People in different locations began to keep records, and in the mid-nineteenth century, the invention of the telegraph made it possible for these records to be collated.
The first war correspondent in history, William Howard Russell, was there for the Times of London, sending back real-time reports via the newly-invented telegraph.
At last, he got an urgent telegram from the main office: Send the pigs to the main office of the company at Franklin. Flannery did so. Soon, came another telegram.