What year did Samuel Morse send the first telegraph message? Samuel Morse sent the first official telegraph message in 1844.
On May 24, 1844, Morse transmitted the words “What hath God wrought?” from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., to his assistant Alfred Vail in Baltimore. The message travelled over an experimental line of about 38 to 40 miles and officially opened the Washington–Baltimore telegraph connection.
The line was funded after Congress appropriated $30,000 in 1843 for a practical demonstration. Morse had worked with Alfred Vail and Leonard Gale to develop the equipment and signaling system, so the achievement was collaborative even though Morse became the best-known name associated with it.
A common mix-up is 1837, the year Morse demonstrated an early version of his telegraph and sought recognition for the invention. Another demonstration took place in January 1838, but 1844 is the canonical answer for the first official long-distance message. Annie Ellsworth suggested the biblical wording, drawn from Numbers 23:23.