TN030_041 1/11/07 3:01 PM Page 32 PHOTO: NAVAL HISTORICAL FOUNDATION PHOTO: NAVAL MEDAL PHOTO: SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION CAPTAINCAPTAIN TRUXTUN’S TRUXTUN’S Congressional Medal 32 NUMISMATIST • FEBRUARY 2007 www.money.org TN030_041 1/16/07 2:06 PM Page 33 U.S. MEDALS The saga of the first Congressional medal made in America involves colorful personalities, and evolving customs and technology. by Chris Neuzil ANA1058107 Lenny Vaccaro LM5364 and Todd Creekman N 1798, A SCANT 15 years after gaining independence, the United States found itself in an undeclared war with its former French allies. France’s relations with America were guided by her own interests, which centered on con- flict with Britain. It was most inconvenient that the IIUnited States and Britain resumed trade, and the French navy and privateers seized U.S. merchantmen suspected of trading with Britain. With commerce stifled and losses to businessmen and their insurers mounting, the United States reluctantly took action. V www.money.org FEBRUARY 2007 • NUMISMATIST 33 TN030_041 1/11/07 3:01 PM Page 34 Enter the infant U.S. Navy and Captain on March 29, less than two months after Thomas Truxtun (1755-1822). An experienced the battle. American mariner who commanded a privateer On February 3, 1802, almost exactly two years in the Revolutionary War and later gained ex- after La Vengeance was defeated, President tensive experience in the China trade, Truxtun Thomas Jefferson presented the gold medal to admired Britain’s naval traditions and harbored Truxtun at a dinner in his honor. After some a strong disdain for the French. He supervised searching, we located Truxtun’s medal in the construction of the 36-gun frigate Constellation custody of the Military History and Diplomacy in Baltimore and took command when she was Division of the Smithsonian Institution. launched in September 1797. Following the ves- sel’s fitting-out period, Truxtun was ordered to The Truxtun Medal the West Indies as part of Commodore John Truxtun’s is the first Congressional medal Barry’s West Indies Squadron to provide a naval made in America and, as such, it is of immense presence and deter French marauders. historical and symbolic significance. The piece Truxtun did more than provide a helps us understand how Congressional medals presence. In February 1799, off the and surrounding customs evolved, and it is the island of Nevis, Constellation, distant ancestor of today’s Medal of Honor. In which he had fit with 48 guns, particular, the Truxtun medal set the stage for defeated the French 52-gun numerous large and visually striking medals frigate L’Insurgente. He and awarded by Congress to military and naval his men returned home in heroes of the War of 1812. Unfortunately, its his- triumph and sailed again tory has been a source of confusion among re- for the Caribbean at the searchers, collectors and dealers. end of the year. On Feb- Using contemporary documents, we assem- ruary 1, 1800, Constella- bled many missing pieces of the medal’s saga, tion, now armed with and, truly, it was a saga. The full story unfolds 50 guns, chased and en- over an eight-year period, and its cast of charac- PHOTO: ROSENBACH MUSEUM AND LIBRARY gaged La Vengeance, a ters includes two sitting Presidents and two French 54-gun frigate. In iconic Philadelphia Mint engravers. At least heated action off Guada- seven different versions of the issue are known loupe that severely damaged today, with many conflicting theories about how the two ships and cost many they came to be. lives on both sides, Truxtun nearly In 1800 the young U.S. Mint had virtually no captured his French opponent. La experience striking medals. Typically larger than Vengeance apparently struck her colors to coins and having higher relief, medals are much Thomas Trux- signal surrender, but the flag went unseen in the more technologically challenging to produce. tun thought his smoke, rough seas and advancing dusk. The Hardening dies by heating and quenching (cool- likeness for the French captain continued the fight until he and ing by immersion in liquid) was particularly risky. medal should be his battered ship slipped away in the night. Large dies tended to have more internal flaws, based on this Truxtun’s second aggressive defense of Ameri- making them more prone to fail in response to Archibald Robert- can interests met with wide, though not univer- thermal stress, which often caused them to son miniature. sal, acclaim. Josiah Parker of the House Naval bulge, crack or break, and occasionally to shatter. Committee introduced a resolution to award The Mint had attempted only one Congres- Truxtun a gold medal, but some legislators sional medal prior to Truxtun’s, the Comitia found the damage to the