It’s Monday, May 10, 1869, 2:40 p.m., Eastern time. For the first time, the entire nation is riveted to one event. “We have got done praying, the spike is about to be presented,” W.N. Shilling taps out in Morse code. Tens of thousands of people across the nation stand by for the country’s first telegraph “hookup.” In a nation that had just gone through a wrenching Civil War and the assassination of the president who’d set this moment in motion, the message brought new hope. “L
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