A BURIED PROMISE: THE PALUS JEFFERSON PEACE MEDAL

INTRODUCTION

In traversing the country known today as the Pacific Northwest, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark engaged in a wide variety of activities related to their mission of exploration. The written records of their journey provide the raw material for seemingly endless inquiry. In addition to these written records, other tangible evidence of the Corps of Discovery also survives, and contributes to the developing understanding of this episode in American history, enriching the record beyond the limitations of language. This material evidence includes gifts and tokens bestowed by Lewis and Clark upon native people they encountered. The most precious of these objects were the Jefferson Peace Medals, dispensed by the captains to individuals they perceived to be important leaders or chiefs. These medals, inscribed with the message "Peace and Friendship," were meant to symbolize the peaceful intentions of the expedition, and acceptance of them was interpreted by the captains and the United States government they represented as an indication of the same intentions on the part of the recipient and his people. The transactions of giving and receiving these medals constituted formal exchanges between representatives of sovereign nations: Lewis and Clark as representatives of President Jefferson and the United States, and tribal leaders as representatives of their own independent sovereignties.

Once bestowed, these medals began a journey forward through time, sometimes handed down from one generation to another, sometimes buried with their owners. The best evidence indicates that Lewis and Clark carried with them no more than 32 of the Jefferson medals, and two hundred years later they are rare indeed. Those that survive, and are displayed to the public, provide a powerful and tangible connection to a complex history. As tokens and symbols, their meaning and importance will depend largely upon the context of interpretation, both physical and temporal, and their presence in a collection offers the viewer an opportunity to become [Page 54] engaged in exploring important historical questions, particularly concerning early contact between the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest and representatives of the United States government.

The Jefferson medals carried by Lewis and Clark were minted in silver, in three different sizes (approximately 55 mm, 77 mm, and 105 mm [ca. 2, 3, and 4 in.] ); Alexander (2003:106) lists “100 to 105 mm, 76 mm, and 50 to 55 mm diameters.” Lewis and Clark bestowed each size based upon their perception of a tribal leader's status and relative importance. In addition to the Jefferson medals, the expedition also carried smaller Washington medals (45 mm), sometimes called "Season" medals, with one of three different scenes: “a woman spinning at a spinning wheel, a farm scene, and a farmer sowing wheat” (Strong 1959:207) on the obverse. This essay will relate the story of the recovery of one particular Jefferson medal, found in 1964 during the excavation of a cemetery at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake rivers in Franklin County, Washington. It will also explore the broader history of the Jefferson peace medals, particularly in connection to Lewis and Clark, building upon work previously published by Indian peace medal experts Francis Paul Prucha, Bauman Belden, and others. This will involve in-depth discussion of issues in two primary areas, connected by the peace medal discovered at Palus: in numismatics or exonumics, Jefferson medals as objects with particular characteristics and variations, sometimes not very well understood; and in anthropology, a glimpse into practices of the not-so-distant past, and the relatively new issue of repatriation.

Peace Medal Discovered at Palus, 1964

The one artifact recovered from the Palus Burial site (Smithsonian designation 45-FR-36B) in 1964 that immediately caught the fancy of the public was a Jefferson Peace Medal. This medal, often called a Lewis and Clark medal, has a reasonably clear descent from the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806, and this connection to the famous explorers, along with the rarity of the medals among Lewis and Clark artifacts, captured public attention. Many newspaper articles were collected at the time of the discovery of the Palus medal and more have been reported to the authors from all over the United States.

The site where this medal was found is at Palus (the anthropological spelling of Palouse), the major village site of the Palus band, near the present-day Lyons Ferry State Park. The Palus village site is located on the lower Snake River at the confluence with the Palouse River, in both Franklin and Whitman counties in eastern Washington State (Figure 1 not available. Please see the printed version of this article). Caution should be used with Moulton (1988[5]:269) on the spelling and meaning of Palus, as he missed the only two modern works on the subject (Sprague 1968; Thompson 1971).

This site had been reported previously in three archaeological surveys (Osborne 1948; Combes 1961; Mallory 1961), and was utilized in the testing of two subsurface searching techniques (Chatters and Crosby 1962; Crosby and Chatters 1962). The burial site, located only in Franklin County, was a late historic cemetery ("historic" in this region describes the period beginning with the expedition of Lewis and Clark), used from about 1820 to 1900, with one additional burial in 1946. Among those buried there were many children, often several to a grave, which is usually a strong indication of an epidemic among the burial population. The excavation of the cemetery was made necessary by a pending construction project: the site was to be partially inundated by the reservoir created by the construction of the Lower Monumental Dam. This inundation would have caused the site to be destroyed; bones would wash out with each fluctuation of the reservoir. The cemetery was also in line with the new bridge that was planned [Page 56] to, and did, replace the Lyons Ferry; thus, relocation of the cemetery was necessary, and was initially requested by the Nez Perce tribe in 1962 (Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee 1963). The project was approved and funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Walla Walla District, as an archaeological project to be conducted by the Department of Anthropology, Washington State University (WSU), Pullman. The project was conducted under a contract with the USACE, contract No. DA-45-164-CIVENG-64-170 (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1964). The project employed approximately 35 students, and took place during the summer of 1964. Richard D. Daugherty was the principal investigator, and Roderick Sprague was the director. Additional staff included a physical anthropologist and assistant and two graduate student laboratory staff members.

Several scholarly works were produced as a direct result of this project: a brief report (Sprague 1965) as required by the contract (USACE 1964); a detailed study, as a dissertation, of the background of the site and the Palus band (Sprague 1967); and three reports concerning the artifacts from the site. These three reports, as Master’s theses, were studies of the glass trade beads (Pullen 1970), the bells (Weatherford 1971:1980), and Euroamerican artifacts that had been modified for use (Fielder 1979). Two journal articles (Birkby 1966; Redfield 1969) and a Master's thesis (Carino 1987) were produced in the area of physical anthropology from non-destructive analysis of the Palus skeletal material. A booklet, on most of the beads found in the site, was produced by a knowledgeable amateur (Fenstermaker 1976). There is also a recent report prepared for purposes of compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). This report discusses the status in 1995 of the artifacts and human remains recovered at the Palus site (Collins and Andrefsky 1995).

