By the time of the American Revolution, the polearm — the halberd carried by sergeants, the spontoon carried by infantry officers — was on its way out of European military practice. Most British officers had set theirs aside by 1779, partly because the long, distinctive shaft made an officer easy to identify and target for the American sharpshooters who had begun systematically picking off enemy command staff. The Continental Army held onto its officer's spontoons longer, partly because they were genuinely useful — for signaling, for dressing the firing line, for the practical authority that a piece of military furniture lends a young captain or lieutenant. By the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the U.S. Army was carrying spontoons only in full dress ceremonies; by the 1830s they were gone entirely. This figure depicts the last decade of their working use in the Continental Line and the early peacetime U.S. Army.

This figure shows a Continental Line company officer in the advancing position — spontoon angled forward across his body, body in mid-stride. He wears the standard officer's dress: blue coat with red facings, red waistcoat, white breeches and stockings, the tricorne worn brim-up, white cross-belt and gilt buttons that distinguished officer's dress from enlisted men's coats. The pose suggests him leading the line forward at the moment of advance, spontoon held both to signal his position and to mark his order. He pairs with the Continental Line officer at ease (the parallel resting pose), a kneeling firing soldier (one of the men he commands), and [the Continental Line NCO with halberd (his sergeant, who carried a similar polearm) — together composing the company leadership and a firing-line element.

1/30 scale (60mm), matte-painted, single figure boxed. Catalog number 16169. 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.