The Iron Brigade's black Hardee hat was a deliberate choice. In 1862, Brigadier General John Gibbon — newly assigned to command the brigade and a regular army officer by training — ordered his three Western volunteer regiments to draw the M1858 Hardee hat that the U.S. Army had adopted as regulation dress headgear but that most volunteer regiments had quietly traded for the more comfortable forage cap. Gibbon wanted his brigade to look like regulars. The 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin and the 19th Indiana put on the tall black felt hats. The 24th Michigan, when it joined the brigade in October 1862, drew them too. Across the Army of the Potomac the Iron Brigade became immediately identifiable from any direction by its silhouette — they were the "Black Hats." Confederate veterans afterward said they could pick the brigade out at a distance and would brace themselves accordingly.

The W. Britain figure depicts an Iron Brigade flag bearer at rest — flagstaff grounded at his feet, the national colors furled but identifiable by the gold cord and tassel of the color guard, the regulation Federal infantry frock coat and light blue trousers, and the tall black Hardee hat that gave the brigade its name. The mustache and the relaxed stance — hand on hip, weight on one leg — suggest a moment of pause during a march or at parade rest rather than combat. A regimental color guard in a Civil War regiment was eight men strong, all under the command of a color sergeant, selected for size, steadiness, and courage. They carried the two flags — national and regimental — and protected them with their lives. Pair this figure with Color Sergeant Abel Peck of the 24th Michigan, the Iron Brigade color sergeant killed on McPherson's Ridge July 1, 1863; with Col. Henry A. Morrow, commander of the 24th Michigan during the brigade's worst day at Gettysburg; or with Brig. Gen. John Buford, the Union cavalry commander whose Day 1 stand at Gettysburg gave the Iron Brigade time to come up.

Scale: 1/30 (60mm). Matte-painted metal. W. Britain model 31099. From the American Civil War range. Single figure with stand-mounted flag, supplied painted and ready for display.