Part 19 (2/2)

CAP PLATE, C. 1836

_USNM 60381-M (S-K 137). Figure 144._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 144]

Struck in copper, and silvered, this eagle, which is very similar in design to that prescribed for the Regular Establishment in both 1821 and 1832, was made for Militia infantry from about 1836 to perhaps as late as 1851. Specimens struck in bra.s.s are also known, and the same eagle is found on half-sunburst backgrounds. It is quite possible that this is the eagle ill.u.s.trated in the Huddy and Duval prints as being worn by both the Was.h.i.+ngton Blues of Philadelphia and the U.S. Marine Corps.[115]

[Footnote 115: _U.S. Military Magazine_ (February 1840), pl. 28; (November 1840), unnumbered plate.]

CHAPEAU ORNAMENT, C. 1836

_USNM 60287-M (S-K 45). Figure 145._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 145]

This bra.s.s ornament is a die sample or unfinished badge. After the circular device was trimmed from the bra.s.s square, it would have been worn as an officer's chapeau ornament or as a side ornament on the round leather dragoon cap of the period. The four arrows in the eagle's left talon are unusual.

CHAPEAU c.o.c.kADE, GENERAL OFFICER, C. 1840

_USNM 604962-M (S-K 1156). Figure 146._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 146]

This large, round chapeau c.o.c.kade with its gold embroidery and sequins on black-ribbed silk and its ring of 24 silver-metal stars appears to be identical to c.o.c.kades that have been shown as being worn around 1839 by Gen. Edmund P. Gaines and Gen. Winfield Scott[116] but without the added center eagle. Close examination of this c.o.c.kade shows it to be complete, with no traces of a center eagle ever having been added.

The 24 stars would have been appropriate at any time between 1821 and 1836.

[Footnote 116: _U.S. Military Magazine_ (May 1841), unnumbered plate; (March 1841), unnumbered plate.]

CAP AND CAP PLATE, JACKSON ARTILLERISTS, C. 1836

_USNM 604780 (S-K 925). Figure 147._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 147]

The Jackson Artillerists of Philadelphia, after the appearance of the regular dragoon cap plate in 1833 and the large crossed cannon of the regular artillery one year later, lost no time in combining these two devices to make their distinctive cap device.[117] It seems probable, however, that the plate was adopted by other artillery units and eventually became more or less of a stock pattern.

[Footnote 117: Ill.u.s.trated in _U.S. Military Magazine_ (January 1840), pl. 26.]

CAP PLATE, WAs.h.i.+NGTON GRAYS(?), C. 1836

_USNM 604608-M (S-K 755). Figure 148._

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 148]

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