August 7 – George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit (or the Order of the Purple Heart) to honor soldiers' merit in battle (reinstated later by Franklin D. Roosevelt and renamed to the more poetic "Purple Heart" to honor soldiers wounded in action).
Daniel Bissell Jr.'s badge was discovered in an unidentified barn in Deerfield, New Hampshire in the 1920s by Captain William Willey, according to the American Independence Museum in Exeter, New Hampshire, who displayed the framed item at their historic site.
In 1782, at his headquarters, George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit to be given to enlisted men and noncommissioned officers for meritorious action.
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The reverse of all of the medals has the motto taken from the Great Seal of the United States "ANNUIT COEPTIS" (He (God) Has Favored Our Undertakings) and the date "MDCCLXXXII" (1782), which is the date of America's first decoration, the Badge of Military Merit, now known as the Purple Heart.