The second commemorative medal struck by the Society of the Cincinnati (Hume #4) appeared in 1897 and marked the unveiling of the statue of General Washington erected in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania State Society of Cincinnati.

Medal Commemorating the unveiling of the Washington Monument
erected by the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati, 1897.
(Obverse).
Hume #4.

Medal Commemorating the unveiling of the Washington Monument
erected by the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati, 1897.
(Reverse). Hume #4.

Baker: S-324. Designed by Peter L. Krider and struck by the August C. Frank Company, both of Philadelphia.  The medal is 76mm and almost 10mm thick. Silver.

At their meeting on July 4, 1810, the Pennsylvania Cincinnati resolved invite subscriptions for the erection of "a permanent memorial of their respect to the late Father of his Country, General George Washington". Funds began to be subscribed almost immediately. By careful management the amount of the fund by 1877 warranted the undertaking. In competition with others, the designs of Prof. Rudolph Siemerling, of Berlin, were accepted. On May 15, 1897, this monument, in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, was unveiled by the Hon. William McKinley, President of the United States and an honorary member of the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati.

The ceremony was an impressive one. Besides the President of the United States there were present the Vice-President, Hon. Garret A. Hobart; Jules Patenotre des Noyers, Ambassador of France to the United States; the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, Agriculture, and the Interior; the Postmaster-General, and the Attorney-General; senior officers of the Army and Navy; the Governors of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey; the Mayors of Philadelphia and New York City; the General Assembly of Pennsylvania; and many persons of prominence. Click here for an account of this event.

The First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry was escort to the President and headed a grand military and naval procession which passed the President in review after the unveiling of the monument. Major William Wayne, great-grandson of "Mad Anthony" Wayne of the Revolution, President-General, President of the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati, presided at the ceremonies. Addresses were made by the President of the United States; Hon. William W. Porter, of the Philadelphia Bar, a member the Pennsylvania Cincinnati; and the Mayor of Philadelphia. The national salute was fired by Light Battery E, First Artillery, U. S. Army, and by S. S. Texas, U. S. S. Terror, the French aviso Fulton, and the U. S. R. C. Hamilton, anchored in the Delaware River. The day was declared a holiday Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature.

Leather-bound program given to dignataries.

Sourvenir Book with transcript and photographs.

The dinner in the evening was attended by some four hundred guests. After the invocation by the Archbishop of Philadelphia there were addresses by Major Asa Bird Gardiner, U. S. A., Secretary General of the Cincinnati; M. Patenotre, the French Ambassador; Hon. James Simons, of South Carolina, afterwards to be Vice-President General of the Cincinnati; the Mayor of Philadelphia, Gen. William S. Stryker, President of the New Jersey Cincinnati; Hon. James M. Beck, later Solicitor-General of the United States, and Gen. James M. Barnum of the Rhode Island Cincinnati.

The monument, which is one of the most elaborate memorials erected in memory of Washington, cost more than a quarter of a million dollars. It was admitted to the United States free of customs duties by special Act of Congress of February 17, 1883.

The Monument is an equestrian bronze statue of George Washington, 44 feet in height, standing on a granite platform 61 by 74 feet. At the four corners of the base are allegorical fountains representing the Delaware, Hudson, Potomac and Mississippi Rivers. On the front of the pedestal is a bas-relief figure of America receiving the trophies of victory from her sons. On the back is America rousing her sons to a sense of their slavery. Bas-reliefs on the sides represent the March of the American Army, and the Westward Movement of the American People. The legend on the pedestal states: Erected by the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania. The names of 41 military and civil leaders of the Revolution are cut into the bronze of the pedestal designs.

In honor of the occasion the Pennsylvania Cincinnati struck a large commemorative medal in silver (Hume #4), copies of which were presented to the official guests and members present at the ceremonies. The medal measures 3 inches in diameter and is 5/8-inch in thickness. On the obverse we see, in high relief, the Eagle of the Order, and, above, the inscription in large letters: . SOCIETAL . CINCINNATORUM . INSTITUTA . A. D. MDCCLXXXIII . The reverse shows, also in high relief, the monument and, below, the legend: Commemoration of the Unveiling of the WASHINGTON MONUMENT at Philadelphia May 15th, 1897.

Just below the base of the monument are seen the names of the maker, Aug. C. Frank, Phila., and that of the artist, Peter L. Krider Co. Phila.