Museum Collections

These buttons were excavated in 1923 by the Field Exploration Committee from a refuse pit outside the south ramparts of Fort Washington. Built by the Continental Army in the summer of 1776, the fort extended west along 183rd Street from Fort Washington Avenue to Pinehurst Avenue. The fort was captured on November 16, 1776 by British and Hessian forces, and was occupied by them until 1783. The buttons were worn on British uniform gaiters, leggings that extended from knee to instep.