Читать книгу The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 - J. F. Loubat - Страница 3

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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 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 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 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, 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 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,

President of Congress.

Passy, March 4, 1780.

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 Generals Washington, Gates, Greene, and Morgan, and Lieutenant-Colonels Washington and Howard. To insure a due observance of the laws of numismatics, and that they might bear comparison with the best specimens of modern times, Colonel Humphreys asked the aid of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres in the composition of the designs. He explained his action in this respect to the President of Congress in the following letter:

To His Excellency

The President of Congress.

Paris, March 18, 1785.

Sir: Before I left America, I made application to the Superintendent of Finances for the sword which Congress had been pleased to order, by their resolution of the 17th of November, 1781, to be presented to me, in consequence of which Mr. Morris informed me verbally that he would take the necessary arrangements for procuring all the honourary presents which had been directed to be given to different officers during the late war, and requested that I would undertake to have them executed in Europe. Some time after my arrival here, I received the inclosed letter[1] from him, accompanied with a list of medals, etc., and a description of those intended for General Morgan and Colonels Washington and Howard.

Upon the receipt of these documents I did not delay to make the proper inquiries from the characters who were the best skilled in subjects of this nature, and after having spoken to some of the first artists, I was advised to apply to the Abbé Barthélémy, member of the academies of London, Madrid, Cortona, and Hesse-Cassel, and actual keeper of the King's Cabinet of Medals and Antiquities, at whose instance I wrote a letter to the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, of which a copy is inclosed. Being informed at the same time that the description of medals for General Morgan, etc., was not in the style and manner such medals were usually executed, I took the liberty of suspending the execution of them, until I could learn whether it is the pleasure of Congress to have them performed exactly in the manner prescribed—which shall be done accordingly, in case I should not be honoured with further instructions on the subject before their approaching recess.

The medals voted for the capture of Stony Point have been, or I believe may be, all struck from the die originally engraved to furnish one of them for Colonel de Fleury.

As to the swords in question, it is proposed to have them all constructed in precisely the same fashion, the hilt to be of silver, round which a foliage of laurel to be enameled in gold in such a manner as to leave a medallion in the centre sufficient to receive the arms of the United States on one side, and on the reverse an inscription in English, "The United States to Colonel Meigs, July 25, 1777," and the same for the others. The whole ten, executed in this manner, may probably cost about three hundred louis d'or, which is (as I have been informed) but little more than was paid for the sword which some time since was presented on the part of the United States to the Marquis de la Fayette.

I have the honour to be, with the most perfect respect,

D. Humphreys.

P.S. I forgot to mention that, in order to have the medals for General Morgan, etc., executed in the manner originally proposed, it will be necessary for me to have more particular information of the numbers on both sides, of the killed, wounded, prisoners, trophies, etc., which the enemy lost in the action of the Cowpens.

The following is the letter to the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, referred to by Colonel Humphreys in the above:

Paris, March 14, 1785.

Mr. Dacier,

Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, Rue Chabanais, Paris.

Sir: Having it in charge to procure the honourary presents which (during the late war) have been voted by Congress to several meritorious officers in their service, particularly three medals in gold, one for General Washington, another for General Gates, and a third for General Greene; and, being extremely desirous that these medals should be executed in a manner grateful to the illustrious personages for whom they are designed, worthy the dignity of the sovereign power by whom they are presented, and calculated to perpetuate the remembrance of those great events which they are intended to consecrate to immortality, I therefore take the liberty to address, through you, Sir, the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, on the subject, and entreat that this learned body will be pleased to honour me, as soon as may be convenient, with their advice and sentiments respecting the devices and inscriptions proper for the before mentioned medals. A memoir,[2] which has been left in the hands of M. Barthélémy, one of their members, will give the necessary information.

