Samuel Beckwith

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 Booth's capture.^[2] Beckwith was also present as Grant's telegraph officer on Abraham Lincoln's visits.^[3]

Captain Samuel H. Beckwith
Birth name	Samuel Horace Beckwith
Nickname(s)	Grant's Shadow
Born	(1837-12-18)December 18, 1837[1] Madison, New York
Died	December 6, 1916(1916-12-06) (aged 78) Hampton, Virginia[1]
Buried	Madison Street Cemetery Hamilton, NY 42.833849°N 75.546154°W / 42.833849; -75.546154
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Years of service	1862-1866
Rank	Captain
Unit	11th New York Infantry
Battles / wars	Civil War

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).^[4]

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.