Tuscarora Nation displaying 230-year-old American historical artifact

Oct. 28—A forgotten piece of U.S. history will be on display on the Tuscarora Reservation.

A silver George Washington Peace Medal dating to at least 1793 will be available for viewing from noon to 2 p.m., Nov. 5 at the Tuscarora Nation House at 5226 Walmore Road in Lewiston.

The medal was awarded to Tuscarora Nation member Nicholas Cusick, also known as Kaghnatsto, who served as a spy and a personal assistant, bodyguard, and interpreter for Marquis de Lafayette, a French military commander who led American troops during the American Revolution, including the Battle of Yorktown with ended the war.

The medal itself is oval in shape, has an image of Native and American figures, the United States' seal, and then-President Washington's name inscribed. Medals like these were given to Native tribes as gifts for their friendship and allegiance to the United States.

Born in 1756 in Oneida, Cusick was a highly respected Tuscarora chief who served in the war for five years. Along with his aforementioned achievements, he gathered intelligence on emery Native American groups, recruited Oneida and Tuscarora warriors for the American side, consulted with George Washington as an Indian affairs expert, and fought in the Battle of Saratoga.

By 1802, Cusick would eventually settle on the Tuscarora reservation with his family. He died in 1840 with his grave in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Lewiston.

The medal surfaced at an auction to be sold, lacking any documents showing who its original owner was. Due to a federal investigation into thefts from the Oklahoma Historical Society, out of an abundance of caution, the auction house offered to donate the medal to the Chickasaw Nation in southern Oklahoma. They accepted it and were determined to identify its original recipient.

Research done by Mitch Caver and Brad Lieb found the medal was sold in the 1870s by U.S. Army Capt. Cornelius Cusick, a grandson of Nicholas, to a collector on the Sac and Fox reservation. Their report on the medal stated, "Authentic Washington oval medals are incredibly rare, and few to none are on exhibit anywhere."

The Chickasaw Nation contacted the Tuscarora Nation this past December, letting them know of the medal's existence.

Members of the Chickasaw Nation and their historian will be present, with Tuscarora Chief Tom Jonathan thanking them for bringing the peace medal home after more than 150 years.

"Without their research, we would not have had our medal returned," Jonathan said.