In 1836 the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Brevet Brigadier General Archibald Henderson, did something no Commandant had done before or since — he took the field himself, marching roughly half the Corps south to fight in the Second Seminole War. Tradition holds that he pinned a note to his office door: "Gone to Florida to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over." The Marines campaigned through Florida's swamps and palmetto for two years, and it was for exactly this kind of hard service that the practical sky-blue fatigue uniform shown here was adopted — comfort and durability over parade-ground show, on the eve of the Mexican War.

W. Britain stands the Marine at ease, one hand resting on the muzzle of his grounded musket. He wears the plain sky-blue wool waist jacket with narrow sleeves and Waterbury Marine-pattern buttons, white crossbelts over the chest, sky-blue trousers, and the dark blue forage cap — the "wheel hat" — with its black leather visor. It is a deliberately unshowy kit, and it places him in the Corps' antebellum line: between the founding-era 1798 Marine and the 1833 NCO just before him, and the 1859 Dress Marine who would carry the Corps to the edge of the Civil War.

W. Britain model 13070. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), solid metal hand-painted in a matte finish. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.