"Taps" was composed during the Civil War. In July 1862, Federal Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield, encamped at Harrison's Landing after the Peninsula Campaign, decided the Federal Army's regulation "Lights Out" call was too long and harsh for the end of a day's march. He whistled a simplified twenty-four-note version to his brigade bugler, who played it that night. The brigade liked it. Other brigades adopted it within weeks. By the end of the war it had become standard in both armies — Federal and Confederate alike — and is now the call played at U.S. military funerals and at evening retreat on military installations worldwide. The Confederate bugler in this figure would have known the call.

This W. Britain figure depicts a Confederate infantry bugler in regulation gray — gray shell jacket with brown civilian vest underneath, dark gray trousers, dark forage cap, the cartridge box on his belt and rifle musket in his left hand at his side. He plays his brass bugle with the blue regimental cord and tassel hanging from it. Buglers in Confederate service were typically attached to cavalry, artillery, or skirmisher units where the bugle's clear tone carried better than drum calls; some infantry regiments also kept them. The figure works as the audible centerpiece of any Confederate camp, march, or skirmish-line diorama. Pair this figure with Confederate Infantry Drummer Marching for a full regimental music ensemble; with Confederate Infantry Company Officer as the officer whose orders the bugle translates; or with Confederate Infantry Fifer Marching for the drum/fife/bugle field music team.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31380. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure with bugle, supplied painted and ready for display.