Civil War cards

[poncho]

Comrades,
I have been trying to do some research on card games from the period and haven't been coming up with very much. There is an article on this forum about gambling games but I haven't found anything about card games specifically not related to gambling. For instance, was gin rummy around in the period? I don't want to show up at an event and start playing a game that is 30 years removed from the period. Is there any where I can be directed to find the proper info? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You

[Silas]

Here's a couple trump games with partners ...

Whist and euchre. I learned whist from my extended relations in Minnesota. Whist is something people did before TV came along. Been reading Hornblower of late, and whist is frequently mentioned.

Been playing euchre on my palm pilot lately. It's fast moving, and there's a great deal of strategy. Basic play is pretty easy once you understand the trump concept.

[pvtRB_4thOVI]

Re: Period Card Games

Wasn't poker a pretty popular means of gambling/card playing??

[va-yank]

Re: Period Card Games

We usually do whist. A very simple form of bridge with two pairs of players. There a several web sites with rules and strategy explained. But do not know if any of that has changed since the period.

General rule number one in cards, keep your cards hidden. From the officers.

[KKS]

Re: Period Card Games

From John Billings's 1887 memoir "Hardtack and Coffee":
"Besides letter-writing the various games of cards were freely engaged in. Many men played for money. Cribbage and euchre were favorite games" (65).

Does anyone have a source for a period-correct cribbage board?

Kira Sanscrainte

[Jeffrey Przewozniak]

Re: Period Card Games

Eallo!

Here are a couple nifty websites on the subject...

http://www.davidparlett.co.uk/histocs/index.html

http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/game-rules.html#card

http://www.pagat.com/whist/whist.html

I am in earnest,

[Possum Skinner]

Re: Period Card Games

Let us not forget Faro and Chuck-a-luck. These card games of chance are well documented as gamblers favorites.

[The Pigman]

Re: Period Card Games

Chuck-A-Luck is a dice game.

In fact we are going to open "O. P.'s and I. P.'s Chuck-A_Luck Emporium" this week end at our spring drill. I hpe I can get some guys to play rather than just sit around.

Thanks,
Mark C. Foster
AKA - I. P. Barnard

[D F Smith Historic]

Re: Period Card Games

Hi All,

A couple of great games that were popular and non gambling are Uker (sp?)
and Cribbage.

My all time favorite is Cribbage. Before I moved to Louisiana. My brother Tom (signs on as "tomarch" on the AC) and I played every Tuesday with our Dad. We try to get up a game or two at events when we are at the same event.

A good many Cribbage boards have been dug in camps in all theaters.


Hope this helps,

Don Smith

[Possum Skinner]

Re: Period Card Games

You sir are most certainly correct...Chuck-a-Luck is a dice game, and I knew that, and still managed to exhibit brain flatulence when I wrote that post. Despite the rumors, I am not a complete idiot. Sorry, for that.

[MassVOL]

Re: Period Card Games

You sir are most certainly correct...Chuck-a-Luck is a dice game, and I knew that, and still managed to exhibit brain flatulence when I wrote that post. Despite the rumors, I am not a complete idiot. Sorry, for that.

Is that the game with the six playing cards representing 1-6 on a die lay your money down and claim the die roll or is that another game?

[JohnTaylorCW]

Re: Period Card Games

The rules for both Chuck-a-luck (dice) and Euchre (cards), as well as Seven-Up (cards), are in an article by John Wedward on the Links page:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/local_links.php?action=jump&id=154

John T

[tomarch]

Re: Period Card Games

I for one would like to see more people learn cribbage. I's good for a quick game or two when you don't have much time, and the mental exercise in figuring out all your point combinations is a plus too. ;)

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: Period Card Games

Just found a period reference for soldiers playing a card game (among other things) from:

Lincoln, William S., Life with the Thirty-Fourth Mass. Infantry in the War of the Rebellion., Worchester, MA: Press of Noyes. Snow & Company, 1879.

Harpers Ferry, August 7th, 1863 :

"Just look at this tableau in Company E! Two men are playing checkers, with corn and beans, upon a board chalked out on the floor of the piazza to Headquarters; near by, four others, seated on boards supported on bricks placed on end, are playing euchre, with a drum head for a table; to the left stands a man with a dirty rag in his pocket, a piece of hard soap in one hand. and a brush in the other, ready to shave his customer, who with legs wide apart, and head thrown back stands leaning against a tree."

[Sanssouci]

stationary and hardware

Gents,
Anyone know of a good place to purchase authentic playing cards, papers, money, etc. Also, is there anyone who makes reproduction tools- picks, shovels, etc.?

Thanks for all the help. Semper Fi.
John Turner