At a time when the Confederacy was begining to loose the war between the states and the army of Robert E Lee had been badly mauled at Gettysburg,the carismatic Colonel Joseph Orville Shelby with just a few hundred handpicked men and a small section of light artillery, launched a daring raid behind Union lines. Riding by night their mission was to burn bridges, tear up railway tracks, cut telegraph lines and generaly create as much disruption as possible in order to divert the Union advance. Shelbys raiders in order to supprise the enemy and strike quickly, wore union jackets and slouch hats with a sprig of red sumac to identify themselves as rebels. Their favoured weapons were the Colt Navy revolver and for fighting on foot the Springfield or Enfield rifle (although other weapons were used also). These figures faithfully represent some of these raiders and have the usual head variants. They can of course be used as other rebel cavalry of the civil war.
/DixonMiniatures
