March 10, 2009
Secret Message Found in Lincoln’s Watch
Jonathan Dillon, while repairing Lincoln's watch, inscribed a secret message. Courtesy of Doug Stiles
It was high drama at the American History Museum Tuesday morning. We were on the edge of our seats. Word was out that a pocket watch that once belonged to Abraham Lincoln might have a secret message engraved inside of it.
The evidence, while not overwhelming, was enough to pique the museum’s interest. It began on Lincoln’s 200th birthday, February 12 of this year, when attorney Doug Stiles from Waukegan, Illinois, phoned curator Harry Rubenstein with an intriguing tale. Stiles said that his great, great grandfather Jonathan Dillon worked for a Washington, D.C., jeweler and that according family lore on the day that Fort Sumter was fired upon, Dillon was at work repairing Lincoln’s gold pocket watch. Dillon later retold the story to a New York Times reporter. Upon hearing the news that war had begun, the watch maker said that he unscrewed the dial and engraved an inscription into the brass underside of the movement: “The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try.”
Stiles wanted to know if the museum would open the watch and see if his ancestor’s inscription was really there. Rubenstein agreed to do it. “It’s sort of amazing,” Rubenstein said in an interview last week, “when you think that two years before the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln is carrying this hopeful message in his pocket, and never knowing it.”
And so a small crowd gathered in an elegant back room chamber at the museum. Cameras crowded around jeweler George Thomas of the Towson Watch Company, who was seated at a makeshift craftsman’s bench. As the hour approached, curator Rubenstein solemnly stepped forward. The gold pocket watch was delivered to the bench.
Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch
Cell phones had been shut off. The only noise in the room was the ticking of our own watches as Thomas went to work with tiny screwdrivers, tweezers and levers. Stopping occasionally to flex his fingers, he kept his audience on pins and needles. “It will be awhile,” he warned. Stiles, accompanied by his wife Betsy and his brother Don Stiles from Bloomington, Minnesota, readjusted himself in his chair a number of times. Finally Thomas, after unscrewing several tiny pins from the watch face and delicately lifting the plate murmured, “The moment of truth.”
The inscription was there, we could all tell, Thomas’s expression revealed that he’d seen something. Stiles was invited to read it. “Jonathan Dillon April 13-1861 Fort Sumpter [sic] was attacked by the rebels on the above date J Dillon April 13-1861 Washington thank God we have a government Jonth Dillon.”
A message from another time. Smiles around. The Stiles family seemed relieved. “I feel more in touch with Lincoln,” said Doug Stiles, and then with a grin, he added, “Hey, that’s Lincoln’s watch and my ancestor put graffiti on it.”
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Absolutely facinating! Its amazing that the context of the message did not change much through the family retelling. I’d love to see a larger view of the watch, as it looked like a few other things were written in it as well….
I’ll send you the picture so you can see it closely Michal. Curiously, there’s another name and date etched in, this in a different handwriting, and someone also inscribed “Jeff Davis” on it, too. But neither of these marks are explained, as yet.
That is amazing–a message from another time. Please update when any information comes about regarding the other markings. So interesting!
I am interested in the watchmaker and the watch case maker.
Is that information available? Thanks.
Mel
Does anyone else find it a bit odd that this has only surfaced now? Why hadn’t the family given this information previously? Don’t get me wrong, this is truly fascinating and I’m a Lincoln scholar, but something seems fishy…
1. The failure to mention the Gross/ Jeff Daris (sic) scratchings is mind boggling.
2. I wonder if this watch was in for repairs in both 1861 and 1864 — Mechanical watches are supposed to be cleaned and lubricated regularly. I have heard that once a year was recommended (mid 20th century) but that this was a bit of scam on the watch shops’ part.
3. Was Lincoln carrying the watch when shot?
4. The basis for the attribution to Lincoln would be of interest. And who was Gross?
Beth could you please forward a larger photo of the inscription to me. Lincoln is a treasure to me and this is a facinating find.
Great article. I’m also interested in finding out what else was inscribed. Will we be seeing this on the Smithsonian channel?
Hi all, I wrote a feature article on the Lincoln watch, which includes more information, including the other inscriptions. The picture is also higher resolution and you can see it better. Here’s the link:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Lincolns-Pocket-Watch-Reveals-Long-Hidden-Message.html
Best, Beth
The answer to the questions about the “Jeff Davis” inscription in Lincoln’s watch lies in the inscriptions, “LE Grofs Sept 1864 Wash DC.” They are in the same handwriting.
Contrary to Mr. Dillon’s 1906 statement to the New York Times that, as far as he knew, no one ever saw the inscription, Mr. Dillon would have known that the watch required cleaning and oiling at least once a year (and in the extremely dirty and humid conditions of muddy Washington, DC, before air conditioning, swamp drainage, or “horseless carriages,” probably much more often). For a watch that the Washington Post equates to a $5000 dollar watch today, Lincoln would unlikely have skimped on its essential care. Mr. Dillon is said in other accounts to have been the only Union sympathizer in the M.W. Galt and Co.’s jewelry shop on Pennsylvania Avenue, which would have been convenient to the President, and to which he might very well have returned the watch for regular maintenance and repair.