In addressing so respectable an assembly of literati I do not think myself permitted to enlarge on the importance of this subject, because they must know, much better than I can inform them, in how great a degree such monuments of public gratitude are calculated to produce a laudable emulation, a genuine love of liberty, and all the virtues of real patriotism, not only among the innumerable generations who are yet to people the wastes of America, but on the human character in general. Nor do I make those apologies for the trouble I am now giving, which would be requisite, did I not feel a conviction that whatever is interesting to the national glory of America, to the good of posterity, or to the happiness of the human race, cannot be indifferent to a society composed of the most enlightened and liberal characters in Europe, fostered by the royal protection of a monarch whose name will forever be as dear to the United States as it will be glorious in the annals of mankind.

Being so unfortunate as not to be able to write myself in French, my intimate friend and brave companion in arms, M. le marquis de la Fayette, has had the goodness to make a translation of this letter into that language, which I inclose herewith.

I have the honour to be, with the most perfect respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

D. Humphreys.

A letter written by Franklin, about the same time, to John Jay, then Secretary for Foreign Affairs, is of much interest in this connection:

To the Honourable

John Jay,

Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

Passy, May 10, 1785.

P.S. The striking of the medals being now in agitation here, I send the inclosed for consideration.

A thought concerning the Medals that are to be struck by order of Congress.

The forming of dies in steel to strike medals or money, is generally with the intention of making a great number of the same form.

The engraving those dies in steel is, from the hardness of the substance, very difficult and expensive, but, once engraved, the great number to be easily produced afterward by stamping justifies the expense, it being but small when divided among a number.

Where only one medal of a kind is wanted, it seems an unthrifty way to form dies for it in steel to strike the two sides of it, the whole expense of the dies resting on that medal.

It was by this means that the medal voted by Congress for M. de Fleury cost one hundred guineas, when an engraving of the same figures and inscriptions might have been beautifully done on a plate of silver of the same size for two guineas.

The ancients, when they ordained a medal to record the memory of any laudable action, and do honour to the performer of that action, struck a vast number and used them as money. By this means the honour was extended through their own and neighbouring nations, every man who received or paid a piece of such money was reminded of the virtuous action, the person who performed it, and the reward attending it, and the number gave such security to this kind of monuments against perishing and being forgotten, that some of each of them exist to this day, though more than two thousand years old, and, being now copied in books by the arts of engraving and painting, are not only exceedingly multiplied but likely to remain some thousands of years longer.

The man who is honoured only by a single medal is obliged to show it to enjoy the honour, which can be done only to a few and often awkwardly. I therefore wish the medals of Congress were ordered to be money, and so continued as to be convenient money, by being in value aliquot parts of a dollar.

Copper coins are wanting in America for small change. We have none but those of the King of England. After one silver or gold medal is struck from the dies, for the person to be honoured, they may be usefully employed in striking copper money, or in some cases small silver.

The nominal value of the pieces might be a little more than the real, to prevent their being melted down, but not so much more as to be an encouragement of counterfeiting. I am, etc.,

B. Franklin.

The Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres "entered on the discussion with the same alacrity as if the subject had been designed to illustrate the actions of their compatriots, or to immortalize some glorious events in the annals of their own nation."[3] Commissioners, consisting of four of its members, were at once appointed to suggest designs for the three medals asked for Generals Washington, Gates, and Greene.[4]

Through the courtesy of M. Narcisse Dupré, son of Augustin Dupré, I am enabled to give the contract between his father and Colonel Humphreys for the engraving of the medal for General Greene:[5]

I, the undersigned, Augustin Dupré, engraver of medals and medallist of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, bind myself to Colonel Humphreys to engrave the medal representing the portrait of General Greene. On the reverse, Victory treading under her feet broken arms, with the legend and the exergue, and I hold myself responsible for any breakage of the dies up to twenty-four medals, and bind myself to furnish one at my own expense (the diameter of the medal to be twenty-four lignes).

All on the following conditions: That for the two engraved dies of the said medal shall be paid me the sum of two thousand four hundred livres, on delivery of the two dies after the twenty-four medals which the Colonel desires have been struck.

