Yes. Until the United States entered World War I, very few military honors or campaign medals were created. The Medal of Honor, created during the American Civil War, was the earliest widespread American military honor. Before the 20th century, the United States held to an egalitarian military principle by which all enlisted soldiers were expected to be treated equally. In the early 19th century, plenty of people in Congress and the rest of the United States argued against the creation of West Point for fear that it would create a class of elitist officers. Remember, even as late as the American Civil War, the egalitarianism of the U.S. military extended so far as to include elections to choose company and regimental officers in volunteer units.

(Elections were not unheard of, as the practice was common in the early years of the French Revolution.)

On June 27, 1897, President William McKinley directed the Army to establish new policies regarding Medal of Honor applications and awards. There were a huge number of honorees for such things as combat in Korea (1871), the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), Indian Wars campaigns (until 1891) and postdated Civil War actions that McKinley felt the need to limit the award.

Still, it was more a general award. In the Spanish-American War, 109 soldiers, sailors and Marines earned Medals of Honor. My father is the former historian of Naval Air Station Key West, and he likes to point out the cable-cutting raid on Cienfuegos, Cuba during that war. In the raid, the U.S. Navy used sailors and Marines to cut two undersea telegraph cables to Spain while under fire. Fully 52 sailors and marines were awarded the Medal of Honor during the action.

After the turn of the 20th century, Congress and the War Department began authorizing additional medals in larger quantities. War Department General Orders No. 5 created the Spanish Campaign Medal in 1905. The Indian Campaign Medal and Civil War Campaign Medal were created by General Orders No. 12 in 1907.

These campaign medals and others struck (created) afterward were designed to eliminate the need for award nominations simply to recognize participation in a battle or war. During McKinley's time, he'd received more than 700 Medal of Honor nominations, mostly from Civil War veterans who felt the need to recognize the service of a friend (or themselves) before they died.

During World War I and immediately afterward, the United States felt the need to expand its awards for gallantry under fire and away from the enemy. Rather than award large lots of Medals of Honor, as had been done in Samoa, Veracruz, Korea, Cuba and Haiti, Congress and President Wilson created such things as the Distinguished Service Cross (Wilson, Jan. 2, 1918) and the Soldiers' Medal (Congress, July 2, 1926).

The recognition trend continues to this day, with honors for such things as pistol and rifle marksmanship, combat action, ceremonial guard duty, prisoner of war status and simple good conduct in the line of duty.