- Time Period: Pre-WW1
- Established: 1756
- Country: United States
The Kittanning Destroyed Medal is the first documented medal engraved and struck for military honor in British North America. It was established by order of the Corporation of the City of Philadelphia and presented by Mayor Attwood Shute to Colonel John Armstrong.
Armstrong had led the Second Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment against the Indian village of Kittanning on September 8, 1756, in retaliation for the raiding and burning of Fort Granville approximately a month before.
Armstrong and his officers received silver medals. Later, his non-commissioned officers accepted medals struck in bronze, while the enlisted soldiers collected theirs in pewter.
The last strike from the original dies was most likely in the early 1860s and, although the medal has been restruck for many of America’s commemorative anniversaries and celebrations, the dates have rarely been recorded.
The Kittanning Destroyed Medal continues to be reproduced and admired because it provides narration, perspective charm, commemoration, image, beauty, and longevity. It was the very first military medal in North America awarded for courage and bravery, predating the Badge of Military Merit or Purple Heart by approximately twenty-five years.
The Kittanning Destroyed Medal Design
The medal is circular and struck in silver, bronze or pewter medal. It measures 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm) in diameter. The
medals were engraved by Edward Duffield, a watchmaker, and struck by Joseph Richardson, a noted silversmith.
The obverse shows the battle at Kittanning. Colonel Armstrong is directing his men through the stockade surrounding the Delaware village of Kittanning, and there’s a man prostrate on the ground before them. In the background, the Indian village is burning. The image is surrounded by the inscription “KITTANNING DESTROYED BY COL. ARMSTRONG.” The exergue reads: “SEPTEMBER . 8 . / 1756.”
The reverse portrays the Philadelphia Corporation’s coat of arms surrounded by the inscription “THE GIFT OF THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA“.
