Item number: M258

Year: AD 1865

Material: 14ct gold

Size: 68.0 x 32.7 x 5.3 mm

Weight: 11.7 g

Provenance:

1. Heritage Auctions 2023

2.Nicolas D. Wood Collection

This medal was created after the end of the American Civil War. The ribbon features three colors in the following order from the inside out: red, white, and blue. The medal itself is in the shape of a Maltese cross, with blue, white, and gold colours on both the observe and reverse side.

At the centre of the observe of the medal is an eagle with outstretched wings, surrounded by the legend “LEX RECIT ARMA TUENTUR” (The law rules, the arms defend).

The centre of the reverse of the medal features a column with crossed sabres, signifying it as a military medal, with the legend “M. O. LOYAL LEGION U. S./ MDCCCLXV”.

The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States （MOLLUS）is a military order founded in the wake of the American Civil War. On April 15, AD 1865, following the death of President Abraham Lincoln, three Union Army officers—Thomas Ellwood Zell, a former Lieutenant Colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment; Samuel Brown Mitchell, the Surgeon of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry; and Peter Dirck Keyser, who had served in the 91st Pennsylvania Infantry—met in Philadelphia to discuss the tragic news.

At the same time, they received rumours from Washington suggesting that Lincoln’s death could be used to destroy the Union government. This prompted the three officers to call together other interested individuals to form an organisation aimed at countering potential threats to the Union and the United States.

The background to the creation of the medal: In late May AD 1865, the three officers, along with other like-minded individuals, gathered at Constitution Hall to pledge their allegiance to the Union and establish a protective organisation named the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, with the motto “Lex Recit, Arma Tuentur” （Laws Rule, Arms Defend）.

Charlemagne Tower, the recipient of this medal, was a direct descendant of the first Holy Roman Emperor through his mother’s lineage. He is the founder of what is now the town of Tower City in Pennsylvania, USA. Additionally, he was an American lawyer and businessman. His interest was in collecting rare books, particularly those related to colonial laws. By the time of his passing, he had amassed the most complete collection of colonial law books in the world.

He was highly patriotic and assisted the Union Army in recruiting during the Civil War. Despite the draft causing dissatisfaction among many farmers and miners, he steadfastly fulfilled this challenging task and ultimately helped recruit over 20,000 men for the government. His unwavering dedication to the recruitment effort earned him a citation from President Lincoln.

Additionally, during the American Civil War, Tower’s patriotism led him to join the military. He was commissioned as a captain and, within three months, organised and led a Federal infantry regiment from Pottsville. After the war, his contributions to the United States Army were recognised with the awarding of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States medal.

His controversial case (Munson–Williams case): His commercial success stemmed from his active acquisition of land in the Schuylkill Valley of Pennsylvania and his role as an officer in coal and railway companies.

However, acquiring this land was no easy feat. At that time, he became embroiled in a case. The case originated from Tower being commissioned by Monson-William to use his legal expertise to resolve ownership disputes involving 8,000 acres of land. In short, the 8,000 acres that Monson-William intended to acquire had issues with property encroachment. To resolve the legal problems, Monson offered Tower as much as half of the land’s ownership as a reward.

To prevent other competitors from targeting their land, the partners had Tower handle the purchases and register the land under nominee account to conceal the true ownership. By AD 1858, the partners had already controlled 11,000 acres of land. It was only then that the relevant land users realised what was happening and filed lawsuits against Monson-William. Thanks to Tower’s exceptional legal skills, the plan did not fall apart.

In AD 1867, Tower decided to sell the land he owned but initially found no buyers due to ownership disputes. Eventually, in March AD 1868, Tower decided to lease 1,503 acres of land to two independent coal companies, which developed the Tower Mine and Brookside Mine. The lease term was 15 years, with a rent of $0.30 per ton of coal. Additionally, Tower developed a town near the mines, naming it Towersville after himself, a name that is still in use today.

