_USNM 67240-M. Figure 17._
[Illustration: FIGURE 17]
The over-all design of the plate of which this brass-struck fragment
represents approximately one-third can be rather accurately surmised
by comparing it with several of the ornamented buttons issued to the
infantry in 1812-1815. It is probably the work of the same
designer.[63] The plate is rectangular with clipped corners. Within a
raised border is an oval surrounded by cannon, cannon balls, and a
drum, with the unit designation "1 R{T} ART{Y}". At the top of the
oval can be seen grasping claws, obviously those of an eagle (as
sketched in by the artist) and similar to those on the buttons
referred to above. Single holes at the clipped corners provided means
of attachment. It seems probable that the design of the missing
portion also include flags and additional arms and accoutrements.
[Footnote 63: See JOHNSON, vol. 2, specimen nos. 183, 184, 210-213.]
¶ The design of the "yellow front plate" authorized and issued to the
Regiment of Light Artillery[64] in 1812 was unknown for many years. In
May 1961 one of the authors fortunately located this plate (fig. 20)
in the collections of the Niagara Historical Society Museum at
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, included in a group of British badges of
the War of 1812 period. There can be no doubt that the specimen is
American: the eagle's head is of the same design as that on the third
pattern 1812 infantry cap plate (fig. 9); the wreath of laurel appears
on both the 1800 and 1812 dragoon helmet plates; and the thunderbolts
in the eagle's right talon are wholly American, as opposed to British,
and are of the period. In the Fort Ticonderoga Museum collections
there is a gold signet ring (original owner unknown) that has an
almost identical design.
[Footnote 64: Letter dated February 26, 1812, from Irvine to Secretary
of War (Records AGO). In clothing returns for 1812 of light artillery
companies stationed at Williamsville, N. Y., "caps and plates" are
listed as being "on hand" (Records AGO).]
[Illustration: FIGURE 18.--Specimen in Campbell collection.]
This is one of the largest plates ever worn by the Regular
Establishment. It measures 4-1/4 by 5-1/4 inches, and it is not
surprising that it was replaced because of its size. On May 19, 1814,
the Commissary General of Purchases wrote Lt. Col. J. R. Fenwick,
second-in-command of the light artillery, asking his opinion of a new
design and stating flatly: "The present light artillery plate is too
large by one-half."[65] The plate illustrated as figure 21 is offered
as a possible example of the 1814 design. A matching waist-belt plate
is described below (p. 34).
[Footnote 65: Letter in Records AGO.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 19.--Specimen in U.S. Army Artillery and Missile
Center Museum, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 20.--Specimen in Niagara Historical Society
Museum, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 21.--Specimen in Campbell collection.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 22.--Specimen in Campbell collection.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 23.--Specimen in Campbell collection.]
There are four different patterns of riflemen's cap plates that can be
fairly bracketed in three periods. The large (6-1/4 by 5 inches)
diamond-shaped brass plate with the letters "R.R." (fig. 22) was
adopted for wear in the spring of 1812 as replacement for the letters
"USRR" that had been worn on the cap since the organization of the
Regiment of Riflemen in 1808. It was excavated in the interior of one
of the barracks comprising Smith's Cantonment at Sackets Harbor, New
York, where riflemen were stationed as early as August 1812. The style
of the "R" is very similar to that on the 1812 Artillery cap plate,
and the "R.R." designation conforms to that on the button authorized
for the riflemen in 1808. The pattern of the second diamond-shaped
plate (fig. 23), also in brass and almost identical in size, although
a ground find, is more difficult to account for, despite the fact that
it most certainly falls in the same period. The most logical
explanation seems that the riflemen, who considered themselves a cut
above the common infantry, became disgruntled with the utter plainness
of their plates when compared with those just issued the infantry, and
asked for and received, possibly late in 1812, the plate with the
eagle and the designation "U.S. Rifle Men." The fact that the plate
bears the designation "1 REG{T}"--although there were no other rifle
regiments from 1812 to 1814--can be explained by reference to the
"national color" of the Rifle Regiment completed in 1808, which bore
the inscription "1st Rifle Regt.--U.S." and the standard and national
color of the light artillery which were inscribed "The First Regiment
of Light Artillery" when there was never more than one light artillery
unit in the Army.[66] In any case, accurate dating of the third and
fourth patterns definitely places the second pattern in the 1812-1813
period by process of elimination. It was superseded in 1814[67] very
possibly for the same reason that the infantry plate was
changed--heaviness in both appearance and weight--and replaced by a
plate with a "design similar to that of the button ... flat yellow
buttons which shall exhibit a bugle surrounded by stars with the
number of the regiment within the curve of the bugle."[68] At least
three specimens of this third-pattern plate are known. They all are
3-1/4 inches in diameter, and thus are large enough for a hat
frontpiece and too large to be a cockade device. One of these plates
is without a numeral (fig. 24); one has the numeral "1," and one has
the numeral "4" (fig. 25). The first and second of these were found at
Fort Atkinson, but very probably were not worn as late as 1819-1821.
Portions of specimens of this 1814 plate have also been recovered from
an early Pawnee village site in Webster County, Nebraska, indicating
their possible use as trade goods after the rifle regiment changed its
plates in 1817.[69] The fourth pattern, with an eagle over a horn
(fig. 26) was authorized[70] in 1817. Apparently it was worn until
1821, since several examples of it have been found at Atkinson; other
examples also are known.
[Footnote 66: See KUHN, pp. 263-267, and DAVIS, pp. 13-14 and pl. 3.]
[Footnote 67: Act of February 10, 1814 (_Military Laws_, pp.
251-252).]
[Footnote 68: Letter dated January 12, 1814, from Irvine to Secretary
of War (Records AGO).]
[Footnote 69: See KIVETT, p. 59.]
[Footnote 70: A letter dated July 29, 1817, from Irvine to Secretary
of War describes the device; a letter dated August 4, 1817, from the
Adjutant and Inspector General (Daniel Parker) to Irvine authorizes
the plate but gives no description. Both letters are in Records AGO.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 24.--Specimen in Campbell collection.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 25]
[Illustration: FIGURE 26.--Specimen in Campbell collection.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 27.--Specimen in collection of Waverly P. Lewis,
Devon, Connecticut.]
The cap plate for the U.S. Military Academy, c. 1815, is illustrated
(fig. 27) because it completes the cycle for insignia of the Regular
Establishment for the period. Apparently it is the work of the same
designer as most of the insignia of the period 1812-1815. Scratched
on its reverse side is the name George W. Frost, a Virginian who
entered the Military Academy as a cadet in 1814 and resigned on March
8, 1816.
The two plates of the U.S. Marine Corps, despite the fact that they
are naval rather than military, are included because they fit very
precisely into the device design pattern of the strictly army items of
the period and because they are unique in their rarity.