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 After Treatment |
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| Medal
#3 The Grand Army of the Republic Presentation Medal |
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| Elected Commander-in-Chief of the GAR in August of 1886, Fairchild took his job seriously. As stated earlier, he worked almost non-stop to visit all of the GAR posts in the Midwest and Eastern states.(23) The membership of the organization increased by over 30,000 during his tenure to a total of 356,008 members.(24) | |||||
| A few weeks after his election Charleston, South Carolina, experienced a devastating earthquake. Fairchild called on GAR members to contribute relief money. He rushed to the site and in a reconciliatory speech to a Confederate veterans' organization he stated, "I have no bitter animosities in my breast...and today if I should meet the soldier whose aim made this armless sleeve, I would grasp his hand by the only hand he left me and have no hard feelings toward him."(25) | |||||
| Fairchild worked with the federal government to secure preferential railroad rates for GAR members. He also worked to promote pension legislation but met with stiff opposition from President Cleveland. Cleveland was not a "favorite son" of the GAR for he had bought a substitute instead of serving in the Civil War. It was Cleveland's veto of the Dependent Pension Bill and his intentions to return captured Confederate flags that led to Fairchild's famous "Palsy Speech." For his service to the GAR Fairchild was honored by his staff in 1887 at the 21st National Encampment in St. Louis with a commemorative Presentation Medal. It is this medal that is placed at the center of the medal group. | |||||
 GAR 1887 Presentation Medal |
The medal is composed of an upper eagle clasp, representing Defense, gripping crossed canons and cannon balls with both talons.(26) The eagle also holds a drawn sword ready to protect the flag which is normally paraphrased in the vertical ribbon with thirteen red and white stripes, and thirteen stars on a blue background. The horizontal bar contains four stars signifying Fairchild's Commander-in-Chief position while the lower star-shaped GAR pendant sparkles with diamonds and a gilded interior. | ||||
| The research of the five medals followed numerous paths: historians; writers; medal experts; Civil War authorities; museum colleagues; Internet forums; and Fairchild descendants. Most threads came up empty. The greatest reward was the discovery of Fairchild's original Presentation Medal. The below images juxtapose Sargent's painted version and the original medal.(27) | |||||
 GAR 1887 Presentation Medal |
 Original Lucius Fairchild Presentation Medal 1887 |
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| What is immediately apparent is Sargent's impressionistic reinterpretation of the medal. While the form of the medal is clearly recognizable, the scintillating execution of the painted image is quintessential Sargent. The essence of the medal seems to dance from the surface in a playful display of color and light. The details would have been obscured from his vantage point but the spirit of the medal has been precisely rendered. | |||||
 Reverse Lucius Fairchild Presentation Medal 1887 |
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| Presented
to Lucius Fairchild. Commander-in-Chief. G.A.R. By the Members of his 18 Staff 87.(28) |
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| Footnotes | |||||
| (23) Ross. Ibid. p. 204. | |||||
| (24) This figure is taken from Kenneth Johnson & Jeffrey Floyd. 1997 Membership and National Encampment Badges of the Grand Army of the Republic. OSMA Publications. Monograph 11. p.11. Their information is taken from Beath's History of the Grand Army of the Republic. | |||||
| (25) Ross. Ibid. p. 204. | |||||
| (26) Johnson & Floyd. Ibid. p. 4. | |||||
| (27) The thread that led to the discovery of the cited medal began with the purchase of Dennis Gregg's recently published, A Collector's Identification and Price Guide for Grand Army of the Republic Memorabilia. Original medal from the collection of Mr. John Holland, California. Photo credit: Michael Sorenson. | |||||
| (28) Photo credit: John Holland. | |||||
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Barry Bauman Conservation |
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