Done in duplicate between us, in Paris, this nineteenth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five (1785).

D. Humphreys.

Dupré.

On November 25th of the same year, M. Dacier, the perpetual secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, communicated another letter from Colonel Humphreys, in which he requested the Academy to compose designs for three more medals, which had been voted to General Morgan and to Lieutenant-Colonels Washington and Howard. Commissioners were appointed and designs made for these also.[6]

Colonel Humphreys having returned to America before the medals were finished, their superintendence was undertaken by Mr. Jefferson, as will be seen from the following letter:

To the Honourable

John Jay,

Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

Paris, February 14, 1787.

Sir: Mr. Morris, during his office, being authorized to have the medals and swords executed, which had been ordered by Congress, he authorized Colonel Humphreys to take measures here for the execution. Colonel Humphreys did so, and the swords were finished in time for him to carry them. The medals not being finished, he desired me to attend to them. The workman who was to make that of General Greene brought me yesterday the medal in gold, twenty-three in copper, and the die. Mr. Short, during my absence, will avail himself of the first occasion which shall offer of forwarding the medals to you. I must beg leave, through you, to ask the pleasure of Congress as to the number they would choose to have struck. Perhaps they might be willing to deposit one of each person in every college of the United States. Perhaps they might choose to give a series of them to each of the crowned heads of Europe, which would be an acceptable present to them. They will be pleased to decide. In the meantime I have sealed up the die, and shall retain it till I am honoured with their orders as to this medal, and the others also, when they shall be finished.

With great respect and esteem,

Th: Jefferson.

In another letter to Mr. Jay, dated Marseilles, May 4, 1787, Mr. Jefferson again refers to this subject:

I am in hopes Mr. Short will be able to send you the medals of General Gates by this packet. I await a general instruction as to these medals. The academies of Europe will be much pleased to receive a set.

Mr. Jefferson's communication of the 14th of February was brought to the notice of Congress by Mr. Jay, and was referred back to him by Congress. The result was the following report:

Office for Foreign Affairs,

July 11, 1787.

The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred a letter from the Honourable Mr. Jefferson of the 14th of February last,

Reports, Your secretary presumes that the following paragraphs in this letter occasion its being referred to him, viz.: "The workman who was to make a medal of General Greene brought me yesterday the medal in gold, twenty-three in copper, and the die. I must beg leave, through you, to ask the pleasure of Congress as to the number they would choose to have struck. Perhaps they might be willing to deposit one of each person in every college of the United States. Perhaps they might choose to give a series of them to each of the crowned heads of Europe, which would be an acceptable present to them. They will be pleased to decide. In the meantime I have sealed up the die, and shall retain it till I am honoured with their orders as to this medal, and the others also, when they shall be finished."

As these medals were directed to be struck in order to signalize and commemorate certain interesting events and conspicuous characters, the distribution of them should in his opinion be such as may best conduce to that end. He therefore thinks that both of Mr. Jefferson's hints should be improved, to wit, that a series of these medals should be presented to each of the crowned heads in Europe, and that one of each set be deposited in each of the American colleges. He presumes that Mr. Jefferson does not mean that any should be presented to the King of Great Britain, for it would not be delicate; nor that by crowned heads he meant to exclude free states from the compliment, for to make discriminations would give offense.

In the judgment of your secretary it would be proper to instruct Mr. Jefferson to present in the name of the United States one silver medal of each denomination to every monarch (except His Britannic Majesty), and to every sovereign and independent state without exception in Europe; and also to the Emperor of Morocco. That he also be instructed to send fifteen silver medals of each set to Congress, to be by them presented to the thirteen United States respectively, and also to the Emperor of China with an explanation and a letter, and one to General Washington. That he also be instructed to present a copper medal of each denomination to each of the most distinguished universities (except the British) in Europe, and also to Count de Rochambeau, to Count d'Estaing, and to Count de Grasse; and, lastly, that he be instructed to send to Congress two hundred copper ones of each set, together with the dies.

