Part 10

This specimen, roughly cast in brass and gilded, is unusual because the Militia rarely used the letters "U S" on any of its equipment. The pattern does not conform to anything prescribed for Regulars and the quality does not come up to standards required by the Regular Establishment; hence it must have been worn by Militia. It would have been a stock pattern. There is the possibility that it might have been worn by diplomatic personnel, but its poor quality makes this unlikely.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1850

_USNM 604387-M (S-K 534). Figure 208._

[Illustration: FIGURE 208]

The over-all design of this plate, which is cast roughly in brass and gilded, reflects the growing ornateness of the Victorian era. Obviously a stock pattern, it would have suited the fancy of several units and cannot be identified further than "for Militia." The design of the eagle is unusual in that three arrows are carried in the right talon--although it is possible that this is intended to reflect the belligerency inherent in the period of the War with Mexico--and there is a single large star in the canton of the Federal shield.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604458-M (S-K 605). Figure 209._

[Illustration: FIGURE 209]

The generalities that apply to all "stock pattern" insignia are equally valid in referring to this brass-struck plate with a 5-pointed star as its sole ornament. Dating its period of design poses no difficulty, for it contains the panel with wreath inside an edging border characteristic of the 1840's. The star device would have been appropriate for Militia units of Maine ("North Star"), Texas ("Lone Star"), or for dragoon units that took the star as a distinctive insignia. Although it may have been worn by Texans, it is doubtful that it was made originally for them. The design enjoyed a long life, and plates of this general pattern were struck well into the 1880's. The major difference between earlier and later specimens is that the early ones were struck on rather heavy sheets of copper-colored brass, with fasteners consisting of a tongue and heavy wire loops brazed to the reverse. The later plates have a bright brassy color, are struck on thin brass, and have the loop and tongue soldered rather than brazed.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604108-M (S-K 264). Figure 210._

[Illustration: FIGURE 210]

The lack of a mane on the beast on this plate marks it as a tiger. The best known and most affluent Militia organization with the nickname "Tigers" was the Boston Light Infantry, although a number of others also were so-called. The craftsmanship and general elegance of this gold-plated brass specimen suggests that it was worn by an officer, though an occasional volunteer company was so richly endowed that all its members, officers and enlisted men alike, wore expensive devices. The bench-assembled manufacturing technique, gaudy embellishment, and lack of a distinct Victorian touch date the piece about 1840. The tiger's head is applied.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604104-M (S-K 260). Figure 211._

[Illustration: FIGURE 211]

The full-flowing mane on the beast on this plate identifies it as a lion. The device would have been appropriate for wear by the Albany Burgesses Corps, which, when founded in 1833, almost immediately adopted the lion's head as its distinctive insignia. The unit continued to wear this plate for about half a century. While that unit's cap plate (fig. 170) is much more formal and is without a lion's head, its buttons contain the lion--with head turned to half-right--as a principal ornament. While it is probable that the original die for this cast-brass plate was sunk for the Albany organization, the manufacturer would not have hesitated to offer it for sale to any interested Militia unit.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 60479-M (S-K 235). Figure 212._

[Illustration: FIGURE 212]

The raised letters "W G" on this cast-brass and gilded plate would have been suitable for many Militia units of the period. We can only suggest that it may have been worn by members of a "Washington Greys" or "Washington Guard" from Pennsylvania or New York. A round plate with an outer wreath would have been more appropriate for officers than for enlisted personnel.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, WASHINGTON GREYS, C. 1850

_USNM 604137-M (S-K 293). Figure 213._

[Illustration: FIGURE 213]

The waist-belt plates shown in the _U.S. Military Magazine_[132] for the Washington Greys of Philadelphia and Reading, Pennsylvania, while indistinct, are definitely not of this pattern. Thus, this brass plate with its sunken letters filled with black enamel must have been worn by yet a third unit with such a name. Additional specimens in the national collections have the company letters "G" and "K."

[Footnote 132: April 1839, pl. 5; June 1839, pl. 10.]

WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604294-M (S-K 450). Figure 214._

[Illustration: FIGURE 214]

This oval, convex, brass plate, with two studs and a hook soldered to the reverse for attachment, very probably was originally a shoulder-belt plate. The letters "W L G" incised on the obverse are very patently the added work of an engraver of no great talent. The letters doubtless stand for Washington Light Guard, and, since there were several Militia units of that designation, it seems possible that one of the less affluent units bought the plates and had them engraved locally.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, CITY GUARDS, C. 1840

_USNM 604386-M (S-K 533). Figure 215._

[Illustration: FIGURE 215]

There were City Guards in Charleston, South Carolina, New York City, Philadelphia, and possibly in other places. Thus it is impossible to determine just which of these units wore this cast-brass plate. The ornamented outer oval is typical of the 1840's.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, NATIONAL GUARD, C. 1850

_USNM 60206-M. Figure 216._

[Illustration: FIGURE 216]

A number of Militia units carried the designation "National Guard." The unit that used this particular plate was from New Jersey, for scratched on the reverse is "Sergeant O. Clinton, October 9th, 1851, 1st Reg Hudson Brigade, NJSM"; However, the adjutant general, State of New Jersey, was unable to give any information on such an organization. The specimen is cut from rolled brass with sunken letters filled with black enamel.

¶ Shoulder-belt plates underwent the same transition as cap plates did beginning about 1837-1838, with the single die strike plate yielding to the composite plate, and applied devices being attached to oval, rectangular, or rectangular "clipped corner" plates. While some single die plates were made and worn after 1840, no composite types that predate 1835 are known. The following group of shoulder-belt plates are typical of those that first appeared about 1840. Of these, several continued unchanged through the Civil War and into the 1870's and 1880's.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604341-M (S-K 497). Figure 217._

[Illustration: FIGURE 217]

This unusually large, oval, brass plate with the letters "C G" in silver applied with wire fasteners is another of that sizable group of lettered insignia that cannot be attributed definitely to a particular organization. The "C G" may stand variously for City Guard, Cleveland Greys, Charleston Guard, or some other organization. With a stock of oval and rectangular blanks and a set of lettering and number-cutting dies, an almost limitless combination of plates could be turned out by a single manufacturer.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, NEW YORK, C. 1840

_USNM 604470-M (S-K 617). Figure 218._

[Illustration: FIGURE 218]

The basic form of this brass plate--with one of the many variations of the seal of the State of New York[133] applied with wire fasteners--is a copy, with minor changes, of the bevelled plate prescribed for the Regular Establishment in 1839. Distinctly an officer's plate, it would have been appropriate for artillery or staff.

[Footnote 133: ZIEBER, p. 166.]

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604331-M (S-K 487). Figure 219._

[Illustration: FIGURE 219]

This composite plate, struck in brass, has a bevelled, rectangular base almost identical to the base of the 1839 regulation plate (see fig. 86). The design consists of a silvered center ornament comprising a trophy of flags, a sword, and a liberty pole surmounted by a wreath of laurel inclosing fasces and a Federal shield with 26 stars in its canton. This silver ornament is applied with four simple wire fasteners rather than soldered. Since the sun rays in the background radiate outward not from the center but from the edge of a circle about 1-1/2 inches in diameter, almost any desired center ornament could have been added to the basic strike, or the plate could be struck a second time to add a device integral to it. Thus the background portion of the specimen must be considered a stock pattern. A print of the National Guards of Philadelphia in _U.S. Military Magazine_ for October 1841 shows an officer wearing a similar plate. If the stars are significant, the plate can be dated between 1837 and 1845.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604471-M (S-K 618). Figure 220._

[Illustration: FIGURE 220]

In this plate, the center ornament used in the preceding specimen has been struck directly in a rectangular, bevelled background. However, the background of this plate has a stippled surface rather than a sunburst. An interesting feature is that there are four slots punched through the plate for the attachment of an additional device over the wreath and shield. This is another of the many examples of how a unit might have an insignia distinctive to itself at little extra cost. This plate is obviously of a stock pattern. The national collections also contain a die sample of this particular plate.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604472-M (S-K 619). Figure 221._

[Illustration: FIGURE 221]

Another example of the rectangular, bevelled-edged, shoulder-belt plate for officers is this brass-cast copy of the 1839 Regular Army pattern with the wire-fastened letters "S V G" substituted for "U. S." The specimen bears a touchmark "W. Pinchin Philad" on the reverse (see p. 33). The unit for which this plate was made is unidentified.

SHOULDER-BELT(?) PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604394-M (S-K 541). Figure 222._

[Illustration: FIGURE 222]

The silver letters "S F" applied with wire fasteners to the small brass plate are most appropriate for the State Fencibles of Philadelphia, and it is believed to have possibly been worn by that unit in the 1840's. A print in the _U.S. Military Magazine_[134] portraying this unit shows an officer wearing a plate of an entirely different design, but since a plate in this simple form would most probably have been worn by enlisted personnel, and the soldier in the print is to be seen only from the rear, such identification as to unit may be correct.

