On This Day: February 9, 1812

On February 9, 1812, Emperor Alexander I of the Russian decreed to decorate 27 peasants for their heroic deeds against Napoleon’s invasion force.

This medal was awarded just once, with only 27 medals made at the Saint Petersburg Mint. The obverse side of the medal featured Emperor Alexander`s profile, while the reverse side had a signature of the chief engineer of the Saint Petersburg Mint, K. Lebereht and the words “For love for the Fatherland”. The medal had to be worn on Ribbon of the Order of St. Vladimir.

By the time of the ceremony in Moscow on May 25, 1813, two out of 27 peasants had passed away, their medals were then melted down. Governor of Moscow during the French invasion of Russia, Feodor Rostopchin, welcomed the peasants at the ceremony, where they were given hats with gold embroidery as presents.

Also this day the following letter from David Todd, Morris Town County of St. Lawrence was sent to Colonel Proctor at Fort George asking him to forward an enclosed letter to his nephew who was serving there.

Courtesy of the Brock University digital archive.

Letter courtesy of the Brock University digital archive.

This entry was posted by drocha on Sunday, February 9th, 2014 at 10:07 am and is filed under On This Day . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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