Could you imagine the excitement as people didn’t have to worry about getting letters across dangerous territories and instead could communicate directly with business partners, family members, friends, etc., all pretty much in real time? Even law enforcement benefited as they could communicate across territories when trying to catch a fugitive. Wanted posters could be sent to applicable towns.
One of the greatest benefits these communication devices created were for newspapers across the country as AP reporters could have their articles go immediately to the appropriate news agencies. It wasn’t unheard of for a reporter to write an article before these devices were invented and it would take months to get published. The telegraph and Fax helped create the legends of such famous leaders like General George Custer, General Grant, and General Lee.
What amazes me is that I still use a Fax Machine around 176 years after it was invented. How often does technology have this kind of a life span? Special shout out to Alexander Bain, the inventor of the Fax, and for Samuel Morse who provided the infrastructure for the new machine.