This unusual token, carried for many years by an obscure but very important man, has a most interesting story behind it. It is historically important in that it actually served as an identification piece between two Northern spies during the American Civil War.
The initials of one of these spies, a Virginian named Will Gardner (1804-79), appear on the token’s reverse. Gardner was entrusted with a mission so delicate and secretive that it was known to only three men. The token’s rather cryptic obverse design depicts an owl perched in a tree above a man standing by his horse. In ornate engraving on the reverse are the initials WG, perhaps serving to identify the bearer.
President Abraham Lincoln summoned Gardner to his quarters one cold, rainy night and outlined what he must do. Lincoln explained that if Gardner were to fail, it could mean the loss of thousands of Northern lives and very possibly even the war.
Gardner was directed to establish contact with a Northern sympathizer on Christmas Day 1862 at the base of Stone Mountain in Georgia. There, he was to obtain detailed information on Southern troop movements, including artillery strength and the divisions involved. According to the story, this token, actually given to Gardner by Lincoln, would provide positive assurance to the informer (whose name was never known) that he was who he claimed to be.
Lincoln instructed Gardner to ride his horse to the base of the mountain, to a certain tree that had long been known to be frequented by a huge owl and to be there at precisely 5 a.m., just before dawn. Gardner would be approached by the other man (we presume it was a man), who would ask him for a coin or two so he could buy some food. The President further directed Gardner to hand this token to the informer as his identification, at which time the vital information would be conveyed.
A Forgotten Memento
After the military intelligence was exchanged, the informer returned the token to Gardner. He carried it with him until his death in 1879 at the age of 75, a remembrance of the crucial data he secured for Lincoln that saved so many Union lives. Unfortunately, no one else knew of this heroic act of patriotism for more than a century when, in early 1995, Gardner’s great-grandson found the token and his handwritten account of the incident in an old family trunk.
Epilogue
The story you just read is completely fictitious. It was written to spark interest in the rather unusual token illustrated here. But it sounded great, didn’t it?
A version of this article appeared in the April 2008 issue of The Numismatist (money.org).