Smithsonian Museum Unveils Graffiti In Abraham Lincoln's Pocket Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
Mar 11th 2009 at 8:02PM

Do you remember 1861? I know I do, and that little event at Fort Sumter that started a 'bit of a clash' here inside the United States. Well watchmaker Jonathon Dillon felt pretty strongly about it at the time living in Washington DC at the outset of the Civil war. On April 13th he happened to be in possession of President Lincoln's gold pocket watch (likely for servicing). It was a common practice for watchmakers to engrave markings inside of watch cases to memorialize that they are serviced the watch and when - similar to a graffiti tag. On this occasion however, knowing the owner of the watch and the ramifications of the Fort Sumter attack, Mr. Dillon was influenced to be prolific and felt it necessary to record the actions on the watch. "Fort Sumter was attacked by the rebels [the South] on the above date [April 13, 1861]...Thank god we have a government."

No one, not even President Lincoln himself had seen this inscription until just recently when the Smithsonian Museum opened up Lincoln's pocket watch on rumors of a "secret message," communicated by a descendant of watchmaker Dillon - who was not actually the person who made the pocket watch itself. The watch was purchased over a decade earlier in the 1850's while Abraham Lincoln was a successful attorney in Illinois. Other markings where included on the watch movement face by other watchmakers, but nothing quite like Dillon's words. Lincoln's pocket watch was originally given to the Smithsonian in 1958 by a descendant of Lincoln, who decided the timepiece was important enough to be included in America's greatest historical collection.

Via the National Museum of American History.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: abraham lincoln, AbrahamLincoln, civil war, CivilWar, engraving, jonathon dillon, JonathonDillon, pocket, pocketwatch, secret message, SecretMessage, smithsonian, watch

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Racetrack_Owner Mar 12th 2009 9:21AM

"Similar to a graffiti tag"... LOL, now that's some quality writing. Is the eagle on the back of the quarter similar to a tattoo, perhaps?

sharon bauman May 15th 2009 4:15PM

What a thrill it was to see my 5x grandfathers name in Abraham Lincolns watch!!!! Just got my magazine from Smithsonian and saw GF's name!!!! I am totally awed by this discovery!!!!