Medals and Honors

Did you know that the Congressional Medal of Honor was established during the US Civil War?

The Medal of Honor was the first medal for which all enlisted men could be nominated. On 12/21/1861, a bill was passed authorizing the medals of honor for seaman and marines.
2 months later a similar bill, authorizing medals for privates in the Army was introduced. On 7/14/1862, President Lincoln signed the bill into law.
"Congressional Medal of Honor
The original design shows the goddess Minerva surrounded by thirty-four stars representing the number of states in the Union. Minerva is fending off a symbol of discord.
The Medal of Honor was the first medal for which all enlisted men in the U.S. military could be nominated.
On December 21 1861, a bill was passed authorizing the production and distribution of 200 “medals of honor.” Designed to “promote the efficiency of the Navy” the medals were would be “bestowed upon such petty officers, seamen, landsmen and marines as shall distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other seamanlike qualities during the present war.”
Two months later, a similar bill, authorizing medals for privates in the Army, was introduced. On July 14, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill into law. It read in part:
“Resolved by the Senate and house of Representatives of the Unites States of America in Congress assembled, that the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause two thousand ‘medals of honor’ to be prepared with suitable emblematic devices, and to direct that the same be presented in the name of the Congress, to such non-commissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities, during the present insurrection [Civil War].”
Struck from the same die as the Navy Medal of Honor, the original Army Medal differed only in the emblem that attached it to the same red, white and blue ribbon as the Navy. Replacing the anchor was an eagle perched on crossed cannon and clutching a saber in its talons.
Replacing the words “Personal Valor” on the back of the Medal were the words “The Congress To” with an area to engrave the recipient’s name.
On March 3, 1863, Lincoln signed a measure broadening the President's authority to award the army Medal of Honor to "such officers, noncommissioned officers and privates as have most distinguished, or who may thereafter most distinguish, themselves in action." The act not only expanded the number of potential candidates to include commissioned officers but also allowed the medal to be awarded for deeds performed before the start of the Civil War. The army act, unlike the navy act, however, failed to set down a system for nominating army candidates for the honor— an omission that led to controversy in later years.

In June 1863, some 300 men of the 27th Maine was offered the medal as an inducement to defer its discharge, and two years later the 23 soldiers who escorted Lincoln’s body to Springfield, Ill for burial also received it. By then it was little more than a good-conduct award. When President Andrew Johnson conferred on the only female awardee, the controversial Dr. Mary Walker in 1865, he stated that he was doing so in recognition of her “meritorious services” (which he did not specify) and because she could not be given a brevet or honorary rank, as she was not a commissioned officer. It has been proposed that the real reason she got the medal was that Johnson. Along with General William Sherman and General George Thomas, who recommended her for it, wished to put an end to her incessant pestering.

In 1917, an Army review board, implementing a Congressional Act designed to upgrade the Medal of Honor, struck 910 names from the list of holders for not deserving it either by the old standard or by the new criterion of having in “actual conflict with an enemy” performed with “distinguished and conspicuous gallantry or intrepidity, at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty.” Among those removed were the men of the 27th Maine, Lincoln’s funeral escort, and Dr, Mary E. Walker. In notifying her of its actions, the review board stated that it could find “nothing in the records to show the specific act or acts for which the decoration was originally awarded. Walkers name remained off the Medal of Honor Roll for 60 years. After intense lobbying and a barrage of petitions from Mrs. Walker’s great grandniece, President Carter reinstated the medal in 1977 and once more her name appears on the list of the list. "