In almost all armies it long has been standard practice to use distinctive devices of cloth and metal to distinguish between arms and services, and between individual units of each arm, to enhance morale and develop esprit de corps. Colors of units of the British Army have had ancient badges emblazoned on them since before the establishment of the present standing army in 1661. By the end of the first half of the 18th century some of these badges had been authorized for placement on horse furniture or for wear on grenadier caps. This was especially true of the regiments of horse and a few of the older regiments of foot. The infantry regiments received numerical designations in 1751, and these numbers were worn on waist belts, shoulder belts, and cartridge-box plates. When the infantry units acquired county titles in 1782, these names often were added to the plates. In 1767 regimental numbers were ordered placed on the buttons of officers and other ranks; in practice these numbers were often combined with other devices.[1]

In the American Army such devices have taken many forms, ranging from distinctive buttons, plumes, cockades, cap plates, shoulder-belt plates, and waist-belt and cartridge-box plates to the well-known shoulder sleeve insignia and distinctive unit insignia of the present day. The origin of much of this insignia and many of the changes in its design can be tied more or less directly to the organization of the Regular Army—its contractions and expansions and its changes in arm and service designations—and to the peculiar circumstances surrounding the origin and growth of the volunteer or uniformed Militia. Thus, a short discussion of the organization of each is in order.[2]

Organization of the Regular Army

Two months after the War of the Revolution officially ended with the signing of a peace treaty on September 3, 1783, General Washington directed the Army to turn in its arms and disband.[3] Since the Continental Congress had made no provision for a permanent establishment, Washington retained in service one infantry regiment and a battalion of artillery to guard military stores and take over posts to be evacuated by the British.[4] Early in June 1784 Congress ordered these units disbanded except for detachments to guard stores at Fort Pitt and West Point; then, in order to secure the frontier against Indian unrest, it immediately authorized a regiment to be raised from the militia of four of the States to comprise eight companies of infantry and two of artillery.[5] This unit, called the First American Regiment, gradually turned into a regular organization.

The failure of an expedition commanded by Col. Josiah Harmar of the First American Regiment against the Indians in 1790 awakened the Congress somewhat to the threat in the Northwest and resulted in the organization of another infantry regiment, which was designated the 2d Infantry Regiment; the First American Regiment was redesignated the "1st".[6] Trouble with the Indians continued, and after another severe reverse Congress authorized the raising of three additional infantry regiments and, at the same time, empowered the President to organize the Army as he might see fit.[7]

Under this discretionary power, the Army was reorganized into the Legion of the United States. This was a field army in which the three combat branches—infantry, cavalry, and artillery—were combined. The Legion was in turn broken down into four sublegions, with each containing infantry, cavalry, artillery, and riflemen; thus, the sublegions were the fore-runners of the modern combined arms team. The 1st and 2d Infantries became the 1st and 2d Sublegions. Of the three additional infantry regiments authorized, only two were organized, these becoming the 3d and 4th Sublegions.[8] Under the forceful leadership of Gen. Anthony Wayne the Legion reversed the record on the frontier and decisively defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The temporary peace which followed turned attention to the problem of protecting the Atlantic seaboard, and in 1794 Congress authorized a large increase in the artillery, assigned engineer officers, and designated the new organization the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers.[9] The Legion was continued until it was replaced in 1796 by the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th Infantry Regiments, which were constituted from the four sublegions, two troops of light dragoons, and the above-mentioned Corps.[10]

The threat of war with France in 1798 brought further expansions. In April of that year an "additional regiment" of artillerists and engineers was authorized, with the Corps created in 1794 becoming the 1st and the new unit being designated the 2d Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers.[11] In the following July, 12 more regiments of infantry and 6 troops of light dragoons—to be combined with the two troops in existence to form a regiment—were authorized; an additional 24 regiments of infantry, plus units of other arms, authorized the following winter made a total of 40 regiments of infantry.[12] Actually, the greatest part of this force remained on paper. Only the 1st and 2d Infantries ever attained their required strength, and only 3,400 men were enlisted for the 5th through the 16th. There were no enlistments at all for the other regiments. Officers were assigned to the six troops of light dragoons, but no enlisted personnel were raised and no horses were bought.[13]

More quickly than it had arisen, the threat of a war with France abated. Early in 1800 action was suspended under the two acts creating the paper regiments, and the Army was reduced to the regular establishment of four regiments of infantry, two regiments of artillerists and engineers, and two troops of light dragoons.[14] Two years later the antipathy of the new Jefferson administration to a standing army further reduced this establishment to two regiments of infantry and one of artillery. The Corps of Artillerists and Engineers was abolished; a Corps of Engineers was organized to be stationed at West Point and "constitute a military academy"; and the light dragoons were disbanded.[15]

The Jeffersonian theories regarding a strong militia and a small professional army were rudely shaken in 1807 by the Chesapeake-Leopard affair. With war seeming imminent, Congress added to the Regular Establishment, though cautiously "for a limited time," five regiments of infantry, one regiment of riflemen, one of light artillery, and one of light dragoons. The new regiments of infantry were numbered the 3d through the 7th.[16] There was no further preparation for a fight with England until just before war was actually declared. In January 1812, 10 regiments of infantry, two of artillery, and one regiment of light dragoons were added; three months later a Corps of Artificers was organized; and in June provision was made for eight more infantry regiments, making a total of 25.[17] In January 1813, following the discouragements of the early campaigns in the Northwest, Congress constituted 20 more infantry regiments, bringing the total to 45, the largest number in the Regular Establishment until the 20th century.[18] A year later three more regiments of riflemen, designated the 2d through the 4th, were formed.[19]

In March 1814 Congress reorganized both the artillery and the dragoons. The three artillery regiments, which had never operated as such, but rather by company or detachment, were consolidated into the Corps of Artillery; and the two regiments of dragoons, which had never been adequately trained and generally had given a poor account of themselves, were merged into one.[20] The Regiment of Light Artillery remained untouched.

