Catalog Reference

Adams-Bentley 6
A.J.N., IX, 28
L-4

One need not be a military mastermind to look at a map and understand the strategic importance of the Hudson River. From New York City's seaward port to the Canadian border, the Hudson River acts as a wet superhighway, navigable for all but a 12 mile overland portage from the falls of the Hudson to the southern tip of Lake George, whose northern end connects to Lake Champlain at Fort Ticonderoga. Control of this waterway could effectively cleave New England from the mid Atlantic states and thus manage the entire Northern theatre of the American Revolution.

When two minor forts along the Hudson fell into British hands in May 1779, Washington was alarmed. Sir Henry Clinton's forces captured Verplanck's Point and Stony Point, across the river from each other at a narrow choke point 12 miles downriver from West Point. The forts themselves weren't of great importance, but they represented the termini of Kings Ferry, the main commercial path across the Hudson in the region. With West Point fortified to command the river, and Washington's main army in the area, it was important to retake what was lost.

Washington worked quickly, asking Pennsylvania Line commander Gen. Anthony Wayne to lead an expedition against Stony Point, on the west side of the river. The British position was atop a hilly peninsula that was accessible only from the low swampland to the west. Wayne built a small force of infantry and engineers to retake Stony Point. The 1,150 men of the Light Infantry gathered in the middle of the night under a veil of darkness and silence; Wayne is said to have had dogs in the neighborhood killed so none would sound an alarm. Muskets were unloaded and bayonets were fixed, giving Wayne not only the advantage of a quiet approach, but also a chance to avenge the bayonet massacre near his Pennsylvania home that became known as the Battle of Paoli. "Remember Paoli" became one of the rallying cries of his force as they put their bayonets to use at Stony Point.

Wayne commanded the full body of troops, while the right and left advance guards were commanded by the patrician French engineer Lt. Col. Francois De Fleury and Major John Stewart, respectively. De Fleury was the first to breach the fort's earthworks and grab the British flag, yelling "The fort's our own!" When Wayne wrote to Washington at daybreak to report the victory, he told the general "our officers and men behaved like men who are determined to be free."

Wayne and his men had captured valuable supplies, more than 500 British soldiers, and 15 artillery pieces in 25 minutes of brisk action, losing just 15 killed. This was not a major battle, nor was it a major victory, but its success nonetheless delighted Washington and the members of the Continental Congress, none of whom had gotten much good news during the 1779 campaign season. Wayne, De Fleury, and Stewart were all voted medals just days after the taking of Stony Point.

The Resolution:

Resolved, unanimously, That Congress entertain a proper sense of the good conduct of the officers and soldiers under the command of Brigadier General Wayne, in the assault of the enemy's works at Stoney Point, and highly commend the coolness, discipline and firm intrepidity exhibited on that occasion.

Resolved, unanimously, That Lieutenant Colonel Fleury, and Major Stewart, who, by their situation in leading the two attacks, had a more immediate opportunity of distinguishing themselves, have, by their personal achievements, exhibited a bright example to their brother soldiers, and merit in a particular manner the approbation and acknowledgment of the United States.

Resolved, unanimously, That Congress warmly approve and applaud the cool, determined spirit with which Lieutenant Gibbons and Lieutenant Knox led on the forlorn hope, braving danger and death in the cause of their country.

Resolved, unanimously, That a medal, emblematical of this action, be struck:

That one of gold be presented to Brigadier General Wayne, and a silver one to Lieutenant Colonel Fleury and Major Stewart respectively and that five thousand of copper be struck for Congress.

- Continental Congress Resolution of July 26, 1779

The only foreign officer to receive a medal for heroism during the American Revolution was also the first to receive his finished prize. Robert Troup, the secretary of the Continental Congress' Board of Treasury, wrote to Benjamin Franklin in Paris in September 1779 to ask him to begin work on several medals: "The impracticability of executing the Work in this part of the World obliges the Board to forward them to you with an earnest request to have the Medals voted struck as soon as possible with such Devices as may be judged emblematical of the Occasions which excited the Notice and obtained the Thanks of Congress." Troup also requested that the dies be forwarded to America as soon as possible.

Within just a few months, Lt. Col. De Fleury was already writing to Benjamin Franklin dictating the inscriptions for his silver medal and requesting that a specimen be delivered to King Louis XVI.

Sir

The king has dezired me to send to him my medaille; I did answer, you had Received order to have it struck; & that as soon it would be done, I should present it to him.

If it was possible it Could be struck next week, I would be much obliged to you. Or if you have too much business, give me that Care; tell me the price you intend to put to it, & I shall Carrefully follow your directions.

I Could wish in one side the fort of Stonypoint, with this motto. aggeres, paludes, hostes victi. On the other side. A crown of Laurels, with a flag Struck. & this motto- Corona muralis. Round it, the united States to L. C. Fleury.

I beg you would answer to Me as soon as possible, & believe me very Respectfully your Most obedient humble servant

Fleury

Franklin, ever eager to please the French, set to work at a pace that was unusual for him. He wrote De Fleury in January 1780 to ask for help locating a proper medalist. There is no record De Fleury was helpful in that regard, but in March 1780 the well-born officer wrote to Franklin to inform him that he would be rejoining his regiment but that his medal could be left with his father. De Fleury also asked if a gold medal could be struck at his own expense. "It will not hurt the dies," De Fleury wrote, "I leave the money for that purpose in the hands of the medalist. He will keep the gold medal for me till my return."

While Franklin had De Fleury's medal struck with some of the inscriptions he had requested - Aggeres Paludes Hostes Vici does indeed appear on the reverse of his medal around an image of the fort at Stony Point - he does not appear to have satisfied De Fleury's ego by allowing a medal to be struck in gold, a composition intended exclusively for those of a general's rank and not their junior officers, no matter how wealthy or influential.

Pierre-Simon Duvivier wrote to Franklin on April 20, 1780, to report that De Fleury's medal had been completed, but also asked Franklin to come look at the proofs of the unhardened dies "to take advantage of your opinions while there is still time: "je desirerois avant de faire tremper les coins avoir l'honneur de vous en montrer les Épreuves pour profiter de vos avis pendant quil en est encore temps."

Within a month, the medals had been struck, as Duvivier reported to Franklin in a letter dated May 27, 1780. Franklin wrote home to Samuel Huntington, President of the Continental Congress, on May 31 to pass along the news. "The Medal for M. Fleury is done and deliver'd to his Order, he being absent." Duvivier displayed the medal at the Salon of 1781. De Fleury was given the medal upon his return to France in August 1783.

On April 15, 1783, Benjamin Franklin sent the medal to De Fleury, along with the following letter, written in French (translated here into English):

Sir,

I have the honor to send you, in accordance with the orders of the Congress, the Medal which they ordered me to have struck, in memory of your good action at the attack of Fort Stony-Point, to present it to you on their behalf.

I fulfill this duty with pleasure, having myself a high opinion of your merit. I desire you to carry for a long life this honorable mark of their consideration.

I am, with great esteem, &c.

B. Franklin

Franklin's letter was republished in the French press in the autumn of 1783, leading the editors of Franklin's papers to wonder if the letter was written by Franklin in 1780 but republished with an edited date by the newspapers of the time. Your cataloger suspects it's more likely that the medal was held by Duvivier, retrieved by Franklin in 1783, and presented upon De Fleury's return in that year.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the John W. Adams Collection of Comitia Americana Medals Sale, where it realized $120,000.