The belt plate and buckle pictured here is from mid Civil War, 1862-1864.  The eagle plate is an 1851 pattern prevalent in late war enlistees.  The design was introduced in 1851 with ‘eagle-wreath’ plate that was distributed to all commissioned officers and soldiers.  General Order Number 31 designated that enlisted soldiers’ have sword belt plates affixed with a sliver laurel wreath encompassing “Arms of the United States,” with the motto E Pluribus Unum; one from many.  The Horstmann company was the first private company to manufacture the 1851 plates and would soon be followed by the Ames Manufacturing Company.  Originally the eagle was fashioned facing the right, Horstmann Company refashioned the head to face left and the proceeding companies adopted the modification.  The Allegheny Arsenal was the authority that produced most of the eagle plates in the years leading up to the Civil War.  Mainly private arsenals would produce and supply thousands of plates starting in 1861 to match the increasing demand of enlisted Federal soldiers.  A new patterned plate was introduced in December of 1863 fashioning a round headed eagle with sunrays, and that is what is depicted here.  [mk]

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