The Zouave uniform was a deliberate American borrowing from French colonial troops. The original Zouaves were Berber-recruited French infantry serving in Algeria in the 1830s — red fez, short blue jacket trimmed in yellow, wide red sash, baggy blue trousers tucked into white gaiters. Their reputation for élan and aggressive light-infantry tactics made them famous across Europe in the Crimean War of the 1850s. Several American volunteer regiments adopted the look on both sides of the Civil War. The 146th New York — recruited from Oneida County in 1862 and issued its Zouave uniform in the summer of 1863 — wore one of the war's most accurate French-pattern kits, sky-blue jacket and trousers with yellow piping.

This W. Britain figure depicts a 146th New York Zouave in the standing-fire stance — body angled, rifle musket leveled, weight back on the right foot. He wears the regiment's distinctive Zouave kit: red fez with yellow tassel, sky-blue jacket trimmed in yellow braid, wide red sash with belt and brass U.S. buckle, baggy sky-blue trousers, white gaiters above black shoes. The Springfield Model 1861 rifle musket is at his shoulder. The Zouave figures stand out visually from any other infantry in a Civil War diorama and instantly anchor a scene as a specific regiment rather than a generic line. Pair this figure with 146th NY Zouave Kneeling Firing, the regiment's matched front-rank firing figure for a two-rank firing line diorama; with 146th NY Zouave Officer, the regiment's leadership; or with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the commanding general whose Overland Campaign was the 146th NY's main combat period in 1864.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31282. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure, supplied painted and ready for display.