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Legacy: The First Purple Heart

By George DeWan | Staff Writer

The nation's first Purple Heart was won for bravery in whaleboat raids on Long Island. The recipient of the medal, originally called the Badge of Military Merit, was 27-year-old Sgt. Elijah Churchill, who enlisted at Enfield, Conn. He was cited for bravery in the 1780 raid on Fort St. George in Mastic and then in the 1781 raid on Fort Slongo, in what is now Fort Salonga, Smithtown. In creating the medal on Aug. 7, 1782, Gen. George Washington said it was for ``any singularly meritorious action.'' It was not redesigned and reissued as the Purple Heart -- for Americans killed or wounded in combat -- until 1932. Fort Slongo was a minor redoubt built on a hilltop near the Sound, and the whaleboat attack took place at dawn on Oct. 3, 1781. The British surrendered within minutes, but not before Churchill, who led the charge, was wounded, the only American casualty. Churchill's Badge of Military Merit is on display at the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site near Newburgh. All that remains of the original fort is a fenced-in mound of earth in the backyard of a private home.