INDIAN PEACE MEDALS

INDIAN PEACE MEDALS IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Silver medals, designed for presentation to Indian chiefs and warriors, played a prominent part in American Indian policy. Known as Indian peace medals, these tokens of friendship and symbols of allegiance belong not only to the history of Indian-white relations in the United States but to our artistic heritage as well, for the government took great pains to see that the medals were of high merit. Among the Indians the medals were cherished possessions, to be buried with the chiefs or passed down from generation to generation.

The practice of honoring Indian leaders in such a fashion did not originate with the United States. Though the ultimate origin of the usage is obscure, the French, Spanish, and British had distributed medals for many decades. Thomas Jefferson spoke of the use of medals among the Indians as “an ancient custom from time immemorial” which had its beginning in the European practice of giving medals to “the negotiators of treaties and other diplomatic characters, or visitors of distinction.” Whatever the source, the practice took firm hold in the United States. Medals were given to Indian chiefs on important occasions, such as the signing of a treaty, a visit of important Indians to the national capital, or a tour of Indian country by some federal official. They were distributed, too, by Indian agents on the frontier at their own discretion but according to established norms.

The practice became so firmly established, indeed, that it was impossible to conduct satisfactory relations with the Indians without medals. The head of the Indian Office, Thomas L. McKenney, made this clear to the Secretary of War at the end of 1829. “So important is its continuance esteemed to be,” he wrote, “that without medals, any plan of operations among the Indians, be it what it may, is essentially enfeebled. This comes of the high value which the Indians set upon these tokens of Friendship. They are, besides this indication of the Government Friendship, badges of power to them, trophies of renown. They will not consent to part from this ancient right, as they esteem it; and according to the value they set upon medals is the importance to the Government in having them to bestow.” The use of medals reflected American relations with the Indians, and the history of American Indian policy is written in the history of the medals. When the United States was in competition with the British for the friendship of the tribes, the medals were of supreme importance, for the chiefs signified their switch from adherence to the British to loyalty to the United States by formally turning in their British medals and accepting in their place those bearing the likeness of the American President. The medals, perhaps even more than flags, carried the full weight of national allegiance. They were personal marks, worn with pride upon the breasts of the chiefs, Through the ages, medals have been among the most intriguing of historical artifacts. There is something in their solidity and permanence, in the tight limitations placed by their very nature upon the artistic designs they can bear, and in the beauty of the metals from which they are struck that make medals ideal vehicles for the symbols of a culture or an age. and unlike flags were nearly indestructible. Within the tribes, too, possession of a medal gave rank and distinction, and despite protestations of government officials to the contrary, by awarding medals the United States designated or "made" the chiefs with whom it dealt.

As the relations between the American government and the Indian tribes changed during the nineteenth century, the significance of the medals suffered gradual attrition. Less and less symbols of national allegiance and friendship, the medals became mere rewards for good behavior or for services performed. Unofficial medals flooded the Indian reservations, and the authentic official medals that survived passed in large numbers into the hands of private collectors and numismatic museums. But the present state should not obscure the grand tradition that once obtained.

George Washington's administration was a crucial period in American relations with the Indians, who for the most part had taken the side of the British during the Revolutionary War. The new nation needed to conciliate them if it was to start existence in peace. Washington and his Secretary of War, Henry Knox, used every means possible to attain this goal, and they soon realized that silver peace medals were a necessary instrument in their policy.

The medals played an especially significant role in the relations between the United States and the southern tribes. These Indians, like those in the north, had been granted medals by the British; and the Spanish, too, had given medals and commissions to important chiefs to hold them in allegiance to the king. When the United States replaced the British, the Indians were eager to obtain symbols of allegiance from the new Great Father. Thus the commissioners who held a conference with the Choctaws at Hopewell, South Carolina, in January, 1786, reported, "The chiefs produced their medals and commissions, and were very desirous of exchanging for those under the United States."

In February, 1792, Secretary of War Knox sent Leonard Shaw, a recent Princeton graduate, as temporary agent to the Cherokee nation. Shaw took with him presents of clothing and silver ornaments (including medals) for the chiefs, as part of his procedure for winning the friendship of the tribes. He also carried with him from Philadelphia messages and medals for the Chickasaws and Choctaws. In a letter addressed to Piamingo and other chiefs of the Chickasaws, Knox wrote: "The President of the United States is very desirous to reward the attachment of Piamingo, and the warriors who were with him at Fort Washington, and he now sends to Piamingo, and two other principal chiefs. - great silver medals, and each a suit of rich uniform clothes; and further, he has ordered presents to be sent from Fort Washington to the Chickasaw nation generally, of such articles as shall be useful to them." Piamingo was urged to send some of his warriors to join the United States forces at Fort Washington.

A similar letter was given Shaw for delivery to the Choctaws: "Your father, General Washington, sends you two great silver medals, and two sets of arm bands, and also two suits of rich uniform clothes, as a mark of his affection. You will point out the two great chiefs who are to receive these marks of distinction."

In the Cherokee national council held at Estanaula at the end of June, Shaw read a speech from President Washington and distributed the medals and other presents to that nation. At this conference the Indian practice of passing on the medal of a deceased chief to another chief of distinction was indicated in the speech of Black Fox. "The Dragging Canoe has left the world," he said on June 28. "He was a man of consequence in his country. He was a friend both to his own and the white people. But his brother is still in place; and I mention now in public, that I intend presenting him with his deceased brother's medal; for he promises fair to possess sentiments similar to those of his brother, both with regard to the red and white."

