Item: i113026


Authentic Medal of:

United States of America
Franklin Mint ANCS Series – Ninth and Tenth Cavalry – Buffalo Soldiers
1970 Proof Silver Medal 39mm (27.36 grams) Sterling Silver
Reference: Franklin Mint 0581 | Sculptor: Frank Eliscu
NINTH AND TENTH CAVALRY REGIMENTS THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS, Soldiers with on horseback with rapiers and guns left.
HEROES AT THE BATTLE OF SNA JUAN HILL 1898, Men with guns, rapiers and US flag running left.
Edge Lettering:
STERLING 70 P 0851

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.

The Battle of San Juan Hill, also known as the Battle for the San Juan Heights, was a major battle of the Spanish–American War fought between an American force under the command of William Rufus Shafter and Joseph Wheeler against a Spanish force led by Arsenio Linares y Pombo. The battle proved to be one of the most significant battles of the war and, along with the Siege of Santiago, a decisive battle in deciding the fate of the United States Army campaign in Cuba. The American forces, outnumbering the Spanish defenders 16-to-one, charged upon the heights and dispersed the Spanish after suffering heavy casualties.

Tensions between Spain and the United States worsened over Spanish behavior during their efforts to quell the Cuban War of Independence, with many Americans being agitated by exaggerated reports of Spanish atrocities against the Cuban population. In January 1898, fearing the fate of American interests in Cuba due to the war, the cruiser USS Maine was dispatched to protect them. Less than a month later, the cruiser exploded while lying at anchor in Havana harbor, killing 261 sailors onboard and inflaming American opinion, with Spain being portrayed as the culprit in the American media without conclusive evidence. Two months later, war was declared.

The Americans, after already landing troops in the Battle of Guantánamo Bay, moved inland to seek a decisive encounter with the Spanish forces. Both sides drew blood at the Battle of Las Guasimas, with the Spanish moving to defend the strategically valuable San Juan Heights from the Americans. A week later, a significantly larger American force, including the famed ‘Rough Riders’, moved to clear the heights of the Spanish. After enduring artillery fire which inflicted heavy casualties, the Americans charged up the hill and dispersed the Spanish, suffering even more heavily in the process. The fight for the heights proved to be the bloodiest and most famous battle of the war.

The battle also proved to be the location of the “greatest victory” for the Rough Riders, as stated by the press and its new commander, Theodore Roosevelt, who eventually became vice president and later president of the United States, and who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 for his actions in Cuba and became the only U.S. president to receive the award. The Americans won another engagement at El Caney the same day, with both battles highlighting the bravery and skill of the American/Cuban forces, as well as the Spanish defenders. Following the surrender of the Spanish army at Santiago, they agreed to depart Cuba, ending over four centuries of Spanish rule.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km²), the United States is the world’s third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe’s 3.9 million square miles (10.1 million km²). With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital’s federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries.

Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, and the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776. The war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848.

During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery. By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, and its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country’s status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The Rights Acts of 1964, 1965 and 1968 outlaws discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U.S. Moon landing. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world’s sole superpower.

The United States is the world’s oldest surviving federation. It is a federal republic and a representative democracy. The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States (OAS), and other international organizations. The United States is a highly developed country, with the world’s largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for approximately a quarter of global GDP. The U.S. economy is largely post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world’s largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U.S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country.

Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank very high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, and worker productivity. The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, and is a leading political, cultural, and scientific force internationally.