Sergeant Elijah Churchill and the Badge of Military Merit
Abstract
During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington understood that in order to inspire his soldiers to excellence, he needed to recognize acts of bravery and fidelity. Years later, Napoleon would understand this concept when he surrendered himself on the H.M.S. Bellerophon. He noticed that the crew, who were all very fine in their uniforms for such an occasion, had no awards adorning them. He was amazed to find that it was not customary to confer medals except to high ranking officers. Napoleon terminated the conversation by remarking, "Such is not the way to excite or cherish the military virtues. "It is that recognition of heroic actions and fidelity of great service that led to the creation of the ever changing award system that we have today. In its infancy, however, it was created rather quickly and without much attention to detail that led to the recognition of its first recipient for gallantry on two separate occasions. It is just that lack of documentation that makes it difficult to piece together the individual excellence of one particular young sergeant. Sergeant Elijah Churchill , 27 from Enfield, Connecticut was the first Soldier awarded the Badge of Military Merit. There were a total of three awards of the Badge of Military Merit for specific acts during the Revolutionary War. The other two, Sergeant Daniel Bissell and Sergeant William Brown were also Regulars from Connecticut. The badge itself was a purple cloth heart that was worn on the left breast of the uniform of the awardee. It eventually evolved into what is currently the Purple Heart that is awarded to service members who receive wounds or are killed in actions against an enemy force. During the Revolution, however, it was as specified before, awarded for acts of bravery. Therefore, it is also considered the United States' first version of the Medal of Honor.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 02, 2006
- Accession Number
- AD1142582
Entities
People
- Stephen J. Travers
Organizations
- United States Army Sergeants Major Academy