Whether employed at M.W. Galt and Co. or another Washington jewler, it is obvious that L.E. Grofs did not share Jonathan Dillon’s sentiments and posted counter-graffiti, September, 1864. The most amazing part of this story is what was left unsaid–that the President of the United States was carrying a tribute to his nemesis, the President of the Confederate States, during the height of the Civil War, and in the year in which his own re-election was very much in doubt! The irony of this is even greater than if Winston Churchill had unwittingly carried a secret inscription to “Adolf Hitler,” dated “1945,” in his watch. Apart from the partisan sentiments that Mr. Grofs expressed, he also demonstrated a rich sense of humor.
Looking at the low-res images on the web of the watch interior I’ve noticed that many of the screw heads indicate a fair amount of wear, apparently from the number of times they were removed. Not being much of a watch expert I’m wondering if this isn’t some sort of indication that indeed the watch had regular repair and maintenance.
BTW, Doug Stiles is a friend of mine but I was sure this had to be another Doug Stiles when I heard the beginning of the NPR report! We had spoken recently and he had not mentioned any of this. We are both genealogy and history buffs (I’m a Commissioner on the Waukegan Historic Preservation Commission and Doug has helped us in the efforts to save Ray Bradbury’s childhood library) and I was sure he would have said something. He explained when he called me from DC the next day that because he didn’t know if anything would be found that he didn’t want to get people’s hopes up. And the Smithsonian wanted a genuinely dramatic event, regardless of outcome, and steadfastly wouldn’t look ahead of time to see if something was there. For taking that gutsy, and admirable, position the representatives of the Smithsonian have my great respect.
When a more in depth article is written it would be nice to include a graphic “exploded diagram” of the watch that shows (as Doug explained to me) where the inscription was (behind the dial) and the number of steps that needed to be taken to expose it. It wasn’t merely a matter of opening the case.
Speak of which, while it was open did they change the battery
L. E. Gross is very probably Louis Edward Gross, age 22 or 23 when he inscribed his name and “Jeff Davis” in Lincoln’s watch. He worked for Joseph M. Walter a jeweler in 1860, listed at 58 N. Howard St., Baltimore, Maryland in 1857 and later at 85 N. Eutaw St. in 1879. L. E. Gross died around 1870. He may have had several brothers in the Confederate military service. Mr. Dillon is listed on the 1870 New York census and may have moved by 1864 from the Washington area.
I like your site, it is very informative. Thank you for your time and good day.
On attending a receient induction into a new job i met a lady who once worked for Omega. She told a story of inscribing her phone number (instead of the serial number) on the inside of the watch that was going to Daniel Craig for his role as James Bond.. True or not i am unsure, but she seemed truthfull..
We’ve posted video from the event on the National Museum of American History “O Say Can You See” blog: http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2009/03/a-hush-fell-over-the-room-as-the-watchmaker-halted-his-work-a-partially-dismantled-pocket-watch-that-once-belonged-to-pres.html
This is great. The first thing I thought of, as cheesy as it may sound, was the National Treasure movie, the second one, with the secret diary and such. Anyway, that was a great read and will share it with any I can. What is all the other writing in there? Looks like more than the one phrase.
So, does that mean that Lincoln was part of the Davinci code?
Here is what is truly amzing about this story…the great great (great?) grandson of Edmund Ruffin who fired the first shot at Fort Sumpter to start the war lives in Antioch, IL and last I new was also selling real estate!
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://grillsblog.com
Sarah, Hey thanks. You made my day! Beth
[...] Abraham Lincoln’s pocket watch bears a secret message inscribed by his watch repairer! [...]
How strange I am just came accross this article because I opened a watch and found engraved – numbers & letters all along inside the back coverplate. They are hand engraved in the curve of the back coverplate -not stamped. Very small – not part of the numbers and manufacture information. Watch is a gold pocket watch – probaly 1890 to 1930 – hey I don’t know but what could these numbers and letters mean…anyone? Is there a watch historian out there? This watch was opened twice before by an appraiser and my brother and was never noticed – until my niece was over my shoulder and said, “Hey what are all those numbers?”
Never noticed it nor did anyone else. Any inof on this would be helpful.
For the rest of the story (which turns out to be “old news”)
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Lincolns-Pocket-Watch-Reveals-Long-Hidden-Message.html
Happy travels
Supposedly I’m related to Lincoln. My great great great great grandfathers second cousin, on my fathers side, if I’m not mistaken.
[...] Message Found in Lincolns Watch [...]
[...] there– they showed you the open face, and then a picture of the innards, which have an awesome story attached to them. If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, the quick version is that there’s an [...]
I can’t believe we have another connection to lincoln.
[...] A Secret Message in Abraham Lincoln’s Watch — ATM Editor Beth Py-Lieberman attended a special unveiling of a new object in the American [...]
“Absolutely facinating! Its amazing that the context of the message did not change much through the family retelling.”
Well, actually it did. Dillon told the reporter he wrote, “The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try.”
but actually he wrote, “…Fort Sumpter [sic] was attacked by the rebels on the above date J Dillon April 13-1861 Washington thank God we have a government…”
A casual observer would say it’s the same message but it is not. Dillon’s actual writing voices a concern for his government against rebels, no mention to an end of slavery. Dillon’s quote that he wrote something about Lincoln’s attempt to end slavery in 1864 raised a red flag with me. Preserving the union was Lincoln’s primary concern through most of the war, not ending slavery.
1861, not 1864. Sorry.
It’s amazing how often newly discovered things come out about the Civil War.
Simply amazing, I think it is so fascinating to see the hidden messages that we find today on things from the past to see what peoples thoughts and insight were back in those days.