"Washington before Boston"
Comitia Americana medal, Washington before Boston, 1776
Silver, engraved by Pierre Simon Benjamin Duvivier, 1789
68 mm
Congress awarded Gen. George Washington this silver medal for his "wise and spirited conduct in the siege and acquisitions of Boston." On 16 February 1776, Washington used the element of surprise to force the British from Boston. With the ground too frozen to dig trenches, Washington instructed his troops to employ a diversionary bombardment while they built a breastwork, a breast-high defensive structure. This prevented a British attack. The engraver Pierre Simon Benjamin Duvivier completed this commemorative medal in 1789, and it became the standard by which all medallic portraits of Washington are measured. It is one of nine Comitia Americana medals, the first congressional medals issued, in a set presented to Washington by Thomas Jefferson in 1790.
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