Washington's Bodyguard Drummer

Before bugles, before voice amplification, and centuries before radio, eighteenth-century armies were run by drums and fifes. A specific drumbeat or fife call ordered every action — assembly, march, halt, advance, retreat, fire, recover, recall, reveille, lights out. The drummers and fifers were posted with their commanders so the signal could be heard above the noise of the battlefield, which meant that drum and fife players were also some of the most exposed men in any infantry unit. Baron Friedrich von Steuben standardized the Continental Army's signal calls during the 1778 Valley Forge drill campaign that also standardized infantry maneuver, and by the end of the war American fife and drum corps were as drilled as any in Europe. Drummers in Washington's Bodyguard played the same signals as the rest of the army, plus a few ceremonial calls unique to the Commander-in-Chief's Guard.

This figure shows a drummer of Washington's Bodyguard in the standard musician's reverse colors of the period — buff coat with blue facings rather than the blue coat with buff facings that the unit's officers and rank-and-file wore. Reversing the colors made musicians visually distinct on the field so a commander could find them quickly when signals needed sending. He wears the tall feathered mitre cap that often distinguished musicians from rank-and-file infantry, white cross-belt with cartridge box, buff breeches and white stockings. The drum itself carries one of the popular designs of the period: thirteen stars on a deep blue field, arranged in a circle (six-pointed and eight-pointed star variants were both common; the five-pointed "mullet" star was less favored at the time). He pairs naturally with the Washington's Bodyguard Officer with Spontoon as the same-unit complement, General Washington Mounted (the man both ultimately served), and the broader American Revolution & Federal Era collection.

1/30 scale (60mm), matte-painted, single figure boxed. Catalog number 16103. As with the rest of the W. Britain modern range, the painting is photographic-quality detail intended to read well in dioramas and display cases.