The U.S. Army's manual of arms for the rifle musket prescribed nine separate motions to load and fire a single round. They were drilled into infantry recruits until they became automatic: handle cartridge, tear cartridge, charge cartridge, draw rammer, ram cartridge, return rammer, prime, ready, aim. The seventh motion — "prime" — required the soldier to reach back over his right shoulder to a small leather cap pouch on his belt, take a single brass percussion cap between his thumb and forefinger, and press it onto the steel nipple at the breech of the musket. The cap detonated when the hammer fell and ignited the powder charge inside the barrel. A well-drilled soldier could complete all nine motions in about twenty seconds. The Iron Brigade was drilled by regular-army officers and held to regular-army standards. They could load and fire three times a minute in line of battle when they had to.

This W. Britain figure catches the loading sequence at the seventh motion — the moment a soldier reaches back to his cap pouch to prime the musket. The right hand is raised over the right shoulder; the left hand holds the rifle vertical with the bayonet fixed and the rammer back in its housing under the barrel. He wears the early-war Iron Brigade kit the brigade was issued and kept longer than other Federal volunteer regiments: the nine-button frock coat in dark blue (as opposed to the four-button fatigue blouse most volunteers had adopted by 1863), the white canvas gaiters above the brogans, light blue trousers, and the tall black Hardee hat with the brass eagle on the side. Confederate veterans called them "Those Damned Black Hats." Pair this figure with Iron Brigade Standing Firing in Gaiters, the matching figure firing the round he is about to prime; with Col. Henry A. Morrow of the 24th Michigan, the brigade's regimental commander at Gettysburg; or with Color Sergeant Abel Peck, the brigade's color sergeant killed on the first day of the same battle.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31384. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure, supplied painted and ready for display.