Indian Peace Medal

Alliances with Native American tribes were extremely important to the young United States. George Washington’s administration presented silver peace medals to Native American leaders as gestures of goodwill and attempts to cultivate loyalty to the U.S. government. The design of the 1789 peace medal featured a Native American chief and a classical warrior. Such gifts were prized possessions among Native leaders, who often wore the medals around their necks as symbols of power, as depicted in this portrait of Seneca chief Red Jacket. Washington presented Red Jacket with a silver peace medal of the 1792 design, which replaced the classical warrior with a figure of Washington himself.

Medal: Gift of The Stanley King Family Foundation, 1999 [M-4034]