UNITED STATES, ZACHARY TAYLOR, BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA MEDAL, UNDATED [1847]

Silver. Charles Cushing Wright. STATE OF LOUISIANA TO MAJ: GEN: ZACHARY TAYLOR, state seal of Louisiana, below, UNION AND CONFIDENCE; above, JUSTICE; at lower edge, C.C. WRIGHT.FECIT – P.P. DUGGAN. DEL., rev., BUENA VISTA (in wreath) – RESACA DE LA PALMA – MONTEREY – PALO ALTO, Taylor looking on battlefield; below, H.F. BALDWIN & CO. PUBS. N.O., 76.2 mm (Julian MI-25), well struck with some prooflike reflectivity, about uncirculated with variegated toning

Robert Kelly, M.D., May 12, 1966; John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, part VII, Stack’s, January 18, 2005, lot 424

Authorized by the Louisiana State Legislature, May 4, 1847 for Taylor’s services at the battle of Buena Vista, one thousand dollars was authorized “to have struck by a competent artist, a gold medal, with suitable devices, to be presented by the State to General Z. Taylor.” The medal was not struck at the Mint, but by New Orleans silversmiths, H.E. Baldwin. It is one of the most impressive medals of the period. John Ford believed that this example, which he obtained with Taylor’s own, gold Monterey medal, was also Taylor’s. Although the General was awarded the medal in gold, it is not impossible that he was also presented one in silver, but there is no substantiating documentation.