Berdan's Sharpshooters did not fight in line. The two regiments were trained to deploy as skirmishers — paired up in dispersed two-man teams ahead of the main Union infantry line, taking cover behind trees, fence rails, fallen timber, or terrain folds, and engaging the enemy from concealment at the longest range their Sharps rifles allowed. Their primary targets were Confederate officers, artillerymen serving the guns, and Confederate sharpshooters working the opposite role. Berdan trained his men in the open-order tactics French Algerian chasseurs and British rifle regiments had pioneered earlier in the century, and the result was an American infantry unit that effectively prefigured the dispersed skirmish lines of twentieth-century combat. The blue line followed; the green line led.

This W. Britain figure depicts a 1st U.S. Berdan's Sharpshooter corporal in the regiment's distinctive dark green uniform — green forage cap, green frock coat with corporal's chevrons on the sleeves, green trousers — at port arms with the Sharps rifle held diagonally across his chest. The pose catches the moment between firing and reloading, the soldier scanning his sector before reaching back to his cap pouch for the next round. The light canvas knapsack with rolled blanket and the cartridge box on his belt complete the kit. The figure pairs naturally with the regiment's firing-pose figures to build a dispersed skirmish-line diorama showing how Berdan's actually fought. Pair this figure with 1st U.S. Berdan Sharpshooter Advancing for the firing companion; with 1st U.S. Berdan's Sharpshooter Standing Firing for a three-figure skirmish team; or with Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, the Confederate cavalry commander killed at Yellow Tavern by Pvt. John A. Huff, a former Berdan's sharpshooter.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31478. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure, supplied painted and ready for display.