Your secretary thinks that of these it would be proper to present one to each of the American colleges, one to the Marquis de la Fayette, and one to each of the other major-generals who served in the late American army; and that the residue with the dies be deposited in the Secretary's Office of the United States, subject to such future orders as Congress may think proper to make respecting them.

It might be more magnificent to give gold medals to sovereigns, silver ones to distinguished persons, and copper ones to the colleges; but, in his opinion, the nature of the American Governments, as well as the state of their finance, will apologize for their declining the expense.

All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress.

John Jay.

The records of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres show that in 1789, at the request of Mr. Jefferson, it also composed designs for the medals awarded by Congress to General Wayne, Major Stewart, and Captain John Paul Jones.[7] Mr. Jefferson had previously had an interview with M. Augustin Dupré on the subject, as will be seen by the following note, the original of which is in Mr. Jefferson's handwriting:[8]

To

M. Dupré,

Engraver of Medals and Medallist of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture.

Mr. Jefferson having received orders concerning medals to be struck would like to talk about them with M. Dupré, if he will please do him the honour to call on him to-morrow morning before eleven o'clock.

Saturday, January 3, 1789.

In the following month, Mr. Jefferson again wrote to M. Dupré, inclosing descriptions of the designs for the medals of General Morgan and of Admiral Jones. The reader will note some slight differences between these and those originally composed by the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres:

To

M. Dupré,

Engraver of Medals and Medallist of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture.

Mr. Jefferson has the honour to send to M. Dupré the devices for the medals for General Morgan and Rear-Admiral Paul Jones, which he has just received from the Academy of Belles-Lettres, and the making of which he proposes to M. Dupré, the latter to be responsible for the success of the dies up to the striking of three hundred and fifty of each medal in gold, silver, or bronze, and to furnish proofs in tin at the end of the month of March next, so that the medals may all be struck before the 15th of April. He begs him to kindly mention the conditions on which he will undertake them, and Mr. Jefferson will have the honour to reply on receipt of them.

February 13, 1789.

Medal for General Morgan, of twenty-four lignes in diameter.

The general, at the head of his army, charges the enemy, which takes to flight.

Legend: victoria libertatis vindex.

Exergue: fugatis captis aut cæsis ad cowpens hostibus 17 Jan. 1781.

Reverse: America, recognizable by her shield, rests her left hand upon a trophy of arms and of flags, and with her right crowns the general, who bends before her.

Legend: danieli morgan duci exercitus.

Exergue: comitia americana.

Medal for Rear-Admiral John Paul Jones, of twenty-four lignes.

Device: His head (M. Houdon will furnish the bust in plaster).

Legend: joanni paulo jones classis præfecto.

Exergue: comitia americana.

Reverse: Naval Engagement.

Legend: hostium navibus captis aut fugatis.

Exergue: ad oram scotiæ 23 sept. 1779.

The following, from the same to the same, bearing date February 15, 1789, throws some light on the prices of the medals engraved by M. Dupré:

To

M. Dupré,

Engraver of Medals, Paris.

Mr. Jefferson has the honour to observe to M. Dupré that he pays only twenty-four hundred livres to M. Duvivier or to M. Gatteaux for medals which measure twenty-four lignes, that he paid the same sum to M. Dupré himself for that of General Greene, and that recently M. Dupré asked no higher price for that of General Morgan. Mr. Jefferson cannot, therefore, consent to give more. For that sum he would expect to have the best work of M. Dupré and not that of inferior artists. As regards time, perhaps it may be possible to prolong it somewhat in regard to the medal for Admiral Paul Jones, that officer being at present in Europe. Mr. Jefferson will have the honour to await M. Dupré's answer, and will be happy to conclude this arrangement with him.[9]

February 15, 1789.

