Forgotten Heroes

Forgotten Her es Congressional Medals

Part I

By Avi Heiligman

Morale in the military is very important to commanders as they want their soldiers to be mentally fit and ready for combat. Decorations and medals are a great motivator – as Napoleon put it, “A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”

The history of military decorations goes back to ancient Egypt and continued throughout the centuries. In the U.S., the Continental Congress bestowed gold medals on military leaders starting with General George Washington in 1776. Since then, there are a myriad of medals, decorations and ribbons awarded to soldiers bestowed by both the military and Congress. Congressional Gold Medal recipients can be both civilians and servicemembers. The stories of some of them are relatively unknown and heroic.

There were seven recipients of the Continental Congress Gold Medal. George Washington received one for his leadership in the liberation of Boston. General Horatio Gates got it for his victory at Saratoga; General Anthony Wayne was commander during the Battle of Stony Point, New York; General Daniel Morgan led the troops to victory at Cowpens; General Nathanael Greene was victorious at the Battle of Eutaw Springs; and naval Captain John Paul Jones received one for his role in a battle off the coast of England. Major Henry “Light horse Harry” Lee commanded troops at the Battle of Paulus Hooks, New Jersey, in 1779 and was the only non-general or captain to receive the award. This was the first congressional medal to be struck in the U.S., while the previous ones had been imported from France.

The first gold medal recipient after Congress ratified the Constitution was Captain Thomas Truxton. He was a master seaman who started off as a privateer and rose in rank to command important ships such as the USS Constellation. In 1799, during a period that became known as the Quasi-War, he chased down the larger French frigate L’Insurgente and defeated her handily. Later, she took on another larger French ship, La Vengeance, in which the French was forced to withdraw but both ships suffered damage.

Capturing an enemy vessel in battle is one of the hardest feats a naval commander can accomplish and therefore Congress recognized those who had done so during the War of 1812. Irish-born Johnston Blakely, a veteran of the Quasi-War, was awarded the Gold Medal by Congress for his role in commanding the USS Wasp in capturing the HMS Reindeer during the War of 1812. The Reindeer was too badly damaged and had to be sunk.

Captain James Lawrence was given the award for his role in capturing the HMS Peacock. A few months later, he was mortally wounded during a fierce naval battle. His last words were: “Don’t give up the ship.” The previous two ships mentioned that were captured had to be sunk due to extensive damage, but there were British ships captured intact. Captain Lewis Warrington of the USS Peacock (not to be confused with the British ship of the same name) captured the HMS Epervier near Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The names of top generals during the Civil War are well-known in American culture but the early commander of Union troops is kind of lost in the back pages of history book. General Winfield Scott was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on two occasions, lost the 1852 presidential election, and retired from the army as their top general in late 1861 due to his ill health. General Scott was honored by Congress for his actions during the Battles of Chippewa and Niagara during the War of 1812 and for his leadership during the successful siege and Battle of Veracruz during the Mexican-American War.

The first Congressional Gold Medal given to a non-military member was given to surgeon Frederick A. Rose in 1858. American military personnel aboard the USS Susquehanna had contracted yellow fever. The British doctor volunteered to take direct care of the sick sailors as they journeyed from Jamaica to New York. Although it was proven years later that yellow fever does not spread from one person to another and is only contracted from mosquitoes, Rose did not know this and thought he was risking his life while in contact with the sailors.

Many others received congressional medals for heroism and other outstanding work in their particular fields. In the next article, we’ll delve into the 20th century and 21st century recipients, including some that may come as a surprise to the reader. This list includes the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, and Shimon Peres, among several other Jewish recipients.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.

An Innovative Hebrew School for the Performing Arts is Coming to Baltimore!

The Hebrew School of the Performing Arts is a unique Hebrew school designed to teach Judaic subjects solely through the creative and performing arts. This program is designed for girls in grades 1-6, who come from Jewish homes but do not go to Jewish Day Schools because of learning differences or other challenges. Our classes will begin with girls only. The classes will be held at Bas Melech Performing Arts Center on Mondays and Thursdays 4:45 to 6:15.

The top 3 goals of our Hebrew School are: 1) To provide a robust Jewish education to students who cannot be in Jewish Day schools because of their learning differences and other challenges. 2) To teach students in a multisensory approach where the students have fun in class while learning the material. 3) To create a social community for the students to make new friends and walk away with a love and appreciation of all things Jewish.

As we care about each individual student who walks through our doors, our goal is to enrich their Jewish education by bringing together a highly experienced team of masters in education and creativity to form an unbelievable and effective curriculum combining learning and the arts. This innovative learning method will enable us to give the girls a high caliber Jewish education while they simultaneously engage in all different aspects of the world of creative arts and movement. This method will enable them to absorb, understand and retain large amounts of material. For a full curriculum, tuition, faq’s and more details, please visit our website at baltimorehspa.org

We are grateful to the Crane and Blaustein foundations, as well as to our many private donors, for their support of this programming by enabling us to offer scholarships as necessary, as well as to the CJE for their support and use of their resources. Currently, we have begun to bring together our Rabbinical Committee which includes Rabbi Hopfer, Rabbi Rose, as well as other prominent local Rabbis.

There will be 2 separate semesters this year. The first semester begins August 23rd, runs through December 30th, and will meet 30 times. We are excited to announce that we have almost filled 2 of our classes.

Applications can be filled out on the website. We are looking forward to partnering with the Baltimore community and offering this unique educational experience to those who can really benefit from it.

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