物件編號: M258

年代: 公元 1865 年

材質: 14克拉黃金

尺寸: 68.0 x 32.7 x 5.3 mm

重量: 11.7 g

來源:

1. 海瑞得拍賣行 2023

2.尼古拉斯·D·伍德舊藏

這是一枚誕生於美國南北戰爭結束後的獎章。獎章緞帶處，其正、背面的顏色，由內到外依序為紅、白、藍三色。下方獎章，為一馬爾他十字狀，其正、背面皆由藍、白、金三色組合而成。

獎章正面中央處，是一隻高舉雙翅的鷹，其邊緣刻有銘文「LEX RECIT ARMA TUENTUR」（以法治國，以武護國）的字樣。

而背面中央處為一柱子，柱上有交叉的軍刀，代表了這是一枚軍事獎章，在其邊緣，亦刻有「M. O. LOYAL LEGION U. S./ MDCCCLXV」的字樣。

美國忠誠軍團（The Military Order Of The Loyal Legion Of The United States，簡稱MOLLUS），是一軍事軍團，創立背景為南北戰爭結束前夕，公元1865年4月15日，美國總統林肯去世，時任三名聯邦軍官——前賓夕法尼亞州團的中校，托馬斯·埃爾伍德·澤爾（Thomas Ellwood Zell）、第八賓夕法尼亞騎兵團的軍醫，塞繆爾·布朗·米切爾（Samuel Brown Mitchell）、以及曾服役於第91賓夕法尼亞步兵團的上尉，彼得·德克·凱瑟（Peter Dirck Keyser）——他們三人在費城會面，討論美國總統林肯過世的消息。

與此同時，他們還接收到來自華盛頓的謠言——林肯之死可以摧毀聯邦政府的南北統一，此謠言便促成這三位軍官召集其他有志之士，共同組建一個組織，以遏止意圖摧毀聯邦政府與美國的潛在威脅。

公元1865年5月底，三名軍官與其他有志之士，在憲法大廳聚會，他們宣布效忠聯邦政府，並成立了一個護國組織「美國忠誠軍團」，其座右銘是「Lex Recit, Arma Tuentur」（以法治國，以武護國）。這便是這枚獎章誕生的背景。

該枚獎章的獲獎人，查里曼．塔爾（Charlemagne Tower），對自己的名字和第一位神聖羅馬帝國皇帝查里曼（Charlemagne）同名感到非常自豪，因在通過繼承母系血統後，事實上也確實是此皇帝的直系後裔。他是如今美國賓州塔爾市的創辦人，同時，也是一位美國律師和商人。他的興趣是喜好收藏稀有書籍，特別是有關殖民地法律知識的書籍，在他過世時，他甚至擁有世界上最完整的殖民地法律知識書籍收藏。

他十分具有愛國情懷，在南北戰爭期間，曾協助聯邦軍隊幫忙徵兵。在戰爭期間，即使徵兵使大部分農民或礦工心生不滿，但他依然不屈不撓地完成了這項艱鉅的任務，最終他協助政府徵兵超過2萬人。而他義無反顧完成徵兵任務的事蹟，也讓他獲得美國總統林肯的嘉獎。

不僅如此，在美國內戰期間，塔爾因自己的愛國心而加入軍隊，在此期間，他被任命為上尉，並在三個月內組織且領導了一支來自波茨維爾的聯邦步兵團。戰後，他也因在戰爭中對美國陸軍的貢獻，而被頒發美國忠誠軍團軍事獎章。

關於查里曼．塔爾（Charlemagne Tower），他有一起爭議案件—孟森．威廉事件（Munson–Williams case）。

他的商業成就來自於他積極收購賓州斯庫爾基爾山谷的土地，並擔任煤炭和鐵路公司的官員。

然而這塊土地卻得來不易。當時他被捲入一場案件當中。這個案件源自塔爾接到孟森．威廉的委託，請他運用法律專長協助解決牽涉8000英畝土地的所有權爭議。簡而言之，孟森．威廉意圖併購的8000英畝土地有侵占他人財產的爭議，孟森以高達一半的土地所有權犒賞塔爾，請他解決相關法律問題。

這對合夥人為避免其他競爭對手盯上他們的土地，由塔爾負責出面購買土地，再將土地登記在人頭戶，以隱藏土地所有權的實際擁有者。截至公元1858年，這對合夥人已經控制11000英畝的土地。此時相關的土地使用者方才反應過來，向孟森．威廉提起訴訟，多虧塔爾出色的法律技巧才使這套計畫沒有崩盤。

公元1867年，塔爾決定出售名下的土地，卻因為所有權爭議一時找不到買家。最終在公元1868年3月，塔爾決定將1503英畝的土地租給兩家獨立的煤炭公司，開發為塔爾煤礦和布魯克賽煤礦，租期為15年，租金為0.3美元 / 每噸煤礦計算。除此之外，塔爾還在煤礦附近開發城鎮，以自己的名字命名為塔爾鎮並沿用至今。