Note 46 — Insignia of the Regular Army

With the large increase in the Army in 1812 came a change in the headgear of some corps and also a change in insignia. The light artillery was to wear a yoeman-crowned (i.e., wider at the crown than at the base) black cap with "gilt plate in front," and the infantry platoon officers and enlisted men were finally to have the black cylindrical caps (first prescribed in 1810) with "an oblong silver plate in front of the cap bearing the name of the corps and number of the regiment."[46] The rifle platoon officers and enlisted men were also to wear infantry caps, but with yellow trimmings.[47] The dragoons were authorized "helmets" with "plates" in 1812, and the foot artillery regiments in the fall of the same year were ordered to wear caps like the light artillery instead of the chapeaux de bras previously worn, which would have necessitated the use of plates.