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Medal Name: Seventeenth President of the United States of America
Struck for: President Andrew Johnson
Approval: Act of Congress
OBVERSE
ANDREW JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 1865.
Undraped bust of President Johnson, facing the right
REVERSE
America is giving her hand to an Indian chief, before a mausoleum, upon which, in a crown of laurel, is the word PEACE. The mausoleum is surmounted by a small undraped bust of Washington, facing the right;
to the left, at the feet of the Indian, are the attributes of savage life, and behind him a buffalo hunt;
to the right, at the feet of America, are the emblems of civilization, and behind her a railway train.
BACKGROUND
Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, December 29, 1808. He settled in Greenville, Tennessee,1826; was a member of the State Legislature, 1835 and 1839; State senator, 1841; member of Congress, 1843-1853; governor of Tennessee, 1853-1857; and United States senator, 1857-1863. He remained true to the Union when his State seceded, and was appointed military-governor of Tennessee, 1864; became vice-president of theUnited States, March 4, 1865; President, after the assassination of President Lincoln, April 16, 1865-1869. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate of the United States in 1870, and for Congress in 1871; but was elected tothe Senate in 1875. He died July 31, 1875, near Elizabethtown, Carter County, Tennessee.
Source: The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 by J. F. Loubat, LL.D. (1878)