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Medal Name: Sixteenth President of the United States of America
Struck for: President Abraham Lincoln
OBVERSE
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 1862.
Bust of President Lincoln, facing the right.
REVERSE
A civilized Indian is ploughing his field; his children are playing at ball;
on a hill to the left is a log cabin; to the right, a church;
beyond them, some ships and a steamboat on a river;
in the background, mountains;
above is an Indian scalping his enemy;
below, the head of an Indian squaw weeping;
on one side, a quiver of arrows;
on the other, a calumet and a bow - opposition of civilization to savage life.
BACKGROUND
Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky, February 12, 1809. He settled in Illinois, 1830; was captain of volunteers in the Black Hawk war, 1832; member of the State Legislature, 1834-1841; was admitted to the bar, 1836; settled in Springfield, Illinois, 1837; was a member of Congress, 1847-1849; President of the United States (first term), 1861-1865; (second term), March 4 to April 14, 1865. He was shot by an assassin in Washington, April 14, 1865, and died the next day, universally lamented. He was known by the sobriquet of "Honest Abe" (Abraham).
Source: The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 by J. F. Loubat, LL.D. (1878)