The Smithsonian has announced that they’ve found a secret message inside the pocket watch that belonged to President Abraham Lincoln. The message was left by a watch repairman named Jonathan Dillon and probably never seen by Lincoln himself.
Inside the watch Dillon inscribed a note indicating that Fort Sumter had been attacked, along with the date (“April 13 – 1861”) and the note “thank God we have a government.”
The story, from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, is here.
And, from the blog Watchismo, more details and photos of the watch and the message inside.
Labels: Abraham Lincoln, James Smithson