Figure 129
The design on this brass plate, reminiscent of that on the regular infantry cap plate, 1814-1821, was adopted for wear by the Militia after being discarded by the Regular Establishment. The ornate floral border and diamond shape place it in the late 1820's and the 1830's, although the lightning in the eagle's left talon and the arrows in its right talon are usually associated with plates designed prior to 1821. It has been suggested that this is the plate worn by the West Point cadets after 1821, but such seems doubtful.
¶ No Militia plates enjoyed wider use or longer life than those patterned after the plate that disappeared from the Regular Establishment with the disbanding of the dragoons in 1815. More than a dozen die variants are known, several worn by more than one Militia unit. Although size and shape may vary, any plate exhibiting a mounted trooper with upraised saber can safely be assigned to mounted Militia. However, the dating of such plates is a real problem because they are known to have been in use as late as 1861.
A Huddy and Duval print of the Washington Cavalry of Philadelphia County shows that unit wearing a plate similar to the one used by the Regulars, differing only in its brass composition, as opposed to the original pewter of the 1812 regulations.[108] A cap in the collections of the Valley Forge Museum that was worn by a member of this unit in the period 1835-1845 is very similar to the one shown in the Huddy and Duval print. The cap is a copy of the 1812 Regular Army pattern, with somewhat more ornate brass bindings in place of the iron strips. A similar cap, carrying the label "Canfield and Bro., Baltimore," is owned by Lexington, Virginia, descendants of a member of the Rockbridge [Virginia] Dragoons. That unit is said to have worn such a cap upon first entering Confederate service in 1861.
In the national collections there is a dragoon cap (USNM 604767, S-K 912) carrying a plate of this design struck on a massive diamond-shaped piece with concave sides. There are additional variations in several private collections and at the Fort Ticonderoga Museum. The mounted horseman device was also struck on heart-shaped martingale ornaments.
CAP PLATE, DRAGOONS, C. 1830
USNM 60254-M (S-K 12). Figure 130.