Colonial militia in America predated the Revolution by more than a century. From the earliest days of English settlement on the Atlantic seaboard, every able-bodied man in a town was required by law to own a working firearm, train with the local militia company, and turn out when the militia was called. The militia stood watch against French raids during the long colonial wars and against Native American attacks on the frontier; men trained at least twice a year on the village green, and many companies began drilling more often as tensions with Britain rose in the early 1770s. When the war began in earnest in 1775, militia provided the bulk of the manpower in the early campaigns. Some stayed in their local companies through the eight years of the war; others joined the new state regiments or, later, the Continental Line, where the militia tradition kept reinforcing the regular army with men who already knew which end of a musket to aim.

This figure is W. Britain's three-dimensional miniature of Don Troiani's Soldier Study American Militiaman, 1775-81 print — both the print and the figure are available at Breagans. The W. Britain sculptors hold to the Troiani painting as closely as the medium allows: gray hunting frock over a brown waistcoat, brown breeches, the wide-brimmed slouch hat that distinguishes the militiaman from a regular Continental, musket shouldered. He pairs naturally with the other Don Troiani militiaman Breagans carries — a complementary 1775-83 figure based on a different Troiani study — and with the broader Continental Line and militia figures in the American Revolution & Federal Era collection.

1/30 scale (60mm), matte-painted, single figure boxed. Catalog number 16105. As with the rest of the W. Britain modern range, the painting is photographic-quality detail intended to read well in dioramas and display cases.