The Iron Brigade kept gaiters longer than most Civil War volunteer regiments. White linen or canvas gaiters were technically still part of the regulation Federal infantry uniform in the early war — meant to be worn over the Jefferson brogan and the lower trouser leg to keep dirt, water, and small stones out of the shoes — but most volunteer regiments had quietly stopped issuing or wearing them by mid-1862. Gaiters required cleaning. They required white pipeclay or chalk to keep them presentable. They required the kind of garrison-time uniform discipline that volunteer regiments on campaign rarely had patience for. Brig. Gen. John Gibbon, the regular-army officer who had also imposed the M1858 Hardee hat on his Western volunteers, kept the gaiters. The brigade was, by his order, going to look like regulars whether or not the rest of the army did. Confederate veterans who could not identify the Iron Brigade by its black hat could often identify it by the white below the trouser cuff.

This W. Britain figure depicts the Iron Brigade standing-fire pose with the regulation gaiters visible above the brogan: dark blue federal blouse, light blue trousers, the canvas gaiters fastened with side buttons, the tall black Hardee hat with the infantry bugle insignia on the crown, the rolled blanket and knapsack on his back, the cartridge box on his right hip, the canteen and haversack at his side. The rifle musket — Springfield Model 1861 or Pattern 1853 Enfield, both rifled to the .58 caliber Minié — is leveled with bayonet fixed. The body is angled and the shoulders squared, the firing stance the U.S. Army manual of arms specified: right foot back, left foot forward, weight balanced. Pair this figure with Federal Iron Brigade Corporal Standing Firing, the same brigade's enlisted firing pose without gaiters; with Col. Henry A. Morrow of the 24th Michigan, the brigade's senior figure at Gettysburg; or with Color Sergeant Abel Peck, the brigade's colors at the same engagement.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31383. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure, supplied painted and ready for display.