Historical and Art Medals, Numismatic Books

United States of America, Surrender of the British Army at Saratoga, 1777, a copper medal by N.M. Gatteaux for the Comitia Americana, bust of Horatio Gates left, rev. General Burgoyne surrenders his sword to Gates, troops in background, 55mm (Betts 557; cf. J.J. Ford XIV, 193-4). Usual small die flaw by o of septentrional and a few surface marks, otherwise very fine (£150-200)

Plate 5. Horatio Gates (1728-1806), born at Maldon, Essex, became a professional soldier in the British army. He served during the French and Indian War, including Braddock's campaign to Fort Duquesne and the Monckton expedition against French Martinique. In 1772 he purchased an estate in western Virginia and three years later joined General Washington's staff. He provided the Continental Army's first disciplinary code, supply procedures and camp sanitation regulations. In 1777 Gates triumphed over the British at Saratoga, earning a congressional gold medal and a public day of thanksgiving. Later, despite strained relations with Washington over an alleged coup in Gates's favour, Congress elected him president of the War Board. In 1780, as commander of the army's southern campaign, Gates misjudged the South Carolina terrain and his troops' level of readiness. He abandoned the battlefield to Cornwallis near Camden. After the Revolution he served as vice president of the national Order of the Cincinnati (the organization of former Continental Army officers) and president of its Virginia chapter. In 1790 he moved to New York and later served in the state legislature