1838    Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).

1844    Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a Bible quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland to inaugurate the first telegraph line.

1855    Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.

1858    First news dispatch by telegraph.

1866    The Atlantic Cable is successfully completed, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time.

1890    Canada and Bermuda are linked by telegraph cable.

1892    Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.

1902    The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable, from Ocean Beach, San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii.

2006    Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.