Other Palus burials were also identified in the immediate area. These included inhumations dating earlier than the Palus site (Perry 1939; Nance 1966; Sprague and Birkby 1970) as well as an isolated burial (Wegars, Sprague, and Mulinski 1983) contemporaneous with the major site. This one burial was probably that of a drowning victim because of its isolation and because it was near the water (Sprague and Miller 1979:22).

In addition to the original report (Sprague 1965), which included large photographs of the medal (Fig. 2-5) and an extensive background discussion (Sprague 1967), there have been other published attempts at describing the medal and its background (Watkins 1965; Tompkins 1965:34; Cutright 1968:34; Chatters 1982). Unfortunately these other works were not thoroughly researched and did not involve interviews with those present at the discovery. It is one of the objectives of this study to expand on the past descriptions and correct many of their errors. A more recent essay of general interest points out some of the challenges of tracing the medal's history (Gunselman 2002).

The medal recovered at Palus was found in Burial No. 21, a canoe burial dating to approximately 1900–1915. Excavation of Burial 21 began 8 July 1964 and finished 11 July 1964. Attempts were made until 15 July to preserve the enclosing canoe, but this proved futile due to infestation with termites (Reticulitermes hesperus Banks), the only subterranean termite in the area. This adult male was between 25 and 30 years of age, lying extended on his back with his right arm extended at the side and his left hand on his pelvis. He was oriented east (74º E of N), the typical direction for members of nativistic religions in the area. He had been wrapped in tule or cattail matting, as is still normal today, and placed in half of a dugout canoe cut laterally with the other half placed over the top. This was 1 of only 13 canoe burials, containing 14 individuals, found among a total of 262 individuals in 249 graves. The medal was wrapped in a printed cotton textile surrounded by tobacco and all contained in a leather pouch at the individual's feet. In addition to the medal, the pouch contained a wooden Chinese fan, two metal disks of unknown function, and a briar pipe. [Page 61]

The briar pipe had a hard rubber mouth piece (post-1825 in date) and a silver ferrule with a London silver makers mark dated 1890–1891. Other grave goods included four buttons in the cervical (neck) area and two other leather pouches. The western redcedar (Thuja plicata) canoe had numerous pieces of metal, including can lids, nailed on as patches.

Reconstructing the history of this medal, to trace it backward in time toward Lewis and Clark from this burial around the turn of the twentieth century, is challenging but not impossible: there is written evidence of a medal being observed in this location in 1854. Approximately 50 years after it was given out by Lewis and Clark, a Jefferson Peace Medal was described by George Gibbs while he was visiting Palus Village. Stevens (1855:432) quoted Gibbs thus:

At the crossing of the Snake river, at the mouth of the Peluse, the several parties of exploration met with an interesting relic. The chief of that band, Wattai-wattai-how-lis, [in coming to visit Captain McClellan,] exhibited, with great pride, the medal presented to his father, Ke-powh-kan, by Captains Lewis and Clark. It is of silver, double, and hollow, having on the obverse a medallion bust, with the legend, “Thomas Jefferson, President U. S. A., 1801;” and on the reverse the clasped hands, pipe, and battle-axe, crossed, with the legend, “Peace and Friendship.”

There can be little doubt that this is the same medal found in Burial 21 and was one of those carried by Lewis and Clark.

Medals Associated with Lewis and Clark

The first and most frequently asked question is how many medals were carried by the expedition. There are various ways in which this question has been explored. The journals of Lewis and Clark provide valuable clues, including the Baling Invoices count in the Moulton (1987[3]:492–500) edition of the journals. The section entitled Recapitulation of the Above fourteen Bags & 1 Box of Indian Presents found in both Moulton (1987[3]:500) and Thwaites (1904-05[6]:274), includes this note: “3 large medals, 13 2^dSize d^o, 71 Medals 3^d& 4^thSize.” Prucha (1971:17) calculates that of the 71 medals of the "3^d & 4^th" sizes, 16 are 55 mm Jefferson medals, and 55 are Washington Season medals. Our calculation using the full listing agrees except that a total of 15, rather than 16, of the 3rd size are calculated as follows: 6 in bale 30 and 1 each in bales (in the original order) 33, 15, 42, 45, 36, 16, 26, 18, and 14. Bale 3 has “1 medal” added but with no size determination. This may account for the noted difference of one.

The Moulton edition will be the primary source, but when practical, both the Thwaites and Moulton volume and page will be listed as far as possible to aid the serious researcher. In the chart below the chronological order is maintained with the earliest full edition given priority.

Another approach is to examine the journals kept by various members of the expedition for references to occasions when medals were presented. Table 1 gives a summary of not only the Moulton (1983–1999) and Thwaites (1904–05) editions for both Clark and Lewis, but also the records of Gass (1807), Ordway (Quife 1916), and Whitehouse (Thwaites 1904–05) (Floyd did not list any medals). All of the subsequent editions are listed under the earliest published edition for each author. Combining these sources, we arrive at a figure of 89 medals, which is amazingly close to the 87 or 88 figure of the original inventory. At several points in the accounting it is likely that one or another chronicler could have been in error as to the exact date. For example, in the case of 9 and 10 March 1804 and 16 and 17 October 1805, it appears very likely that the same medals are being described; hence in both cases only a single column has been added to the final count. [Page 64]

A universal source of confusion is the number of different types of medals that were carried by the expedition. This confusion centers around the variation in both size and design. The Jefferson medals were made in the three sizes previously noted, 105 mm (4.1 in.), 77 mm (3.0 in.), and 55 mm (2.2 in.), while the Washington Season medal was 45 mm (1.75 in.). This accounts for four sizes. There are minor differences in the outer edge of the Jefferson medals, but these are only because of fitting the design to different size blanks; hence, we can think of the three sizes of Jefferson medals as constituting one design. The small Washington medal, in contrast, had three different obverse designs, as mentioned above. To summarize: there are four sizes, four designs, but six unique medals when the combinations of size and design differences are taken into account. We independently arrived at the same conclusion as Prucha (1971:17, 19) that the mysterious 5th size was probably U.S. silver dollars.

