page_title: Baltimore–Washington telegraph line
section_title: Operations
hierarchical_section_title: Baltimore–Washington telegraph line / Operations
caption_attribution_description: English: Maryland state historical marker commemorating the transmission of the first telegraph message by Samuel F. B. Morse on 1844-05-24. The marker is located between US Highway 1 and the CSX railroad tracks in Beltsville, Maryland.
context_page_description: The Baltimore–Washington telegraph line was the first long-distance telegraph system set up to run overland in the United States.
context_section_description: Morse's line was demonstrated on May 24, 1844, from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol in Washington to the Mount Clare station of the railroad in Baltimore, and commenced with the transmission of Morse's first message (from Washington) to Alfred Vail (in Baltimore), "What hath God wrought", a phrase from the Bible's Book of Numbers.  The phrase was suggested by Annie Ellsworth, whose husband was a supporter of Morse's, and knew Morse was religious.
  As U.S. Postmaster General, Cave Johnson was in charge of the line.  Morse was made superintendent of the line, and Alfred Vail and Henry Rogers the operators.
  The next year, Johnson reported that "the importance of [the line] to the public does not consist of any probable income that can ever be derived from it," which led to the invention being returned for private development.
caption: Maryland state historical marker commemorating the first telegraph message, located between US Highway 1 and railroad tracks in Beltsville, Maryland.
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