What They Found In Abraham Lincoln’s Pockets the Night He Was Shot-Including A Pocket Watch With A Hidden Message! (Extensive Photos)

(Before It's News)

Have you ever wondered about people in the past, what their lives were like, what they did, what they thought about, what they carried in their pockets?  Well, the contents of Abraham Lincoln’s pockets are on display today at the Library of Congress.  

What someone carries with them can tell us a great deal about them. Interestingly enough, I came across this story on a blade forum I am a member of, as I collect knives—traditional, folders, and fixed blades. I am also into EDC (every day carry). This story was of great interest to me and caught my eye, and it revealed much about former U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln.

According to U.S. News and World Report:

After John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, the Brooks Brothers overcoat the president wore that evening was handed over to his son, Robert Todd. Today, the items from the pockets of the coat are on display at the Library of Congress, about two miles from Ford’s Theatre. At a talk Wednesday, the library’s rare book and special collections division chief Mark Dimunation said the items would help “understand Lincoln in human terms.”

To wit, the way the 16th president fretted about his spectacles. One pair was kept in his pocket for reading, the second for other kinds of viewing. According to Dimunation, Lincoln likely carried the pocket knife because the arms on his glasses had a bad habit of loosening. His concern was justified: Lincoln had strabismus, a visual problem that meant he could not always look people in the eye, and he was farsighted with a diminishing ability to see objects nearby.

The night Abraham Lincoln was shot, he was carrying: a pocket knife, a watch fob, an Irish linen handkerchief, a brown leather wallet, a crisp new Confederate five-dollar bill, two pairs of gold-rimmed spectacles (one held together with string), and eight newspaper clippings, some of which echoed remarks from one of his campaign speeches – that a country divided against itself cannot stand.

There was alot of curiosity and mystery surrounding the five-dollar Confederate bill in his pocket. And the newspaper clippings he carried seemed to be a positive reminder for Lincoln.

According to U.S. News and World Report:

There is also the curious matter of the five-dollar Confederate bill, which Dimunation said, repeating an old joke, was so Lincoln was “prepared for all contingencies.” The president is believed to have acquired the bill as a souvenir (of a war won? or what could have been?) when he visited Richmond and Petersburg, Va., just as the Civil War was drawing to a close.

The eight newspaper clippings Lincoln carried were largely positive portrayals of his leadership, but Dimunation stressed that they were less proof of a president’s ego than of a man who needed reassurance. “It was a very tough re-election for Lincoln. The war had worn him down… The articles would have been very affirming to him,” he said.

But, it doesn’t stop there, in fact, it gets even more intersting!  Inside of Lincoln’s pocket watch was a hidden message that Lincoln himself had no knowledge of!

(Above: Abraham Lincoln’s ivory, folding pocket knife and glasses held together by a simple piece of string. Seen in the background is his pocket watch, mentioned below)

Smithsonian News Reported:

On April 13, 1861, Irish immigrant and watchmaker Jonathan Dillon, working for the M.W. Galt and Co. jewelers in Washington, D.C., was repairing President Abraham Lincoln’s pocket watch, when he heard of the attack. Forty-five years later, Dillon told the New York Times what he did that day.

“I was in the act of screwing on the dial when Mr. Galt announced the news. I unscrewed the dial, and with a sharp instrument wrote on the metal beneath: ‘The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try.’”

(Above: Actual photo of the inside of Abraham Lincoln’s pocket watch)

Yet, many years later, when the watch was actually opened, this isn’t at all what it said! The actual message was nothing like the message that Dillon claimed. But why would Dillon have lied?

Smithsonian News goes on to report:

This story is full of ironies. And so we must pause here to reflect on one. It was February 12, Lincoln’s 200th birthday, when the phone on Rubenstein’s desk rang. The caller was Douglas Stiles, a 59-year-old attorney and genealogy expert, from Waukegan, Illinois. Stiles is also Dillon’s great, great grandson.

The evidence was not overwhelming. All that Stiles had to offer was a bit of family lore and a newspaper article written 45 years after the fact. Could the stranger calling convince a museum curator to pull a national icon from display, to bring in an expert craftsman to disassemble the delicate, historical artifact, and to take a huge chance that nothing, in fact, could be there? But, Rubenstein’s interest was piqued and the decision was made. ”It’s sort of amazing,” Rubenstein said in an interview last week before the watch was opened, “when you think that two years before the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln is carrying this hopeful message in his pocket, and never knowing it.”

A month after that initial call, in an elegant museum back room, photographers crowded around jeweler George Thomas who was seated at a makeshift craftsman’s bench. As the hour approached, Rubenstein solemnly stepped forward. Lincoln’s gold pocket watch was delivered to the bench.

So when the watch was dismantled, what was really inscribed on the inside? Douglas Stiles was invited to read aloud his ancestor’s inscription:

“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.”

The message was there. Yet there is no mention of slavery, nor did it say anywhere that Lincoln was the right man for the job.

So why did Dillon tell the news, many years prior, that the inscription read something altogether different? We may never know. Maybe some things are meant to remain mysteries.

(Above Photo: A close up of Abraham Lincoln’s ivory pocket knife he was carrying the day he was shot.)

Here’s one of my own (Lyn Leahz) newest additions in bone with a special German crafted blade:

And, here’s my latest that I just recieved the other day (French Douk Douk and Boker Mini Gnome in Olive Drab Micarta Finish):

Finally, here is what I carry pretty much every day, give or take a few (Zippo windproof, weatherproof lighter, two Opinel No. 7, reading glasses, Swiss Army Expedition Knife, Paracord, Field Notes, Cell Phone, and L10C 4-mode, 120 Lumen flashlight):

What types of things do you carry daily? Are you a prepper or into EDC?

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