In 1878, Americans gathered to mark one hundred years since George Washington's army left Valley Forge—the Pennsylvania winter camp where soldiers endured starvation and cold during the Revolutionary War. This bronze medal, struck for the centennial celebration, became a tangible keepsake ordinary citizens could hold and treasure, connecting them directly to the national founding story.
You turn the medal over in your palm, feeling its weight. The profile of Washington catches the light, and you think of those soldiers a century ago, huddled in crude huts against the snow. Millions of Americans own one of these now—proof that even ordinary people were part of something sacred.
Reflect
What event or ancestor would you want your children to remember a hundred years from now?