Click for a larger view.Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insignia owned by Louis François Bertrand du Pont d'Aubevoye, comte de LauberdièreNicolas Jean Francastel and Claude Jean Autran Duval, Paris1784
Museum Acquisitions Fund purchase, 2013
The first examples of the Society insignia were made in Paris in January 1784 for French members of the Society. Jewelers Francastel and Duval made forty-five small gold insignias, the first of which were distributed by the marquis de Lafayette at an organizing meeting of the French branch of the Society. This example was owned by the comte de Lauberdière, an aide-de-camp to General Rochambeau.
Click for a larger view.Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insignia owned by Tench TilghmanNicolas Jean Francastel and Claude Jean Autran Duval, Paris1784
Gift of Harrison Tilghman, Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland, 1953
George Washington, the first president general of the Society, purchased eight gold Society insignias to give to former aides-de-camp who joined the organization. He presented this one to Tench Tilghman of Maryland, to whom Washington entrusted the duty of delivering to Congress the Articles of Capitulation after the Siege of Yorktown. Tilghman's Eagle retains its original silk ribbon and metal clasp.
Click for a larger view.Diamond Eagle of the Society of the CincinnatiNicolas Jean Francastel and Claude Jean Autran Duval, Paris1784
Gift of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina, 1811
The Diamond Eagle, the badge of the office of the president general, was commissioned by French naval officers who served in the Revolutionary War as a gift for George Washington. Adorned with 198 diamonds, emeralds and rubies, the Diamond Eagle has been worn by every president general since Washington, including Alexander Hamilton, who succeeded Washington in the role.
Click for a larger view.Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insignia owned by Richard Clough AndersonJeremiah Andrews, Philadelphiaca. 1784-1791
Gift of Isabel Anderson, 1938
Jeremiah Andrews, the first American craftsman to make the Society insignia, sold the Eagle to members from Philadelphia to Savannah beginning in late 1784. This gold example was owned by Richard Clough Anderson, an officer in the Virginia Continental Line and aide-de-camp to Lafayette.
Click for a larger view.Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insignia owned by William LinnJohn Cook, New York1800
Museum Acquisitions Fund purchase, 2013
The Reverend William Linn, who served as chaplain of the Fifth Pennsylvania Battalion during the Revolutionary War, was elected an honorary member of the New York Society the same day he delivered a funeral eulogy for George Washington to the group. Linn's gold Eagle retains its original silk ribbon and metal clasp.
Click for a larger view.Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insigniaProbably Boston, Mass.ca. 1795-1820
The Society of the Cincinnati Collections
In the founding era, at least six different versions of the Eagle were made by American craftsmen, some of whose identities are not known. This gold example was probably made in Boston.
Click for a larger view.Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insignia commissioned by the Rhode Island SocietyAttributed to Thomas Fletcher, Philadelphiaca. 1821
Gift of Gary E. Young, Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia, 2014
The Rhode Island Society became the first state branch of the Society to commission an Eagle design in 1821. This plain gilt copper example is one of five early Rhode Island Society Eagles in the Institute's collections.
Click for a larger view.Replica of the Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insignia owned by Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de LafayetteParis, Franceca. 1830-1832
Gift of the estate of Mabel S. Daveis, 1950
During Lafayette’s visit to Virginia in 1824, George Washington’s adopted granddaughter Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis Lewis presented Lafayette with a distinctive Society insignia Washington had owned. In 1830, Lafayette gave permission to Charles Stewart Daveis, a member of the Massachusetts branch of the Society, to have this replica made for Daveis to take with him back to America.