British IMilitary Buttons of the War of Independence
—Found on IVIanhattan Island

By W. L. Calver

Among the mementoes of the Revolution which have
come to light on the old military sites on the north end
of Manhattan Island in recent years the most numerous,
and yet the most interesting, are the regimental buttons
of the British army, and of the Loyalist corps raised in
and about the City of New York.

Fortunately for the student of military equipment,
the various corps of the regular British Army came to
these shores tagged for identification. The last radical
change in the dress of the British soldiery took place in
1768, and at that time the royal warrant directing that
the buttons of the uniforms should bear the regimental
number went into force. The Loyalists followed the
British regulation and the practice was adopted by the
various organizations of the American army, so far as
they were able.

An untiring hunt extending through many years in
the old camps has rounded up buttons of practically every
regiment of the British army that saw service on New
York island. More than that, we find the buttons of not
a few corps whose service lay in distant parts of our
land. The supposition is, therefore, that such buttons are
part of the equipment of detachments of recruits which
landed in New York, or of soldiers who came to this
port for passage to England, or to her colonies.

Many-sided is the interest in military button hunting.
The charm that goes with objects which have spanned
the centuries, and have been associated with great deeds
is ever present, but the paramount interest is the histori¬
cal. There are interests military, and heraldic, as we
cultivate an acquaintance with the numerous corps, or
when we decipher the devices impressed upon the indi¬
vidual specimens.   There is a medalic value too, in the

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