It is to be supposed that Dupré accepted these conditions, since he is the engraver of the John Paul Jones medal, one of the finest specimens in our collection. The Daniel Morgan piece is no less remarkable as an effort of numismatic skill. The fight at the Cowpens, on the reverse, is a striking example of the boldness with which Dupré enlarged the limits of his art, and, in defiance of all traditional rules, successfully represented several planes in the background.

I cannot do better than to give the opinion, concerning this and the other of Dupré's American medals, of M. Charles Blanc,[10] from whom I quote freely in the following:

The Morgan medal, says this eminent French critic, seems to vibrate beneath the rush of cavalry and the tread of infantry flying in the background, indicated by the almost imperceptible lines of the metal where the smoke of the cannonade is vanishing away in air. In the Libertas Americana medal, which recalls, if we except the evacuation of Boston, the two most memorable events of the War of Independence, namely, the capitulation of General Burgoyne, at Saratoga, in October, 1777, and that of General Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, in October, 1781, Dupré has represented the new-born Liberty, sprung from the prairies without ancestry and without rulers, as a youthful virgin, with disheveled hair and dauntless aspect, bearing across her shoulder a pike, surmounted by the Phrygian cap. This great artist, in consequence of his intimacy with Franklin, had conceived the greatest enthusiasm for the cause of the United States. Franklin resided at Passy, and Dupré at Auteuil. As they both went to Paris every day, they met and made acquaintance on the road—an acquaintance which soon ripened into friendship. Dupré first engraved Franklin's seal with the motto, "In simplici salus," and afterward his portrait. This portrait presents an alto-rilievo which is well adapted for medals only; it is conceived in the spirit of the French school, which has always attached great importance to the truthful rendering of flesh. The artist has indicated the flat parts, the relaxation of the muscles, and, as it were, the quivering of the flesh, so as to convey an exact idea of the age of the model. He has conscientiously represented the lines which the finger of Time imprints on the countenance, but, above all, he has given us with wonderful fidelity the physiognomy of the American sage, his shrewd simplicity, his sagacity, and his expression of serene uprightness. A Latin hexameter from the pen of Turgot became the well-known legend of this medal: "Eripuit cœlo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis."

The four pieces executed by Duvivier are no less remarkable for beauty and excellence of workmanship. They all figured at the exhibitions of the members of the Royal Academy of Paris, that of the Chevalier de Fleury, as mentioned before, in the exhibition of 1781, and those of General and of Lieutenant-Colonel Washington, and of Lieutenant-Colonel Howard, in that of 1789.[11]

In those by Gatteaux, the personification of America as an Indian queen with an alligator at her feet is noteworthy.

With the exception of the Treaty of Commerce medal (1822), and perhaps of that of Captain Truxtun, our medals after the War of Independence were engraved and struck at home. Before that time, indeed, the one voted in 1779 to Major Henry Lee had been made by John Wright, of Philadelphia. From the close of the eighteenth century down to 1840 John Reich and subsequently Moritz Fürst were the engravers of the national medals. Reich's works are valued; unfortunately they are few in number. They consist of the medal voted in 1805 to Captain Edward Preble for his naval operations against Tripoli, of another voted in 1813 to Captain Isaac Hull for the capture of the British frigate Guerrière, and of those of Presidents Jefferson and Madison. That of President Jefferson especially deserves attention for its beauty.

But little can be said in commendation of the works of Fürst, whose numerous medals are very inferior to Reich's, and still less worthy of being compared with those of the French engravers. While wishing to avoid undue severity, I cannot but endorse the opinion of General Scott, given in a communication addressed to the Honorable William L. Marcy, Secretary of War, in regard to the medal voted to General Zachary Taylor, for victories on the Rio Grande:

To the Honourable

William L. Marcy,

Secretary of War.

Headquarters of the Army,

Washington, July 25, 1846.

