Case Study
           
           

John Singer Sargent's

"Portrait of General Lucius Fairchild"
           



After Treatment
           
           
           

The Medals
           

           
  Medal #2
The Unknown Medal
           
As stated earlier, the search for the medals took numerous paths. Contacts were made with historians, medal experts, museum curators, descendants and Internet forums. Four of the medals are now known. Medal #2 remains unknown but there are inherent clues, based on Fairchild's career, as to its possible origins. Gleaned information from Sargent's artistic reinterpretation of the previous medals lends benefits and difficulties. An examination of the medal within this framework is outlined below.
           
The Clasp
           
A comparison of the eagle clasps from Medals #2 and #3 reveals that Sargent has portrayed the two quite differently. This is most pronounced in the drawing of the wings which is more arch-shaped in Medal #3. The resemblance of Sargent's Medal #3 to the original, on the right, shows his faithfulness to the general drawing of the wings. While the details of the feathers are missing, the contour is firmly rendered. This characteristic is consistent with all of the previous medals.
           


Eagle Clasps Medals #2 and #3



Original Medal #3 Eagle Clasp
           
Although the eagle clasp and the possible crossed-canons within the Unknown Medal suggest a GAR origin, the drawing is so different from the known GAR eagle that it rules out artistic license and suggests a different parent organization. This theory is given greater credibility by the fact that Fairchild is already wearing two GAR medals, one of which signatured the organization's highest office. It would seem unlikely that he would wear a lesser GAR medal within this context.
           
The Ribbon



Ribbon Unknown Medal
 The ribbon in the Unknown Medal is clearly defined, consisting of blue, white and red stripes. It is this order though that lends to its mystery for almost all medals at this time used the typical red, white and blue composition. Rare examples that did use the arrangement, as seen in the Unknown Medal, are pictured below.
           


139th New York
Veteran Medal


1887 Women's Veteran
Relief Union Badge


French Ministry of
Health Medal of Honor
           
The upper left medal represents a Reunion Medal of the 139th New York Volunteers. While not Fairchild's regiment, it offers evidence that reunion medals could adopt the blue, white and red design. The Woman's Veteran Relief Union was founded in 1887 as the ladies auxiliary of the Union Veterans Union, established one year earlier as an organization of Union soldiers that had served at least six months of active duty. While no examples of UVU medals were found, it is impossible that Fairchild was a member due to the organization's contentions with the GAR over lack of membership requirements. The French medal, on the right, is pictured because Fairchild was Consul in Paris from 1878-1880. The possibility that he received a diplomatic medal is highly remote for he was only there a short time, spoke no French, and diplomatic medals were virtually nonexistent in the 19th Century.
           
           

The Bar
           
A medal bar is normally used to signify rank or position. In the Unknown Medal, the artist's representation is so calligraphically rendered that it is not possible to extract further information. At best, the bar appears to be solid gold without interior additions. It may have been inscribed but Sargent would have been interested in the spirit of the bar and not the interior details.



Bar
           
           

The Drop
           


Drop 		 As demonstrated in all of the previous medals, the drops were treated similar to the above bar. While the exterior form has been rendered faithfully, the interior becomes a blank canvas for Sargent to reinterpret. Interior form becomes pure design. Here a gold ring surrounds a stylized red, fan-shaped pattern. The interior must be seen as nuances of colored light, not tracery. Examination of other period medals and insignias, with respect to Fairchild's career, offers potential clues as to the parent organization.
           
Other Organizations
Fairchild would have been a member of numerous organizations. The fact that all of the other medals represent membership in a military association lends strong evidence that the Unknown Medal is also membership related. Few though would have been large enough to offer such a distinctive decoration. There were three however that fell into this category: the Soldier's and Sailor's Union League; the 1st Corps, 1st Division; and the Iron Brigade Association.
           
The Soldier's and Sailor's Union League held yearly conventions and endorsed candidates for the United States Presidency. In 1868, Fairchild was head of the Wisconsin delegation at the Chicago annual convention where he was temporary chairman and later the convention's permanent president.(32) There is no record though that he held higher office within the organization. His position as Governor of Wisconsin (1866-1872), and his ten years in Europe (1872-1882), make it unlikely that he served the League in any executive capacity. More importantly, no Soldier's and Sailor's Union League medals were discovered during the course of this case study.
           