"I present this Medal as a symbol of peace and friendship and ask that you pray for all mankind so we may live in harmony. God has given us the land, the sky, the water, and all living things. Let us endure and enjoy."

OSAGE PEACE MEDAL

Sylvester J. Tinker, Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe of Indians, in a private audience at the Vatican on April 2, presented the Holy Father with a Peace Medal. This marked the first time in history that an Indian Chief had made a presentation of this magnitude to such a prominent leader of Christianity.

The front of the 7½ troy ounce solid silver Peace Medal shows Chief Tinker holding the Eagle Wing Fan, a symbol that associates itself with the Indian religion. The cross of Christianity which appears at the bottom denotes that the two religions of the Osage life are united. The date 1975 marks the year of the medal's release and also the one hundredth year of leadership under the eleven chiefs depicted. The word WahSho-Shah, meaning the courageous one, is Chief Tinker's Indian name.Depicted on the medal's reverse are the ten chiefs who with Tinker have led the Osage Nation for the past one hundred years starting with James Bigheart who served from 1875 to 1900 and Ne-Kah-wah-she-tun-kah, Peter G. Bigheart, A. H. Brown, Fred Lookout, A-shegah-hre, Charles Brown, Arthur Bonnicastle, John Oberly, and Paul Pitts. Chief Tinker, who has served as Chief from 1970 to the present, is a cousin of General Clarence Tinker after whom Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City was named.

The Peace Medal (shown at the right) was designed after the traditional Peace Medals issued by the federal government in their early dealings with Indian Tribes. The Osage Peace Medal is the first oval design to be struck for the past ninety years!

Chief and Mrs. Tinker went to Rome with John and Loretta Griffin of Phoenix, Arizona. Griffin was responsible for the production of the Peace Medal, which his wife designed, andthe accompanying book, THE OSAGE LANGUAGE, a copy of which the Chief also presented to the Holy Father. The Vatican advised that the Osage Peace Medal and the Osage Language book would be placed on permanent display in the Vatican museum.

The Peace Medals struck by Metallic Art Company have been limited to four hundred pieces, each serially numbered. The Osage Language book published by Griffin was limited to one thousand numbered copies, the first four hundred books being reserved to accompany the medals.

The Tinkers and Griffins were graciously hosted by the Vatican during their stay in Rome and attended the Pontifical Mass held in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday. Bishop Bernard Ganter of the Tulsa Diocese and Cardinal Raimondie, who was the Apostolic delegate to the United States and who was made an honorary Osage by Tinker several years ago, arranged for the private audience with Pope Paul VI.

Further information may be obtained from Chief Tinker, P.O. Box 2, Pawhuska, Oklahoma 74056 or from John Griffin, 2937 West Indian School, Phoenix, Arizona 85017.

NATION OF THE OSAGE SOVEREIGN PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP

From a very early date the medals were intended not only as political symbols marking Indian adherence to the United States, but also as rewards for accepting the white man's ways. President Washington was deeply concerned to introduce agricultural and domestic skills among the southern Indians, and the first agents to the tribes were sent primarily to lead them on the road to civilization. At the end of his presidency, Washington addressed a delegation of Cherokees at the national capital: When I have retired to my farm I shall hear of you; and it will give me great pleasure to know that you have taken my advice, and are walking in the path which I have described. But before I retire I shall speak to my beloved man, the Secretary of War, to get prepared some medals, to be given to such Cherokees as by following my advice shall best deserve them. For this purpose Mr. [Silas] Dinsmoor is from time to time to visit every town in your nation. He will give instructions to those who desire to learn what I have recommended. He will see what improvements are made; who are most industrious in raising cattle; in growing corn, wheat, cotton and flax; and in spinning and weaving; and on those who excel these rewards are to be bestowed.

Washington medals were also presented in the north, where British medals and before them, French medals had long been an element in Indian diplomacy. The British had distributed medals in considerable numbers, and American medals were used to offset continuing British influence. The most celebrated of these was the large silver medal presented to the Seneca chief Red Jacket in 1792 by President Washington in Philadelphia. Little is known about the circumstances of the presentation of this medal or of similar ones given to other Iroquois chiefs in the same period, but the Red Jacket medal itself became well known as the prototype of large Washington oval medals. The famous chief wore it on all important occasions and after his death it was passed down in his family. General Ely S. Parker, a descendant of Red Jacket, received it at mid-century. “At my installation as leading Sachem of the Iroquois Confederacy in 1851,” Parker wrote many years later, “I was formally invested with it by the master of ceremonies placing it around my neck, the speaker remarking the fact that it was given by the great Washington to my tribal relative, Red Jacket, and that it was to be retained and worn as evidence of the bond of perpetual peace and friendship established and entered into between the people of the United States and the Six Nations of Indians at the time of its presentation.” In later years, as the United States government sought to maintain or strengthen relations with the tribes, the practice of bestowing medals increased. In our own time, the practice of bestowing peace medals has become the property of the tribes and their chiefs. On May 20, 1973, when Mr. Wendall Chino, leader of the Mescalero Apache, presented a Peace Medal to President Richard M. Nixon in connection with the Mescalero Apache Indian Nation's Centennial observance, it marked the first time in history an Indian Nation presented a Peace Medal to the head of a greater power. Before, Peace Medals had been presented to Indian leaders by world governments. On April 2, 1975, Sylvester J. Tinker, principal chief of the Osage tribe of Indians, presented Pope Paul VI with a Peace Medal during a private audience at the Vatican.