Strong (1959:207) and Jester (1961:152) erred in stating that only the sowing medal of the Washington Season series was carried by Lewis and Clark. Clark wrote that:

To the 1^stChiefs we gave a Medal with the Impⁿof the President of the U.S.

To the 2^dChiefs a Medal of weaving & Domestic animals.

To the 3^rdChiefs a Medal with the impression of a man Sowing wheat (Thwaites 1904–05[1]:213).

The three sizes of hollow silver medals have minor differences in their design, as well as differences from the modern brass medals. The most noticeable differences are between the 55 mm and all others, including the 105 and 77 mm Lewis and Clark and the 77 mm modern brass medals. On the 55 mm type, Jefferson's vest has only two buttons, the bust touches the outer ring, the index finger of the military hand is curved under, the military cuff has two plus less than one-half braids and the upper edge of the Indian metal cuff is only half present. The medium 77 mm medal has three vest buttons and almost exactly two and one-half braids on the cuff. The 105 mm size medal has four vest buttons, the bust does not touch the outer ring, the index finger of the military hand is straight, the military cuff has three full braids, and the Indian cuff is almost complete. The spacing of the lettering is also distinctive for each size: on the 55 mm medal it is crowded; on the 105 mm it is open or expanded; and on the 77 mm it is spaced normally.

For all three sizes of the Jefferson medal, the images depicted are similar: the design on the obverse of the medal is of Thomas Jefferson, bust to left, with the inscription: TH. JEFFERSON PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. A.D. 1801. The reverse design is the pipe of peace and tomahawk in saltire (crossed) above two clasped hands (military and Indian) bearing the inscription: PEACE / AND / FRIENDSHIP (U.S. Mint 1912:244). The juxtaposition of "U.S." and "A.D." often results in the inscription being described as U.S.A. with the D. ignored.

It is obvious that the Jefferson Peace medals, including those carried by Lewis and Clark, were unique among peace medals in their construction. The tradition is that the United States Mint at the time they were manufactured did not have presses large enough to stamp such large medals (Prucha 1962:281), or alternatively it would have taken too much time to run them repeatedly, so rather they stamped two thin shells in silver. These were placed back to back with a German silver band or collar around the circumference thus holding together both halves (Fig. 6). This is the first publication of this figure and the information it provides of the method of construction and attachment of the pillar and ring. All medals since then have been made of solid metal. Of greater concern to Lewis and Clark studies should be the great variation in the attachment of the pillar, fob, and ring.

[Page 65] The Palus medal exhibits characteristics consistent with other medals carried by Lewis and Clark. It had a deep purple corrosion on the plates, which indicated a high degree of silver. On the band the corrosion was green which indicated a high copper content typical of German silver. The German silver was used to provide the strength required to hold the medal together. Natural electrolysis between the band and the plates had begun on the Palus specimen, which is why the medal must be artificially held together today.

The medal was cleaned very slowly using zinc powder and slightly alkaline water. The band was unfortunately broken in the laboratory and tragically it was repaired using modern silver solder, a non-reversible process. The plates no longer can be held by the band grooves and thus are held to the band with Duco cement which can be completely reversed using acetone.

The medals were constructed with a loop through which a cord could be passed, and were usually worn about the neck. Over the course of time, particularly if damage had occurred, they were sometimes modified. Originally the medals had a pendant or pillar and a bow or fob loop at the top, attached as shown in Fig. 5. The shape of the pendant and alignment of the loop appears to be inconsistent thus indicating hand finishing, repairs, different lots, or numerous fakes. The point where the pendant goes through the band or collar is the weak point in the medal and is where damage has occurred on the Palus example, as well as other Jefferson medals. Many of the known examples are missing the bow and have been punched with a hole, as in the Palus example. The Palus suspension hole is slightly square, probably because a machine-cut nail (popularly called a square nail) was used to punch the hole.

[Page 66] The Jefferson peace medal is often described by many as the first of a continuous series of medals (a Washington peace medal was minted later) in the 76mm size, essentially the same size as the middle Jefferson Peace medal size carried by Lewis and Clark. Prucha (2003, personal communication) points out that it was not officially a Presidential Medal at the time it was first produced although the mint today describes the modern brass sales item as such. Any of the brass presidential medals can still be purchased from the Philadelphia mint minted in solid brass (90% copper and 10% zinc, today incorrectly called "bronze" by the U.S. Mint). The mint system of sizes is based on 1/16 in., thus the modern, medium 74 mm size is a size 48 or 3 in. (3 x 16 = 48).

Within the twentieth century the cost of restrike brass medals from the mint remained relatively stable for many years and then suddenly moved rapidly upward. In 1960 the medal is listed at $2.50 (Eglit 1960:949). A price list sent to one author in 1963 lists a Jefferson medal at $3.00. The official list of medals produced by the mint (Failor 1969:275) published in 1969 is still $3.00. The revised edition of 1972 (Failor 1972:309) is $5.00 or $5.25 by mail. A medal purchased in the 1970s to replace the 1963 medal which had been stolen cannot be determined exactly, except to note that the dollar amount was in the low teens. The current price quoted by the U.S. Mint for a 3 in. Jefferson Peace Medal is $38. These prices should be compared with recent transactions where a small medal was sold for $36,800, and a large medal for $115,000, apparently a new record price. Such hollow silver Jefferson medals are rarely offered for sale but these were auctioned by Bowers and Merena Galleries (2001:1) from the "cabinet" of Lucien M. La Riviere.

The Jefferson brass medals appear with great frequency on the market, misleadingly labeled as Lewis and Clark medals. Outright deception should be of concern to anyone engaged in research on surviving medals, as demonstrated by one of the authors (RS) in the early 1970s to prove the point: a brass medal purchased from the Mint and artificially "aged," to show the possibility of such deception, has even been described on an area reservation as a “real” Lewis and Clark medal. Since then, three web sites have been established showing examples of fabricated and faked medals (DeLorey 1996; Lopez and Smoot 1998; Hartzog 2001). DeLorey (1996:37) estimates that “perhaps 90% of the allegedly rare pieces are fakes.” Even one American Indian in Nebraska was reported as producing one type of medal on call (Eglit 1960:947–948). It must be remember that a modern brass medal plated with silver and drilled for suspension is likely made for only one reason—profit—and thus would clearly be a fake.

