i^LIGHT DRAGOON HELMET, WAR OF 1812 PERIOD 



Vj ENERAL ORDERS, Headquarters, Fort Adams, Mis- 

 sissippi, dated 30 March 1800 prescribed: "For the 

 Corps of Cavalry .... a helmet of leather crowned 

 with black horse hair, and having a brass front, with 

 a mounted Dragoon in the Act of Charging .... 

 The helmets of the officers distinguished by green 

 plumes." "" This "Corps of Calvan" comprised the 

 light dragoons authorized in 1796 when the Legion — 

 as the U.S. Army was known from 1792 to 1796 — 

 went out of existence. It continued on the rolls until 

 the reduction of the Army in 1 802. '^ 



When the Army was increased in 1808 as a result 

 of the Che.sapeake-Leopard affair, a regiment of light 

 dragoons was authorized along with other units."" Their 

 headgear is described as "leather Caps or Helmets, 

 with blue Feathers, tipt with White .... the feathers 

 of privates not to exceed ten inches in length." -' A strip 

 of bearskin was to be attached to the top with the let- 

 ters "USLD" in brass affixed to the front to indicate 

 branch of service, the entire helmet to cost $2.50."' 

 These brass letters were changed to "white metal" in 

 keeping with the other metal trimmings of the corps." ' 

 No authenticated specimens of this helmet are known 

 to have sur\-ived. A few years later a new helmet form 

 with a cap plate rather than letters was authorized for 

 dragoons, for a contract dated 16 October 1812 for 

 dragoon caps included the statement "with plates in 

 front per pattern." In fact, as early as March 1813 the 

 Military Storekeeper at Philadelphia reported 1238 

 dragoon caps of the "new Pattern" on hand and 37 

 of the old."'' These cap plates were produced by George 

 Armitage of Philadelphia."' 



The lack of a precise description of this helmet or 

 plate, together with other factors, makes its design, at 

 least in 1812 and 1813, somewhat uncertain and indi- 

 cates that it went through one or more modifications 

 before arriving at the design illustrated (figs. 9-11). 



The 1812 regulation prescribes merely a "Helmet, ac- 

 cording to pattern, blue feather with white top, feather 

 9 inches long." "* 



Although many regulations of this period deal only 

 with officers" uniforms, the feather was definitely used 

 on the enlisted men's helmet as well. Many entries of 

 materiel received and issued to the dragoons specifically 

 mention the feather in connection with the helmet, and 

 the term dragoon feather is clearly pointed out to dis- 

 tinguish it from feathers used by other corps of the 

 Army.'"' In addition to this feather, the enlisted dra- 

 goons were also issued cockades and eagles for their 

 helmets.''" A search of contracts and issues during the 

 entire period 1812-1815 did not re\eal any mention 

 of a special cockade or eagle for the dragoons, so it 

 must be assumed that they were using the same type 

 issued to other branches of the Army. 



This very .specific mention of the use of feathers, 

 cockades, and eagles for the dragoon helmet poses a 

 problem in relation to the examples in the United 

 States National Museum. There is no place where these 

 feathers could ha\c been mounted on these helmets, 

 unless of course they were used in place of the white 

 horsehair, nor is there any physical evidence that a 

 cockade and eagle was e\er affixed to any of them. 

 The only solution is that these examples represent a 

 second or even a third type or modification. In any 

 case, all of the helmets from 1808 on were apparently 

 of leather, as contr.icls dating back that far make fre- 

 quent mention of dragoon caps of leather and all of 

 the contractors are known to ha\e been saddlers or 

 manufat turers of leather equipment. 



The authenticity of the United States National 

 Museum specimens as items of regular army issue as 

 opposed to militia is difficult to doubt, despite the lack 

 of an official detailed description. The undcrsurfaces 

 of the \isors, except tho.sc samples on w hich the leather 



