The very heavy medal measures seventy-one millimetres in diameter. It is made of type metal, coated with a bluish-black lacquer. The obverse shows in its upper part the following legend: LIBBY PRISON; and in the lower part: WAR MUSEUM/ CHICAGO 1893. The space in the center is occupied by the picture of Libby Prison as it stood in its original place in Richmond, Virginia. Four prisoners’ tents are visible in the foreground. Of course, no barbed wire, and not even a fence are indicated. Instead sentries can be seen in front of the main building as well as of the tent-barracks, their number being six _in toto_. The picture is that well known from contemporary drawings or etchings. [Illustration: No. 7 Libby Prison Medal (Reverse)] The reverse of the medal bears an extensive legend in eighteen lines. These are surrounded by a circular panel, showing on top clasped hands, at the bottom crossed sabres. The panel inscription reads: NO SECTIONALISM—1861—NO NORTH—NO SOUTH—1865—NO ANIMOSITY. The eighteen-line legend gives an historical account of Libby Prison and its transformation into the Chicago War Museum: 1845 LIBBY PRISON RICHMOND, VA. ERECTED IN 1845 BY LUTHER LIBBY. OCCUPIED BY LIBBY AND SON, SHIPCHANDLERS AND GROCERS. IN 1861 TAKEN BY THE CONFEDERATED AND CONVERTED INTO A PRISON. FROM 1861 TO 1864, 40,000 UNION PRISONERS WERE CONFINED IN IT. LARGEST NUMBER AT ONE TIME 1400. FOR OFFICERS EXCLUSIVELY IN 1864-5. FEBRUARY 9 1864, 109 UNION OFFICERS MADE THEIR ESCAPE BY THE CELEBRATED TUNNEL PLANNED BY COL. THOS. E. ROSE. MOVED TO CHICAGO IN 1889, CONVERTED INTO A NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM OWNED BY THE LIBBY PRISON WAR MUSEUM A’SSN. C. F. GUNTHER. PRES; L. MANASSE. VICE PRES; C. E. KREMER. SEC. AND TREAS. 1893 The history of Libby Prison as sad as it is romantic is too well known to be retold here even briefly. The New York Public Library has in its Americana collection no less than 222 items on Civil War prisoners and prisons. Many of them are devoted exclusively or partially to Libby Prison. The selected bibliography appended to this article will guide historically interested readers. With reference to the medal under consideration it is surprising that the famous commander of the prison, Major Thomas P. Turner, found no mention in its historical legend. He “was always a gentleman,” as one of the former prisoners wrote in his memoirs. In view of the fact that the medal is dedicated to the Libby Prison War Museum in Chicago, the history of the removal of the building from Richmond may be of interest. The following quotation is an excerpt from the pertinent introductory chapter in the now rare _Catalogue and Program_ of the Libby Prison War Museum, first published probably in 1889 and later reprinted in the early eighteen-nineties: