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WASHINGTON BEFORE BOSTON
DUVIVIER, Pierre Simon Benjamin (Charles Barber): USA,
1776, Bronze, 68 mm
Obv: Bust of George Washington (r): GEORGIO
WASHINGTON SVPREMO DVCI EXERCITVVM ADSERTORI LIBERTATIS (George
Washington, Supreme Commander of the Army, Champion of Freedom)
Below: COMITIA AMERICANA (The American Congress)
Rev: Washington and his military staff and aide-de-camp mounted on
Dorchester Heights, a bluff above the harbor at Boston. Washington, who is
upon a spirited horse, points to the British forces who are evacuating
Boston. In the lower middle ground may be seen the American army drawn up
on parade, and a battery of two cannons pointed at Boston
city. HOSTIBUS PRIMO FUGATUS (The Enemy for
the First Time Put to Flight).
Exergue: BOSTONIUM RECUPERATUM XVII. MARTII MDCCLXXVI.
(Boston Retaken March 17, 1776)
Signed: DU VIVIER PARIS. F.
Ref: Julian 114/MI-1; Failor 173/ 401; Loubat 1/1; Baker 30/49; Europese Penningen #
1694; Jaeger and Bowers 4/2; see also
Betts 244/542
This medal commemorates the British evacuation of
Boston on March 17, 1776, one of the most encouraging early victories of
the nascent American Army during the Revolutionary War. During the
previous winter Henry Knox had transported a number of canon from Fort
Ticonderoga in western New York to Boston. Washington with his commanders,
mounted on horses, stood by the canons on Dorchester Heights overlooking
the city. Under the threat of bombardment, the British troops quickly
fled, making Boston the first major city liberated from British
occupation.
There has been more interest in this medal than perhaps any other struck
in this country. The obverse undraped bust of Washington, based on the
bust by Jean Antoine Houdon, is considered the standard medallic
representation of Washington by which all others have been judged. The
original medal was struck in gold in the early days of 1790. Over the
years, the reverse of the medal has been restruck with new dies both in
Paris and in the United States. This specimen has no edge marks, and it
has likely been struck at the US Mint ca.1890 from dies executed by
Charles E. Barber.
LINK to History
and Varieties of the Medal (from Coins and Currency Collections, University of Notre Dame)
LINK to Siege
of Boston (from American Revolution)
LINK to the American
Revolution (from The History Place)
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