As medals are among the surest monuments of history, as well as muniments of individual distinction, there should be given to them, besides intrinsic value and durability of material, the utmost grace of design, with the highest finish in mechanical execution. All this is necessary to give the greater or adventitious value; as in the present instance, the medal is to be, at once, an historical record and a reward of distinguished merit. The credit of the donor thus becomes even more than that of the receiver interested in obtaining a perfect specimen in the fine arts.

The within resolution prescribes gold as the material of the medal. The general form (circular) may be considered as equally settled by our own practice, and that of most nations, ancient and modern. There is, however, some little diversity in diameter and thickness in the medals heretofore ordered by Congress, at different periods, as may be seen in the cabinets of the War and Navy Departments. Diversity in dimensions is even greater in other countries.

The specific character of the medal is shown by its two faces, or the face and the reverse. The within resolution directs appropriate devices and inscriptions thereon.

For the face, a bust likeness is needed, to give, with the name and the rank of the donee, individuality. To obtain the likeness, a first-rate miniature painter should, of course, be employed.

The reverse receives the device, appropriate to the events commemorated. To obtain this, it is suggested that the resolutions and despatches, belonging to the subject, be transmitted to a master in the art of design—say Prof. Weir, at West Point—for a drawing—including, if practicable, this inscription:

Palo Alto;

Resaca de La Palma:

May 8 and 9, 1846.

A third artist—all to be well paid—is next to be employed—a die-sinker. The mint of the United States will do the coinage.

Copies, in cheaper metal, of all our gold medals, should be given to the libraries of the Federal and State Governments, to those of the colleges, etc.

The medals voted by the Revolutionary Congress were executed—designs and dies—under the superintendence of Mr. Jefferson,[12] in Paris, about the year 1786. Those struck in honour of victories, in our War of 1812, were all—at least so far as it respected the land service—done at home, and not one of them presented, I think, earlier than the end of Mr. Monroe's administration (1825). The delay principally resulted from the want of good die-sinkers. There was only one of mediocre merit (and he a foreigner) found for the army. What the state of this art may now be in the United States I know not. But I beg leave again to suggest that the honour of the country requires that medals, voted by Congress, should always exhibit the arts involved, in their highest state of perfection 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.

Whatever may be the weight of General Scott's opinion on such a 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 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 (p. xxviii) medals which had been 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]

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 a portion of that library, December 24, 1851, the bronze copies of the medals formerly deposited there had been transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. At the latter place I was shown the remains of the collection, all more or less injured by fire. Moreover, the five wanted were not to be found; and further investigations made in December, 1877, in the Philadelphia Mint, showed that four of the dies, namely, those of Generals Greene and Wayne, and of Lieutenant-Colonel de Fleury and Major Stewart, are still missing from that establishment.

During the year 1872, I obtained permission from the Honorable Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, to examine in the archives of his department the official papers relating to the medals of the War of Independence, and was fortunate enough to find the correspondence concerning the Diplomatic medal between Jefferson, William Short, the Marquis de la Luzerne, and the Count de Moustier. Afterward, in the reports of the Massachusetts Historical Society (vol. vi., 3d series), I found a description which seemed to apply to this same medal. I then went to Philadelphia to see the writer of the description, Joshua Francis Fisher, Esq., but he was on his death-bed, and it was impossible to prosecute the inquiry. After his decease, I was informed that no medal of the kind described was contained in his collection.

In 1790, President Washington ordered two Diplomatic medals to be struck and presented, one to the Marquis de la Luzerne, French Minister to the United States, and the other to his successor, the Count de Moustier. In Paris, in 1874, I made application to the present heads of those families, the Count de Vibray[14] and the Marquis de Moustier,[15] for information concerning these medals; but no trace of the object of my search could be found among their family papers.

About this time, Mr. Charles I. Bushnell, of New York city, kindly sent me plaster casts of an obverse and of a reverse, in which I at once recognized the Diplomatic medal, but neither bore the signature of Dupré. Nevertheless, I had a plate engraved from them, hoping by its aid to find the original.

