You could tell a Union drummer's branch of service from across a camp by the color of his drum. Infantry drums had shells painted blue, usually with a spread eagle, while artillery drums were painted red. Regiments often added their own number and battle honors to the design. The boys who carried them were frequently younger than the army's rules allowed. Recruiters looked the other way for drummers and fifers, and some famous ones enlisted at twelve or younger. On the march the drummer set the pace for the whole column, and in camp his beats called the day from reveille to taps. In battle, many drummers put down the drum and worked as stretcher bearers, carrying the wounded out under fire.

The figure is on the march, stepping out in time with his sticks raised over a blue-painted infantry drum with red hoops and rope tensioning, the drum slung on a white strap at his side. Even the drummer carries his knapsack and blanket roll. He wears K&C's 83rd Pennsylvania uniform: dark blue chasseur jacket with yellow trim, green shoulder tufts, sky-blue trousers, and white gaiters. Put him at the head of a marching column with Infantry Advancing and Stars & Stripes Forever, or pair him with The Walking Wounded for his stretcher-bearer role once the fighting started.

King & Country model CW123. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure of an 83rd Pennsylvania drummer boy with infantry drum, on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.