Last week I mentioned learning about Chief Pitalesharu's 'Peace Medal' in a video of Dr. Ute Wartenberg Kagan presentation on American collections at the American Numismatic Society. Here's some more information. -Editor

Also found via the Newman Numismatic Portal was this entry in the ANS publication Numismatic Literature (1952-1953), pp373-374. -Editor

HODGE, F. W. Pitalesharu and His Medal. In: The Masterkey, Vol. 24, No. 4
(July-Aug. 1950), pp. 111-119, illus.

For a century (1789-1889) it had been the custom of the United States Government to award medals to prominent Indians, especially to the delegates of tribes who had come to Washington for the purpose of negotiating treaties with the federal government. These were the well known Indian peace medals. There are, however, other medals which have been bestowed upon Indians by individuals and associations. This article discusses such a medal.

Pitalesharu was an outstanding leader among the Skidi, a division of the Pawnee confederacy, who lived along the banks of the Loup River in Nebraska. This tribe practiced human sacrifice in the spring of the year with elaborate rites in the hope that good crops might ensue. Pitalesharu owed his reputation to his rescue of an intended victim. In the spring of 1818 the Skidi had arranged to sacrifice a Comanche girl. This Indian chief, then twenty years of age, cut the girl from the stake, placed her upon a horse, gave her back to her own people, and then returned. Somewhat later he succeeded in ransoming a Spanish boy who was being reserved for this sacrifice. News of these exploits spread throughout the country.

Pitalesharu with a group of Pawnees visited the Great White Father at Washington in 1821. On this occasion the young ladies of Miss White's Seminary in that city presented the young chief with a medal in commemoration of rescuing one of their sex, an innocent victim, from a cruel death. This medal was buried with the chief at his death in 1841 and recovered from his grave in 1884. After various vicissitudes it now rests in the cabinet of the American Numismatic Society. On the obverse is a crude engraving of the hero leading the captive Comanche toward two horses tethered between two trees in the background, above which may be read the inscription: to the bravest of the brave. The reverse depicts the wooden framework to which the intended victim had been tied; to the left stand four Indians looking at the empty framework.

19th century collectors were voracious consumers of native American artifacts, and people of the time rarely gave a second thought to excavating burial mounds and other archeological sites to "recover" treasures for their collections and museums. It's a different world today. Here's an update from Dr. Kagan. -Editor

In the light of the planned publication of the Indian Peace Medals of the American Numismatic Society, the Society's staff undertook a comprehensive provenance review of over 300 Native American affiliated objects. ANS Fellow Oliver Hoover has been working on this catalogue and it is expected that this will appear some time in 2025.

As the Society has been receiving occasional federal funding, it is required to comply with NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990). This law requires that such organizations return human remains, funerary objects, and sacred objects of Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations to the tribes or lineal descendants that have filed claims.

After a months-long search in 2021 and 2022, the ANS found three unassociated funerary objects, with primary evidence in the ANS archives attesting their association with graves. One was returned to the lineal descendant and the other two were returned to the tribes. See here:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/04/06/2022-07168/notice-of-intent-to-repatriate-cultural-items-american-numismatic-society-new-york-ny

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/06/27/2022-13619/notice-of-intent-to-repatriate-cultural-items-american-numismatic-society-new-york-ny

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/12/05/2022-26374/notice-of-intent-to-repatriate-cultural-items-american-numismatic-society-new-york-ny

One of the medals returned was the one given to Chief Petalesharo.

Thank you for that update. We'll look forward to the new publication. -Editor