For a first hand account of the telegraph revolution, I enjoyed reading this state-of-the-art report from 1860: https://archive.org/details/historytheorypra00p

For a first hand account of the telegraph revolution, I enjoyed reading this state-of-the-art report from 1860: https://archive.org/details/historytheorypra00presrich https://archive.org/details/historytheorypra00presrich