[Footnote 134: March 1839, pl. 2.]

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, BOSTON LIGHT INFANTRY, C. 1840

_USNM 604339-M (S-K 495). Figure 223._

[Illustration: FIGURE 223]

This unusually large silver-on-copper plate with its brass letters "B L I", "1798", and brass tiger's head is attributed to the Boston Light Infantry. The applied devices are attached with simple wire fasteners. The date 1798 is believed to be the year of the original organization of the unit, but the adjutant general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was unable to verify this.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, NEW YORK LIGHT GUARD, C. 1840

_USNM. 604351-M (S-K 507). Figure 224._

[Illustration: FIGURE 224]

The _New York Military Magazine_ provides us with a strong clue in identifying this clipped-corner, bevelled-edged brass plate with a silver-on-copper tiger's head applied. In a sketch of the Light Guard of New York it is related that, following a visit in 1836 to the Boston Light Infantry, members of the company "adopted, as part of their uniform, a silver tiger's head, to be placed on the breast plate, as a further memento of the spirited and elegant corps whose guests they had been."[135] This specimen is in agreement with that description.

[Footnote 135: _New York Military Magazine_ (1841), vol. 1, p. 118.]

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, DRAGOONS, C. 1840

_USNM 604352-M (S-K 508). Figure 225._

[Illustration: FIGURE 225]

An unusual manufacturing technique was used in making this plate. It was struck in very heavy brass about 1/16 inch thick and the whole tinned; then, all the tin on the obverse, except that on the crested helmet device, was buffed away, giving the center ornament the appearance of having been silvered. The specimen obviously was made for a particular mounted unit, designation unknown. An interesting detail is the letter "A" on the half-sunburst plate of the dragoon helmet device.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604350-M (S-K 506). Figure 226._

[Illustration: FIGURE 226]

This plate, which is of brass with a cast, white-metal likeness of Washington applied with wire fasteners, may well have belonged to either the Washington Greys of Philadelphia or the unit of the same designation of Reading, Pennsylvania. Prints of these two organizations in _U.S. Military Magazine_[136] show profiles on the shoulder-belts plates, although the plate of the Reading unit is depicted as being oval.

[Footnote 136: April 1839, pl. 5; June 1839, pl. 10.]

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604337-M (S-K 493). Figure 227._

[Illustration: FIGURE 227]

This brass plate with its wire-applied devices obviously belonged to an Irish-group Militia unit. The Huddy and Duval print of the Hibernia Greens of Philadelphia[137] definitely depicts an Irish harp on both the shoulder-belt plate and the cap plate, but the motto "ERIN GO BRAGH" is not included. The specimen would have been suitable for several Militia organizations, such as the Irish Jasper Greens of Savannah, Georgia, and the Montgomery Hibernia Greens. Its devices are wire-applied, and it possibly was a stock pattern.

[Footnote 137: _U.S. Military Magazine_ (January 1840), pl. 27.]

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1840

_USNM 604340 (S-K 496). Figure 228._

[Illustration: FIGURE 228]

This plain brass plate, having wire-applied pewter letters "S L I" is believed to have been worn by the Salem Light Infantry of Massachusetts.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, NEW ENGLAND GUARDS, C. 1840

_USNM 604343-M (S-K 499). Figure 229._

[Illustration: FIGURE 229]

Letters signifying the New England Guards are embossed on a shield of white metal that is attached to this brass plate, which has scalloped corners. Although the officer depicted in the Huddy and Duval print of the New England Guards[138] wears a waist belt rather than a shoulder belt for his sword, the soldier standing in the background is shown with crossed shoulder belts. Thus, this plate may have been an item of equipment for enlisted personnel rather than for officers.

[Footnote 138: _U.S. Military Magazine_ (November 1839), pl. 21.]

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, MASSACHUSETTS, C. 1840

_USNM 604342-M (S-K 498). Figure 230._

[Illustration: FIGURE 230]

Although the white-metal arm and sword on wreath device wired to this large brass plate immediately identifies the origin of the specimen as Massachusetts, the considerable heraldic license taken by this insignia-maker is only too evident. When the Massachusetts State seal was first adopted in 1780, the blazonry of the crest was given as follows: "On a Wreath a dexter Arm cloathed and ruffled proper, grasping a Broad Sword...."[139] The designer has placed the arm in armor and replaced the "broad sword" with a scimiter-like, edged weapon. The use of the crest of a state seal or coat of arms to indicate the state was common usage, with the eagle-on-half-globe of New York providing an excellent example. This plate would have been appropriate for wear by any Massachusetts unit, and is thus considered to have been a stock pattern.

