The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 | Page 9

wherever found: for letters, science, and
the fine arts constitute but one republic, embracing the world. So
thought our early Government, and Mr. Jefferson--a distinguished
member of that general republic.

All which is respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War.
[Footnote 12: This is an error. See page xi.]
Whatever may be the weight of General Scott's opinion on such a
(p. xxvi) subject, and whether or not it is important, as he insists, that
medals should possess high artistic value, in order that they may be not
only the rewards of merit and monuments of history, but also favorable
specimens of contemporary art, it must be acknowledged that those
struck since 1840 differ widely, in many respects, from those of the
preceding period. While the earlier works are of a pure and lofty style,
the later ones are not always in good taste. The former are conceived
generally in strict observance of classical rules, and will bear
comparison with the numismatic masterpieces of antiquity; the latter
reflect the realistic tendency of their day.
The Indian medals, with the exception of that of President Jefferson
and a few others, which are very fine, possess only an historic value.
These pieces owe their origin to the custom, in the colonial times, of
distributing to the chiefs of Indian tribes, with whom treaties were
concluded, medals bearing on the obverse the effigy of the reigning
British sovereign, and on the reverse friendly legends and emblems of
peace. Mr. Kean, member of the Continental Congress from South
Carolina, on April 20, 1786, moved: "That the Board of Treasury
ascertain the number and value of the medals received by the
commissioners appointed to treat with the Indians, from said Indians,
and have an equal number, with the arms of the United States, made of
silver, and returned to the chiefs from whom they were received." The
result was the Indian series, which bear on their obverses the busts of
the respective Presidents under whom they were issued (none (p. xxvii)
exists of President Harrison, who died a month after his inauguration);
but it should be borne in mind that these are mere Indian peace tokens,
struck only for distribution as presents to friendly chiefs.
I have called in question the discernment of some of the Federal
administrations in their choice of engravers; unfortunately, I have also
to draw attention to an unaccountable delay in the execution of one of
the medals. It seems scarcely credible that the one voted in 1857 to Dr.

Elisha Kent Kane for his discoveries in the Arctic Seas has not yet been
struck. Elder, in his "Life of E. K. Kane" (page 228), says:
"Congress having failed at its first session after his (Kane's) return to
appropriate, by a national recognition, the honors he had won for his
country, had no other opportunity for repairing the neglect till after his
death; then a gold medal was ordered, of which, I believe, nothing has
been heard since the passage of the resolution."
To complete my undertaking, it was necessary not only to study the
composition and history of all our national medals, but also to have
plates of them engraved, which could only be done from the originals
or copies, or, as a last resort, from casts.
My first step was to apply to the Mint in Philadelphia for bronze copies
of all the medals. In 1855 the director of that establishment had been
authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury, to strike from the original
dies, copies of the medals for sale, as is the custom at the Paris Mint.
But when he sought to avail himself of this authorization, it was
discovered that many of the dies were missing. It was thought probable
that those of the medals which had been (p. xxviii) struck in France
during the War of Independence would be found there, and the French
Government was communicated with, in 1861, in regard to the
following: "Washington before Boston; General Wayne, for capture of
Stony Point; Colonel Fleury, for same; Captain Stewart, for same;
Major Lee, for capture of Paulus Hook; Colonel John Eager Howard,
for Cowpens; Colonel William Washington, for same; Major-General
Greene, for Eutaw Springs; Captain John Paul Jones, for capture of the
Serapis by the Bonhomme Richard."[13]
[Footnote 13: See H, page xlvii.]
But the Paris Mint possessed only the dies of the two Washington, of
the Howard, and of the John Paul Jones medals; moreover, the rules of
that establishment did not permit them to be given up. Bronze copies of
the four were obtained, however, and from them Messrs. George
Eckfeldt and R. Jefferson of the Philadelphia Mint cut new dies.

In Washington, in January, 1872, I was informed by Mr. Spofford, of
the Library of Congress, that after the fire which destroyed