Hostibus Primo Fugatis: The Washington Before Boston Medal

HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

Back in 2015, I was at the Boston Public Library for a special exhibition called “We Are One,” which showcased items from their collection dating from the French and Indian War to the Constitutional Convention, showing how thirteen fractious colonies forged a single national identity. Libraries have a lot more than just books, of course. The BPL has everything from streaming movies and music to historic maps to medieval manuscripts to Leslie Jones’ photos to one remarkable gold medal. Some of the items on display were breathtaking, like a map hand drawn by George Washington, Paul Revere’s hand drawn diagram showing where the bodies fell during the Boston Massacre, and a gorgeous 360 degree panorama showing the view from the top of Beacon Hill during the siege of Boston. What stopped me in my tracks, though, was a solid gold medal. It was about three inches in diameter, but it was hard to tell through the thick and probably bulletproof glass protecting it.

On the side facing me, I could see a bust of George Washington and some words, but they were too small to read. A special bracket held the medal in front of a mirror, and on the back I could make out more lettering, as well as a cannon and a group of men on horses. Later, I learned that this was the Washington Before Boston Medal, commemorating the British evacuation of Boston. It was the first Congressional gold medal, and the first medal of any kind commissioned by the Continental Congress during our Revolutionary War. This illustrious medal’s journey to the stacks of the Boston Public Library will take us from Henry Knox’s cannons at Dorchester Heights to John Adams at the Second Continental congress in Philly to Ben Franklin in Paris to a Confederate’s dank basement in West Virginia during the Civil War.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/253/

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Hostibus Primo Fugatis

• John Adams proposes a medal and letter for Washington
• John Adams writes a letter of congratulations to Washington
• The letter from Congress to Washington congratulating him
• Washington’s thank you letter to Congress
• John Adams writes to Abigail about trying to find an artisan in Philly
• Notes on the centennial of Evacuation Day
• Jefferson’s description of the medal
• Helpful notes about the medal from the editors of Founders Online
• More notes on the medal from the Coin and Currency Collections at Notre Dame
• The Medallic History of the United States
• A nearly perfect silver medal from the original Paris die sold for $156k in 2019
• We Are One at the BPL in 2015
• Header image

Sponsored by Liberty & Co.

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Liberty & Co, who sell unique products inspired by the American Revolution. If you find yourself inspired by today’s episode, you might consider the Journal of Major George Washington. By the time the Washington Before Boston medal was presented, he was already first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. But before George Washington was a legend, he was a 21 year old min the Virginia militia. Dispatched by the governor in 1753 to deliver an ultimatum to the French who were encroaching on western lands, he returned instead with their flat refusal. Returning to the same area in what’s now Pennsylvania the next year, he stumbled blindly into a skirmish with a French patrol, accidentally setting off the global war we know as the seven years war or the French and Indian war.

Between those two expeditions, however, George Washington’s journal of the first journey was printed as a pamphlet in Virginia, and Liberty & Co offers a beautiful reproduction of the pamphlet, including a fold out map of the conflicting land claims on the frontier. If 18th century pamphlets aren’t your thing, you might like the Houdon bust of Washington that the obverse of the Washington Before Boston medal is based on.

Save 20% on any purchase with the discount code HUBHISTORY.