American Military Insignia 1800-1851 Part 20

The Washington Grays of Philadelphia wore a diamond-shaped plate with a likeness of George Washington in the center (see fig. 139), but this plate, for some other "Washington" unit, bears his likeness in silver metal on a bra.s.s sunburst background. This silver outline of the head of Washington is also known on cartridge-box flaps of the period.

CAP PLATE, ARTILLERY, DIE SAMPLE, C. 1836

_USNM 60288-M (S-K 46). Figure 149._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 149]

This uncut, bra.s.s cap plate may have been a manufacturer's die strike sent out as a sample, with others, so that a distant Militia organization could select a pattern. The finished plate is known on a bell-crown cap of the pattern of the 1820's, but its design indicates that it probably should be dated after 1834 when the Regular artillery first adopted the crossed-cannon device. The eagle is distinctly similar to the one adopted by the Regulars in lieu of cap plates in 1821, and the modified sunburst background probably was taken from the 1833 dragoon device.

CAP PLATE, C. 1836

_USNM 60292-M (S-K 50) Figure 150._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 150]

This cap plate is a somewhat wider variation of the 1833 dragoon device than most of the Militia plates of that type popular in the late 1830's and the 1840's. While the bra.s.s sunburst has the usual 8-pointed form, the eagle, applied to the center, is unusually small (1-3/8 by 1 in.) and gives every indication of having been originally designed as a c.o.c.kade eagle at a somewhat earlier period.

CAP PLATE, C. 1836

_USNM 60274-M (S-K 32). Figure 151._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 151]

This pattern of the 1833 dragoon eagle on a half-sunburst, struck in bra.s.s and silvered, was worn by the Washington [D.C.] Light Infantry [118] and possibly by other units of the period. Both the eagle and the half-sunburst were obviously stock items.

[Footnote 118: Ill.u.s.trated in _U.S. Military Magazine_ (August 1839), pl. 15.]

CAP PLATE, REPUBLICAN BLUES, C. 1836

_USNM 604606 (S-K 753). Figure 152._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 152]

This silver-metal plate can be accurately identified by reading its devices. The center device is from the seal of the State of Georgia.

During the period that the plate was worn, one of the best known of the State's Militia organizations was the Republican Blues--the "RB"

on the plate--of Savannah.[119] The silver color of the plate also agrees with the other tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of the uniform of that unit.

[Footnote 119: A volunteer Militia company known as the Republican Blues was organized in Savannah in 1808. From notes filed under "Georgia National Guard" in Organizational History and Honors Branch, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C.]

CAP PLATE, IRISH DRAGOONS, C. 1840

_USNM 604605 (S-K 752). Figure 153._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 153]

This three-quarter-sunburst plate with the monogram "I D" applied in silver is identical to one on a bra.s.s-bound dragoon cap in the national collections carrying in its crown the label "Irish Dragoons, Brooklyn, N.Y." (USNM 604691, S-K 837). It is typical of the two-piece sunburst-type plates and was probably worn until the 1850's. The plate was attached by means of two looped-wire fasteners that were run through holes in the helmet and secured by leather thongs.

CAP AND PLATE, LANCER TYPE, C. 1840

_USNM 604688-M (S-K 834). Figure 154._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 154]

With no regulations but their own to restrain them, Militia organizations designed their uniforms to suit their fancies, although generally following the regulations for the Regulars. This often led to odd and unusual cap shapes and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs and bindings on clothing, and to somewhat garish horse furniture in in some mounted units.

The ill.u.s.trated cap and plate is very similar to the ones worn by the Boston Light Infantry[120] about 1839-1840 except that the upper or "mortar board" portion is beige instead of red and the plate is a full instead of a three-quarter sunburst. The mortar board form is that introduced by the Polish lancers in Europe in the early years of the 19th century and worn by most European lancer regiments of the same period. Lancer units in the British Army adopted this type cap in 1816 when they were first converted from light dragoons.[121] The large, bra.s.s, eagle-on-sunburst plate was obviously patterned after the one prescribed for the Regular dragoons in 1833.

[Footnote 120: Depicted in _U.S. Military Magazine_ (November 1839), pl. 22.]

[Footnote 121: BARNES, p. 106 and pl. 2(14).]

c.o.c.kADE EAGLE, INFANTRY, C. 1836

_USNM 60377-M (S-K 133). Figure 155._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 155]

As an example of more than a dozen known variants of the eagle, this silver-on-copper specimen is ill.u.s.trated to show the general form and size of Militia c.o.c.kade eagles that became distinct types in the 1830's and continued until about 1851. All such eagles were obviously stock patterns.

c.o.c.kADE EAGLE, C. 1836

_USNM 604960-M (S-K 1104). Figure 156._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 156]

This gold-embroidered c.o.c.kade eagle with a wreath of silver lame about its breast appears to have been patterned directly after the eagle on the 1833 Regular dragoon cap plate (see fig. 38). It possibly is one of a type worn by general officers of Militia. On this specimen, both the eye and mouth of the eagle are indicated with red thread.

c.o.c.kADE EAGLE, C. 1836

_USNM 604959-M (S-K 1103). Figure 157._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 157]

This gold-embroidered eagle, with wings and tail of gold embroidery and gold sequins, was worn by staff and field officers, and possibly general officers, of Militia. A duplicate on an original chapeau is in the collections of the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, Maryland. Eagle ornaments such as this were generally centered on a round cloth c.o.c.kade about 6 inches in diameter. The eagle's mouth is indicated by embroidery with red thread. Similar eagles of a smaller size are known on epaulets of the same period.

CAP PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 60451l-M (S-K 658). Figure 158._