THE
CIVIL WAR
CHESS
GAME
Strategy
is an apparent element in any battle situation and what better to teach
strategy than a good game of chess! My children happened to be taking a
chess class during our study of the Civil War, so we decided to incorporate
that into our unit. (Besides the fact that we didn't have a chess set and
they were ancy to play at home!) We thought about how to go about making
a chess set and this was our result. Obviously it had to be Union versing
Confederates, and because of the layout of military ranks, it lends itself
well to designing the chess pieces. The thing that made this chess set
so unique is that we made copies of old photos and glued them onto chess
pieces! You can draw the individual pictures, or use names, as well.
1. KING
& QUEEN: We
chose to use the President & wife as our King & Queen (Lincolns
for Union, Davises for Confederate). We did have one alteration--my daughter
insisted on having Clara Barton in the game somewhere and because we couldn't
find a suitable picture for Jefferson Davis's wife, we opted for her placement
there...this is not accurate to history, but it made my daughter happy!)
We included their names and a small flag denoting their side.
2. BISHOPS,
KNIGHTS, ROOKS: We
next used Generals, Lieutenant Generals, etc...in rank of importance as
well as popularity among my children. This meant Lee & Jackson for
Confederates, Grant and Sherman for Union. As we continued to study the
war, we have found many leaders who could highly qualify for the position
of 'Bishop' (Meade, McClellan, Hooker, Burnside/A.P. Hill, Ewell, Longstreet,
Stuart, etc...)
Knights, being 'horses' on a normal chess board, just begged to be cavalrymen!
Rooks, normally being castles, also just had to be Forts or another building
of importance. Our choices were Fort Sumter for the Confederacy and the
house Lee surrendered to Grant in at Appomattox Court House for the Union.
3. PAWNS:
We
found pictures of soldiers in regular garb and used those for pawns.
4. KEEPING
THINGS STRAIT FROM THE BACKSIDE!: We
also found pictures of chess pieces and glued them on the back so you knew
what piece you were moving. We altered the height of the pieces to account
for the different roles, as well (King & queen were tallest, then bishops,
then knights, etc...) We covered the pieces with contact paper.
5. MAKING
BASES: We
attached the pictures to gray or blue, thick posterboard. We also used
squares of the posterboard for the bases and used black sliding bars (they
come with report covers) cut into proper lengths to hold the taller piece.
We hot glued the pieces together (see photo).
As you prepare for using
the chess game, discuss how strategy is so important to winning a battle.
During the time of the Civil war, men were forced to make quick decisions
without proper maps or information. Their scouts had to figure the lay
of the land on the fly and determine how to move their troops accordingly.
In situations like Antietam, the Union was on the Confederate's tails by
a matter of a couple of hours and if you've been to the area, between the
Blue Ridge Mountains and the rolling farmland, finding an appropriate spot
to turn around and do battle wasn't easy! Men relied on their wits and
skills for the sakes of their and their comrades lives. In Gettysburg,
there is everything from flat open farm, good for cannon battle, to steep
rocky slopes and rocky crags like Devil's Den.
Can you imagine running
into your enemy in a place like this?
(Devil's Den, Gettysburg)
