The Federal infantry frock coat in this figure was the regulation U.S. Army enlisted uniform coat in 1861 — a single-breasted dark blue wool coat with nine buttons down the front and a skirt that came nearly to the knee. By the second year of the war it was being phased out for active service. Soldiers found the long skirt hot, heavy, and snagging on brush; quartermasters found the shorter "sack coat" or "blouse" cheaper to manufacture and easier to fit. By 1864 most Federal enlisted men were wearing the sack coat in the field. Regulars and some long-service volunteer regiments kept the frock coat through the war — a visible mark of pre-war regulation discipline and longer service.

This W. Britain figure depicts a Federal infantryman in mid-stride, rifle musket at right shoulder shift with bayonet fixed. He wears the full regulation early-war kit: dark blue infantry frock coat, light blue trousers, dark forage cap, the cartridge box and cap pouch on his belt, the bedroll and haversack across his chest. The frock coat with its long skirt and the disciplined right shoulder shift carry mark him as either a regular army soldier or a long-service volunteer who kept his original 1861 issue. The advancing pose works as a single march figure or as part of a multi-figure column diorama. Pair this figure with Union Forever Marching Set for a road column; with Col. Henry A. Morrow as a regimental commander; or with Maj. Gen. Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker, the army commander who restored uniform discipline across the Army of the Potomac in 1863.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31354. From the American Civil War range. Single foot figure, supplied painted and ready for display.