The Number 1 cannoneer on a Civil War gun crew did the most dangerous job on the piece. He stood at the right front of the muzzle with the sponge-and-rammer staff — a wooden pole with a wool-and-carpet sponge on one end and a wooden rammer on the other — and his job was to extinguish any smoldering embers in the bore between firings before the next cartridge was loaded. A single missed ember could detonate the incoming charge in his hands and kill the whole crew. After sponging, he reversed the staff and rammed the next cartridge and projectile down to the breech. His position was the closest to the muzzle when the gun fired. The work was hot, loud, and unforgiving.

This W. Britain figure depicts a Confederate artillery Number 1 cannoneer at his post — holding the sponge-and-rammer staff vertical between rounds, ready to reverse it for the next motion. He wears the regulation Confederate artillery kit: gray shell jacket with the artillery branch coloring, light gray trousers, dark slouch hat. The figure completes a Confederate gun crew vignette alongside the gunner and the rest of the cannoneers. Pair this figure with Union Artillery Crewman with Fuze Pouch and Lanyard for a both-sides artillery comparison; with Confederate Artillery Guidon for the battery's flag; or with Load Confederate Artillery with 12-Pound Howitzer for the gun itself.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31420. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure with sponge-and-rammer staff, supplied painted and ready for display.