The ornate dark trim across this fifer's chest — called musician's lace, sometimes "worms" or "bird cages" — marked him as a non-combatant in the regiment's field music section. Confederate regulations specified sky-blue lace for musicians, but supply was inconsistent and dark blue, black, or whatever herringbone braid the regimental tailor could source went onto the jacket instead. The trim wasn't decoration. In the smoke and noise of a Civil War battlefield, where verbal commands rarely carried past a few files of men, the fifer's piercing notes paired with the drummer's beat moved a regiment from column into line, called the charge, and marked the end of the day.

The figure strides forward with his wooden fife raised to his lips, mustard butternut trousers reinforced at the knees with darker patches, gray shell jacket buttoned snug, forage cap pulled low. Pair him with the Confederate Infantry Drummer Marching for the classic fife-and-drum field music team, or add the Confederate Infantry Bugler to build a complete regimental signal section diorama. The Confederate Drummer in Frock Coat rounds out a marching column with a second percussion line.

W. Britain 31447 Confederate Infantry Fifer Marching. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal, single figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.