Nevada Day: Battle Born! ⭐

1. SILVER! (1859)

In 1859, miners discovered one of the biggest silver deposits in history near Virginia City. It was called the Comstock Lode. Thousands of people rushed to the desert to strike it rich! That's why Nevada is called "The Silver State." In 1861, the area became the Nevada Territory.

2. A country at war

At the same time, the United States was fighting the Civil War. The Northern states (the Union) were fighting the Southern states that had left the country. One of the biggest issues was slavery.

President Abraham Lincoln and his supporters wanted Nevada to become a state quickly. A new state would add votes in Congress and in the 1864 election, and support ending slavery. So even though Nevada had fewer people than most new states, it got the chance. That's why Nevada is "Battle Born": born during the battles of the Civil War!

3. The race against the clock

To become a state before the election, Nevada had to get its new constitution (its set of rules) to President Lincoln. Copies were sent by mail, but they didn't arrive in time!

So on October 26, 1864, Territorial Governor James Nye made a bold choice: send the whole constitution by TELEGRAPH, tapped out letter by letter in Morse code. It was 16,543 words long! There was no direct line, so it went from Carson City to Salt Lake City, to Chicago, to Philadelphia, and finally to Washington, D.C. It took about two days and cost thousands of dollars. It became the longest telegram ever sent up to that time.

4. A new state!

The message arrived! On October 31, 1864, President Lincoln announced that Nevada was the 36th state. Just days later, Nevadans voted in the presidential election, and Lincoln won a second term. A few months later, Nevada helped approve the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery in the United States.