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Medal Name: Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable
Struck for: Cyrus West Field
Approval: Act of Congress March 2, 1867
OBVERSE
Within a circle formed by a telegraphic cable: HONOR AND FAME ARE THE REWARD.
On clouds in the midst of sunbeams the undraped bust of Cyrus West Field, facing the left.
A hand from above places a crown on his head;
below is the Atlantic Ocean; two ships going in opposite directions are paying out the cable;
to the left, the western hemisphere, AMERICA;
to the right, the eastern hemisphere, EUROPE;
beneath, in a band formed by the Atlantic cable and a chain uniting the two worlds, INDOMITABLE PERSEVERANCE AND ENDURING FAITH ACHIEVED THE SUCCESS
REVERSE
Within an endless chain: BY RESOLUTION OF THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. MARCH 2,1867. TO CYRUS W. (West) FIELD, OF NEW YORK FOR HIS FORESIGHT, FAITH, AND PERSISTENCY, IN ESTABLISHING TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION, BY MEANS OF THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH, CONNECTING THE OLD WITH THE NEW WORLD.
To the left, the American shield;
to the right, a star formed of thirty-one smaller stars;
below, the terrestrial globe, showing AMERICA and EUROPE, surrounded with electric sparks, surmounted by a torch and a caduceus crossed, and resting on branches of laurel and of oak.
BACKGROUND
Cyrus West Field was born in Stockbridge, assachusetts, November 30, 1819. He went to New York city at the age of fifteen, and entered a commercial house. He was one of the first promoters of an Atlantic telegraph, and founded the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company in 1854; organized the Atlantic Telegraph Company in 1856; and took a leading part in the various attempts to lay a transatlantic cable. He received a vote of thanks and a gold medal from Congress for the final success of this great undertaking.
Resolution of Congress Voting a Medal to Cyrus W. Field
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 hereby are, presented to Cyrus W. Field of New York, for his foresight, courage and determination in establishing telegraphic communication by means of the Atlantic cable, traversing mid-ocean and connecting the Old World with the New; and that the President of the United States be requested to cause a gold medal to be struck, with suitable emblems, devices, and inscription, to be presented to Mr. Field.
And be it further resolved, That when the medal shall have been struck, the President shall cause a copy of this joint resolution to be engrossed on parchment, and shall transmit the same, together with the medal, to Mr. Field to be presented to him in the name of the people of the United States of America.
And further, That a sufficient sum of money to carry this resolution into effect is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Approved March 2, 1867.
Source: The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 by J. F. Loubat, LL.D. (1878)