 1777 Silver, gilt Battle of Germantown, Pennsylvania Medal. Extremely Fine. The only English medal awarded for a regimental infantry battle in the entire American Revolutionary War. Betts 556 (American Colonial History Illustrated by Contemporary Medals), Tancred 331-2 (Historical Record of Medals), Balmer R315 (British and Irish Regimental and Volunteer Medals). 421.0 gns. 44.0 mm. Pale yellow over silver in color. Surfaces on battlefield side chased. Minor edge marks, remains of a mount. Holed at the top for wearing as a decoration. The obverse is inscribed in the die GERMANTOWN OCT.R.4.1777 within a victory wreath. In the field above this is engraved in a very neat hand the award inscription ''40th.Regt.''
Silver Germantown medals were awarded to officers in the 40th Regiment of British infantry and the officers who received the medals proudly engraved their regimental designation on the front. The medals were worn on parade and other formal occasions when full uniform was required.
The reverse shows the turning point in the battle, when elements of the 40th Regiment, holed up in a stone house in the middle of the battlefield, held of repeated ground assaults by superior forces and so inspired their fellow infantrymen to hold their line. Soldiers can be seen firing from the windows on the upper floor of the Chew House (as it is still known, today) and its outbuilding on skirmishers approaching their position from the left and front. Bodies of fallen attackers litter the drive in front. A battery of artillery can be seen in the foreground discharging its cannon at the house. A reinforcing regiment is shown marching onto the field at the lower left. Over all in the background hangs the smoke of battle. The engraver's signature, I. MILTON. F , is at the very bottom on this side.
The medal is extremely rare in silver (and bronze) as it is believed that only 15 to 20 of these still survive. Even fewer than that are known to have been gilt. The Battle of Germantown would have been an important early victory for General George Washington and his embattled patriots and might have changed the course of the whole Revolutionary War. The defense of Chew House by elements of the 40th Regiment deprived Washington of the successful outcome to his skillful maneuvering and was a shock to the Continentals. The fight in and around the stone house was as terrible as any recorded from any war. Fighting was hand to hand, anyone approaching the house was likely to be shot, those who made it across the fields and through the front door faced a barricade of tables and chairs from behind which a scything fire shot attackers to pieces.
Observers later described the interior of the house as resembling a slaughterhouse. After the battle and when the regiment returned to its overseas base, its Colonel, Thomas Musgrave, commanded that medals be struck honoring the regiment's defense in Pennsylvania and be worn by those who took part in this action. The medal became so popular with the troops that the regiment adopted it as an official award for distinction and it was awarded to officers and enlisted men for decades afterwards. The Chew House still stands on Germantown Avenue between Johnson and Cliveden Streets in Germantown, Pennsylvania. In later years, the 40th Regiment became part of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, which saw service in Iraq.
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