Emblems of honor: congressional medals of war and peace

Magazine Antiques, July, 2002 by Roderic H. Blackburn

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.... 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 are republic, embracing the world. (1)

The medal is pure symbol--a highly iconographic emblem with multiple meanings commemorating significant deeds or achievements. They have been the standard token of bestowing honor to individuals since the Renaissance. In early American history medals of war were presented to victorious commanders; those of peace were presented to honored heads of state, most often Indian chiefs the government wished to honor, influence, or with whom treaties were concluded. Thus, in the United States medals had purposes beyond those in Europe:

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. (2)

Medals of our early Republic were authorized by Congress and engraved and struck at the Paris Mint (Monnaie de Paris) and, after 1792, at the new United States Mint in Philadelphia. They were struck in various metals in sizes ranging from about 1 15/16 to 4 1/8 inches (33 to 105 mm). Other medals, though not all authorized by Congress, were also engraved and struck at the United States Mint and presented for significant achievements to individuals in government, science, industry agriculture, and the professions. Still others were struck for less widely recognized achievements in such areas as school, marksmanship, religious and fraternal orders, and such humanitarian efforts as lifesaving.

The medal should be seen as it was originally conceived--as a work of art, the highest expression of bas-relief sculpture. It combines graphic and sculptural art in an exciting visual dynamic in which miniature and monumental attributes so coalesce that the viewer beholds an object of national importance yet holds an object of personal intimacy While designed to communicate to a nation, medals were, ironically often created in small numbers for the private pleasure of the few. These dualities give medals a unique position among the arts and emblems of a nation. They are a delight to the eye, the hand, and the mind.

The deeds they commemorate could have been honored by the written word, by a painting, or by a sculpture, but a portrait medal is an ideal fusion of the three. Combining text with a sculptured likeness and appropriate symbols in an everlasting material, medals could be distributed widely for lasting glory. An inspired commander whose heroic deeds earned him the approbation of Congress and a gold medal could extend the credit and renown of his victory when Congress issued additional medals in silver to his subordinate officers, for no commander wins a battle single-handedly Additional medals in bronzed copper provided to family, officials, and institutions unrelated to the event and, in later years, to the public at large also had a function-to inspire others to identify with, incorporate, and emulate the virtues and courage of the original recipient. Like the United States flag, medals are tangible symbols that intensify personal identity with the subject and, by extension, with the nation.

The concept and form of the medal as we know it were established in the Italian Renaissance by Pisanello (1395-c. 1455), who created a personal commemorative medal to honor John VIII Palaeologus (r. 1425-1428), the penultimate Byzantine emperor, and thus the last ruler but one of the Roman Empire. On one side is a profile portrait of the emperor, so identified in the legend. On the reverse is a narrative scene depicting significant attributes of the emperor's activities and beliefs, such as a pilgrim on horseback coming to seek the reunion of the Greek and Roman Churches. There is also a legend identifying the artist. Carefully proportioned and modeled--no doubt inspired by Roman art--this medal has greater dignity than the sum of its devices and size; it has inherent nobility From this beginning, the idea of the medal spread through Italy, then to France, Germany, England, the Low Countries, and elsewhere over the next centuries, often with brilliant results.

By the American Revolution some of the finest medal designers and diesinkers were in France. It was to them that the Continental Congress and its representatives in Paris (Benjamin Franklin and later Thomas Jefferson) turned for help in creating America's first medals. In 1776 the Continental Congress voted its thanks to

His Excellency General Washington, and the officers and soldiers under his command, for their wise and spirited conduct in the siege and acquisition of Boston; and that a medal of gold be struck in commemoration of this great event, and presented to His Excellency (3)