_USNM 22702. Figure 80._
[Illustration: FIGURE 80]
The uniform regulations for the period 1832-1846 carry no mention of
coat-skirt ornaments for the Corps of Topographical Engineers, rather
only prescribing the "slashed skirt flaps to be embroidered in gold,
with oak leaves and acorns" like the collar and cuffs. There is in the
national collections, however, a uniform for the Corps that
corresponds with 1839 regulations in every way except that the coat
skirts carry this ornament--a shield within a wreath of oak leaves--of
gold embroidery. The device appears to be of the same vintage as the
other embroidery on the coat.
¶ Although the 1832 uniform regulations make no mention of swords for
noncommissioned officers, in 1833 the Ames Manufacturing Company of
Chicopee, Massachusetts, began the manufacture of a new sword for the
Regular artillery. Based on a European pattern, this weapon was the
popular conception of the short Roman stabbing sword, or _gladius_. In
1834 this weapon was also authorized for infantry noncommissioned
officers.[92]
[Footnote 92: _Regulations for the Government of the Ordnance
Department_, p. 64; and HAROLD L. PETERSON, pp. 42-43.]