Figure 6
This cockade eagle, which is struck in thin brass and silvered, was excavated on the site of a War of 1812 cantonment. Comparison with similar specimens in other collections indicates that the missing head was turned to the right. This eagle is classed as an officer's device because of its silvered brass composition. The elements comprising the arc on which the eagle stands cannot be identified because of the lightness of the strike.
¶ When the dragoons were disbanded in the 1802 reduction following the dissipation of the French scare, distinctive hat devices other than cockades disappeared from the service. In 1808, when the Army was increased, the newly constituted regiments of light dragoons, light artillery, and riflemen were authorized to wear leather caps. The cap devices for these units were prescribed as Roman letters, "U.S.L.D.," "U.S.L.A.," and "U.S.R.R.," rather than plates. The letters were to be of brass, 1-1/2 inches "in length."[44]
Figure 7.—Specimens in Campbell collection.
Illustrated in figure 7 are the letters "U" and "L", of brass, slightly more than 1 inch "in length" and a letter d, of pewter, 1 inch "in length." The latter was excavated at Sackets Harbor, New York, where elements of the light artillery dragoons and riflemen are known to have served during 1813 and 1814. It seems obvious that pewter letters were worn by the dragoons as consonant with their other trimmings, for in July 1812 Col. James Burn of the 2d Light Dragoons requested official permission to issue such.[45]
With the large increase in the Army in 1812 came a change in the headgear of some corps and also a change in insignia. The light artillery was to wear a yoeman-crowned (i.e., wider at the crown than at the base) black cap with "gilt plate in front," and the infantry platoon officers and enlisted men were finally to have the black cylindrical caps (first prescribed in 1810) with "an oblong silver plate in front of the cap bearing the name of the corps and number of the regiment."[46] The rifle platoon officers and enlisted men were also to wear infantry caps, but with yellow trimmings.[47] The dragoons were authorized "helmets" with "plates" in 1812, and the foot artillery regiments in the fall of the same year were ordered to wear caps like the light artillery instead of the chapeaux de bras previously worn, which would have necessitated the use of plates.
The foot units received their new insignia almost immediately, the cap plates having been designed, contracted for, and delivered by late February 1812 for the 5th, 6th, 12th, and 15th Infantry Regiments[48] (the latter two were new units). This rapid action in regard to the infantry plates appears to be strong witness to the emphasis placed on distinctive insignia as morale factors and aids to enlistment, for active recruiting for the 10 new regiments did not begin until several months later. There were three different patterns of this infantry plate manufactured and issued, two of which are described below.
All arms were wearing cap plates by the middle of 1813, for there is record of such issue to the dragoons as well as record of rejection of ill-struck specimens for infantry, artillery, and rifles.[49] These plates were made variously by William Crumpton and George Armitage of Philadelphia, and Aaron M. Peasley of Boston.[50] Philadelphia directories list Crumpton as a button maker and silversmith between 1811 and 1822. Armitage is first listed in Philadelphia directories, in 1800, as a "silver plate worker"; in 1801 he is listed as "silverplater," and in 1820 as a "silverplater and military ornament maker." Peasley was an ornament and insignia maker in Boston during the same period.[51]