center eagle dc\ice is applied with simple wire 

 fasteners. 



I Following the War with Mexico, many State 

 Militia, especially those in the south, began using 

 their state coats of arms as the principal devices on 

 their waist-belt plates. The plates for officers followed 

 the earlier pattern for Regulars, a round device 

 clasped within an outer ring. Plates of enlisted 

 personnel more often were rectangular, but there were 

 many exceptions. The following scries includes 

 examples of both types. 



Figure 231 

 SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1845 



USNM 60357-M (S-K 11}). Figure 232 . 



This brass, lead-backed badge bears no devices that 

 would assist in identifying it as to unit, and its general 

 composition would have made it appealing to more 

 than one Militia organization. It is considered a stock 

 pattern. The stars-on-belt motif, forming the border 

 of the oval, is \'ery unusual, as are the 14 arrows in the 

 eagle's left talon and the star beneath its beak. The 



WAIST-BELT PLATE, ALABAMA, C. 1850 



VSNM 604221-M QS~K 377'). Figure 233. 



The old Alabama State seal with a representation 

 of a map of the State hung from a tree trunk, as 

 depicted on the inner ring of this cast-brass waist-belt 

 plate, i)ecame obsolete after the Civil War when the 

 "reconstruction" government changed the device 

 to that of an eagle resting on a Federal shield. Some 

 \ears later, however, the original seal, in somewhat 

 modified form, was readopted. Although made in 

 the early 1850's, plates of this type were worn by 

 personnel of the Confederate States Army throughout 

 the Civil War. Many plates of this same basic 

 pattern were made in England and run through the 

 blockade. 



FiciURE 23c! 



Figure 233 

 WAIST-BELT PL.ATE, CALIFORNIA, C. 1850 



USNM 604m-M (S-K 536) . Figure 234 . 



The 31 six-pointed stars in the outer ring of this 

 cast-brass plate bearing the central elements of the 



109 



