The Continental Army tried to standardize its uniforms three times. In 1779, Washington ordered blue coats faced with regional facing colors — white for New England regiments, red for the Mid-Atlantic, blue (with red lining) for the southern regiments, with musicians wearing the colors reversed. The order was honored where supplies allowed and improvised where they didn't. In 1782 the army simplified by making blue with red facings the standard for the whole Continental Line, regardless of regional origin. By 1787, when the army had been reduced to a single regiment in peacetime, new coats began appearing with a small standing collar instead of the old falling collar, and the regulation Continental uniform began evolving into what would become the early Federal-era U.S. Army dress. The 1777-87 period this figure depicts covers all three regulations and the long slow transition between them.

This figure shows a Continental Line soldier in the charging position — body leaning forward, musket forward with bayonet fixed, in mid-stride at the moment of contact. He wears the post-1782 uniform: blue coat with red facings, the tricorne worn brim-up, white waistcoat and cross-belts, buff breeches. The bayonet — eighteenth-century infantry's primary close-combat weapon — is the reason for the pose; a charging soldier at the moment depicted is no longer firing his musket, he's closing to use the steel. He pairs with a soldier in the standing defending position (a natural opposite — the figure being charged), a basic Continental Line soldier, and the 1st American Regiment variant for a Continental infantry section in action.

1/30 scale (60mm), matte-painted, single figure boxed. Catalog number 16022. 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.