In addition to the common 76 mm brass examples, Belden (1927:25) reports the existence of Jefferson medals in other materials and forms: solid silver, solid pewter, and copper shells (hollow three-piece). It should be added that several authors mean brass (the mint’s bronze) when they say copper, hence it is difficult to determine what material is being discussed. None of these variations has been reported in the Lewis and Clark literature, and none is reported from what could be interpreted as an American Indian context and clearly dating from the period of Lewis and Clark.

Contrary to popular belief, including two specific statements—“Some are known to have had wooden cores” (Quimby 1995:442) and “at least one has been excavated in the Pacific Northwest with a wooden core” (Julian 1977:33)—there is no proof of wooden disks between the silver plates in any size. One reason for this conclusion is that there is not sufficient room. An intimate knowledge of the historical archaeology of the Pacific Northwest makes it difficult to accept Julian’s (1977:33) statement (quoting a second party) concerning a medal “with a wooden core” being found. One web site mentioned that medals had “cardboard” inside. After inquiry was made, the author suggested that “it is more like fibre or composition.” He also explained that a damaged medal showed this material at the edge. Further inquiry produced a denial of any firsthand knowledge.

[Page 67] Julian (1977:33) says that “All of the original Jefferson Indian Peace medals were actually struck on silver plates and then obverse and reverse brazed together, banded, and then ringed at the top for suspension.” The Palus medal showed absolutely no evidence of the heat necessary for brazing. Later he (Julian 1994:72) said that the two sides were soldered together. Still an even later work (DeLorey 1996:37) states that the two “shells” or disks would be “filled with soft metal and soldered together at the edge with an attached loop”—a process even less likely to have been necessary. Perhaps all of these differing methods could be found among the extant medals but it also might help to explain DeLorey’s (1996:37) concern about fakes.

The two medals found in the Snake River drainage at Palus and at Potlatch Creek are both in clear American Indian context. Further there is no evidence in the Pacific Northwest fur trade literature of fur traders giving the local Indians private medals, even including the Astor medals made for John Jacob Astor of the American Fur Company. Given these two factors it seems very likely that these two medals were brought and given to area Indians by Lewis and Clark.

Both of these two medals have evidence of the square, well machined pillar as shown in Fig. 5. In contrast many of the other examples have crudely attached devices that are hardly more than a loop with a ring in it. These loops are attached both parallel with and at a right angle to the medals, however, the parallel type is limited to two large medals. The workmanship seems far more variable and poorer than would be expected from the mint. It is suggested that we need more careful inspection and comparison, by one person or team, of the known Jefferson Indian Peace Medals. Such comparison would take into account such detailed, and normally not discussed, factors as the assembly of the two shells into one medal and the variation in the pendant and its attachment.

To recapitulate, the materials reported include both solid and hollow shells of silver, copper and/or brass, and solid pewter. How many of the silver medals are really silver-plated copper or brass is not currently known. In addition to hollow construction, there are reports of medals filled with wood, cardboard, fiber, and soft metal and joined with a band, solder, or brazing. The suspension rings are clearly of two, mutually exclusive types: heavy and very light. The types of pillars are square or one of two ring types attached either parallel to or at a right angle to the medals, plus a fourth type of ring placed in a hole drilled through the medal. This last type may or may not have been manufactured at the mint. When the vast number of medals reported in collections is compared to the meager numbers given out by Lewis and Clark—3 large, 13 medium, and 15 small—the numbers claiming to be Lewis and Clark related do not seem to be in harmony (Table 2). Perhaps all of these differing methods could be found among the extant medals today but might also help to support DeLorey's (1996, 37) statement that 90% of these medals could be fake. Also Table 2 lists, with a symbol, the type of suspension, if known, for each medal listed. One of us (RS) continues to see a strong relationship, not necessarily one to one, between medals with the square pillar and the medals carried by Lewis and Clark.

Even more difficult than determining just how many medals were carried by Lewis and Clark is determining how many are still extant (Table 2). In addition to medals in institutional collections, there is the distinct possibility of conservative families retaining them, of unreported finds in the possession of private relic collectors, or even medals held by museums but not well-known or accurately described. There are also medals previously known to have been present in museum collections that are now missing or even blatantly stolen (Maryhill Museum, near Goldendale, WA had two Washington Season medals stolen). No authoritative published source known to the authors provides a comprehensive listing (or even a substantial partial listing) of peace medals in public or private collections; in Table 2, we attempt to provide a starting point for such a listing, based upon the best information available at this time.

[Page 68] By far the best bibliography of peace medals is found in Prucha (1971), and printed in several editions. Father Prucha is not at all reluctant to annotate the sources, both good and erroneous. Most listings of peace medals in collections, both public and private, are based on Belden’s (1927) pioneering booklet, Indian Peace Medals Issued in the United States. If a researcher can afford only a limited library on peace medals, these two sources are recommended.

Connecting the medal recovered at the Palus site with a known recipient is not possible with the evidence currently available. Lewis and Clark did not stop at Palus village at the confluence of the Palouse (their "Drewyers" River) and Snake rivers; they passed the site on 13 October 1805, traveling by canoe down the Snake. Thus, the journals do not record the distribution of any medals there. The closest point upriver from Palus was approximately 135 river miles, where a medal was recorded as being given above Jimmie Ford Creek in Idaho, on the Clearwater River, on 23 September 1805. Downriver the nearest point was the confluence of the Columbia and Snake rivers, 35 river miles from Palus, on 16 October 1805, where several medals were presented. The story of its passage through the hands of its owners prior to the burial at Palus is lost; the identity of the individual with whom the medal was buried is not known, nor can the identity of the individual who originally received it be definitively established.

The best written evidence identified by the authors for information about this medal appears in Gibbs' 1855 report. He identifies the Palus location, verifies the presence of a Jefferson medal, and summarizes a story told by its owner, Wattai-wattai-how-lis, who attributes the medal to Lewis and Clark, and names his father Ke-powh-kan as the original recipient. Although Wattai-wattai-how-lis is referred to in Gibbs as chief of the Palus (Stevens 1955:432), the authors have not found any other reliable references that would identify this individual and perhaps provide evidence to help substantiate the connection of this medal to Lewis and Clark.