[Footnote 139: ZIEBER, pp. 143-144.]

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, SOUTH CAROLINA, C. 1840

_USNM 604454-M (S-K 601). Figure 231._

[Illustration: FIGURE 231]

The silver palmetto tree identifies this as a South Carolina plate. The letters "L" and "A" are subject to several interpretations, the more probable being "Light Artillery." The devices are attached with simple wire fasteners, and the basic brass plate can be considered to have been a stock item adaptable to any number of units.

SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1845

_USNM 60357-M (S-K 113). Figure 232._

[Illustration: FIGURE 232]

This brass, lead-backed badge bears no devices that would assist in identifying it as to unit, and its general composition would have made it appealing to more than one Militia organization. It is considered a stock pattern. The stars-on-belt motif, forming the border of the oval, is very unusual, as are the 14 arrows in the eagle's left talon and the star beneath its beak. The center eagle device is applied with simple wire fasteners.

¶ Following the War with Mexico, many State Militia, especially those in the south, began using their state coats of arms as the principal devices on their waist-belt plates. The plates for officers followed the earlier pattern for Regulars, a round device clasped within an outer ring. Plates of enlisted personnel more often were rectangular, but there were many exceptions. The following series includes examples of both types.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, ALABAMA C. 1850

_USNM 604221-M (S-K 377). Figure 233._

[Illustration: FIGURE 233]

The old Alabama State seal with a representation of a map of the State hung from a tree trunk, as depicted on the inner ring of this cast-brass waist-belt plate, became obsolete after the Civil War when the "reconstruction" government changed the device to that of an eagle resting on a Federal shield. Some years later, however, the original seal, in somewhat modified form, was readopted. Although made in the early 1850's, plates of this type were worn by personnel of the Confederate States Army throughout the Civil War. Many plates of this same basic pattern were made in England and run through the blockade.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, CALIFORNIA, C. 1850

_USNM 604389-M (S-K 536). Figure 234._

[Illustration: FIGURE 234]

The 31 six-pointed stars in the outer ring of this cast-brass plate bearing the central elements of the California State seal indicate that it was made after statehood was granted in 1850 but before 1858 when Minnesota became the 32d State. Actually, this design for the arms of the State was adopted in anticipation of admission to the Union, on October 2, 1849.[140] The ornate design of this plate is more characteristic of the 1840's than later, indicating that it was made very early in the 1850's.

[Footnote 140: ZIEBER, p. 114.]

WAIST-BELT PLATE, FLORIDA, C. 1850

_USNM 604224-M (S-K 380). Figure 235._

[Illustration: FIGURE 235]

The palm tree, standing alone, although sometimes mistaken for the palmetto of South Carolina, is representative of the State of Florida. Thus, this plate is ascribed to Florida Militia, about 1850. The late Richard D. Steuart, of Baltimore, Maryland, an outstanding authority on Confederate equipment and accoutrements, was firm in asserting that this pattern should be ascribed to Florida.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, MASSACHUSETTS, C. 1850

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

[Illustration: FIGURE 236]

While cast-brass plates of this type were first made in the early 1850's, their use continued for 20 years or more after that decade. The principal device on this specimen is taken from the arms of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 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._

[Illustration: 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._

[Illustration: FIGURE 238]

This cast-brass 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._

[Illustration: FIGURE 239]

This brass-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._

[Illustration: FIGURE 240]

This brass-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._

[Illustration: FIGURE 241]

This cast-brass 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._

[Illustration: FIGURE 242]

A stock pattern, this cast-brass 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._

[Illustration: FIGURE 243]

The center piece applied to this cast-brass 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._

[Illustration: 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 brass; the wreath, sun, arrows, canal wall, and hull of keelboat are silvered.

WAIST-BELT PLATE, PENNSYLVANIA, C. 1850

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

[Illustration: 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

_USNM 60480-M (S-K 236). Figure 246._

[Illustration: FIGURE 246]

Just prior to 1850 there were two Militia units in Philadelphia using the letters "P G" to indicate organizational designation--the Philadelphia Guards and the Philadelphia City Greys. This brass-cast plate is believed to have been worn by the Philadelphia Guards, whose buttons were marked "P G." The buttons worn by the Philadelphia City Greys carried the three letters "P C G."[143]

[Footnote 143: JOHNSON, vol. 1, p. 145, vol. 2, pl. 63.]

WAIST-BELT PLATE, PROVIDENCE MARINE CORPS ARTILLERY C. 1850