Q.David Bowers
The first large oval silver medals issued by the Washington administration (circa 1789) were inscribed with his name, and a design intended to symbolize peace and friendship between the two cultures. By 1792, the design had been changed to include Washington in a posture of friendship with the Indian chief. The reverse of the Washington medals featured the arms of the United States; the eagle with extended wings, shield on breast, carrying an olive branch and 13 arrows.
The decision to change the design, from the allegorical figure of Minerva, to a portrait of Washington, was probably prompted by a desire to give the Indian an association with the new leader. The European medals had featured the reigning monarch, and the new medals were fashioned in the same tradition. The Washington medals, all quite rare, were individually engraved by private silversmiths. When one sees the enormous variations in the figure of Washington on the early oval medals, one is thankful that they chose not to fill the obverse of the medal with his face alone. The medals vary in style, although they seem to fall into three sizes for presentation to differing ranks of chiefs. The European medals had been produced in round shape from engraved dies, but America did not have this minting capability until after 1792. The medals honoring Revolutionary heroes and victories had been ordered from France. The Washington medal added one new and very important symbol to the design. The background of one design featured a house and a farmer plowing with a yoke of oxen. The Americans' dream for their new land, and hopefully the role of the Indian of the future, could not have been made clearer.
Washington made his policy towards the Indians clear while addressing a delegation of Cherokees:
When I have retired to my farm I shall hear of you; and it will give me great pleasure to know that you have taken my advice, and are walking in the path which I have described. But before I retire, I shall speak to my beloved man, the Secretary of War, to get prepared some medals, to be given to such Cherokees as by following my advice shall best deserve them. For this purpose Mr. [Silas] Dinsmoor is from time to time to visit every town in your nation. He will give instructions to those who desire to learn what I have recommended. He will see what improvements are made; who are most industrious in raising cattle; in growing and weaving; and on those who excel these rewards are to be bestowed.
The Indian peace medals were intended to encourage agricultural and domestic skills as well as foster loyalty to America. Washington ordered a series of medals for his second term to be made in England of a design featuring agricultural and domestic scenes, which became popularly known as Season medals. The medals did not arrive until the administration of Adams, who used them instead of ordering personal medals. The supply of Season medals survived until as late as 1806 when they were used by Lewis and Clark.
Changing the medals to the older European style after the individually engraved Washington oval medals is of some interest. Father Francis Paul Prucha, in his marvelous study, Indian Peace Medals in American History, suggests that the Federalist administrations, under attack for monarchial tendencies, shied away from the more regal bearing of the European medals. This reason is undoubtedly partially responsible for the original choice of style for American peace medals. However, it is also true that until the establishment of a national mint, the government did not have the technical ability, nor the engravers, to produce a quality product. America aspired to be a world power even at this early date and one of the first concerns of the Congress was establishing a mint and issuing currency. With this accomplished, America had the capacity to Imitate more closely the medals produced in Europe. Although proudly aware of newly won freedom from old world restraints, American culture continued to model and judge itself on the basis of its European heritage. Having selected their leader, the decision to use his face and figure on the medals was logical. With the exception of John Adams, who used the Season medals ordered by Washington, the tradition was maintained as each new president came into office. Continuing through the administration of Benjamin Harrison, in 1889, the Indian peace medal carries the image of the Great Father in Washington. In the 1840s special Adams medals were struck to complete the presidential series. The design decision proved to be a good one, as for all appearances the Indians cherished the new full portrait of their Great White Father.
The expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, 1804-1806, marked the beginning of the Manifest Destiny that would" bring America to the Pacific. Attempting to fill the power vacuum left by the French, Spanish and British in the vast interior, the expedition was well equipped with peace medals. Their inventory indicated three large size Jefferson medals; 13 Jeffersons of the second size; 16 Jeffersons of the third size; 55 of the fourth size (Washington Season medals); and a few additional pieces.
The medals were awarded by Lewis and Clark with great ceremony, usually including gifts, certificates, flags, clothes and the firing of guns. In their desire to make friends for themselves and their country, Lewis and Clark did not practice the restraint of the early Europeans, who awarded fewer medals, with the attendant honor being proportionately greater. With their saturation method, and their failure to record who among the Indians they made medal chief, they started a tradition that was regrettably followed by other ex-plorers and eventually the Bureau of Indian Affairs as well.
The 32 Jefferson medals were produced by the Mint in a design which was to set the tradition for many years. Round in the traditional shape and style of European medals, the obverse featured a portrait of Jefferson; the reverse the clasped hands of Indian and settler, the legend PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP, and a crossed tomahawk and peace pipe. Robert Scot, Mint engraver, probably cut the dies; but it is not known if the reverse design of clasped hands was his idea alone. One possible conclusion is that a change in policy eliminated the farmer in favor of the chevron. Bauman L. Belden, who produced the first serious study of the Indian peace medals in 1927, felt that the Jefferson medals were the work of the German engraver John Reich. Reich arrived in America in 1801 but did not become Scot's assistant until 1807. Perhaps the change in design was simply a result of Reich's unofficial influence. The Mint did not possess sufficient machinery to strike the pieces in solid silver, so they were made hollow and held together by a ring.
While medals and coins are among the longest lasting symbols of the age which produces them, it is dangerous to draw conclusions from them alone. The PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP reverse lasted through the administration of Zachary Taylor at mid-century. It would be tempting to assume that this showed fifty years of consistent Indian policy, when in fact, the opposite is true. Between 1790 and 1834, six Indian acts were passed by Congress, each encouraging the orderly advance of the frontier. Of course, advance meant conflict as more and more Indian territory was usurped by white settlers. The policy called for assimilating the Indian into our advancing civilization by educating him and subverting his culture into the way of the white man. The frontiersman tended towards a more direct approach.
The issuance of the medals achieved status as an official government tradition during the 1830s and 1840s. Moritz Furst, a well-known medalist, produced the obverse dies for the medals of James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.