American Military Insignia 1800-1851 Part 10

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, INFANTRY, 1814-1821

_USNM 60248-M (S-K 6). Figure 62._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 62]

This specimen is of the same design as the 1814 Infantry cap plate, type I (p. 15). It is oval, with raised edge. Within the oval is an eagle with an olive branch in its beak, three arrows in its right talon, and thunder bolts and lightning in its left talon. Below is a trophy of stacked muskets, drum, flag, and shield. The plate is silver on copper, with sheet-iron backing and bent-wire fasteners. As in the case of the Artillery Corps plate, just preceding, this must be considered an officer's plate. A similar oval plate bearing the design of the 1812 dragoon cap plate, and of similar construction, is known.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, 1814

_USNM 66478-M. Figures 63, 64._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 63]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 64]

Excavated on the site of Smith's Cantonment at Sackets Harbor, New York, this plate is interesting in that it differs in both construction and method of attachment from similar plates of the same period in the national collections. Rather than being struck in thin bra.s.s with a backing and fasteners applied to the reverse, this specimen is cast in bra.s.s and the edges rather unevenly beveled, with two studs and a narrow tongue for attachment cast integrally with the plate and with hexagonal heads forced over the ends of the studs. This means of attachment, which indicates that the plate was intended to be utilitarian as well as merely ornamental, is similar to that on British plates of the period between the Revolution and the War of 1812. The plate could have been worn by either infantry or artillery, for both were issued bra.s.s plates during this period,[87] however, it is more probable that it was worn by the infantry, since the majority of the artillery in the Sackets Harbor area were stationed nearby at either Fort Pike or Fort Tomkins.

[Footnote 87: Letters from Irvine in Records AGO: To Colonel Bogardus, February 16, 1814; to James Calhoun, January 14, 1815.]

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1812

_USNM 604311 (S-K 467). Figure 65._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 65]

The plain, oval, slightly convex plate of bra.s.s has a raised edge. The face is lapped over a piece of sheet-iron backing. On the reverse is soldered an early form of bent-wire fasteners. British shoulder-belt plates of the Revolutionary period normally had fasteners cast as integral parts of the plate proper.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1812

_USNM 604312 (S-K 468). Not ill.u.s.trated._

This plate is identical to the one described immediately above except that it is struck in copper and the surface is silvered.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1812

_USNM 604314 (S-K 470). Not ill.u.s.trated._

This plate, struck from solid bra.s.s, has a slightly beveled edge and bent-wire fasteners. It is slightly convex. Since it is smaller than the two preceding plates, it could have been designed for the Militia.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, 1815(?)-1821

_USNM 60399-M (S-K 155). Figure 66._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 66]

The two specimens of this plate in the national collections are undoc.u.mented. Similar in size and construction to the plain oval bra.s.s and silvered plates, it has the raised letters "U.S.," three-fourths inch high in the center. Definitely not later than 1832, it may well have been issued soon after the end of the War of 1812. It is considered a Regular Army item since the Militia did not use the designation "U.S." at this early period. In this latter connection it is interesting to note that an example of the 1812 Infantry cap plate, type II, with the letters "US" crudely stamped out, is known attached to a cap of distinct Militia origin.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, GENERAL OFFICER, C. 1816

_USNM 38212. Figure 67._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 67]

After the War of 1812, the State of New York presented swords to several prominent officers of the Army and Navy who had distinguished themselves in actions within New York or near its borders. One of these swords (USNM 10294)[88] and an unusually fine gold embroidered belt (USNM 33097) with this gold belt buckle were presented to Maj.

Gen. Jacob Brown.

[Footnote 88: Detailed descriptions of this sword are given by HAROLD L. PETERSON, pp. 193-194, and BELOTE, pp. 30-31.]

Chased in very fine gold, the buckle is considered by experts in the goldsmithing and silversmithing fields to be one of the outstanding pieces of American craftsmanship of its kind.[89] The central motif is the New York State eagle-on-half-globe device on a wreath of the colors. The head of the eagle is very similar to that on the cap plates of the 1807 Marine Corps, 1812 infantry, and 1814 Artillery Corps. The border is of a rose pattern distinctly American in feeling, and in each corner within the border are acanthus leaves in unusually delicate Viennese baroque design.

[Footnote 89: Mr. Michael Arpad, well known and highly regarded silversmith, of Washington, D.C., has called this specimen "an exquisite piece of work by a master craftsman."]

The maker of this buckle is unknown, but since it is reasonably certain that the hilt of the sword was designed by Moritz Furst (see p. 12), it is possible that the design of the buckle is his also, especially in view of the Viennese touch in the acanthus leaves, his training at the mint in Vienna, and the probability that he designed the 1812 infantry cap plate.

-- Although the 1821 regulations were very specific about the prohibition of nonregulation items of uniform and equipment, they were somewhat vague regarding specifications. General staff and engineer officers were to wear black belts with a "yellow plate," artillery "yellow oval plates ... with an eagle in the center," and infantry the same but "white" instead of yellow.[90] No oval plates meeting these vague descriptions are known, but the specimens described below may well have been those actually approved by the Ordnance Department, and thus, worn.

[Footnote 90: _General Regulations for the Army_, pp. 154-162.]

WAIST-BELT PLATE, INFANTRY OFFICER, C. 1822

_USNM 604118-M (S-K 274). Figure 68._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 68]

This plate, struck in copper and silvered, is round with an outer ring. It is attached to a white buff belt. The plate proper contains an eagle with wings outspread, shield on breast, olive branch in right talon, and three arrows in left talon. The whole is within a ring of 24 5-pointed stars. The outer ring is decorated as a wreath, and the narrow rectangular belt attachments are embossed with a floral pattern. The 24 stars place this specimen between 1822 and 1836.

Similar buckles are known in yellow metal for either staff or artillery and containing 24, 26, and 28 stars, indicating that they probably were worn until the rectangular eagle-wreath plate was prescribed in 1851.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, INFANTRY OFFICER, 1821-1835

_USNM 60454 (S-K 210). Figure 69._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 69]

This specimen is offered as another possibility for the 1821 regulation plate. It is identical in size and similar in design to the preceding plate. The plate proper contains an eagle with wings spread, a breast shield containing the letter "I," an olive branch in right talon, and three arrows in left talon. There is no outer ring of stars. The outer ring of the buckle is decorated with a wreath, but the rectangular belt attachments are plain. The 1821 regulations called for eagle b.u.t.tons of "yellow" and "white" metal with the letters "A" and "I" (for artillery and infantry) on the eagle's shield, and the belt plate may have been designed to conform. There is also the possibility that this plate, as well as the one described below, was designed to conform to the 1835 regulations which prescribed a waist belt with a "round" clasp.[91]

[Footnote 91: _General Regulations for the Army of the United States_, p. 222.]

WAIST-BELT PLATE, ARTILLERY OFFICER, 1821-1835