A Confederate infantry company had eight non-commissioned officers — one first sergeant, four sergeants, and four corporals — distributed across its hundred men. The corporal was the most junior of them. His job was to lead a half-section of twelve to fifteen men, dress them in line of battle, replace file closers who had been hit, and translate the captain's commands down to the file level. Corporals were promoted from the ranks for steadiness under fire and ability to keep their voice carrying through the noise of an engagement. Confederate regiments suffering heavy officer casualties promoted corporals to sergeant and sergeants to lieutenant at every major battle. The corporal in this figure may have been a private a month earlier.

This W. Britain figure depicts a Confederate infantry corporal in the act of urging his half-section forward — right arm extended pointing the direction of advance, rifle musket held diagonally across his body in his left hand, mouth open in command. He wears the late-war Confederate kit: gray shell jacket with the light blue corporal's chevrons of the infantry branch, butternut trousers, broad-brimmed slouch hat, and the cartridge box and holstered revolver on his belt. The dynamic gesturing pose makes this a centerpiece figure for any Confederate assault or advancing-line diorama. Pair this figure with Confederate Corporal Marching for a matched same-rank pair across march and combat poses; with Confederate Infantry Company Officer as the captain whose orders he translates; or with Rebel Steel Confederate Charging as the men he is leading forward.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31484. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure, supplied painted and ready for display.