Arms and Armaments of the Civil War

It perhaps makes sense that American playing card makers should have so many decks about the American Civil War (also called the War Between the States, and even, occassionally, the War of Northern Aggression). U.S. Games Systems has a number of decks detailing facets of the war, including a new series introduced last year, which, in addition to this deck, also features famous Women, Battles, and Generals.

This particular deck is all about the weapons of the war, including everything from handguns and knives to siege cannons and gunboats. The cards are organized into thirtees sets of four weapons, each set being a different class of weapon (the fours are all revolvers; the nines are all submarines). Each card contains a single sentence about the weapon depicted, as well as repeating each of the individual sentences from the other cards of that rank. And across the bottoms of each card of a particular rank runs a short narrative about the way in which weapons of that class were used throughout the war. Instead of the traditional jokers, the deck has a title card (shown above), as well as the obligatory rules for playing "Arms and Armaments." As with all such educational rummy games, the play is identical to Go Fish, except the fish are a tad more deadly than usual.

As a whole, it's an interesting series, especially good for children just learning about the war. It takes no sides about the conflict, except perhaps in the Famous Women deck, where abolitionists and Underground Railroad workers are given places of honor, and it largely avoids the thorny issues that surrounded the war.

All images © 1995, USGS, displayed here for commentary, analysis and appreciation only.