Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 202:
Description
Cased Sampson Medal, USS St. Paul – E.E. Mooney, Mach. 1/c, San Juan 22 June 1898. Cased West Indies Naval Campaign Medal-the Sampson Medal-named on the rim to Elbert E. Mooney, Machinist First Class, with ship brooch U.S.S. ST. PAUL and the scarce action reverse SAN JUAN P.R. / JUNE 22. Congress authorized the medal in 1901 for the officers and men who served under Rear Admiral William T. Sampson in the West Indies and Cuban waters. It is one of only two U.S. campaign medals officially issued named on the rim (the Dewey Medal is the other). Charles E. Barber cut the obverse: Sampson in profile, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF, " around the legend of the 1898 naval campaign. George T. Morgan cut the reverse: an officer, a sailor, and a Marine standing on a block that names the fight-not a generic "West Indies" die, but the specific engagement.
That fight was 22 June 1898. USS St. Paul, the former American Line transatlantic steamer taken up as an auxiliary cruiser and armed with 5-inch and 6-inch guns, was on blockade and reconnaissance off San Juan, Puerto Rico. Spanish shore batteries and vessels at the fortified capital opened on her; St. Paul answered and withdrew after a sharp exchange that left the auxiliary cruiser’s crew entitled to this exact reverse. Mooney, a first-class machinist, was below with the engines that kept the converted liner in the fight. Naming, ship bar, and dated reverse together pin the medal to one man, one ship, and one morning off Puerto Rico.
Original red-blue-red ribbon, badly split at the folds-the usual fate of these early silks. Pin-back brooch complete. Period leatherette case with deep purple velvet and a button clasp; corners rubbed, lining sound. Bronze with even cabinet tone and sharp rim letters. A textbook named Sampson Medal: the combination collectors look for, and the history of St. Paul off San Juan sitting in the metal.
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