Telegraph keys

Overview Telegraph key by J.H. Bunnell and Company, New York, including inscription "patented Feb 15, 1881," with wooden base of 5 in. x 7 1/2 in. A native of Massillon, Ohio, Jesse H. Bunnell began working as a telegrapher in Ohio and West Virginia when he was still a boy. He joined the Union Military Telegraph Service in April 1861 when he was 17, serving as McClellan's personal telegrapher for much of the war. At war's end, Bunnell became one of the nation's leading manufacturers of telegraph...