SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, BOSTON LIGHT INFANTRY, C. 1840 _USNM 604339-M (S-K 495). Figure 223._ [Illustration: FIGURE 223] This unusually large silver-on-copper plate with its brass letters "B L I", "1798", and brass tiger's head is attributed to the Boston Light Infantry. The applied devices are attached with simple wire fasteners. The date 1798 is believed to be the year of the original organization of the unit, but the adjutant general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was unable to verify this. SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, NEW YORK LIGHT GUARD, C. 1840 _USNM. 604351-M (S-K 507). Figure 224._ [Illustration: FIGURE 224] The _New York Military Magazine_ provides us with a strong clue in identifying this clipped-corner, bevelled-edged brass plate with a silver-on-copper tiger's head applied. In a sketch of the Light Guard of New York it is related that, following a visit in 1836 to the Boston Light Infantry, members of the company "adopted, as part of their uniform, a silver tiger's head, to be placed on the breast plate, as a further memento of the spirited and elegant corps whose guests they had been."[135] This specimen is in agreement with that description. [Footnote 135: _New York Military Magazine_ (1841), vol. 1, p. 118.] SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, DRAGOONS, C. 1840 _USNM 604352-M (S-K 508). Figure 225._ [Illustration: FIGURE 225] An unusual manufacturing technique was used in making this plate. It was struck in very heavy brass about 1/16 inch thick and the whole tinned; then, all the tin on the obverse, except that on the crested helmet device, was buffed away, giving the center ornament the appearance of having been silvered. The specimen obviously was made for a particular mounted unit, designation unknown. An interesting detail is the letter "A" on the half-sunburst plate of the dragoon helmet device. SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1840 _USNM 604350-M (S-K 506). Figure 226._ [Illustration: FIGURE 226] This plate, which is of brass with a cast, white-metal likeness of Washington applied with wire fasteners, may well have belonged to either the Washington Greys of Philadelphia or the unit of the same designation of Reading, Pennsylvania. Prints of these two organizations in _U.S. Military Magazine_[136] show profiles on the shoulder-belts plates, although the plate of the Reading unit is depicted as being oval. [Footnote 136: April 1839, pl. 5; June 1839, pl. 10.] SHOULDER-BELT PLATE, C. 1840 _USNM 604337-M (S-K 493). Figure 227._ [Illustration: FIGURE 227]