Don Popejoy, a Lewis and Clark researcher, has material on three different web sites (1999a, 1999b, 1999c) with identical statements including the claim that Lewis and Clark gave the Palus medal to Ke-powh-kan (Popejoy's Kepownkon). Since no verification has been found for this, we must conclude that this attribution is unproven. The suggestion in Popejoy (1999b) that the “large” medal given Cuts-sâh-nem (Thwaites 1904–05[3]:128) (Popejoy's Cutssahnem) cannot be accepted, as the Palus medal is a small Jefferson medal.

Other Medals

Two other Jefferson medals are known to have been recovered in this region. The nearest discovery to the Palus location upriver was 96 river miles away at the confluence of the Clearwater River and Potlatch Creek, in a grave found during railroad construction in 1899. This 55 mm medal was in excellent condition, with the pendant and bow intact. Wheeler (1904:122) describes the finding of the medal:

Just beyond [downstream] the mouth of the Potlatch Creek [Lewis and Clark’s Coulters Creek] when grading for the railway embankment, it became necessary to cut through the nose, or end of a hill bordering the river. Unexpectedly, an Indian grave or two was uncovered and Lester S. Handsaker of the Engineering Corps located the spot, on March 1st, 1899, began examination of the graves. Beads, brass and copper ornaments, arrow heads, knives, hatchets, [Page 72] and old flintlock musket, a sword, etc. were brought forth, the metallic articles greatly rusted and decayed. The handle is entirely gone from an old hatchet given to the writer by Mr. Handsaker, and a bayonet is rusted to probably half its original size. Handsaker in his investigation found something carefully wrapped in many thicknesses of buffalo hide. Unwrapping it, he discovered one of the Lewis and Clark medals of the Jefferson medallion grade.

This medal was donated to the American Museum of Natural History, New York, by Edward D. Adams in 1901 (Wissler:1919), and for a time was believed to be missing.

The closest known find downriver was on an island in the Columbia River, from a grave probably on Goat Island according to Strong (1959:208), near the confluence of the Columbia and Walla Walla rivers, 68 river miles from Palus via the Snake and Columbia. This find, from ca. 1891, has long been known to Lewis and Clark scholars because of footnotes to it in both the Coues (1893:970) and Thwaites (1904–05[4]:328) editions of the journals. This medal, of the 55 mm size, is badly mangled and is now in the Oregon Historical Society collection in Portland. Photographs of the three medals recovered at Palus, the confluence of the Clearwater and Potlatch, and the Columbia River appear in an article by Paul Cutright (1968). These and other known medals are summarized in Table 2.

Other reports have been made of Jefferson and perhaps Washington Season medals. A Jefferson medal was reported found at Fort Clatsop in October 1834 (Townsend 1839:256) and has been reported in the literature frequently since then, but there is no evidence of its current location. George Gibbs (1877:238) reported that:

Ske-mah-kwe-up, the chief, and almost the last survivor of the Wahkiakum band of Tsinūk [Chinook], preserved with great pride the medal given him by Lewis and Clarke [sic], until within a year or two [of Gibbs' visit], when it was accidentally lost, to his great grief.

The Oregon amateur archaeologist N. G. Seaman (1946:12) reported that a medal “is held by someone on the Pendleton or La Grande country” but apparently he never found it. He also claims to have missed digging up another medal when his Indian informant died before the location was found. Bazil, the adopted son of Sacagawea, was reported (Hebard 1907:478; 1932:211, 279) to have been buried with a medal about the size of a silver dollar (37 mm), perhaps a Washington Season medal (45 mm).

Bakeless (1947:266–267) in his brief popularization of the expedition, after describing the Potlatch Creek medal, went on to say that: “Another medal was later found buried at the mouth of Ford’s Creek above Orofino, Idaho. Still a third [medal] was lost when an Indian canoe capsized in the Clearwater.” In correspondence with Sprague, Bakeless was not helpful in adding any information to these claims. Local Nez Perce informants are equally at a loss to explain the origin of these two reports.

The Moulton edition of the journals also contains information about the Jefferson medals. A footnote (No. 10) based on notes by Sprague (Moulton 1991[7]:215) for 5 May 1906 says:

The mouth of Potlatch River, at Arrow, was the location of the discovery of a Jefferson medal in 1899. This and the Jefferson medal found at Palus are the only ones known to have been found west of the continental divide in a clear context with Indian burials. The Palus find is no longer at Washington State [Page 73] University but was returned to the Nez Perce Tribe in 1968 and is currently on loan for display at Nez Perce National Historical Park. The American Numismatic Society, New York City, still holds the burial find from Arrow. See October 8 and 13, 1805.

Unfortunately the footnote has two errors. First, the Palus medal was transferred to the Nez Perce Tribe in 1971, not 1968; second, the Potlatch medal has, since early in the twentieth century, been held by the American Museum of Natural History, not the American Numismatic Society. The clarification of location is helpful, and Moulton (2001[13]:173) says in his “Corrections” that “it appears that the peace medal supposedly at the American Museum of Natural History has been lost for some time.” A museum representative recently confirmed that this missing medal has been located” (Laila Williamson personal communication, 12 August 2002). The Walla Walla River medal appears to be in an American Indian context but no primary data are available.

Objects for Scientific Study or Disturbed Ancestors?

Beyond the consideration of these medals as physical objects with particular characteristics and associations is the larger and more complex question of their importance and meaning. The giving and receiving of peace medals was a transaction at the intersection of different cultures. Historical importance accrues to these objects because of their cultural and individual associations, and depends greatly on personal perspective and context of interpretation.

Historical inquiries into the disposition of artifacts found in American Indian archaeological contexts, especially burial contexts, and American Indian human remains, require careful attention to legal issues and issues of common and accepted practice among archaeologists as they developed over the time period under consideration. In the case of the material recovered at the Palus site in 1964, it is important to recognize that professional attitudes and practice with respect to proper treatment of such material are different today than they were at the time of this project, and societal attitudes are very different as well. These attitude changes have contributed to relatively recent changes in federal law, particularly the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990.

