Paintings
Important Original Oil Portrait Civil War Medal Of Honor Recipient Union General Nelson Miles in His Dress Uniform
c. 1870, Original Oil Painting Portrait of Union Army Major General Nelson A. Miles, Wearing His Medal Of Honor, Choice Extremely Fine.
This historic Oil Portrait shows the Medal Of Honor Recipient, Union Major General Nelson A. Miles, in his full military dress uniform. He is portrayed wearing his Medal Of Honor, earned at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. This beautifully executed portrait is painted in oil upon period pressed board, not signed, measures 6.25 x 4.5” and is housed in an old wooden frame. Apart from a few tiny scuffs, this painting is in truly great condition. Nelson Appleton Miles (1839-1925) as a Colonel of the 61st New York Infantry during the Civil War, earned a Medal Of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Chancellorsville (May 1863) in which he was severely wounded. He was promoted to Major General in 1865 and after the Civil War he commanded United States Army forces of the Western Indian Wars.


The Civil War era Medal Of Honor, authorized by Congress in 1862, was designed by silversmiths William Wilson & Son of Philadelphia and James Pollock, Director of the U. S. Mint. The "foul spirit of Secession and Rebellion" is depicted on the obverse side as a man holding serpents attacking a female figure (The Union).

The back of the medal was unadorned so that the awardees' name could be engraved. Perhaps the single most famous event associated with the Medal of Honor is the Purge of 1917. Originally convened in 1916 by Gen. Nelson Miles, himself a Medal Of Honor awardee, the commission reviewed each of the Army medals awarded. Their report, presented in February, 1917, revoked the medals presented to 911 people, including 864 medals awarded to the 27th Maine for re-enlisting, and medals awarded to President Lincoln's funeral guard.

Six medals awarded to civilians were revoked as well. Included in this group were Dr. Mary Walker, the only female awardee, and Buffalo Bill Cody, a scout and technically not a soldier during the Indian Wars. For sixty years the revocation of the medals stood. Dr. Walker, who refused to return the medal as requested by the U. S. Army, proudly wore it every day until she died.

In 1977 President Jimmy Carter re-instated the award to Walker. It would be another 13 years before President George Bush re-instated the medals for Cody and five other scouts.