Figure 23.—Specimen in Campbell collection.
There are four different patterns of riflemen's cap plates that can be fairly bracketed in three periods. The large (6-1/4 by 5 inches) diamond-shaped brass plate with the letters "R.R." (fig. [22]) was adopted for wear in the spring of 1812 as replacement for the letters "USRR" that had been worn on the cap since the organization of the Regiment of Riflemen in 1808. It was excavated in the interior of one of the barracks comprising Smith's Cantonment at Sackets Harbor, New York, where riflemen were stationed as early as August 1812. The style of the "R" is very similar to that on the 1812 Artillery cap plate, and the "R.R." designation conforms to that on the button authorized for the riflemen in 1808. The pattern of the second diamond-shaped plate (fig. [23]), also in brass and almost identical in size, although a ground find, is more difficult to account for, despite the fact that it most certainly falls in the same period. The most logical explanation seems that the riflemen, who considered themselves a cut above the common infantry, became disgruntled with the utter plainness of their plates when compared with those just issued the infantry, and asked for and received, possibly late in 1812, the plate with the eagle and the designation "U.S. Rifle Men." The fact that the plate bears the designation "1 REGT"—although there were no other rifle regiments from 1812 to 1814—can be explained by reference to the "national color" of the Rifle Regiment completed in 1808, which bore the inscription "1st Rifle Regt.—U.S." and the standard and national color of the light artillery which were inscribed "The First Regiment of Light Artillery" when there was never more than one light artillery unit in the Army.[66] In any case, accurate dating of the third and fourth patterns definitely places the second pattern in the 1812-1813 period by process of elimination. It was superseded in 1814[67] very possibly for the same reason that the infantry plate was changed—heaviness in both appearance and weight—and replaced by a plate with a "design similar to that of the button ... flat yellow buttons which shall exhibit a bugle surrounded by stars with the number of the regiment within the curve of the bugle."[68] At least three specimens of this third-pattern plate are known. They all are 3-1/4 inches in diameter, and thus are large enough for a hat frontpiece and too large to be a cockade device. One of these plates is without a numeral (fig. [24]); one has the numeral "1," and one has the numeral "4" (fig. [25]). The first and second of these were found at Fort Atkinson, but very probably were not worn as late as 1819-1821. Portions of specimens of this 1814 plate have also been recovered from an early Pawnee village site in Webster County, Nebraska, indicating their possible use as trade goods after the rifle regiment changed its plates in 1817.[69] The fourth pattern, with an eagle over a horn (fig. [26]) was authorized[70] in 1817. Apparently it was worn until 1821, since several examples of it have been found at Atkinson; other examples also are known.
Figure 24.—Specimen in Campbell collection.
Figure 25