When Daugherty and Sprague undertook this project in 1964, compliance with the law required adherence to the project contract between WSU and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Nez Perce Tribe had requested the project but was not a party to the contract), and applicable federal law. It is beyond the scope of this article to identify all of the federal laws potentially applicable to this 1964 project; one useful source exploring the law from a social science perspective is Price (1991). Potentially relevant laws are the Antiquities Act of 1906, the Historic Sites Act of 1935, and the Reservoir Salvage Act of 1960; an official from the USACE indicated in 1964 correspondence related to Snake River projects that the provisions of the Historic Sites Act were "controlling" for the archaeological salvage projects being conducted for the USACE by WSU (Beddow 1964).

A researcher noting that the project is often described as a "relocation" might be surprised to discover that not all of the human remains recovered at the Palus site were reinterred; of the 260 individuals, it appears that many, but not all, were reburied at the new location specified in the contract (Collins and Andrefsky 1995:26, 34). A careful review of the documentary record of this project shows fairly consistent, if imprecise, language and content in description of requirements, [Page 74] from the initial tribal request through reports and publications produced after the project was completed. One reasonable interpretation of the language of the documents is that the remains of only a few individuals were explicitly required to be reburied. The tribal resolution accepting the plan for removal of the burial site states the tribe's interpretation of provisions in the project contract regarding remains and grave goods recovered (Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee 1963):

WHEREAS, authority has been received by the District Engineer to enter into a contract with Washington State University for Dr. Daugherty to (a) relocate the four known graves and to explore, examine, relocate and/or salvage the other burial and grave goods which are situated within the fenced area of the burial grounds; (b) re-inter the remains of Chief Old Bones and his family, in a common grave, with concrete slab cover, preserving and restoring the present grave monument, together with the installation of a flat, bronze marker appropriately inscribed to honor any of our Shahaptin [sic] ancestors who may be buried there [detail of the location of this marker follows] . . . and . . . (c) commence the active explorations and relocation operations in the summer of 1964.

The language of the contract between the Corps of Engineers and WSU is similar (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1964):

a. Investigate, explore, examine and remove from the existing Nez Perce burial site . . . remains and other burial and grave goods found therein.

b. Re-inter at the location shown on Exhibit A as "New Burial Site" the remains of Chief Old Bones and his family with other remains and other burial and grave goods, in a common grave with a concrete slab cover, preserving and restoring the present grave monument, together with the installation of a flat, bronze marker appropriately inscribed to honor any Shahaptin [sic] people who may have been buried there.

Allen's final written report (1965) provides a chronology of the project, from the planning of the Lower Monumental Dam project through completion of the excavation. He summarizes the disposition of the human remains and materials recovered at the conclusion of the project:

5. On 26 June 1964, work at the Nez Perce burial site commenced and on 29 August 1964 the last of 251 burials were removed from the site. All skeletal and artifactual materials were housed at the Laboratory of [Anthropology], Washington State University.

6. On 6 March 1965, the identifiable remains from the Nez Perce burial site were reinterred in a common grave in a new location approximately a mile and a half north of the old site on a bare hill overlooking the Snake River and Palouse River Valleys.

It seems from a review of these documents and the personal knowledge of one of the authors (RS) that not all of the individuals were reburied at the new location in 1965, and that this outcome was consistent with the specified requirements of the contract.

[Page 75] One complicating factor was the action of the Yakama Business Council in which three opposing forces were brought together. The Council made it extremely clear that they wanted all of the skeletal material and artifacts reburied immediately. Richard Daugherty from Washington State University, as was the current policy nationally, did not want anything from the burial site to be reburied except those designated in the Corps of Engineers contract. Finally the lone voice of the Palus was Louie Sohappy who strongly reprimanded (and angered) the Council for letting the Nez Perce dictate what was to happen to his relatives’ bodies and burial goods. The words of Louie Sohappy had a profound effect on the future concern for repatriation of the one author who was participating in the meeting.

The status of the rest of the human remains associated with the Palus site awaits the resolution of any pending claims under the provisions of NAGPRA. According to Collins (personal communication, 13 June 2002), human remains associated with this project have been located, and are being held at WSU along with the rest of the material from the site pending repatriation; archaeologist Mona Wright of the USACE, Walla Walla District, indicates that the Palus site is a current focus of their repatriation efforts (personal communication, 14 June 2002). Artifacts and grave goods associated with the site were inventoried in 1995, and detailed information about this material is included in Collins and Andrefsky (1995).

Readers who are surprised to discover that the Nez Perce tribe would have initiated such a project, and cooperated with government authorities to disinter, study, and store the remains of Palus ancestors, may find it illuminating to explore this as a historical question. Evidence of the emerging issue of repatriation, and the larger associated question of excavating Native American burials, is contained in the literature of American anthropology and archaeology. It is beyond the scope of this article to review the history of the professional and public debate about repatriation, but a brief discussion will provide some chronological context. Writing in 1982, 8 years prior to the passage of NAGPRA and 18 years after the completion of the Palus project, Higginbotham (1982:91) refers to "the conflict that emerged over the last decade between archaeologists and Native Americans concerning the excavation of historic and prehistoric skeletal remains of Native Americans and artifactual materials of religious significance." He thus dates the beginning of the conflict to the early 1970s. This dating is consistent with what Sprague (1974:1) calls "soul searching by anthropologists, linguists, museologists, and others." In his survey of the legal issues, Higginbotham (1982:100) explores a wide variety of topics including the "differential treatment of Native American remains by government authorities," religious beliefs and practices, scientific value of materials recovered from graves, and the question of property rights in human remains. Issues associated with repatriation began to be more widely discussed and published after the passage of NAGPRA in 1990.

