The original Purple Heart was awarded in the time of George Washington but it was not awarded for being wounded in combat. It was the only award given and it was generally given for anything. That changed first during the time of T. Roosevelt who withdrew several awards (particularly the Medal of Honor) and created a template for what each award was for. As time went on more awards were created and their purpose was nailed down by committee.
On a related topic, some here have asked why Obama didn't use an executive order to award the medals...he was on the opposite side. He was using the power of the White House to NOT award the medals. His order to the Pentagon was to call this not a terrorist act but "work place violence" was the thing killing momentum for the awards. Now we have a decorated Army Major who was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action having it taken away (when it was expected to be upgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross) because the powers that be did not like that he was reported to have made comments about the status of the war in Afghanistan, the lack of leadership, killing of the enemy (unauthorized), and maybe being Jewish.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015...ng-allegation/
