The Irish Brigade fought most of the war with obsolete weapons by Federal standards. Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher had specifically requested the .69 caliber Model 1842 smoothbore musket — the last of the smoothbore military arms the U.S. Army was phasing out by 1862 — because it could fire the "buck and ball" combat load of one large ball and three buckshot, devastating at close range in the kind of brawls the Irish Brigade specialized in. Meagher wanted his men to close to thirty yards and finish the fight with the equivalent of a shotgun blast at point-blank range. The trade-off was effective range: the smoothbore was useless past one hundred and fifty yards, while the rifled Springfield could engage at three hundred. The brigade kept its smoothbores through 1864.

This W. Britain figure depicts an Irish Brigade soldier in the standing-fire stance — body angled, rifle leveled at the shoulder, weight back on his right foot. He wears the standard Federal infantry kit: dark blue blouse, light blue trousers, dark forage cap, the rolled blanket and haversack across his chest, the cartridge box with brass U.S. buckle on his belt. The musket in his hands is the .69 caliber Model 1842 smoothbore — recognizable by its longer barrel and shorter bayonet compared to the rifled Springfield Model 1861. The figure pairs with the brigade's other Standing Firing figure for a deeper firing-line diorama. Pair this figure with Irish Brigade Standing Firing No.1, the matched firing-line companion; with Irish Brigade Kneeling Firing for the two-rank line; or with Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, the II Corps commander under whom the Irish Brigade served from Antietam through the Overland Campaign.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31351. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure, supplied painted and ready for display.