Civil War Bullet

Creativity can flourish under the most adverse of circumstances.These bullets carved into chess pieces were found on the Monocacy Battlefield. Civil War soldiers had a great deal of time on their hands both in the encampments and in the hospitals after the battles, and many astonishing examples of miniature artistry using everyday objects and materials have survived.

Some scholars believe chess, a game of intellectual aggression and domination, developed in part to provide an alternative to the tragedy of physical combat, making these chess pieces carved from bullets especially poignant. Scholars believe chess originated in India, China or Persia between 500-600 AD.

According to the National Park Service, the battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864 is known today as the "Battle That Saved Washington." This lopsided match between 18,000 Confederate forces under General Jubal Early, and 5,800 Union forces under General Lew Wallace, might almost be compared to the sacrifice of an important piece on the chess board, in the sense that the Union forces who went down to defeat at the hands of the Confederates actually handed the South a key defeat: the South lost a critical day in their march on Washington D.C, allowing the city to be reinforced by the Union in time to forever prevent its capture. From that point forward, the war would be fought on Southern, not Northern, soil.

The Civil War bullets are courtesy of the Monocacy Battlefield /National Park Service.