The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876

The Medallic History of the
United States
by J. F. Loubat

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Title: The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876
Author: J. F. Loubat
Illustrator: Jules Jacquemart
Release Date: June 20, 2007 [EBook #21880]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MEDALLIC HISTORY ***

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THE
MEDALLIC HISTORY
OF
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
1776-1876.

BY
J. F. LOUBAT, LL.D.
MEMBER OF THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
KNIGHT COMMANDER OF ST. STANISLAUS OF RUSSIA.
KNIGHT OF THE FIRST CLASS OF THE CROWN AND OF
FREDERICK OF WÜRTTEMBERG. KNIGHT OF THE LEGION OF
HONOR OF FRANCE.

WITH 170 ETCHINGS BY JULES JACQUEMART.

published by N. FLAYDERMAN & CO., INC. New Milford,
Connecticut, U.S.A.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No 67-28353
Printed & Bound in Norwalk, Connecticut by T. O'Toole & Sons, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form without written permission of the publisher.
N. FLAYDERMAN & CO., INC. New Milford, Connecticut, U.S.A.

TO THE HONORABLE ELIHU B. WASHBURNE, (p. vi)
LATE ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER
PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO
FRANCE.
My Dear Sir:
Permit me to dedicate to you this work on our National Medals, as a
slight testimonial for your distinguished services during your long
official residence in Paris, and especially during the siege of that city in
1870-1871, when you had under your protection the subjects of
fourteen governments besides your own, and yet so discharged your
delicate and responsible duties as to win universal approbation.
Yours sincerely, J. F. LOUBAT. New-York, Union Club, May, 1878.

INTRODUCTION. (p. vii)
Medals, by means of the engraver's art, perpetuate in a durable form
and within a small compass which the eye can embrace at a glance, not
only the features of eminent persons, but the dates, brief accounts, and

representations (direct or emblematical) of events; they rank, therefore,
among the most valuable records of the past, especially when they
recall men, deeds, or circumstances which have influenced the life of
nations. How much light has been furnished for the study of history by
the concise and faithful testimony of these silent witnesses! The
importance of medals is now universally acknowledged, and in almost
every country they are preserved with reverent care, and made the
subject of costly publications, illustrated by elaborate engravings, with
carefully prepared letter-press descriptions and notes. Up to the present
time no thorough work devoted to the medals of the United States of
America has been published. When I entered upon the task, several
years ago, of investigating their history (p. viii) for the period
embracing the first century of the Republic, I had little conception of
the difficulties to be encountered. The search involved a very
considerable expenditure of time and labor, but at last I have the
satisfaction of offering to the public the result of my investigations,
completed according to the original plan.
Although our political history measures but a hundred years, it records
so many memorable deeds, and the names of so many illustrious
citizens, that our medals form, even now, an historically valuable
collection, to say nothing of the great artistic merit of some of them.
During the War of Independence alone, how many exploits, how many
heroes do we find worthy of being thus honored! How numerous would
have been our medals if Congress had not been imbued with the
conviction that only the very highest achievements are entitled to such
a distinction, and that the value of a reward is enhanced by its rarity! In
voting those struck after the War of 1812-'15 with Great Britain, and
after that of 1846-'47 with Mexico, the same discretion was shown.
There was still greater necessity for reserve during the late Civil War,
and only two were presented during that painful period: one to Ulysses
S. Grant, then a