A head of George Washington, the first President of the United States, facing left.

Designer: John Flanagan (JF), 1932 version from a 1786 bust by Houdon / William Cousins.

Depicts the U.S.S. Cairo on the Yazoo River as it would have been seen when it served the Union Navy during the Civil War.

USS Cairo was one of the first American ironclad warships, built for the Union Navy at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War. Cairo was the lead ship of the City-class gunboats, and named for Cairo, Illinois. In June 1862, she captured the Confederate garrison of Fort Pillow on the Mississippi, enabling Union forces to occupy Memphis. As part of the Yazoo Pass Expedition, she was sunk on 12 December 1862 while clearing mines for the attack on Haines Bluff, and was the first ship ever to be sunk by a mine remotely detonated by hand (an electronically detonated "torpedo"), which ushered in a new age of naval warfare.

The hulk of the Cairo can be viewed at Vicksburg National Military Park, together with a museum of its weapons and naval stores.

Designer: Thomas Cleveland (TC)
Engraver: Joseph Menna (JFM)