medals were made and issued over the past 30 years causing consternation among top government and military officials. The Grand Army of the Republic’s (G.A.R.) medal, available to every veteran that joined, was very similar in appearance to the Army’s Medal of Honor with the exception of the ribbon and features cast into the inverted bronze star. The reason given for this change is that many of the decorative elements of the first pattern Medal of Honor were copied and issued by veteran’s organizations created after the end of the Civil War. The appearance of the medal remained much the same except for a change in the cloth ribbon linking the bronze bar to the inverted 5-point star. The second medal is of the 1896 pattern, issued to Civil war veterans 31 years after the end of the conflict. The original Medal of Honor, left, and the G.A.R. He died on March 19, 1917, at the age of 75, and was buried in the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Littlestown, Pennsylvania. Reigle survived the war and returned home to live a long, quiet life. The medal was awarded to Reigle by President Lincoln himself, and he was also granted a 35 day furlough to return home to Adams County. Sheridan, commander of the Union Army at Cedar Creek, sent the 23 year old Adams County native to Washington with the captured flag, to present it to the War Department as a trophy of the Union victory. His citation for the medal reads “For gallantry while rushing forward to capture a Confederate flag at the stone fence where the enemy’s last stand was made.” For his bravery that day, Major General Philip H. Reigle, at that time, was the color-sergeant of the 87 th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, carrying the unit’s national colors (the American flag with the unit’s designation painted on).
This medal was awarded to Corporal Reigle for his actions at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, fought October 19, 1864. The reverse side of the star is engraved “The Congress To Corp’l. The pointed end of each arms ends in a tiny trefoil. The relief is encircled by 34 tiny 5-point stars with an oak and laurel branch inside each arm of the star. Suspended from this eagle is an inverted 5-point bronze star with a circular relief at the center of Minerva, the Roman Goddess of Wisdom and War, fending off discord. Beneath the ribbon is a bronze spread eagle clutching a saber and perched atop crossed cannon barrels with a pyramid of eight cannonballs below. Suspended below this bar is an American flag ribbon with the blue union in corduroy and the striped portion in ribbed cotton. The medal is composed of a rectangular bronze bar with a federal shield at the center flanked by a cornucopia with laurel leaves along the bottom edge. The first medal is of the pattern approved by President Abraham Lincoln for the United States Army in July of 1862. The National Park Service at Gettysburg has the distinct honor of caring for and preserving on behalf of the American people, four Medals of Honor awarded to three individuals between 18. The programs are being scheduled to coincide with the 2013 Congressional Medal of Honor Society Convention which is being held in Gettysburg, Pa., Sept 18-22.
#Grand army of the republic medal recipients series
On Saturday, September 21, Gettysburg National Military Park will offer a series of free interpretive programs exploring the Medal of Honor and the battle of Gettysburg. They are the Congressional Medal of Honor. Sixty-three of them were awarded to soldiers of the Army of the Potomac for individual gallantry as a result of the Battle of Gettysburg, and hundreds more during the remaining months of the American Civil War. Nowhere near the size of a shot-torn battle flag or the gold-braided uniform of a general, these small yet and powerful objects represent the highest standard of courage and self-sacrifice our nation can bestow upon an individual. Reigle’s Medal of Honor, an original design, presented to him by President LincolnĪmong the tens of thousands of artifacts in the museum collection at Gettysburg National Military Park that document the experiences of the Civil War soldier are four of exceptional value and importance.