For more information about professional ethics in anthropology and archaeology, as well as issues policies related to repatriation, see: Sprague (1974; 1993); Special Edition: Repatriation of American Indian Remains, the entire issue of American Indian Culture and Research Journal 16(2), 1992; Layton (1994); Weaver (1997); and Mihesuah (2000). For an in-depth view of conversation inside the anthropology profession prior to the passage of NAGPRA, see the Proceedings of the Conference on Reburial Issues, held at the Newberry Library in June 1985 (Quick 1986), co-sponsored by the Society for American Archaeology and the Society of Professional Archaeologists. Sprague participated in this conference. We offer these as a few selections from a substantial literature, to serve as a starting point.

[Page 76] A contemporary observer would very likely be surprised to discover that even such seemingly basic issues as ownership and control of material recovered were not addressed in the contract for the Palus project. Common practice at the time was for the contractor, WSU in this case, to recover material from the project site, to assume ownership, and to conduct any examination or research directed by the terms of the contract. Some key elements of this particular contract are helpful in reconstructing the ownership and control issues relevant for the Palus project. As mentioned above, it required the contractor to "Investigate, explore, examine and remove from the existing Nez Perce burial site . . . remains and other burial and grave goods found therein." It required the reinterment of some specified human remains, and appears to permit, but not explicitly require, the reinterment of other remains and burial material. There is no other language in the contract governing the ownership or disposition of material and remains recovered (U. S. Army Corps of Engineers 1964).

Ownership of the documentation of the project, in contrast to the material recovered, is addressed in the contract: "all notes, designs, drawings specifications and other technical data produced in the performance of this contract shall be the sole property of the Government. . . ." WSU was also required to produce a report (Sprague 1965) for the government, "prepared in accordance with scientific standards for work of this nature" (U. S. Army Corps of Engineers 1964).

Palus Medal Transferred to the Nez Perce Tribe, 1971

Among the most intriguing historical questions regarding the Palus medal are those related to possession and ownership, particularly since its recovery in 1964. The ambiguity of the project contract was potentially problematic in the event that claims were made for material recovered at the Palus site, particularly competing ones; when the Nez Perce, by tribal resolution, made a claim for the Jefferson peace medal in 1970, the contract provided no basis for responding to the claim (Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee 1970). This tribal resolution was signed by Richard Halfmoon, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, and Allen P. Slickpoo, Secretary of the Committee. The resolution and an accompanying letter dated 9 July 1970 were sent to WSU President Glenn Terrell. The resolution makes reference to a document that the authors have not identified or located: "a contract between the Nez Perce Tribe and Washington State University," in which "all artifacts found during the removal of Nez Perce Graves were to be delivered over and become the possession of the Nez Perce Tribe. . . ."

In an example of early, increasingly formal efforts to include native people in the legal processes controlling projects such as the excavation of the Palus site, the District Engineer of the USACE, Walla Walla District, did request that the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee review and approve the language of the contract between the USACE and WSU (Beddow 1963). The tribe reviewed the contract, and documented its approval (Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee 1964).

After the medal was discovered, it was cleaned as noted above and placed in a safe in the Holland Library on the WSU campus. During the time (1964–1971) that the medal was in the custody of the library, there is a record of only one occasion on which it was displayed—in January 1965, the Friends of the Library hosted Daugherty and Sprague at a coffee hour in the library, where they presented a program about the excavation and exhibited the medal (Pullman Herald 1965; Watkins 1965).

[Page 77] Following the 1970 demand from the Nez Perce that the peace medal be turned over to the tribe, the matter was discussed by Daugherty and other university officials, as evidenced by material on file at the WSU Department of Anthropology. Even though the question of ownership rights was ambiguous, and the medal had great monetary and historical value, Daugherty recommended that it be transferred. He took the precaution of documenting in a letter to Richard Halfmoon, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, that he had "not made the determination that the Nez Perce have a greater claim to it than the Yakima who have also claimed to have relatives buried at the site. . . ." (Daugherty 1970). The transfer to the Nez Perce was apparently done without formal documentation, so the facts surrounding the transfer, as with the background of the decision to relinquish the medal, are incomplete and must be gathered from a variety of sources. Memoranda and letters on file at the WSU Museum of Anthropology provide some information about the university's response to the tribal demand. The authors have identified only one published source of information about the transfer: in the Lewiston Morning Tribune (1971), in an article entitled "Indians Honor Washington With Tribal Dance," there is a paragraph reporting the presentation of the medal by Daugherty to Richard Halfmoon, then chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee. Apparently Daugherty retrieved the medal from the Holland Library safe and personally delivered it to the Nez Perce during a ceremonial gathering planned for the purpose of honoring George Washington's birthday. Sprague was not informed of the event. The newspaper indicated that the ceremony attracted "a throng of about 1,000," who witnessed the return of the medal along with the dance competition (Lewiston Morning Tribune 1971).

As of this writing, the medal remains in the possession of the Nez Perce, and is on loan to the National Park Service, on display at the Nez Perce National Historical Park at Spalding, Idaho. Under NAGPRA, policies and procedures have been established to provide for the return of human remains and artifacts of Native American origin held by federal agencies, discovered on federal or tribal lands, or held by state or local government institutions that receive funding from federal sources. The Palus material still held by WSU, including human remains and artifacts, is clearly subject to the provisions of NAGPRA; the status of the peace medal is unclear. Because current descendants of the Palus people are associated with other tribal groups in addition to the Nez Perce, there are already unofficial multiple claims for this material; these claims will need to be resolved prior to the final repatriation.

The Palus Medal and the Nez Perce People

To fully explore the importance, history, and meanings of this medal would require a more substantial study than the one presented here. Point of view is one particularly challenging element of such a study; it is always problematic for non-Indians to accurately identify and represent an Indian perspective on a question such as this one, with its particular characteristics, evocations, and associations. But to fail to incorporate discussion of a question of such importance for an understanding of the significance of this medal would be to tell a story lacking balance and proportion.

