Civil War Photo Friday: Quaker guns and dummy soldiers

Trickery has always been a part of warfare. During the Civil War one favorite scare tactic was to paint logs black and mount them on carriages to make the enemy think you had artillery. This was done by both sides, especially the Confederates, who suffered from a serious weapon shortage.

Here are two images from the Library of Congress showing these "Quaker guns", so called because they wouldn't kill anybody. The bottom image even has a few scarecrows, or "scare Yankees"!