Perhaps the most riveting moment in American history to date was 2:40 p.m., Monday, May 10, 1869. Today, we know that as the moment when the last spike was driven into place for the transcontinental railroad. But for the people of that day, it meant so much more than just having a railroad that went from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As historian Stephen Ambrose put it, “Lee's surrender four years earlier had signified the bonding of the Union, North and South. The Golden Spike meant the Union


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