American Military Insignia 1800-1851 Part 29

WAIST-BELT PLATE, Ma.s.sACHUSETTS, C. 1850

_USNM 604124-M (S-K 280). Figure 236._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 236]

While cast-bra.s.s plates of this type were first made in the early 1850's, their use continued for 20 years or more after that decade.

The princ.i.p.al device on this specimen is taken from the arms of the Commonwealth of Ma.s.sachusetts. The form of the plate is identical to the pattern of the eagle-wreath plate adopted by the Regulars in 1851.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1845

_USNM 604244-M (S-K 400). Figure 237._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 237]

The star device was used by the Militia of both Texas and Maine, as well as by volunteer units located in other states; thus, this plate cannot be ascribed to any particular geographical area. Plates such as this, with the silver wreath of laurel and palm, are patterned directly after the basic plate prescribed for officers of the Corps of Engineers in 1841. They would have been stock items for general sale.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1850

_USNM 604242-M (S-K 398). Figure 238._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 238]

This cast-bra.s.s officer's plate, a pre-Civil War product of American manufacture, would have been appropriate for wear by Texas Militia.

Obviously a stock pattern, it would also have been sold to Militia organizations in other parts of the country. As in the case of most round plates, the outer ring is of a standard design; variation in pattern would occur on the inner ring.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, NEW YORK, C. 1850

_USNM 604125-M (S-K 281). Figure 239._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 239]

This bra.s.s-struck rectangular plate carries the arms of the State of New York[141] with its familiar eagle-on-half-globe device. The whole is superimposed on a sunburst background. The plate originally was made for Militia, but it is conceivable that such a plate may have been worn by early uniformed police.

[Footnote 141: For the variations in the arms of New York see ZIEBER, pp. 166-167.]

WAIST-BELT PLATE, NEW YORK, C. 1850

_USNM 60487-M (S-K 243). Figure 240._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 240]

This bra.s.s-cast plate with its letters "S N Y" for State of New York is copied directly from the 1836 plate for noncommissioned officers of the Regular Establishment. The example is the oldest known use of the letters "S N Y" for New York Militia. In later patterns, the letters "S N Y" and "N Y" were placed on rectangular plates and on oval plates worn on the waist belt and on cartridge boxes just prior to and during the Civil War. Small square plates with silver, Old English letters "NY" are included in the 1900 catalog of the Warnock Uniform Co. of New York as regulation pattern that year for National Guard officers.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, NEW YORK CITY, C. 1850

_USNM. 604141-M (S-K 297). Figure 241._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 241]

This cast-bra.s.s plate bears the arms of the city of New York superimposed on an almost full sunburst. The surrounding wreath of laurel is taken directly from the plate authorized for general and staff officers of the Regular Establishment in 1832. While this is thought to be the plate for the New York City Guards, for whom a matching shoulder-belt plate is known, there is the possibility that it was also worn by uniformed police of the 1850's.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1850

_USNM 604393-M (S-K 340). Figure 242._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 242]

A stock pattern, this cast-bra.s.s and gilded plate would have been appropriate for any of the several organizations called "National Guards" or "National Greys" that existed in a number of states. The letters "N G" do not connote the National Guard as we know it today.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, OHIO, C. 1850

_USNM 604136-M (S-K 292). Figure 243._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 243]

The center piece applied to this cast-bra.s.s plate with wire fasteners bears an early form of the arms of the State of Ohio.[142] The plate proper has holes in it other than those needed to apply the present device, which indicates that it was a stock part, or possibly that the present center device is not original to the plate.

[Footnote 142: For an interesting discussion of the evolution of the arms of Ohio see PREBLE, pp. 639-642.]

WAIST-BELT PLATE, OHIO, C. 1850

_USNM 604130-M (S-K 286). Figure 244._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 244]

This plate bears another variation of the Ohio State arms. Here, the arms lie within a wreath as prescribed for Regular general and staff officers in 1832. The entire specimen is cast in bra.s.s; the wreath, sun, arrows, ca.n.a.l wall, and hull of keelboat are silvered.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, PENNSYLVANIA, C. 1850

_USNM 60474-M (S-K 230). Figure 245._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 245]

Officers of the Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia wore plates of this type in the 1850's, although most were discarded in 1861 when Pennsylvania troops went into active Federal service. The outer ring, with floral wreath design, has been modified to give the appearance of a solid rectangle. Another plate in the national collections bears the letters "P V M" with the conventional outer ring.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1850