Figure 184
While this plate could have been worn by an officer of the Regular artillery in the period 1814-1821 when uniform regulations were vague and seldom enforced, it is more probable that it was a Militia item of about 1821-1835. The reason for this is that the eagle-on-cannon device was adopted quickly by Militia units when it was discarded by the Regulars in 1821, and the over-all design of the plate itself follows the pattern adopted by the Regulars in 1821 (see fig. [68]). Several artillery organizations of the Massachusetts Militia wore the discarded button pattern (eagle-on-cannon with the word "Corps" below) until the 1840's,[129] and this plate would have been an ideal match.
The whole is cast in brass, the inner ring rather crudely so. The outer ring is embossed with zig-zag fretwork enclosing a circle of 5-pointed stars; the rectangular belt attachments have a floral design.
WAIST-BELT PLATE, MAINE, C. 1821
USNM 604123 (S-K 279). Figure 185.
Figure 185
This plate, struck in copper, contains the basic devices of the State of Maine seal enclosed by a curled ribbon border embellished with 5-pointed stars. The specimen is more square than rectangular, a characteristic of waist-belt plates of the early 1800's. It was probably worn by Maine Militia no later than the 1820's, possibly a few years earlier. The method of attachment also is indicative of this early period: the heavy vertical wire is brazed to one end of the reverse, and the L-shaped tongue to the other. This plate obviously was a stock pattern.