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 historical. There are interests military, and heraldic, as we cultivate an acquaintance with the numerous corps, or when we decipher the devices impressed upon the individual specimens. There is a metallic value too, in the old buttons, as any numismatist will attest. We are often struck with amazement when we regard the product of the 18th century button dies; for there is a coin like precision of detail, and an endless variety of designs.

Tied down by no restrictions as to details of design the colonel, who provided the equipment for his regiment, humored his individual taste in these matters, and hence a characteristic display of 18th century military buttons presents a multitude of devices in conjunction with the ever present numerical designation of the individual corps.

During our Revolutionary war period, and in fact right down to 1855, the British private soldiers' buttons were made of pewter, or white metal. During the period of the War of Independence the regimental buttons of the British officers had thin repousse silver, or gilt faces and bone backs; and this style of button remained in vogue apparently well down toward the close of the 18th century. Frequently, not always, the design upon the officer's button differed from that of the men's. When such a change occurred the device upon the officer's button was more elaborate than that of the men's button. Moreover in certain instances, such as are shown on the buttons of the 28th and 38th regiments, the officer's button bore marks of royal favor. Note the lion surmounting the crow on the specimens quoted.

To say merely that the buttons are found in the camps does not tell the whole story of their discovery. Some few specimens, indeed, are found scattered here and there upon the surface. They show up where bits of ground are tilled, or where washouts are caused by heavy rains; but the great bulk of our collections come from the refuse pits of the camps; and if the truth were known the specimens which show up occasionally on the surface of the ground are from shallow refuse-pits disturbed by the plow, or otherwise.

The evidence is that refuse pits were dug specially as receptacles for camp garbage, and into these went all manner of rejected material, kitchen refuse, vegetable matter, bones, and oyster shells, old shoes, and uniforms, discarded tools and damaged arms; bits of obsolete equipment and, indeed, whatever had served its purpose, or which threatened the health of the camp. But sometimes we find that a ready-made refuse pit presented itself in the form of a ruined dug-out hut whose superstructure had collapsed, been burned down, or otherwise destroyed. Into such a receptacle the British soldier threw many a button laden coat, old waist belt, or other worn-out bits of apparel which, while worthless at the time, had metal trimmings which have been spared by the centuries and are priceless today.

While the private soldiers' buttons were invariably of white metal, those of the officers matched the color of his lace, whether it was white, or yellow. Hence, for instance, we find that the 17th Regiment had silver buttons to match the silver lace, while the 57th officers had gilt buttons to match their lace of gold.

Few and frail are the mementoes from the coats of the 18th century British officers, but they convey to us, in the delicacy of their designs, and the perfection of their details, a fair idea of the products of the "golden age" of button making.