Indian Peace Medal - 1871 Ulysses S. Grant, J-IP-42 Silver 64mm NGC AU58

Ulysses S. Grant Indian Peace Medals

It was within a week of the inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant that Anthony C. Paquet, the artist who crafted the Andrew Johnson medals, wrote asking the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the job of making the Grant Indian medals. He proposed yet again to present the Capitol building on the reverse of the medal, and to engrave the dies for two sizes of medals, asking for a payment of $3,000. Paquet wrote, "Having made the dies for many medals ordered by the Government, including the medal voted by Congress to General U.S. Grant, and the Indian medals for the late Administration, I have no doubt of my ability to execute the work proposed, to the entire satisfaction of the Department." The artist had his proposal endorsed by Senators Carl Schurz and Alexander G. Cattrell, as well as two other important men.

It was on May 25, 1870, that Ely S. Parker, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, asked Paquet to provide samples or designs for "some medallions of President Grant...for distribution to Indians," and to travel to Washington to discuss working on the medals. Paquet met with Parker on May 31 and signed a contract, which specified that he cut dies "for medals for Indian chiefs, to contain on the obverse a Roman bust in profile of the present President of the United States, and on the reverse the full view of the U.S. Capitol." He began working on the dies, aiming for the March 1, 1871, deadline, when he was taken aback by a letter from the Indian Office: "As the President's Cabinet have adopted a new design for the Indian medal, you will please suspend work on the dies for the medals ordered...the reverse will be entirely different."

Money exchanged hands and the contract had to be rewritten to incorporate the new reverse design. Francis Paul Prucha wrote, "The design of the reverse was an elaborate one, with a globe, a Bible, agricultural implements, and the inscription ON EARTH PEACE GOOD WILL TOWARDS MEN. The date 1871 was entered on the reverse. Even the obverse was cluttered, for besides the bust of Grant, there were a peacepipe and branch of olive... The whole was surrounded by a border of olive leaves intersected at the top, bottom, and each side with a United States shield....there was no room for Grant's name. One can imagine Grant and his cabinet, each making his suggestion as to what should be added to the design." There was only one size of this medal produced.

Ulysses S. Grant and the Indians

In his inaugural address, Grant said, "The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land -- the Indians -- [is] one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course toward then which tends to their civilization and ultimate citizenship." It was shortly after taking office that he appointed Ely S. Parker as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The first Indian to have that position, Parker was a Seneca Indian who served as lieutenant colonel under Grant in the Civil War. In an attempt to end the corruption and abuses of Indian agents, Grant had regulations established for a new Board of Indian Commissioners. However, changes in government policy on the Indians occurred at a significant time in westward expansion.  While working to reform the Indian Office and other agencies, Grant also oversaw the development of millions of acres of public federal land, as well as the private acquisition of land by speculators, pioneers, and railroad and mining firms.

It dawned upon Grant that his expansionist policy would mean removing Indians from desirable land. His Indian Peace Policy, which was initiated to fix the Indian Office and oust corrupt agents, also required intense agricultural education on the reservations and the establishment of schools and churches that would help Indians become good Christians. Grant said, "No matter what ought to be the relations between such settlements and the aborigines, the fact is they do not harmonize well, and one or the other has to give way in the end. A system which looks to the extinction of a race is too horrible for a nation to adopt...I see no substitute for such a system, except in placing all the Indians on large reservations, as rapidly as it can be done, and giving them absolute protection there."

The policies of Grant regarding the Indians did not fulfill his promises. Indians continued to be forced off their land by white settlers, who depended on the Army to protect them from retaliation. The situation on the reservations became increasingly desperate, including extreme poverty, while Grant oversaw the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad and the massive slaughter of the buffalo on the Plains, which destroyed Indian culture and economy.

Ulysses S. Grant Indian Peace Medals for Indians and collectors

This IPM was produced in 1871 in one size (64 mm) to be distributed to Indians. An original example sold at auction at Heritage Auctions in August of 2013. The Heritage website says about this piece, "In our opinion, this medal has the details of a XF specimen that is cleaned and scratched and has graffiti....Though many bronze examples of J-IP-42 were sold to collectors, surviving silver Grant peace medals are very rare."