Quaker guns in former
Confederate fortifications at
Manassas Junction,
Virginia, in March 1862. Quaker guns were widely used as a
deception tactic in warfare during the 18th and 19th centuries. Although resembling an actual
cannon, the Quaker gun was simply a wooden log, usually painted black. The name derives from the Religious Society of Friends, or
Quakers, who have traditionally held a religious opposition to war and violence in the
Peace Testimony.
Photograph: George N. Barnard and James F. Gibson; restoration: Adam Cuerden