The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 | Page 2

major-general, for victories, and another to Cornelius
Vanderbilt, in acknowledgment of his free gift of the steamship which
bore his name.
Similar national rewards have been earned also by deeds which interest
humanity, science, or commerce; as, for instance, the laying of the

transatlantic telegraph cable, the expedition of Doctor Kane to the
Arctic Seas, and the beneficence of George Peabody. If to these are
added the Indian peace medals, bearing the effigies of our (p. ix)
successive Presidents, the various elements which compose the official
medals of the United States of America will have been enumerated.
As neither titles of nobility nor orders of knighthood exist in our
country, Congress can bestow no higher distinction on an American
citizen than to offer him the thanks of the nation, and to order that a
medal be struck in his honor. I cannot do better than to quote here the
words of General Winfield Scott, when he received from President
Monroe the medal voted to him for the battles of Chippewa and
Niagara:
"With a deep sense of the additional obligation now contracted, I accept
at the hands of the venerable Chief Magistrate of the Union the classic
token of the highest reward a free man can receive: the recorded
approbation of his country."
Our medals number eighty-six in all, most of which were struck by
order of Congress in honor of citizens of the United States. Seventeen
belong to the period of the Revolution, twenty-seven to the War of
1812-'15, four to the Mexican War, and two to the Civil War. Only five
were voted to foreigners: one, in 1779, to Lieutenant-Colonel de Fleury,
a French gentleman in the Continental Army, for gallant conduct at
Stony Point; another, in 1858, to Dr. Frederick Rose, an
assistant-surgeon in the British Navy for kindness and humanity to sick
seamen on one of our men-of-war; and the others, in 1866, to three
foreign merchant captains, Messrs. Creighton, Low, and Stouffer, who,
in December, 1853, went to the aid of the steamer San Francisco, (p. x)
thereby "rescuing about five hundred Americans."
Seven of the eighty-six medals do not owe their origin to a
congressional vote: two which were struck in the United Netherlands
(1782), one to commemorate their acknowledgment of the United
States of America, and the other the treaty of amity and commerce
between the two countries; that known as Libertas Americana (1783);
the two in honor of Franklin (1784-1786); the Diplomatic medal (1790);

and lastly that struck in memory of the conclusion of the treaty of
commerce between the United States and France (1822). Although
these cannot properly be classed as official medals, their historic
importance and value as works of art entitle them to a place in our
national collection.
Nearly all of the early medals were executed by French engravers,
whose names alone are a warrant for the artistic merit of their work.
We are indebted to Augustin Dupré, who has been called the "great
Dupré" for the Daniel Morgan, the Nathaniel Greene, the John Paul
Jones, the Libertas Americana, the two Franklin, and the Diplomatic
medals; to Pierre Simon Duvivier for those of George Washington, de
Fleury, William Augustine Washington, and John Eager Howard; to
Nicolas Marie Gatteaux for those of Horatio Gates, Anthony Wayne,
and John Stewart; and to Bertrand Andrieu and Raymond Gayrard for
the one in commemoration of the signature of the treaty of commerce
between France and the United States.
Congress had not yet proclaimed the independence of the thirteen
United Colonies when, on March 25, 1776, it ordered that a gold (p. xi)
medal be struck and presented to "His Excellency, General
Washington," for his "wise and spirited conduct in the siege and
acquisition of Boston." But this, although the first one voted, was not
engraved until after the de Fleury and the Libertas Americana pieces,
both of which were executed in Paris under the direction of Benjamin
Franklin. The following letter gives the date of the de Fleury medal:
To His Excellency Mr. HUNTINGTON, Passy, March 4, 1780.
President of Congress.
Sir: Agreeably to the order of Congress, I have employed one of the
best artists here in cutting the dies for the medal intended for M. de
Fleury. The price of such work is beyond my expectation, being a
thousand livres for each die. I shall try if it is not possible to have the
others done cheaper.
- - - - -

With great respect I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient and
most humble servant, B. FRANKLIN.
This medal was shown in the exhibition of the Royal Academy in Paris
in 1781. The Libertas Americana piece was struck in 1783.
Six of the earliest of the series were designed under the supervision of
Colonel David Humphreys, namely, those for