Original Civil War Period Elaborate Backgammon, Checkers and Chess Set

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Original Civil War Period Elaborate Backgammon, Checkers and Chess Set – This handsomely tooled leather set, created to resemble a two-volume set of American history, contains all of the rarely encountered gaming elements – 32 chess, checker and backgammon “men”; two original, leather dice cups; original bone dice. The set was designed so that checkers, chess and backgammon could all be played, utilizing the game board and the different pieces that were included. The various pieces or “men” are constructed of red and black thermoplastic; a complete set of Civil War period, checker pieces are rarely found, much less made of thermoplastic. Each of these pieces is marked with a gold embossing to indicate if the piece, used in a chess game, was a pawn, bishop, castle, knight, king or queen. Both dice cups are leather covered pasteboard, with handsewn bottoms; the three bone dice shown were used in backgammon (we will supply the buyer with an additional, small bone die, as the original set had two large and two small dice). The entire box of the set is wood, covered with decoratively embellished calfskin. The interior, backgammon playing board is decoratively tooled and exhibits penned markings of a period player. We have seen this type of faux book game board before, but not in such fine condition or so complete with all component elements. This is a superb example of an activity meant to enliven the boredom of Civil War soldier camp life.

Civil War Games in Camp* – Civil War games were common on both sides during the war. Games did a lot to keep the troops entertained and ease the constant boredom of soldier life. While in camp, soldiers wanted to socialize with each other, there is no better way to socialize then to play games, especially if you are living in a Civil War tent with one or more men for a long period of time.

Types Civil War Games

Soldiers played all kinds of Civil War card games, they made distinctive chess pieces, played checkers, backgammon, dominoes, they read newspapers, books and played horseshoes.

They also played whole team sports such as baseball and a very early often-brutal version of football. Holidays in camp were cause for large celebrations. There were foot races, feasts, horse races, music shows, and all types of different contests that were put on by the troops.

*From – Civil War Academy.com