
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The first extensive telegraph network was the visual telegraph. In 1791 the Frenchman Claude Chappe used a visual network (which consisted of a telescope, a clock, a codebook, and black and white panels) to send a message ten miles.
https://eh.net/encyclopedia/history-of-the-u-s-telegraph-industry/
who was responsible for the invention of the telegraph?
Samuel Morse was responsible for the invention of the telegraph.