Note 39 — Insignia of the Regular Army

As early as January 1799 War Office orders specified: "All persons belonging to the Army, to wear a black cockade, with a small white eagle in the center. The cockade of noncommissioned officers, musicians, and privates to be of leather with Eagles of tin."[39] This regulation was repeated in 1800.[40] By 1802 these cockade eagles had taken the colors used for the buttons and lace of the different arms. The Purveyor of Public Supplies in that year purchased cockade eagles in tin (white) for infantry and in brass (yellow) for artillery enlisted men at a cost of one and two cents, respectively.[41] The cockade eagles of infantry officers were to be of silver and those of artillery officers of gold. Cockades for company officers and enlisted personnel were to be of leather. The loosely worded regulation of 1813 infers that field officers' cockades might be of silk similar to the "black Ribbon" binding specified for their hats.[42]