The Mystery of Lincoln's Watch: Revealed
Many of you may have been hearing the rumors for several years of the possibility of a secret inscription
inside Abraham Lincoln's gold pocket watch. The story emanated in the
New York Times on March 11, 2009. But (don't y'all know it ain't a good story without a "but" somewhere in it?), the version carried by the mass media and daily newspapers and broadcasts left out a mysterious element of the story. (Who'da thunk it?)
For years there has been a story circulating that the watchmaker, while making the watch for Lincoln in 1861, secretly placed an inscription
inside the watch on its tiny working parts. The watchmaker had reportedly told the story of the inscription he'd made for several years before his own death, mostly to family members and close friends. Nobody took him seriously, but the rumors were passed down through the generations.
As part of the Lincoln 200th Birthday Observance, the American Museum of History division of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington determined to hold a public opening of the watch and ascertain if the stories about the inscription were true. The ceremony was attended by descendants of the Lincoln family, along with those of the watchmaker, the public and museum officials and journalists.
The watch was carefully and meticulously opened and... lo and behold, it did indeed contain an inscription, dated 1861! The inscription varied somewhat from the stories that had been circulating, but did in fact refer to the firing on Fort Sumter. (misspelled as
Sumpter) The rumor was that the watchmaker didn't think it was justified OR legal for the U.S. to have done so.
There is more to the story than was generally released. The Lincoln family insisted on putting a lid on the actual wording of the inscription, but
they had opened that can of worms, so it was going to be hard to keep it from the public. In fact, there were
two other inscriptions found inside the watch. One, dated 1864 with the initials of another watchmaker and the other, the words "Jeff Davis." The mystery surrounding the revelation of the
Jeff Davis inscription is bound to bring on more discussion an speculation, some of which will most likely be added to the Lincoln myths which abound in America. How ironic it is that the only name engraved in Lincoln's watch is that of Jeff Davis!
Just as ironic is another little known and seldom mentioned fact regarding the discovery made at the Smithsonian Institute. The Smithsonian was initially started under the sponsorship of none other than
Jefferson Davis, who raised private funds for its beginning while he was Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce!!!
The motto of the Confederacy,
DEO VINDICE (which I use on almost every post here on GBO), seems appropriate to conclude this story.
I am,
SouthernByGrace
