This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/17/2022
[WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE]. Medal awarded to Boy Scout Fred C. Reed for assistance rendered during 1913 Woman Suffrage Parade. Original circular bronze medal with bronze suspension bar depicting a pair of Boy Scouts on recto and a dedication from the National American Woman Suffrage Association on the verso reading, “Presented to Fred C. Reed in grateful acknowledgement of duty well-done. Washington, D.C. 3 March 1913.” Medal length, 2 ½”; diam., 1 ½”. In March 1913 1,500 Boy Scouts from six states traveled to Washington to help with crowd control during the inauguration ceremonies for President-Elect Woodrow Wilson. The day before Wilson’s inauguration 5,000 suffragettes led by Alice Paul marched on Washington to demand Wilson grant women the vote. With thousands already in Washington for Wilson’s inauguration, the suffragettes found themselves heckled, blocked from marching, and even physically attacked. D.C. police found themselves overwhelmed by the crowds, and so the Boy Scouts rushed into the fray with batons and first aid kits, beating back attackers and using their batons to fashion stretchers to carry the wounded to safety. The police were later the subject of a congressional inquiry regarding their failure to keep the peace. Medals were struck by NAWSA and awarded to Boy Scouts who had shown particular valor during the march.