The black felt dress hat in this figure is the M1858 Hardee hat — adopted by the U.S. Army in 1858 and named for Lieutenant Colonel William J. Hardee, the officer who served on the board that approved it. The irony is that Hardee resigned his commission three years later, joined the Confederate army, and became a Confederate general; for the rest of the war his name was officially attached to the dress headgear of the army he had left. Some Federal soldiers called the same hat the "Jeff Davis hat" after Jefferson Davis, who was Secretary of War when the design was selected. Most Union volunteer regiments traded the Hardee hat for the lighter forage cap. The ones who kept it tended to be regulars or units with regular-army-style discipline.

This W. Britain figure depicts a Federal infantryman at the seventh motion of the loading drill — right hand reaching back over his shoulder to a leather cap pouch on his belt, left hand holding the rifle musket forward at the ready. He wears the M1858 Hardee hat with brass insignia, the regulation dark blue Federal infantry frock coat, light blue trousers, the cartridge box and cap pouch on his belt, and the bedroll across his back. The figure represents the kind of well-equipped Federal infantryman serving in a regular-discipline unit. Pair this figure with Iron Brigade Reaching for Cap in Gaiters for a matched loading-drill pair from a known Hardee-hat brigade; with Col. Henry A. Morrow of the 24th Michigan; or with Federal Infantry in Frock Coat Advancing for a complete frock-coat-equipped infantry diorama.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31371. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure, supplied painted and ready for display.