In a 1973 history, Noon Nee-Me-Poo: Culture and History of the Nez Perces, published shortly after the Palus medal was transferred, Slickpoo and Walker introduce the section of their book dealing with early Nez Perce contact with the white man with a photograph of this medal. It seems reasonable to interpret the placement of this image as an indication of the symbolic importance of this object for these authors (Slickpoo and Walker 1973:66). Slickpoo was the [Page 78] Secretary of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee during the time of the medal's recovery and return, and thus personally experienced some of its history. The authors observe that "the teachings of the white man have caused us to forget many things our ancestors knew, especially religious things" (Slickpoo and Walker 1973:75). In the concluding pages of the book, they offer these words about the relationship of the Nez Perce to Euroamericans, and note the contribution of the Nez Perce people to the survival of the Lewis and Clark party (Slickpoo and Walker 1973:280):

We welcomed early-day explorers and the missionaries into our country not knowing that our acts of friendship were soon to be betrayed with broken promises and land grabs. The Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805–1806 might not have reached the Pacific if we had not befriended them during a crucial time.

What would the medal's promise of peace and friendship have meant to these people as the relationship between the two cultures developed? Lubbers examines the development of the iconography of Indian peace medals over time, and contrasts the images and words of the Jefferson medal with those of the James Buchanan medal, which was first produced about fifty years later; noting the "jarring motif" on the Buchanan medals of a "Native American in the act of scalping another" (Lubbers 1994:85–86), he asserts that:

Compared with the hopeful, prospective mood of earlier medals, here the tone is one of resignation, if not pessimism. A definite split between perceptions of the savage and civilized Native American is evident. While some are lauded for having learned how to till the soil, others are still envisioned butchering one another. It is fitting that the peace symbols par excellence, clasped hands or crossed pipe and tomahawk, have vanished altogether. The idea of unity has been discarded. . . .

Conclusions

The surviving Jefferson medals may prove to have variations distinctive enough to connect them with a particular context—we see strong evidence that the form of the pillar and loop may eventually help separate the Jefferson medals from the period of Lewis and Clark from the many later official medals, imitations, and modern fakes that are found on the collectors' market. Obviously such information is likely to be suppressed by those holding or selling medals that do not measure up to careful scrutiny.

Table 2 shows three times the number of existing large medals as were carried and distributed by Lewis and Clark. Those medals, for which there is strong evidence for a genuine American Indian context, show a strong tendency to be of the heavy, square pillar, type.

The Palus medal is displayed in a museum and interpretive center dedicated to Nez Perce history and culture. The physical context of the medal is important for reasons other than legalistic questions of control and ownership. Possession of the medal, its display in a particular context, confers power to use it as a storytelling tool, taking advantage of its symbolism. Historian Patricia Nelson Limerick makes the point that "In a nation fond of simple solutions, loyal to an image of itself as innocent and benevolent, Indian history is a troubling burden" [Page 79] (Limerick 1987:210). An artifact such as the Palus medal can provide a tangible connection to widely diverse stories, helping us all to think about the important questions that an event such as the commemoration of the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition should raise.

Newly minted, the medal would have been a beautiful and rare object, an object of desire and admiration. Its words, "Peace and Friendship," were powerful words. Today, two hundred years later, the medal is corroded, pitted, damaged; for some of those years it was worn, and then it was buried, along with its words of promise. Its decades in the ground are inscribed on its surface. In 1805 it was bestowed, at the first intersection of two cultures. Early in the twentieth century, probably near the time of the observance of the centennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, it was buried. After the passing of several generations of peoples who had become better acquainted with each other, and engaged in decades of conflict, what did its promise of peace and friendship mean to the people who placed the medal in the grave? In 1964 it was recovered from Burial 21, identified as a rare and precious object once again, studied and compared with others of its kind. Science reigned. And in 1970, when the Nez Perce claimed it for their people, the intersection of the two cultures continued to chafe. There was a long history to the relationship by then, centuries of competition for land and resources, of conflict and conquest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Early research results and helpful suggestions were provided by Paul Russel Cutright, Paul Ewald (ND L&C Trail Commission), Margo Jester (Margo Authentic Antiques); George Crossette (National Geographic Society), Henry Grunthal (American Numismatic Society), Carey S. Bliss (Huntington Library), Roy E. Appleman (National Park Service), Curtis B. Mateer (Pierre National Bank); the late Jerry Grosso (Bremerton Sun), and the late Emory M. Strong.

Francis Paul Prucha, S.J. (Marquette University) generously provided extensive exchange of correspondence and data for over 30 years and recently offered numerous suggestions. Recent help was provided by Marsha Mathews (Oregon Historical Society) for data on the OHS medal; Mary Collins (Anthropology Museum, WSU) for current information on the Palus site; John P. Leier (USACE, Walla Walla) for river miles; the late LeRoy V. Allen (USACE, Walla Walla) for file copies of correspondence; the late Steve Allured (WSU Duplicating), for the drawing of the Palus medal construction; Tom DeLorey, Rich Hartzog, and Rita Laws for further information on their Web Sites; Jennifer O’Laughlin and the Interlibrary Loan staff (University of Idaho Library) for their usual special help; and Judy Austin (Idaho Yesterdays) for encouragement and kindness during trying times for her and the journal.

For assistance in locating, identifying, and describing Jefferson medals currently in collections, we are grateful to Shannon Shuler (Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library); Laila Williamson (American Museum of Natural History); Elena Stolyarik and Robert Hoge (American Numismatic Society); Terri O'Hara (Brooklyn Museum); Kathleen Moenster (Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Museum); John Bowen (Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village); Gail DeBuse Potter (Museum of the Fur Trade); Peggy Whitehead and Joyce Herold (Denver Museum of Nature and Science); and Jeff Briley (Oklahoma Historical Society).

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Cheryl Gunselman

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections

Holland Library

P O Box 645610

Washington State University

Pullman, WA 99164-5610

gunselma@wsu.edu

Roderick Sprague

625 North Garfield

Moscow, ID 82843-3624

rsprague@moscow.com

Table of Contents:	Pictures:
Introduction	Figure 1 (Image not available. Please see printed version of this article.)
Peace Medal Discovered at Palus, 1964	Figure 2
Medals Associated with Lewis and Clark	Figure 3
Other Medals	Figure 4
Objects for Scientific Study or Disturbed Ancestors?	Figure 5
Palus Medal Transferred to the Nez Perce Tribe, 1971	Figure 6
The Palus Medal and the Nez Perce People
Conclusions	Tables:
Acknowledgements	Table 1 (Word Document ) (PDF)
References Cited	Table 2 (Word Document) (PDF)