Historical and Art Medals, Numismatic Books

United States of America, Battle of Fair Oaks, 1862, a bronze medal by L. Merley, General Naglee on horseback charging right, foot soldiers behind, rev. legend, 59mm (BDM –). Virtually as struck, very rare; in maroon fitted case (£80-100)

Henry Morris Naglee (1815-86), civil engineer and banker, graduated from the US Military Academy in 1835 and in 1849 was appointed to command the 1st California Guards, a militia unit in San Francisco. In 1858 he became a pioneering California viticulturist but with the advent of the Civil War he commanded a brigade of the Army of the Potomac at the battle of Fair Oaks, where he was wounded. Over the next two years he commanded divisions in North Carolina and Virginia, before returning to California where in later life he was dogged by scandals involving the seduction of two women, one of whom was his nanny