Museum Collections

These fasteners were excavated by the Field Exploration Committee at Fort Haldimand, a British fort on Carleton Island in the St. Lawrence River in New York, just below the Canadian border. Built in 1779, the fort commanded passage of the river and was retained by the British until its destruction by American forces in 1812. The fasteners were probably used to fold skirt lapels on British Army coats in place, and were found in a refuse pit with uniform buttons of the 21st British Regiment.