Fairchild was colonel of the Wisconsin 2nd. This unit was brigaded with four other infantries and earned a reputation as the Iron Brigade. The brigade was part of the 1st Division, which was part of the 1st Corps. This is significant with respect to the Unknown Medal for the symbol of the 1st Corps, 1st Division was a circular red insignia. An original is pictured below on the left. A reunion medal from the 1st Corps, 1st Division may have looked quite similar to the 1st Corps, 3rd Division example, on the right, with the circular blue drop, for 3rd Division, being replaced with a red interior.(33) The pictured circular exterior ring is exact to the Unknown Medal but, once again, there is no record that Fairchild served such an organization and no examples of 1st Corps, 1st Division reunion medals were uncovered. From a painterly point of view, if Sargent had seen a solid red interior it is unlikely he would have painted a multi-colored fan-shaped design.
           



1st Corps 1st Division Insignia



1st Corps 3rd Division
Reunion Badge
           
           

The Iron Brigade Association
           
The third organization is the Iron Brigade Association. In proportion to its numbers, the Iron Brigade suffered the heaviest losses of any brigade in the Civil War. At Gettysburg 61% of its members were killed. Fairchild's 2nd lost 77%. To honor the bond of the men who fought in this brigade, the Iron Brigade Association was formed in 1880 in Milwaukee and held its first reunion in 1882.(34)
           



Iron Brigade Association Leaders 1885
Generals Fairchild, Bragg and Gibbon
 The main leaders of the organization were Generals John Gibbon, Edward Bragg. and Lucius Fairchild. Fairchild helped organize the 1885 reunion in Madison and at the 1886 5th Reunion in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the local paper recorded: "The center of attraction was one-armed General Fairchild...General Fairchild marched in the ranks and enjoyed the parade as much as anyone...It is estimated that during the procession there were 400 men in line."(35) Fairchild had just been elected Commander-in-Chief of the GAR and he must have been the pride of the reunion. The size of the organization was considerable and reunion events lasted several days.
           



Iron Brigade Reunion. Oshkosh, Wisconsin 1886  
Fairchild is arrowed above and detailed below
           
           
Conclusions
           
As one of the leaders of this military-related organization, Fairchild could easily have been presented with a one-of-a-kind Presentation Medal at some time. An examination of the brigade's insignia offers further support for an attribution for the Unknown Medal. An original Iron Brigade badge is pictured on the left consisting of a circular center surrounded by five fan-shaped wings, signifying the 2nd, 7th, 8th, 19th and 24th Infantries. The center image is a tinted, stylized version of the logo from an 1892 12th-reunion ribbon while the right image portrays Sargent's painted version.
           

Iron Brigade
Reunion Badge
Iron Brigade Logo
1892 Ribbon
Sargent's Drop
Unknown Medal
           
When Sargent saw complexity he painted scintillating simplicity. When he saw simplicity he painted form, something recognizable, an interpreted design. It is this understanding that designates the parent organization of the Unknown Medal as the Iron Brigade Association. From his vantage point, of probably ten feet, Sargent would have seen only a shimmering red-enamel light and not the details of the medal. In the below images, it's a far smaller jump in syntax between the Unknown Medal comparison on the left and the Presentation Medal, Medal #3, on the right.
           


Sargent's Drop
Unknown Medal
Iron Brigade Logo
1892 Ribbon
Sargent's Drop
Presentation Medal
Original Drop
Presentation Medal

           
In returning to the Gettysburg home where his arm was amputated, it is not surprising that in one of the last photos taken of the General, he proudly wears the Unknown Medal in honor of the Iron Brigade.
           



Lucius Fairchild 1895-6
in Gettysburg
           
           
           
Footnotes        
(32) Ross. Ibid. p. 97.
(33) Image from the collection of the Gettysburg National Military Park courtesy of Curator, Mr. Dean Knudsen.
(34) Information drawn from Mr. Lance Herdegen's informative Civil War Institute section of the Carroll College web site.
(35) Oshkosh Northwestern. September 2, 1886. Material supplied by Mr. Scott Cross. Archivist. Oshkosh Public Museum.
Note--Iron Brigade Reunion Photo and Badge from the collections of the Oshkosh Public Museum. Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Special thanks to Mr. Scott Cross, Archivist, for locating Fairchild in the parade.
           
           

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