I then turned once more to M. Gatteaux, the son of M. Nicolas Marie Gatteaux, who had shown me, in 1868, in his house in the Rue de Lille, Paris, the wax model of the obverse of the medal of General Gates, and the designs for those of General Wayne and Major Stewart, but, the house having been burnt during the reign of the Commune in 1871, he could furnish no information, and I was as far as ever from discovering the original of this piece.

In 1876 I showed to M. Augustin Dumont, the celebrated sculptor,[16] and the godson of Augustin Dupré, the plate engraved from the plaster casts, and from him I learned that M. Narcisse Dupré, the son of Augustin, was still living in the south of France, at Montpellier. M. Dumont had given to M. Ponscarme, his pupil, now professor in the École des Beaux-Arts, the maquettes, or lead proofs, of many of Dupré's works. A few days later, M. Ponscarme showed me a maquette of the obverse of the Diplomatic medal, and at last M. Narcisse Dupré sent me a photograph of the reverse. I thus obtained proof of the correctness of the engraved plate.

While in Washington, in February, 1872, I was fortunate enough to find, in the office of Rear-Admiral Joseph Smith, then chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, in the Navy Department, where they were used as paperweights, the original dies of the medal voted to Commodore Edward Preble for his naval operations against Tripoli. I immediately brought this to the notice of the chief clerks of the Navy and of the Treasury Departments, and also to that of Captain (now Rear-Admiral) George H. Preble, a connection of the commodore's, and these dies are now where they belong, in the Mint in Philadelphia. Shortly afterward I was also instrumental in having restored to the mint the dies of the Vanderbilt medal, which were lying in the cellar of one of the New York city banks.

I have found it impossible to obtain any trustworthy information respecting the designer and the engraver of the medal, voted on March 29, 1800, in honor of Captain Thomas Truxtun. As there were no competent medallists in the United States at the period, and as we were then at war with France, it is presumable that the dies were made in England. If so, they were probably cut at the private mint of Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, who furnished the United States Government for a long time with planchets for its copper coinage.

The work now offered to the public consists of two volumes: Volume I., Text; Volume II., Plates.

The text is subdivided into eighty-six sections, corresponding to the number of the medals, in each of which is included, besides the descriptive matter, all the documents that could be obtained relating to the respective piece, and arranged according to the following plan:

1. The number of the medal, its date, and its number in the book of plates. The medals are arranged chronologically: those voted by Congress according to the dates of the several resolutions or acts awarding them, and not in the order of the events which they commemorate; the unofficial ones in the order of events which they commemorate; and the presidential pieces according to the date of inauguration of each President.

2. The descriptive titles of each medal, in the following order: 1st, the legends of the obverse and of the reverse; 2d, the name of the person honored, or of the title by which the piece is known; 3d, the event commemorated.

3. A description of the medal, beginning with the obverse: 1st, the whole legend; 2d, the description of the emblems and devices; 3d, the legend of the exergue; 4th, the names of the designer and of the engraver. The same order has been followed for the reverse. The legends are copied exactly from the medals, and when in Latin, translated; the abbreviations are explained, and are, like the translations, placed between parentheses. The words, "facing the right" and "facing the left" mean the right or the left of the person looking at the piece.

4. A short biographical sketch of the designers and of the engravers.

5. A short biographical sketch of the person in whose honor the medal was struck, or of the President of the United States, in case of the Indian peace tokens.

6. Original documents, such as Resolutions or Acts of Congress, the official reports of the events commemorated, and letters of interest.

The original documents have been given in the belief that the reader would prefer them to a mere recital of the events of which they treat. Many of these are now printed for the first time.

It is interesting to note that Mr. Jefferson, as early as 1789, entertained the idea of publishing an account of all the (p. xxxiii) American medals struck up to that time, as will be seen from the following letter;