The color sergeant was the highest-mortality position in a Civil War regiment. Each regiment carried two flags — the national colors and the regimental colors — and they served as rally points, formation markers, and command-and-control devices in the smoke and noise of close-range combat. Both sides aimed at them deliberately. Knock down the colors, the formation lost its anchor; the regiment behind them lost coherence. On the afternoon of July 1, 1863, in Herbst Woods on McPherson's Ridge, the 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry of the Iron Brigade fought Pettigrew's North Carolinians at close range. The color sergeant carrying the national flag was Abel Peck. He was shot down early in the close-range exchange. Eight more men of the 24th Michigan picked up the colors after him and were killed or wounded in turn. The regiment lost nine color bearers in less than three hours. Peck was the first.

The W. Britain figure depicts Peck in the regulation Federal infantry uniform — dark blue blouse, light blue trousers, and the tall black Hardee hat that identified the Iron Brigade across the Army of the Potomac and earned the brigade its "Black Hats" nickname. The flag he carries is the national colors stenciled with "24th Michigan Infantry" along one stripe — the regimental designation that marked the flag as his and his regiment's responsibility on the battlefield. The braced stance is what color sergeants actually adopted in line of battle: feet planted, flagstaff held vertical, body squared up so the colors stood high enough above the line to be seen through smoke from a hundred yards away. Pair this figure with Col. Henry A. Morrow, his regimental commander, who was wounded leading the 24th Michigan in the same fight; with Capt. Richard S. Dillon, the same regiment's Company A captain, wounded four times on the same line; or with Brig. Gen. John Buford, the Union cavalry commander whose Day 1 stand on McPherson's Ridge bought the time for the Iron Brigade to be brought up into Herbst Woods behind him.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31244. From the American Civil War range. Single figure with stand-mounted flag, supplied painted and ready for display.