Constellation, and the Americana award mandated by the Continental real possibility she could have been lost, sober- Congress for Revolutionary War hero Henry ing. Virginia Representative John Randolph and Lee. The obverse die cracked in several places a handful of other House members argued that during quenching, and the medal apparently Truxtun had unnecessarily risked his men and was never struck. All other Congressional ship, a valid position in view of America’s small medals for the Revolutionary War were pro- navy. Randolph and other naysayers were dis- duced in France. (Ironically, the first Congres- tinctly in the minority, however, and the resolu- sional medal made without France’s help was tion passed the House, 87 to 4, on March 24, awarded for defeat of a French ship!) The Mint’s 1800. Three days later, the Senate concurred, second attempt to make a Congressional medal and the joint resolution calling for the President very nearly failed as well. to award a gold medal to Truxtun was approved The pioneering status of the Truxtun medal 34 NUMISMATIST • FEBRUARY 2007 www.money.org TN030_041 1/11/07 3:01 PM Page 35 The portrait can only be called unflattering—it shows the captain exception- ally jowly and corpulent. One can’t blame Truxtun for disliking it. may account for its unusual design, which fea- “Mr. Robertson” was highly regarded New tures exceptionally wide and heavy rims, remi- York artist Archibald Robertson. The promised niscent of British “cartwheel” pennies. Legends sketch presumably was the basis of Robertson’s were added to the rims after striking, avoiding miniature portrait of Truxtun. “S. Smith” refers the need to punch lettering near the die edge. to acting Navy Secretary Samuel Smith, who The fact that punched devices near the edge en- was at odds with Truxtun over various matters. couraged die cracks is apparent from the num- There is no evidence that Smith did anything to ber of early U.S. coins having such defects. delay the medal. Contemporary documents offer a glimpse of It is unclear whether proceedings were halted; the Truxtun medal die-making and striking however, if any modifications were made to the process. On March 5, 1801, nearly a year after obverse die, they must have been minimal. The the Congressional resolution, George Harrison, portrait can only be called unflattering—it shows the Navy agent in Philadelphia, wrote to Mint the captain exceptionally jowly and corpulent. Director Elias Boudinot asking that the dies be One can’t blame Truxtun for disliking it. Like- prepared. On March 23, Navy Secretary Ben- wise, none of the inaccuracies in masts and rig- jamin Stoddert instructed Harrison to have the ging were corrected. dies engraved from drawings he would send. Whatever disappointment Truxtun felt about The source of the drawings is not known, but it his medal’s design was trumped by pride in his could not have been Truxtun. On June 13, pre- accomplishment. This is clear in a letter he sent sumably having seen drawings or test impres- to Biddle the day after he received the medal. sions, Truxtun wrote to his friend and shoreside agent Charles Biddle that the medal design was February 4th 1802 “badly executed indeed—the prophile shamefull.” Dear Sir, He enclosed a profile he thought was better exe- I enclose you a letter from the Secy. of the Navy cuted, but still “no great likeness.” He also com- to Mr. Harrison ordering the Die at my disposal. plained of the battle scene: “The position of the You will cause one hundred copies struck on ships in the reverse is proper enough & the hulls composition—fifty of which I have wrote Mrs. V are very well—but the rigging and masts not reg- ular.” He described in great detail the correct state of the masts and rigging of both ships. In the same letter, Truxtun added that Colonel Parker (probably Congressman Josiah Parker, who served as a colonel under General Washing- ton) advised him a gold chain would be an “in- dispensible appendage” and should be given as “a thing of course.” However, the resolution made no such provision, and we can be reason- Captain Trux- ably certain that Truxtun himself provided the tun received his PHOTO: SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION hanger and, if it existed, a gold chain. medal in Febru- On June 19, Truxtun wrote Biddle, ary 1802, almost exactly two years The profile and reverse I shall send on from N Y. after the battle. You had better see Mr. Harrison and stop pro- Actual Size: 57mm ceedings for the present—as I expect to give a more perfect sketch from Mr. Robertson at N Y than you have yet seen of either. Mr. Stoddert is not to Blame that the medal was not delivered ere this—he wished it complete—others are to blame S. Smith is the man that bares no good will towards me.