Lincoln's Pocket Watch Reveals Long-Hidden Message
The Smithsonian opens one of its prized artifacts and a story unfolds
- By Beth Py-Lieberman
- Smithsonian.com, March 11, 2009, Subscribe
Lincoln's English gold watch was purchased in the 1850s from George Chatterton, a Springfield, Illinois, jeweler. Lincoln was not outwardly vain, but the fine gold watch was a conspicuous symbol of his success as a prominent Illinois lawyer. The National Museum of American History acquired the watch in 1958 as a gift from Lincoln Isham, Abraham Lincoln great-grandson.
Courtesy of the National Museum of American History
Every living soul can recall with certainty what they were doing when a national tragedy occurs—the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the day in Dallas when John F. Kennedy was assassinated or the events of September 11.
Yet, no one alive today can recall the tragic day in 1861 when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, beginning a terrible and tragic war that divided this nation and changed it forever. This week, a stunning find unveiled a personal record that touched the highest levels of government but remained hidden for nearly a century and a half.
On April 13, 1861, Irish immigrant and watchmaker Jonathan Dillon, working for the M.W. Galt and Co. jewelers in Washington, D.C., was repairing President Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch, when he heard of the attack. Forty-five years later, Dillon told the New York Times what he did that day.
"I was in the act of screwing on the dial when Mr. Galt announced the news. I unscrewed the dial, and with a sharp instrument wrote on the metal beneath: ‘The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try.'"
On Tuesday morning, at the National Museum of American History, some 40 reporters and Smithsonian staff witnessed master craftsman and jeweler George Thomas of the Towson Watch Company open Abraham Lincoln's watch to search for Dillon's secret message. Dillon's message was there, but not exactly as he later described it. News of the message inside Lincoln's pocket watch made every local broadcast and the front page of the New York Times. It was a rare moment when a museum, dedicated to the preservation of American history, could be said to be making history. And therein lies a tale.
The watchmaker and the President would never meet. And Lincoln would never know that he carried Dillon's secret message in his pocket.
Lincoln's watch is a fine gold timepiece that the 16th president purchased in the 1850s from a Springfield, Illinois jeweler. It has been in the safe custody of the Smithsonian Institution since 1958—a gift from Lincoln's great-grandson Lincoln Isham.
Harry Rubenstein, chief curator of the museum's bicentennial exhibition "Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life" (on view through 2011), has a fondness for the watch, which today would be the equivalent of a high-end Bulova or Tag Heuer.
"When you think about Lincoln especially at this point in his life," Rubenstein says, "his ill-fitting clothes and mussy hair; he doesn't seem to care about his appearance.
But in fact, he does care about how people perceive him. One of the status symbols of the 19th century is a gold watch. Lincoln is making a statement. He's carrying a very visible statement of his own success."
This story is full of ironies. And so we must pause here to reflect on one. It was February 12, Lincoln's 200th birthday, when the phone on Rubenstein's desk rang. The caller was Douglas Stiles, a 59-year-old attorney and genealogy expert, from Waukegan, Illinois. Stiles is also Dillon's great, great grandson.
The evidence was not overwhelming. All that Stiles had to offer was a bit of family lore and a newspaper article written 45 years after the fact. Could the stranger calling convince a museum curator to pull a national icon from display, to bring in an expert craftsman to disassemble the delicate, historical artifact, and to take a huge chance that nothing, in fact, could be there?
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Related topics: American History US Government Abraham Lincoln Americana American Civil War
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Comments (17)
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hi guy's. i just happened upon this news about the said watch of abe.just got a few questions for anyone who may want to get back to me.#1 are you sure this is abe's time piece? not one statement on face says what the 1861 guy said.you need to make sure now that said watch is or was abe's.#2look at war papers to see if the south was called rebels in 1861. has the metal in the watch been carbon dated to 1850,s. now it looks like to me that since you opened said watch,every step should be taken to be sure that this jewel is abe'.look at letters on watch and compare to how folks wrote back in 1860's.those writings don't look like the same way they wrote back then.i have seen a bunch of letters from that era and it looks different to me. think!
Posted by RAY WYNEGAR on December 30,2010 | 01:57 AM
Where can I find more photos of the watch? All I can find are photos of the dial and of the inscription. I would like to see the other side of the movement.
Posted by Clay on November 20,2010 | 12:49 AM
Hi there,
I have a pocket watch for sale UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION BICENTENNIAL 1787-1987. Would you be able to direct me to the right place? Thanks!
Posted by Meri on October 22,2010 | 09:27 PM
Lincoln is revered because he did a more than competent job in impossible circumstances. True, he did negate most of the bill of rights during the war. And as for slavery, he stated plainly that if freeing the slaves would win the war he would free them and if keeping them slaves would win the war he would do that instead. But he was an absolute genius with words and so it is that his voice, along with Jefferson's and Monroe's, rings through American history. He was also hands down the funniest President ever or ever will be.
Posted by Lin Floyd on March 17,2010 | 11:16 PM
I took a course in American History at Clayton State University last year and learned that the slaves being freed by the EP were only those in the Southern States, not the northern states. I also learned that before becoming President, Lincoln wrote letters to all the governors of non-slave states encouraging them to get their states to accept slavery. The civil war was NOT caused by slavery. It was an issue that has still not been resolved: states rights. More could be said but there is not enough space or time here. Read and study before you try to make Lincoln a saint or even one of our best presidents. One of my ancestors was Lincoln's second grade tutor. He grew to be an exceptional man, a good leader, and had he not been shot his plan for reconstruction would have healed the wounds of this nation. Yet what followed was worse than the war. I too think his death was too soon and very sad. History is written by those who win wars. We need to read and study both sides of that war if we are to ever understand one another. "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."
