Note 64 — Insignia of the Regular Army

¶ The design of the "yellow front plate" authorized and issued to the Regiment of Light Artillery[64] in 1812 was unknown for many years. In May 1961 one of the authors fortunately located this plate (fig. 20) in the collections of the Niagara Historical Society Museum at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, included in a group of British badges of the War of 1812 period. There can be no doubt that the specimen is American: the eagle's head is of the same design as that on the third pattern 1812 infantry cap plate (fig. 9); the wreath of laurel appears on both the 1800 and 1812 dragoon helmet plates; and the thunderbolts in the eagle's right talon are wholly American, as opposed to British, and are of the period. In the Fort Ticonderoga Museum collections there is a gold signet ring (original owner unknown) that has an almost identical design.