The Peace Medals are very interesting. The man wearing one is a chief of the Chippewas. The Minnesota regiment made up of the Chippewa served with distinction, and wore the medals to affirm their loyalty to the US and that they were separate from the Dakota troubles. These medals were given out by American presidents beginning with George Washington, which followed a British tradition of giving similar medals to tribal head men. My few greats uncle Pine Tree had a British silver gorget that was buried with him and later dug up by ghouls - it was located some years ago in a museum in North Carolina and returned to the Catawba tribe. Curiously, the tribes valued these gorgets more than the medals - the reasoning was the British didn't make a lot of promises but when they did, they kept them. Americans...not so much! These medals are also similar in purpose to the Lincoln canes much valued by the Pueblos. Each pueblo had received a cane of peace from Spanish and Mexican authorities to symbolize their independence, and Lincoln continued the practice.