Carrying the colors was the most lethal job in a Confederate regiment. The color sergeant and his seven-man guard stood at the regimental center where every enemy rifleman aimed first — major engagements regularly cost a regiment five or six color bearers in a single afternoon. The 48-inch flag here marks this as an infantry regimental color, the Army of Northern Virginia pattern issued by the Richmond Clothing Depot from July 1862 in three sizes: 48 inches square for foot regiments, 36 for artillery, 30 for cavalry. The earlier Stars and Bars national flag had been retired from field use because its three stripes and starred canton looked too much like the Federal colors through black-powder smoke.

The color bearer stands at rest with the flagstaff vertical between his hands, butt grounded, bedroll slung across his shoulders, gray shell jacket paired with sky-blue trousers drawn from captured Federal stocks that were standard issue in the ANV by mid-1862. Plant him at the regimental center alongside the Confederate Infantry Officer Marching and Confederate Infantry Drummer Marching to build a regimental command diorama, or set him in a halted column with Confederate Infantry in Frock Coat line troops fanned out behind.

W. Britain 31390 Confederate Army of Northern Virginia Flag at Rest. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal, single figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.