Quaker Gun

A Quaker gun is a deception tactic that was commonly used in warfare during the 18th and 19th centuries. Although resembling an actual cannon, the Quaker gun was simply a wooden log, usually painted black, used to deceive an enemy. Misleading the enemy as to the strength of an emplacement was an effective delaying tactic. 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.

During the American War of Independence, after nearly a year of brutal backcountry conflict between American Colonel William Washington and the fierce British commander Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, Colonel Washington had retreated to North Carolina in October 1780.

Ordered to leave a regular force of colonial dragoons in the North Carolina theater by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, Colonel Washington still lacked the proper artillery to dislodge the Loyalists. On December 4, the Americans were able to trap the Loyalist Colonel Rowland Rugeley and his force of about 125 men in Rugeley’s house and barn near Camden, South Carolina. He told his cavalrymen to dismount and surround the barn. Out of Rugeley’s sight, Washington’s men prepared a pine log to resemble a cannon.

The "Quaker gun Trick" worked quite well. Colonel Washington aimed the wooden "cannon" toward the buildings the Loyalists had barricaded themselves in and threatened to open fire if they did not immediately surrender. Rugeley surrendered quickly his entire force without a single shot having been fired.

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