Nowadays we have 24-hour news stations, satellite radio, email alerts, and other ways of finding out breaking news pretty much the instant it is happening. But it wasn't always so.

When John Adams acted as an ambassador to Europe during the Revolutionary War he could go for months without hearing from the Continental Congress. He arranged loans of millions of dollars to help the fledgling nation, but no one back in America knew.

The Battle of New Orleans was a decisive victory for the new nation in the War of 1812, and it catapulted General Andrew Jack­son into national prominence and eventually the presidency. The battle, however, took place two weeks after the peace treaty was signed and the war was over. The news arrived too late to prevent the bloodshed.

The first news event to trav…