Birth name Samuel Horace Beckwith Unit 11th New York Infantry | Nickname(s) Grant's Shadow Years of service 1862-1866 Other name Grant's Shadow | |
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Born December 18, 1837Madison, New York ( 1837-12-18 ) Buried Madison Street CemeteryHamilton, NY () Places of burial Madison Street Cemetery, Hamilton, New York, United States, New York, United States | ||
Captain Samuel H. Beckwith (December 18, 1837 – December 6, 1916) was a telegraph and cipher officer to Ulysses S. Grant. He was nicknamed "Grant's Shadow" by other staff officers. Beckwith was the first to transmit news of John Wilkes Booth's whereabouts after Lincoln's assassination, leading to his capture. Beckwith was also present as Grant's telegraph officer on Abraham Lincoln's visits.
In Washington, Lincoln used to daily visit the telegraph office, and cipher operator David Homer Bates was later to recall these visits, along with the testimony of Thomas T. Eckert, Charles A. Tinker, Albert B. Chandler, and Albert E. H. Johnson in Lincoln in the Telegraph Office (1907).
Popular culture
In the 2012 film Lincoln, the character of the Washington war-room telegraph officer is credited as Grant's officer "Samuel Beckwith" but appears to be based on the memoirs of Washington cipher officer David Homer Bates. He was played by Adam Driver.
