Butler Medal - U.S. Colored Troops Medal

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The ONLY U.S. government authorized military medal during the Civil War was the Medal of Honor (authorized in July 1862).
The United States had no official awards for bravery or heroism to issue to it’s military at the start of the American Civil War of 1861. Many general officers did however, design and create their own such decorations of which they gave to their junior officers or others under their command.

Description:

1. The Butler Medal was also known by Army of the James Medal and the U.S. Colored Troops Medal.
2. The medal's was commissioned by General Benjamin Franklin Butler in 1864.
3. Butler was so impressed with the exceptional bravery of his black regiments that he determined to have a medal struck in honor of those individuals whose performance went well beyond the call of duty.

   He contacted Mint Director James Pollock in Philadelphia and explained what he wanted done. Pollock agreed to have the medals struck at the Mint using the designs created by Gen. Butler and also to be enti rely at the general’s expense.

   Pollock engaged a former assistant Mint engraver, Anthony C. Paquet, to prepare the dies. Paquet then dealt directly with Butler,sending him samples of the work as it progressed.

   The dies were cut directly into steel, requiring a special and demanding skill, but Paquet used a device not often seen in the 19th century. He hired a skilled artist to model the Butler design in plaster, as a guide when preparing the dies. It slowed down the processa little, but made for a very fine medal in the end.

   The dies for the 40mm medal were completed in the spring of 1865 and Butler notified Pollock of how many medals were to be struck. He wanted 197 silver and 11 copper medals, though it is likely that Paquet had a small number made for himself, also in copper,to show prospective clients the quality of his work. Another was presumably laid aside for the Mint cabinet.

   As soon as they were struck, the finished medals were sent to the Boston jewelry firm of Bigelow and Kennard, where a ribbon and hanger were attached to each of the silver specimens (The copper pieces were retained by Butler for special purposes, perhaps including presentation to key military or political leaders.) Some of the silver had the recipient’s name engraved on the edge, but most apparently did not. The majority of the silver medals had a red, white and blue ribbon attached but not all did and perhaps there was some symbolism attached to this difference.

   The obverse of the medal shows two black soldiers charging a basti on with the Lati n legend FERRO IIS LIBERTAS PERVENIET, or“Freedom will come to them by the sword.” In the exergue we find Butler named as the designer and Paquet as the engraver.

   The reverse has the simple, yet eloquent, inscription DISTINGUISHED FOR COURAGE, CAMPAIGN BEFORE RICHMOND 1864 with a wreath separating parts of the wording.

   These medals are rarely seen and named silver pieces are of the greatest rarity as there is little doubt that such medals, for obvious reasons, have been handed down in families for generations. Some of the copper pieces, which were meant for private distribution by Butler, were not awarded and eventually wound up in numismatic circles.

   There is an odd postscript to this rather special medal. About 1980 the famed Tiffany firm, for whatever reason, struck a small number of silver replicas. These are also seen on rare occasion.

   In his Autobiography,* page 742, General Butler writes:

   I had the fullest reports made to me of the acts of individual bravery of colored men on that occasion, and I had done for the negro soldiers, by my own order, what the government has never done for its white soldiers - I had a medal struck of like size, weight, quality, fabrication and intrinsic value with those which Queen Victoria gave with her own hand to her distinguished private soldiers of the Crimea.

   The obverse of the medal shows a bastion fort charged and bears the inscription, " Ferro iis libertas perveniet." words, " Campaign before Richmond," encircling the words, "Distinguished for Courage," while there was plainly engraved upon the rim, the name of the soldier, his company and his regiment. The medal was suspended by a ribbon of red, white, and blue, attached to the clothing by a strong pin, having in front an oak leaf, with the inscription in plain letters, " Army of the James". These I gave with my own hand, save where the recipient was in a distant hospital wounded, and by the commander of the colored corps after it was removed from my command, and I record with pride that in that single action there were so many presentation of nearly two hundred.

   The size of the medal is 40mm. It is suspended by an eagle's claw grasping a sphere to which was attached the ring. The name of the recipient was not in all cases engraved upon theedge.

   The inscription on the obverse, FERRO IIS LIBERTAS PERVENIET, is on a ribbon above the representation of the attack on the fort, below which, in very small letters, are the words BUTLER, DEL. PAQUET, F., in the exergue, U. S. COLORED TROOPS.

   On the reverse the inscription, in four lines, CAMPAIGN BEFORE RICHMOND 1864, is encircled by an oak- wreath, around which is the legend DISTINGUISHED FOR COURAGE and two stars.

   Some 197 medals were struck in silver at the Philadelphia Mint from dies by Anthony C. Paquet. As noted in Belden's United States War Medals, "the ribbon and attachments were supplied by Charles W. Kennard & Co., a firm of jewelers in Boston."

Background:

1. The Medal is 40mm or 1.57 Inches in diameter. 
   1. OBVERSE
      1. The inscription on the obverse, FERRO IIS LIBERTAS PERVENIET, is on a ribbon above the representation of the attack on the fort.
      2. Below which, in very small letters, are the words BUTLER, DEL. PAQUET, F.
      3. In the exergue, U. S. COLORED TROOPS.
   2. REVERSE
      1. On the reverse is the inscription, in four lines, CAMPAIGN BEFORE RICHMOND 1864.
      2. It is encircled by an oak- wreath tied at the bottom with a ribbon.
      3. Around which is the legend DISTINGUISHED FOR COURAGE. 
      4. On either side of the ribbon apeear a five pointed star.
   3. RIBBON
      There was NO ribbon as this is a medal only award. 
      The drape for the medal was red, white and blue in color.  The medal was attached to the clothing by a strong pin, having in front an oak leaf, with the inscription in plain letters, " Army of the James".
2. Information from
   UNITED STATES WAR MEDALS by Bauman L. Beldex appearing in American Journal of Numismatics (1897-1924) , 1915, Vol. 49 (1915), pp. 1-72
   Medal Awarded U.S. Colored Troops - Encyclopedia Virginia
   1864 Colored Troops Before Richmond Medal advertisement of Stack's Bowers Galleries March 2015
   African American battalion medal from American Civil War comes to auction in Wiltshire - Antiques Trade Gazette 2020