Lincoln's Pocket Watch - Interesting US History

Facebook

Twitter

Digg

Stumbleupon

Yahoo My Web

A Website Devoted to Interesting Events in U.S. History

INTERESTING HISTORY NEWSLETTER

March 23, 2009

Lincoln’s Pocket Watch

A great mystery is finally solved. Since the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, a rumor had circulated. The story had been passed down among family and friends by Jonathan Dillon, a watch maker that just happened to have Lincoln’s watch in his hands on April 13, 1861 when he heard the first shots of the Civil War had been fired in South Carolina the day before.

If you put yourself in his place at that time, you can only attempt to imagine what went through Jonathan Dillon’s mind. It was a traumatic event to be sure and it was obvious to Mr. Dillon that this was an important event in American history. Of course he would have no way of knowing that the war would go on for four years and claim over 600,000 lives, or that Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee would become two of the most famous Generals in American history. He would not know that the long and bloody war would result in a reunited Union and that Lincoln would become the first United States President to be assassinated.

But the story persisted that Mr. Dillon, on April 13, 1861, had etched something into the watch that Lincoln carried around for years. In a 1908 article in the New York Times, Dillon was reported as saying he wasn’t sure exactly what he had engraved in that watch and that Lincoln never saw the inscription. As far as he knew, it wasn’t even there. In 1958, the watch was donated to the National Museum of American History, but still the story went unconfirmed.

On March 10, 2009, George Thomas , a volunteer at the museum, opened the watch and found the following inscriptions: “Jonathan Dillon April 13 – 1861 Fort Sumter was attacked by the rebels on the above date” and “thank god we have a government”. The story is finally confirmed. An amazing piece of history that gives us a glimpse into the mind of a watchmaker in Washington D.C. at a turning point in American history.

Mark Bowman

Click here to sign up for the Interesting History Newsletter

Click here to buy a book or DVD about Abraham Lincoln

Home Page

On This Day

Interesting History Facts

◦	The Star Spangled Banner
◦	The Mayflower Beer Run
◦	Women in the Civil War
◦	The Gettysburg Address
◦	The First Submarine
◦	New York Dixie
◦	Interesting Civil War Facts
◦	Our Founding Fathers
◦	The War of 1812
◦	Sherrod Bryant

Interesting History Myths

◦	Myth: George Washington was the First President of the United States
◦	Myth: Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone
◦	Myth: Daniel Boone wore a coonskin cap
◦	Myth: Betsy Ross designed the first American flag
◦	Myth: Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
◦	Myth: Christopher Columbus discovered the earth is round
◦	Myth: Abraham Lincoln's childhood log cabin is on display in Hodgenville, Kentucky
◦	Myth: The Civil War was all about slavery
◦	Myth: In April of 1775, Paul Revere rode through the streets from Boston to Lexington yelling "The British Are Coming"
◦	Myth: The Pilgrims lived in log cabins
◦	Myth: During the Civil War, Lincoln once said about Grant's drinking: "If I knew what brand he used, I'd send every general a barrel"
◦	Myth: Charles Lindbergh was the first man to fly nonstop across the Atlantic
◦	Myth: George Washington fathered several children by his slaves
◦	Myth: The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on Bunker Hill
◦	Myth: When Confederate president, Jefferson Davis was arrested after the Civil War, he was wearing his wife's clothes
◦	Myth: The Liberty Bell rang on July 4, 1776 in celebration of American independence
◦	Myth: The reason Germany got off to such a fast start in World War II was because of its pre-war preparations

Presidential Facts / Trivia

◦	Presidents Adams through Jackson (alphabetic)
◦	John Adams
◦	John Quincy Adams
◦	Chester Arthur
◦	James Buchanan
◦	George H.W. Bush
◦	George W. Bush
◦	Jimmy Carter
◦	Grover Cleveland
◦	Grover Cleveland (2nd term)
◦	William J. Clinton
◦	Calvin Coolidge
◦	Dwight Eisenhower
◦	Millard Fillmore
◦	Gerald Ford
◦	James Garfield
◦	Ulysses S. Grant
◦	Warren Harding
◦	Benjamin Harrison
◦	William Henry Harrison
◦	Rutherford B. Hayes
◦	Herbert Hoover
◦	Andrew Jackson
◦	Presidents Jefferson through Wilson (alphabetic)
◦	Thomas Jefferson
◦	Andrew Johnson
◦	Lyndon Johnson
◦	John F. Kennedy
◦	Abraham Lincoln
◦	James Madison
◦	William McKinley
◦	James Monroe
◦	Richard Nixon
◦	Barack Obama
◦	Franklin Pierce
◦	James Polk
◦	Ronald Reagan
◦	Franklin D. Roosevelt
◦	Theodore Roosevelt
◦	William H. Taft
◦	Zachary Taylor
◦	Harry Truman
◦	John Tyler
◦	Martin Van Buren
◦	George Washington
◦	Woodrow Wilson

Civil War Generals

Origin of Common Items

Accidental Inventions

History Quizzes

Newletter Archive

◦	Lincoln's Pocket Watch
◦	George Washington: The Man (part 1)
◦	George Washington: The Man (part 2)
◦	The True Story of Bass Reeves
◦	The True Story of Sam Wilson
◦	The Incredible Story of Sam Whittemore
◦	Julia and Hiram
◦	The Boston Massacre Lawyer
◦	Women in the American Civil War
◦	Beyond the Medal
◦	Jackson and Benton
◦	Arnold
◦	King and Colvin
◦	Stand Watie
◦	Carbine Williams
◦	George Read
◦	Newsletter Signup

Link Request

History Web Sites

Feedback

By purchasing history books or DVD's from the Interesting History web site, you are helping to cover the expenses and keep the website free for everyone. Thank you.