U.S. Army Field Artillery Birthday November 17 Commemorative Coin

The front of the coin sets a gold self-propelled howitzer against the Stars and Stripes, its barrel firing with two billowing clouds of smoke rendered in raised gold. The red border reads "U.S. Army Field Artillery" across the top and "November 17" along the bottom, with a ribbon banner under the gun that says "Field Artillery Birthday."

The reverse switches to a white field framed in red. A crowned woman in a blue robe holds a chalice, standing on a rocky base beside a small cannon with two crossed gold cannons behind her, and the lettering around her reads "The King of Battle," "Redlegs," "Fire for Effect ★ Expend All Ammo" and, at the base, "Cedat Fortuna Peritis."

The flag-and-howitzer front beside the Saint Barbara reverse.

November 17 marks the day the Continental Army got its gunner

The Field Artillery dates its birthday to 17 November 1775, when Henry Knox, a 25-year-old Boston bookseller who had taught himself artillery from the books on his shelves, was chosen to command the Continental Regiment of Artillery. Within weeks he set off on one of the war's great feats of logistics, hauling the cannon captured at Fort Ticonderoga roughly 300 miles by ox sled through the winter of 1775–76.

Those guns were placed on Dorchester Heights in March 1776, and the British evacuated Boston soon after. A birthday coin with the date on its face is a direct link to that winter, which is why gunners still celebrate November 17 with dinners, ceremonies and coin exchanges.

The woman on the reverse is Saint Barbara, patron of artillerymen

According to tradition, Barbara was a young woman imprisoned in a tower by her father, who was struck by lightning after he put her to death. Because of that sudden fire from the sky she became the patron saint of those who work with explosives, including miners and gunners, and the chalice in her hand is one of her traditional symbols, alongside the tower of her legend.

U.S. field artillerymen honour her through the Order of Saint Barbara, an honorary society that recognises soldiers and civilians for long service to the branch. Many units hold a Saint Barbara's Day dinner around her feast on 4 December, a few weeks after the birthday on the other face of this coin.

King of Battle and Redlegs are names the branch earned

"The King of Battle" is the artillery's long-standing title, a nod to the fact that massed guns have decided battles from Napoleon's era onward. The infantry is called the Queen of Battle, and the friendly rivalry between the two shows up in toasts and challenge-coin checks to this day.

"Redlegs" is the soldiers' own nickname for artillerymen, traditionally traced to the scarlet stripe that ran down the trousers of 19th-century artillery uniforms. The crossed cannons behind Saint Barbara are the branch insignia worn on the collar, so the reverse packs the branch's identity into a single crowded design.

The motto and the fire command speak to two sides of the job

"Cedat Fortuna Peritis" is Latin for "let fortune yield to the skilled," the artillery's reminder that accurate fire is the product of mathematics, survey and drill rather than luck. "Fire for effect" is the command given once the adjusting rounds are on target and the whole battery fires, and "expend all ammo" is the gunner's half-joking answer about how to celebrate it.

Put the two together and the coin speaks to the precision and the pride of the branch at once. It suits a retirement or promotion, a unit birthday ceremony, a Saint Barbara's dinner, or a family member who wants to thank someone who served on the guns.

Written by Nadia Marsh, Collectibles Specialist at DoesignUs.