Although this plate appears to be of possible French or British origin, close examination indicates that it is probably an American Militia device of the 1840's. Its looped-wire fasteners indicate that it is a cap plate. The design of the modified Napoleonic-type eagle is almost exactly that used in the 1833 Regular dragoon cap plate and other Militia plates; and the period of apparent manufacture coincides with the early use of the flaming grenade as an American device. Incorporating two devices common to the period, it would have been a stock pattern. CAP PLATE, ARTILLERY, C. 1840 _USNM 60432-M (S-K 188). Figure 160._ [Illustration: FIGURE 160] The 1840 button for the Ordnance Corps bears a flaming grenade over crossed cannon, devices that date from 1832 and 1834 respectively. Consequently, it seems likely that this combination emerged as a stock pattern for Militia artillery early in the 1840's. This specimen, struck from a single piece of brass, is a copy of the French artillery device of the same period, and, while it is believed to be American, it may be a foreign insignia. Confusion arises in the case of foreign designs, for die sinkers often used as a model either an actual imported badge or a scale drawing of one. CAP PLATE, ARTILLERY, C. 1840 _USNM 604548-M (S-K 695). Figure 161._ [Illustration: FIGURE 161] This is a variation of the pattern of the preceding specimen in which silver-metal devices have been placed on a small, gilt, half-sunburst plate. This was probably a stock pattern available to any Militia organization beginning about 1840 and worn for the next 20 or 30 years. CAP PLATE, SOUTH CAROLINA, C. 1840 _USNM 604533-M (S-K 680). Figure 162._ [Illustration: FIGURE 162] The palmetto of South Carolina in outline form first appeared as a large cap ornament about 1840, after having been worn in smaller size as a cockade ornament and on the side of dragoon caps. A Huddy and Duval print shows it on the caps of the DeKalb Rifle Guards of Camden, South Carolina.[122] The illustrated specimen was worn into the 1850's, and it is highly probable that some South Carolina troops wore plates such as this in the early days of the Civil War. [Footnote 122: _U.S. Military Magazine_ (August 1841), unnumbered plate]. The palmetto was adopted as the principal heraldic device of South Carolina in commemoration of the defeat of Admiral Sir Peter Parker's fleet by the garrison of Sullivan's Island under Col. William Moultrie in June 1776. The defenses of the island were constructed primarily of palmetto logs. The devices comprising this brass plate are all taken from the state seal, including the mottos _Animis Opibusque Parati_ and _Dum Spiro Spero Spes_. The date "1776" alludes to the year of Moultrie's victory and not to the organization date of any particular unit. CAP PLATE, SOUTH CAROLINA, C. 1840 _USNM 604532-M (S-K 679). Figure 163._ [Illustration: FIGURE 163]