A Union lieutenant was easy to find on a battlefield, and that was part of the problem. His long frock coat, shoulder straps, crimson silk sash, and drawn sword told his own men where to look for orders, and they told enemy riflemen exactly the same thing. Company officers were expected to stand while their men knelt or lay down, and to lead from the front in a charge. They were shot at a higher rate than the soldiers they commanded. By 1864, many veteran officers had learned to leave the sash in their baggage, pin their shoulder straps out of sight, and sometimes carry a rifle. There is a popular story that the sash was meant to serve as a stretcher for a wounded officer, but it is most likely a myth.

The figure is running forward into the fight with his drawn sword held low and ready in his right hand. His left hand grips the scabbard to keep it from tangling in his legs, a small detail any officer who ran in one would recognize. He wears the dark blue officer's frock coat with a crimson sash, buff gauntlets, sky-blue trousers, and tall black boots. Put him at the front of an assault with Infantryman Charging and Infantry Corporal Charging, or place him under the regiment's commanders, Colonel John W. McLane and Brigadier General Strong Vincent.

King & Country model CW120. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure of a Union infantry lieutenant with drawn sword, on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.