Posted by Becki Jones on September 16,2009 | 10:11 PM
Oh My God I love the clouded leopards they are so cute one day I would LOVE to work at the smithsonian and learn about this history. But first I have to get through Middle school without failing Yay
Posted by Kaila Veitch on May 20,2009 | 11:11 AM
Kevin, The laying of flowers on graves is a European tradition practiced in America way before President Lincolns funeral. Check with American newpapers from the 1850s and you'll find references to it.
Posted by Dave on April 13,2009 | 01:09 PM
If those that post a message here want to read more about the interesting man named Abe Lincoln and his times,then perhaps they should read April 1865 - by: Jay Winik an excellant read! A fine example of things I did not know falls on page #359 "The final tribute for "Father Abraham" was more symbolic, but no less appropriate. Searching for some way to express their grief, countless Americans gravitated to bouquets of flowers: Lilies,Lilacs,roses, and orange blossoms, anything which was in bloom across the land. Thus was born a new American tradition: laying flowers at a funeral".
Posted by Kevin on April 11,2009 | 05:24 PM
Go to the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress and do a keyword for Church
Or
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mal:@field(DOCID+@lit(d1444700))
[Alexandria Virginia Episcopalians to Abraham Lincoln, Sunday, February 09, 1862 (Report of a disturbance at their church)] This incendent is backed up with a full report in the O.R. Also, the O.R. specifically details the orders in which all Union forces were under in enforcing Lincoln's Prayer.
Also, the word searchable O.R. at Cornell University is absolutely full of information about the war on churches, the involvement of the Pope, ect...
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/moa_browse.html
I have collected quit a number of reports of arrest, burnings, closings, related to churches from these references.
Posted by Dave on March 31,2009 | 10:09 AM
Dave, your information was interesting but I would sure like to see the names of the "records" where you got the information so I could see them, too.
Posted by Pat on March 30,2009 | 10:38 PM
Brian, although I don't whole heartedly agree with Mr. Freyder I do in spirit. President Lincoln's E.P. did not free any slaves under Lincoln's control. Those slaves in the areas specified in the E.P. had to free themselves if they wanted to be free. The majority of slaves in areas controlled by Lincoln's troops stayed slaves, many were kept picking cotton to supply the North with money to fight the war. Loyal masters were allowed to sell there male slaves at $300 dollars a-head to enlist them into the U.S. Army, making Lincoln's government the largest owner of slaves in the Western Hemisphere. The Union had five slave states on its side contributing to the war effort and not one was told to free its slaves by Lincoln. Lincoln was the last president to creat and admit into the United States a slave state, West Virginia; an act he vowed never to do. As president Lincoln had no powers to approve the 13th Amendment. One more fact, President Lincoln was never president of the the United States, only that section called the "Union"; he never ran a campaign in the South, he did not put himself on the ballots in the South. He was a non-majority, sectional president, put in office by wealthy interest in which he worked for as a corporate lawyer. Lincoln first took the oath after seven states had seceded. He died while the war was still going on, so he NEVER had the privilege to perform the duties of President of the UNITED States. While President Lincoln was giving the Gettysburg Address armed Union troops, he personally sent to Maryland and Delaware, were arresting Democrats trying to vote. His troops were controlling the polls during those local elections to steal the votes for Republicans and Unionist. So much for a "government of the people, by the people, for the people", he didn't practice of believe one word he spoke. Not one of these points are "revisionist" in anyway; they are never taught or discussed in todays populist history.
Posted by Davd on March 30,2009 | 10:16 PM
On March 13th, Dave wrote some pretty horrific data regarding the treatment of churches and clergy during the War between the States. While I have never read of such sacrilege by troops from this Republic (which certainly does not say this sort of behavior did not occur!), it DID refresh in my ememory the horrors of the English Civil War, when similar terrible devastation occurred to churches, great and humble, by the Cromwellian, Commonwealth troops. Just goes to show, I guess, that ALL idols have feet of clay! I suppose, too, it certifies my position as a pacifist - too often, soldiers, in the commission of war, are little more than rioting mobs! That cannot speak well for their "cause."
Posted by scott lyons on March 29,2009 | 07:42 PM
According to my European-born and trained watchmaker with 60 years' experience, it is a tradition to inscribe the date and initials (or name) of the watchmaker whenever a fine watch is repaired or cleaned. It is very probable that L. E. Gross would have told Lincoln about the Dillon inscription when he returned the watch after cleaning it in 1864. But since Lincoln died before the watch would ever need cleaning again, my guess is that the "Jeff Davis" was added as a prank much later.
Posted by Jeanne on March 29,2009 | 05:01 PM
Now that was a fine bit of sleuthing, David! The watch must have been taken to Joseph Walter's watch shop for adjustment, repairs or cleaning, whence the additional inscriptions were made. This explanation should be verified, and certainly merits consideration as a formal postscript to the Lincoln watch article. Good Job!
Posted by Passerby on March 29,2009 | 02:54 PM
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