In regard to enlisted men's insignia, only the descriptions of the 1800 dragoon helmet plate and the 1814 and 1817 riflemen's cap plates give us anything approaching a clear picture. "Oblong silver plates ... bearing the name of the corps and the number of the regiment" for the infantry in 1812, "plates in front" for the 1812 dragoons, and "gilt plate in front" for the 1812 light artillery are typical examples. As a result, the establishment of a proper chronology for these devices has depended on the careful consideration of specimens excavated at posts where specific units are known to have served at specific times, combined with research in pertinent records of the period in the National Archives. Cap and Helmet Devices DRAGOON HELMET PLATE, 1800 _USNM 66330-M (S-K 86). Figure 1._ [Illustration: FIGURE 1] The first known distinctive metal branch insignia authorized for the Army was this helmet plate. General Order, U.S. Army, dated March 30, 1800, prescribed for "Cavalry ... a helmet of leather crowned with black horse hair and having a brass front, with a mounted dragoon in the act of charging."[36] This oval plate, struck in thin brass with lead-filled back, has a raised rim, within which is a mounted, helmeted horseman in the act of charging; overhead is an eagle with a wreath in its beak. A double-wire fastener soldered to the back is not contemporary. [Footnote 36: Records AGO.] DRAGOON HELMET PLATE, 1800, DIE SAMPLE _USNM 60283-M (S-K 41). Figure 2._ [Illustration: FIGURE 2] Although from a different die, this plate, struck in thin brass, appears to be a die sample of the plate described above. It is also possible that it is a sample of the dragoon plate authorized in 1812. ¶ The 1813 uniform regulations specified for enlisted men of the artillery a "black leather cockade, with points 4 inches in diameter, a yellow button and eagle in the center, the button in uniform with the coat button."[37] This specification gives some validity to the belief that a cockade with an approximation of the artillery button tooled on it may also have been worn. [Footnote 37: General Order, Southern Department, U.S. Army, January 24, 1813 (photostatic copy in files of division of military history, Smithsonian Institution); also, _American State Papers_, p. 434.] LEATHER COCKADE, ARTILLERY, C. 1808-1812 _USNM 60256-M (S-K 14). Figure 3._ [Illustration: FIGURE 3] This cockade is of black leather of the size prescribed by the 1813 regulations. Tooled into the upper fan is an eagle-on-cannon device with a stack of 6 cannon balls under the trail; an arc of 15 stars partially surrounds the eagle device. It is believed to have been worn on artillery _chapeaux de bras_ as early as 1808.