Figure ii. — Specimen in Campbell collection. 



Figure 12. — Specimen in Campbell collection. 



appearance, and adds much to the weight of the 

 cap ....'" This proposal was approved on January 



But here we enter an area of some confusion and 

 controversy. Were these new plates to carry the 

 name of the corps and/or the number of the regiment? 

 Irvine's correspondence gives us no clue, but on the 

 following March 28 he wrote at least two of his 

 deputy commissary generals that he was forwarding 

 8,752 plates for distribution to 14 specifically named 

 infantry regiments plus 851 "blank" plates." From 

 the total of 8,752 forwarded for specific units, it 

 would seem that these were probably plates of the 

 new design, but then the v'ariance in the number 

 sent for individual regiments — from a low of 152 for 

 the 5th Infantry to highs of 1,016 and 1,050 for the 

 19th and 25th, respectively — appears odd. Speci- 

 mens of the 1812 pattern are known both with and 

 without the regimental number, while no examples 

 of the 1814 pattern have been found with unit 



" Letter in Records AGO. 



'* Letter from Secretary of War to Irvine (Records .\GO). 



'9 Letters in Records .-\GO. 



designation. Two extant examples of the 1814 

 pattern, representing two very similar but distinct 

 designs (figs. 11, 12), were excavated at Sackets 

 Harbor, New York, and Fort Atkinson, Nebraska, 

 where Regular infantry served during 1813-1816 and 

 1819-1821, respectively. Both plates are "blank," 

 and there is no appropriate place on either for the 

 addition of the number of the unit, as in the case of 

 the 1812 pattern. 



Another example of the 1814 pattern is known; it 

 is attached to a bell-crowned cap of Militia origin, 

 which indicates that the plate was adopted by the 

 Militia after being discarded by the Regular Estab- 

 lishment. A plate of the same design, but struck in 

 pewter and cut in the diamond shape popular in the 

 1820's and 1830"s, is also known; it is obviously a 

 Militia item. 



INFANTRY CAP PLATE, I8I4-I82I, DIE SAMPLE 



USNM 60284-M CS-K 42). Figure 13. 



Like practically all die samples, this one is struck in 

 brass. It is rectangular with undipped corners, but 



15 