Almost as soon as the war ended, Congress moved to reduce the Army[21] by limiting the peacetime establishment to 10,000 men, to be divided among infantry, artillery, and riflemen, plus the Corps of Engineers. The number of wartime infantry units was reduced to eight, and the rifle units to one. The Corps of Artillery and the Regiment of Light Artillery were retained, but dragoons were eliminated.[22]

By 1821 the prospects of a prolonged peace appeared so good that Congress felt safe in further reducing the Army. Consequently, in that year the number of infantry regiments was cut to seven; the Rifle Regiment was disbanded; the Corps of Artillery and the Regiment of Light Artillery were disbanded, with four artillery regiments being organized in their stead; and the Ordnance Department was merged with the artillery,[23] an arrangement that continued until 1832.

The opening of the West in the decades following the War of 1812 brought an important change in the organization of the Army. Experience having shown that infantry were at a distinct disadvantage when pitted against the fleetly mounted Indians, in 1832 a battalion of mounted rangers was organized to quell disturbances on the northwest frontier,[24] but this loosely knit force was replaced by a regiment of dragoons the following year.[25] The mounted arm had come to stay in the Army.

When the second Seminole War broke out in 1836, a second regiment of dragoons was organized.[26] And, as the war dragged through another inconclusive year, a reluctant Congress was forced to increase the size of existing line units and to authorize an additional regiment of infantry, the 8th. Meanwhile, increasing demands for surveying and mapping services resulted in the creation of the Corps of Topographical Engineers as a separate entity.[27]

Meanwhile, the responsibilities of the Army in the opening of the West continued to increase, and in 1846 the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen was organized to consolidate the northern route to the Pacific by establishing and manning a series of posts along the Oregon Trail.[28] However, the outbreak of the War with Mexico postponed this mission.

At the start of the War with Mexico Congress leaned heavily on volunteer units, with the hard core of the Regulars remaining unchanged. But early in 1847 it was found necessary to add nine regiments of infantry and one regiment of dragoons.[29] Of the infantry unit's, eight were of the conventional type; the ninth was formed as the Regiment of Voltigeurs and Foot Riflemen. Theoretically, only half of this latter regiment was to be mounted. Each horseman was to be paired with a foot soldier who was to get up behind and ride double when speed was needed. In practice, however, none of the Voltigeurs were mounted; the entire unit fought as foot riflemen.[30]

All of these new units proved merely creatures of the war, and the coming of peace saw a reduction to the old establishment of eight regiments of infantry, four of artillery, two of dragoons, and one regiment of mounted riflemen.[31] This organization remained substantially unchanged until 1855.[32]

Organization of the Militia

The "common" Militia was first established by the various colonies of all able-bodied men between roughly the ages of 16 and 60 for protection against Indian attack. These militiamen were required by law to be enrolled in the unit of their township or county, furnish their own arms and equipment, and appear periodically for training. They were civilian soldiers who had little or no taste for things military, as their performance in both peace and war almost invariably demonstrated. They were not uniformed and contributed little or nothing to the field of military dress.

The "volunteer" or "independent" Militia companies, on the other hand, were something else again. These units, composed of men who enjoyed military life, or rather certain aspects of it, appeared rather early in the Nation's history. The first of these, formed in 1638, was The Military Company of the Massachusetts, later and better known as the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. By 1750 there were a number of independent companies in existence—many of them chartered—and membership in them had become a recognized part of the social life of the larger urban centers.

The concept of volunteer Militia units was confirmed in the Uniform Militia Act of 1792, which prescribed flank companies of grenadiers, light infantry, or riflemen for the "common" Militia battalions and a company of artillery and a troop of horse for each division, to be formed of volunteers from the Militia at large and to be uniformed and equipped at the individual volunteer's expense. Thus, from within the national Militia structure emerged an elite corps of amateur—as opposed to civilian—soldiers who enjoyed military exercise, and the pomp and circumstance accompanying it, and who were willing to sacrifice both the time and the money necessary to enjoy it. Since the members were volunteers, they were ready to submit to discipline up to a point; they trained rather frequently; many of the officers made an effort to educate themselves militarily; they chose their own officers; and their relative permanency gave rise to an excellent esprit de corps. In actuality, these organizations became private military clubs, and differed from other male social and fraternal groups only in externals.

The great urban growth of the Nation during the period 1825-1860 was the golden age of the volunteer companies, and by 1845 these units had all but supplanted the common Militia. It would be difficult to even estimate the number of volunteer companies during this period. They sprang up almost everywhere, more in answer to a demand by the younger men of the Nation for a recreation that would meet a social and physical need and by emigrant minorities for a group expression than for reasons military. It was a "gay and gaudy" Militia, with each unit in its own distinctive and generally resplendent uniform. If the "Raleigh Cossacks," the "Hibernia Greens," the "Velvet Light Infantry Company," or the "Teutonic Rifles" were more "invincible in peace" than visible in war, they were a spectacular, colorful, and exciting integral of the social and military life of the first half of the 19th century.