Medals

views updated

Medals

MEDALS. During the nine years of the War for Independence, Congress voted to award eight medals to officers of the Continental army in recognition of significant accomplishments on the battlefield. The first was given to George Washington to commemorate the taking of Boston in March 1776. The next went to Horatio Gates for the capture of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga in October 1777. Four were awarded in 1779 for victories that were not of the same significance as Boston or Saratoga. Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, Colonel Walter Stewart, and Lieutenant Colonel François Teissedre de Fleury received medals for the capture of Stony Point on 16 July 1779, and Major Henry Lee received a medal for the raid on Paulus Hook on 19 August 1779. The last two congressional medals were awarded to Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and Colonel John Eager Howard for the victory at Cowpens on 17 January 1781, a success that provided a significant fillip to the morale of American troops in the South.

SEE ALSO Howard, John Eager; Lee, Henry ("Light-Horse Harry"); Morgan, Daniel; Stewart, Walter; Teissedre de Fleury, François Louis; Wayne, Anthony.

                             revised by Harold E. Selesky

More From encyclopedia.com