4G8 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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© Underwood & Underwood 



AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS RECEIVING THE FRENCH LEGION OF HONOR DECORATION 



The honor is being bestowed through the Naval Attache of the French Embassy at Wash- 

 ington on board the U. S. S. Pennsylvania. Note the guard of marines on deck and the 

 bluejackets in the distant background. 



caused several medals to be struck as 

 rewards for those who followed his for- 

 tunes against the Parliamentary party. 



The year 1650 was momentous in the 

 history of medals, as it produced the first 

 of which any authentic record exists 

 showing that it was issued to officers and 

 men alike. In all previous cases, so far 

 as records are available, the medals were 

 given only to the higher commanders, but 

 after the Battle of Dunbar, in 1650, when 

 Cromwell defeated a Royalist uprising in 

 Scotland, Parliament voted that medals 

 be given to all its troops engaged in the 



battle, rank and file. The officers re- 

 ceived small gold medals and the men 

 were given larger medals in silver. They 

 were worn suspended by chains from the 

 neck. 



Several naval medals were given dur- 

 ing the Commonwealth and in the reign 

 of Charles II for the victories over the 

 Dutch, but it was not until 1692, during 

 the time of William and Mary, that the 

 Dunbar precedent was followed, and a 

 medal was again given to all the rank 

 and file engaged. In that year a medal 

 was struck and given to all who took 



