_USNM 66622-M. Figure 273._
[Illustration: FIGURE 273]
The device is attached to a red, gold-edged-embroidered baldric worn
by the drum major of the 72d New York Militia during the Civil War but
believed to ante-date 1861. The brass shield, with ebony drum sticks,
is suspended from an eagle of the 1834 Regular Army pattern for wear
as a cap device. The shield, convex with beveled edges, is very
similar to waist-belt and shoulder-belt plates of about 1850.
¶ Few Militia gorgets are known, and this scarcity leads us to believe
that few were made and worn, despite the Militia's love for the "gay
and gaudy." Still, some units did adopt them, and officers of the
Portland [Maine] Rifle Corps were still wearing them in the late
1850's.[145] As a military symbol for officers, the gorget passed its
zenith in the late 18th century. Gorgets were worn during the War of
the Revolution by both American and British officers, and the British
also gave them to Indian chiefs as marks of authority. Officers in at
least one regiment of the Regular Establishment wore them as part of
their regulation dress about the turn of the 19th century, but they
were not a part of the prescribed uniform during or after the War of
1812.
[Footnote 145: In the national collections are a uniform jacket,
chapeau, and gorget once owned by Frederick Forsyth, a member of the
Portland Rifle Corps in 1857.]