The Iron Brigade was built by a Southerner. John Gibbon — born in Philadelphia in 1827 but raised from age ten in Charlotte, North Carolina — entered West Point as a North Carolina cadet, graduated in 1847, and served as a regular army artillery officer for the next fourteen years. When the war came, three of his brothers went south and joined the Confederate Army. Gibbon stayed with the United States. In May 1862 he was given the four-regiment Western brigade of Wisconsin and Indiana volunteers that became the Iron Brigade — the only North Carolina-raised officer in the Army of the Potomac commanding the only all-Western brigade. He drilled them as regulars, ordered them to draw the regulation M1858 Hardee hat and the white canvas gaiters most volunteer regiments had stopped wearing, and made the brigade into the most disciplined volunteer formation in the army. At Gettysburg, Gibbon was on Cemetery Ridge as a II Corps division commander, wounded on the same Day 3 that wounded Winfield Scott Hancock — both struck by Confederate fire during Pickett's Charge.

The W. Britain figure depicts an Iron Brigade soldier advancing at right shoulder shift in the disciplined regulation kit Gibbon imposed: dark blue nine-button frock coat with infantry-blue piping, light blue kersey trousers, white canvas gaiters above the brogans, knapsack and cartridge box on his back, and the tall black Hardee hat with the regimental number and company letter in brass on the front. The bayonet is fixed. The right shoulder shift is the U.S. Army marching carry — rifle balanced on the shoulder, right hand at the trigger guard, the soldier able to advance for miles at the route step before snapping the rifle down to the firing position. This is one of the figures that anchors a regimental-front or brigade-marching diorama, paired naturally with the other Advancing figures in the range. Pair this figure with Iron Brigade Advancing at Right Shoulder in Gaiters for a matched brigade front; with Col. Henry A. Morrow of the 24th Michigan, the brigade's regimental commander; or with Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, who was wounded on Cemetery Ridge during Pickett's Charge alongside John Gibbon, the brigade's first commander and architect of its discipline.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31412. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure, supplied painted and ready for display.