BOO 



[JMSEH TELEGRAPH. 



the Broadway Tabernacle Church, New York. Ho 

 has twict 1 delivered courses ol lecture >n " Preaching 

 in Yale Seminary ami another course on 

 Miracles" at Princeton. From Is" 1 ' to !>->o lie was 

 editor of the Chilttimt at \\'rk. Many vuln 



'limns h.tv,- i.. i-ii published, among thrill 1" in.' 

 Thr ls*t /'mW ( I >7i>) ; Mr/i/. AY/.;/ ../ /</>/. / 

 El If tk the J'rj>litt (I87'>) ; \,<,K/. //i f/i- AY<//if (!, , I ; 

 J'rtrr Ihf Afxatlf (IS77); MniiV/ f/- H>l<,tl (Is7>): 

 Jf'ixn rVir Aiir</i'iv/ (Isv.M : I'm/ tin- Mixxi-nn.i-i, 

 Jiinffih the I'rliiif J/m/x/.r (1S86). He lias also pub- 

 lished a biography of John Kimx (i- 



TKCUMoEB (1770-1813), "t<'d Indian chief, was 

 born near tin- site of Springfield, Ohio, about 1770. 

 In youth In- was ut' a unld disposition. \cl was always 

 t.i tlii- whiles. In his first light with them. 

 when 20 years old, he is said to have run away, yet he 

 afterwards had a reputation lor dauntless couni 



with his brothiT, Klskwatawa, known as the 

 " Prophet," he formed a scheme for uniting (ho In- 

 dian tribes and extirpating tlie whites. They visited 

 the tribes on the great lakes and the Mississippi, 

 profe.-.-ing to deliver a message from the Great Spirit. 

 At their eauip, near (ireenville. some liuiuli 

 warriors were gathered, an 1 in ISln (mv. W. II. Har- 

 rison was notified that the further appropriation of 

 lands by the white.s would be resisted. In the autumn 

 of 181 1 Tecumseh, in furtherance of their project, went 

 to visit the Creeks and Chcrokees in Alabama and 

 Georgia, During his absence Harrison, with a force 

 of IKXI men, inarehed to TlDpeOUHM and eneainped 

 there. The Prophet directed an assault to lie made 

 early on Nov. 7, but the Indians were repulsed and 

 fled. Tecuuisch in the next year went to Canada, then 

 threatened with invasion by lien. Hull's army. With 

 700 men he joined the British forces, fought at the 

 Uiver Mal'lcii, and was present at Hull's surrender at 

 J. lie was commissioned brigadier .general with 

 command of all the Indians iL'luing for the king. 

 During the contest in the next year he appears to have 

 nt in the British cause, and before the battle of 

 the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813, he is said to have predicted 

 his own death. He had command of the right win;:. 

 which was routed by Col. 11. M. Johnson, who is said 

 :ne to have shot Tceuuiseh. His brother.- the 

 1'rophet, a man of low cunning and altogether inferior 

 character, lived to obtain a pension from the British, 

 but lust his reputation, and died in 1834. See the /,/'/< 

 of Tte>tmiek(iyj8) is bv K. Kgglcstonaud L. E. Seelcy. 



TKETB 



TKLK'ii; A I'll. This article is confined to the his- 

 . -. . VVM . lory of the telegraph in the t'nitcd 



112 1 (I. !' Al """ tlu ' - vt ' :ir IS - 7 l>l '" l: 



Am. Kei'.j. Joseph Henry (afterwards secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution) began a sc- 

 ricsof experiments in the attie of the Boys' Academy 

 buildiii); in Albany. N. V., among which was included 

 tli' running of a wire about the room, and the sending 



of signals from end to the other by means of an 



leet i -ic current. J>uring the Miniiner of 1> .;J I rot'. S. 

 I I! Mor-e (tor whom see I isi Vc I.' il' I'lH A HlllTAN- 

 NICA) culn-eivi'd the idea of an eleelrie or eli-clro-lnair- 

 netie telegraph ; and, after numerous experiments, an- 

 nounced his invention to the public in April, 1837. 

 lion Ix'vi Woodbury, secretary of the l. T . S. Ti 

 on >Iarch 10, |S;t7, issued a circular requesting in- 

 form. ition in regard to establishing ;< system <d' d'lc- 

 graphs for the United States, to which I'rof. MM;-. 

 : I. fivinir an actimnt of his invention, its pro- 

 advantages and probable expense. At that 

 linn- In- " pi. -umed "i words could lie transmitted in a 

 minute." Morse petitioned Congress for aid to enable 

 him to test the practical operation of his invention. 

