George Thomas opens Lincoln's watch with its secret message.
In April 1861 Jonathan Dillon was fixing a watch at a store in Washington D.C. Then the store’s owner came in yelling “War has begun; the first shot has been fired.” Jonathan engraved these words inside the watch “April 13-1861, Fort Sumpter was attacked by the rebels on the above date.” He also wrote “Thank God we have a government.” He returned the watch to it’s owner, President Abraham Lincoln. No one knew that the engraving was in the watch.
Jonathan’s great-great grandson heard of the engraving that is in the watch many years later. He got more information and found out the watch is in the National Museum of America. The watch was given to the museum by Lincoln’s family in 1958. So he told the museum officers that an engraving is in the watch. They got the watch to open it. It was true, the engraving was there! Jonathan had misspelled the word Sumter and it was April 12 not the 13 but that did not matter. What mattered is that they made a discovery that has been undiscovered for years.
Other Lincoln News
This close up of a photo taken March 6, 1865, may show Abraham Lincoln in front of the White House. A photo expert wrote in Lincoln's height (6' 4"). If it is Lincoln, it is one of only about 130 photos of the President.
A photo of President Lincoln was found and believed to have been taken before he was killed. It might be the only photo of him in front of the White House. The photo was taken in March 1865. This is the photo of President Lincoln the red line is next to the supposed photo of president Lincoln.