 |
Medal Name: Victories of Chippewa and Niagara
Struck for: Major-General Winfield Scott
Approval: Act of Congress November 3, 1814
OBVERSE
MAJOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT.
Bust of General Scott, in uniform, facing the right.
REVERSE
A serpent, entwined in a wreath of laurel and palm, is biting its tail - emblem of immortality through glory and victory.
RESOLUTION OF CONGRESS NOVEMBER 3. 1814. BATTLES OF CHIPPEWA JULY 5. 1814. NIAGARA JULY 25. 1814.
BACKGROUND
Winfield Scott was born near Petersburg, Virginia, June 13, 1786. He was graduated at William and Mary College,Virginia, studied law, and for some time engaged in practice. He was appointed captain of light artillery, May 3,1808, and served in Louisiana under General Wilkinson, but resigned on account of differences with him. He was made lieutenant-colonel of the 2d artillery, July 6, 1812, and was taken prisoner at Queenstown Heights, Upper Canada, in the following October. He became colonel of the 2d artillery and adjutant-general under General Dearborn, March 18, 1813, and brigadier-general March 9, 1814. He distinguished himself at Chippewa, July 5, and on July 25, at Niagara (Lundy's Lane) where he was severely wounded. Congress gave him a vote of thanks and a gold medal for Chippewa and Niagara, and he was breveted a major-general, September 14, 1814. He went on a mission to Europe in 1815; was sent to Maine to settle the boundary question in 1839, and was promoted major-general and commander-in-chief of the army, June 25, 1841. As commander-in-chief in Mexico he took Vera Cruz, March 26, 1847, and gained the battles of Cerro Gordo, April 18; Contreras, August 19; San Antonio and Churubusco, August 20; Molinos del Rey, September 8; Chapultepec, September 13; and occupied the City of Mexico, September 14. For this brilliant campaign Congress gave him a vote of thanks and a gold medal. He received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Columbia College, New York, in 1850, and also from Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1861. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency in 1852; was made lieutenant-general, by brevet, February 28, 1855; was sent on a mission to Oregon to settle the boundary question, 1859; remained true to the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, and resigned, November 1, 1861. He died at West Point, New York, May 29, 1866.
Resolution of Congress Voting Voting Medals to Generals Brown, Scott, Porter, Gaines, Macomb, Ripley, and Mille
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby, presented to Major General Brown, and through him, to the officers and men of the regular army, and of the militia under his command, for their gallantry and good conduct in the successive battles of Chippewa, Niagara, and Erie, in Upper Canada, in which British veteran troops were beaten and repulsed by equal or inferior numbers; and that the President of the United States be requested to cause a gold medal to be struck, emblematical of these triumphs, and presented to Major-General Brown.
Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause a gold medal to be struck, with suitable emblems and devices, and presented to Major-General Scott, in testimony of the high sense entertained by Congress of his distinguished services in the successive conflicts of Chippewa and Niagara, and of his uniform gallantry and good conduct in sustaining the reputation of the arms of the United States.
Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause gold medals to be struck, with suitable emblems and devices, and presented to Brigadier-General Ripley, Brigadier-General Miller, and Major-General Porter, in testimony of the high sense entertained by Congress of their gallantry and good conduct in the several conflicts of Chippewa, Niagara, and Erie.
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby, presented to Major-General Gaines, and through him to the officers and men under his command, for their gallantry and good conduct in defeating the enemy at Erie on the fifteenth of August, repelling with great slaughter the attack of a British veteran army, superior in numbers; and that the President of the United States be requested to cause a gold medal to be struck, emblematical of this triumph, and presented to Major-General Gaines.
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby, presented to Major-General Macomb, and through him to the officers and men of the regular army under his command, and to the militia and volunteers of New York and Vermont, for their gallantry and good conduct, in defeating the enemy at Plattsburgh on the eleventh of September, repelling with one thousand five hundred men, aided by a body of militia and volunteers from New York and Vermont, a British veteran army, greatly superior in number; and that the President of the United States be requested to cause a gold medal to be struck, emblematical of this triumph, and presented to Major-General Macomb.
Approved November 3, 1814.
Source: The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 by J. F. Loubat, LL.D. (1878)