 Mid an appropriation of $30,1100 was made for this pur 

 Dose. In i _ in to erect the lirst telegraphic 



line between Washington and Baltimore, a length of 

 4O miles. It was at lir.-t proposed to lay the win> in 

 leaden pipes along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio 



Railroad, bnt this plan tras abandoned, and the wire* 



ispeiidcd on poles, a metallic circuit In-ing 

 formed. The wire had reached Annapolis Junction 

 just In-fore tin- National Whig convention opened in 

 Baltimore in May. l^lt. A Incndly Congressman 

 : to I'rof. Morse that theopportunity hail no\r 

 come for him to show what could lie done. A man at 

 Annapolis Junction was directed to get information of 

 v. hat the convention had done as soon as the afternoon 

 train arrived there from Baltimore, ami telegraph it at 

 once to Washington. The capital was in a ferment, 

 every citizen Ix'ing anxious for the news from Balti- 

 more, which should be brought by railroad. Prof. 

 and his friend spent that afternoon in his ma- 

 luip. The wire was operating well, and soon 

 Morse w;is able to announce, "The convention has ad- 

 journed. The train for Washington has jn.-t left, and 

 the ticket is Clay and Frelinghuyseii." In spite of 

 some doubts the news was quickly siiread in Washing- 

 ton IK- fore the train bearing the delegates from the 

 convention could reach that city. This fact should 

 have settled the question that .Morse's invention was 

 ot practical use. And yet almo-t a year passed before 

 the Washington office could be opened for regular 

 bu.-iness. The earnings of its first week, in April, 

 IM.i, were only 



The telegraph line from Washington wasbut slowly 

 extended to Philadelphia and New Y'ork, a distance 

 of U-'ii) miles. It reached Boston in ISl.'i, and lie- 

 came the great line of the North, from which branched 

 two others, one tr,. .-. Miiladclphia to Pittsburg, Cin- 

 cinnati, an 1 St. I^Cus, lliOO miles; the other from New 

 York to Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, and 

 Milwaukee. J:i'.)o miles. Another line, 1395 miles in 

 length, connected Buffalo. Niagara, Toronto. Montreal, 

 Quebec, and Halifax. Two lilies ran south to N.-vv 

 Orleans, one frmu New York, Washington, and 

 Charleston, I'.lf.li ni'les ; the other from Cleveland and 

 Cincinnati, via Nashville, li'o:i miles. The only line 

 eonstrneted with government aid was the original one 

 connecting the cities of Washington and Baltimore. 

 The others were established by private enterprise. 

 The following table exhibits the annual receipts of tho 

 " Magnetic Telegraph Company," extending from 

 Washington to New York, which was the first organ- 

 ized in this country: From Jan. L'7, 1846, to July 1, 

 1840, $4i!-JS.77; to July 1. 1SI7. $:;:.>. SI 0.28 ; to July 

 1. I,s4s, $.-ii>.L':>Sl ; to July 1, 184'., $63,367.02; to 

 July I, ls.-)0. Sr,I..ss;',.i.iS; to July 1, 1851, $67,7:57. 112; 

 to July 1, 18.VJ, $KI:{.M',O.S.| ; total amount received 

 up to July. Is.VJ. $:;sj,C,.ll.42. In I85'2 the telegraphic 

 charges from Washington to various cities were as fol- 

 lows : Baltimore, L'O cents ; Boston. 75 cents ; Buffalo, 

 ( .K) cents; Chicago, $1.25; Cincinnati, 70 cents; 

 1/ouisville. 9") cents; Milwaukee, $l.:). r >; Nashville, 

 S?l.:;:>; New Orleans. $2. 'JO; New York. 5(1 cents; 

 Philadelphia, 30 cents; Pittsburg, 45 cents; Port- 

 land, Me., <J:> c.nts; St. Ixtuis, $1.20. 



A report made for the l r . S. census of 1850 stntod: 

 "The amount of business which a well-conducted 

 office can perform is immense. Nearly 700 messages, 

 exclusive of (hose tor (he press, were sent in one day 

 over the Morse Albany line ; and a few days after the 

 Bain line at Boston sent and received , r >00 communica- 

 tions. Another office, with two wires, after spending 

 three hours in the transmission of public news, trie- 

 graphed in a single day 4">0 iirivalo messages, averag- 

 ing L'.'i words each, besides the address, C,il of which 

 wen sent in succession without a word of repetition. 

 Messages passim: from one very distant point to an- 

 other nave usually to be rewritten nt intermediate sta- 

 tions ; though, by an improved method, the Seaboard 

 line has. in good weather, transmitted communications 

 direct between New Yolk and Mobile, a distance of 



nearly ISIK) miles without intermediate rewriting. By 



"innali route to New Orleans, a 

 nearly L'ooo miles, the news brought by an Atlantic 

 steamer at 8 A. M. lias been telegraphed from New 



