On 24 August 1814, as a British army marched on Washington, the American line at Bladensburg broke and ran — except for a body of Marines and Navy flotillamen under Marine Captain Samuel Miller and Commodore Joshua Barney. They held their ground, working their guns and volleying until they were flanked and overrun, buying time as the capital was abandoned behind them. A field musician like this drummer stood in that noise, beating the commands no shouted voice could carry — the pace of the march, the order to fire, the signal to hold. In the War of 1812 the drum was still, quite literally, the voice of the Corps in battle.

W. Britain poses the drummer in the reversed colors that set field musicians apart — a scarlet coatee laced in yellow, a blue collar and trim, white crossbelt and apron, a tall plumed shako, and the rope-tensioned drum slung at his hip. Musicians reversed the regiment's colors so they could be picked out in the ranks, a tradition the modern Marine Band, "The President's Own," still carries in its red dress. He beats for the young Corps beside the 1798 Marine, under the Marine officer of 1806-18 whose commands he relayed, and ahead of the 1833 NCO of the green-uniform years.

W. Britain model 13032. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), solid metal hand-painted in a matte finish. Single figure with drum on a sculpted groundwork base. Supplied in original W. Britain packaging.