CivilWarCollector
Private
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2019
Everyone here (or most) probably know that Lee carried the moniker "Marble Man" with him after West Point. I'm here to share a different story about Marble. The game Marbles. Turns out, not only did Grant hide an affinity for cards, but it turns out he was drawn to marbles from an early age. His mother is quoted as saying about the boyhood Grant "He has two vices; Horse and Marbles". Here is an excerpt from the book "Our Standard Bearer: The life of Grant"
"There is a sort of unexpectedness about Grant, which he began to develop as a boy. He does just what the beholder does not anticipate, surprises by sticking to anything, when according to ordinary rules, on ought to give up, or confounds by a course of action hitherto unheard of. He holds on to the pony when he ought to be thrown; he comes home with a load of logs when he ought to have come home empty; he accomplishes many a feat in which he ought to have failed, according to the every-day rules of life. He was fond of playing marbles, which seems to be the only strictly boys' amusement in which he indulged. He bet half a dozen marbles with a school-mate that he would jump twenty-five feed in a single leap, selecting his own ground for the feat. If I had been there, I should have taken that bet, for it seemed as impossible for the little fellow like him to do it, as it did to capture Vicksburg.
Grant went to a perpendicular bluff, having requisite height, and jumped down at one leap, for if the terms of the wager had required it, it would have hardly have been convenient to make two leaps of it. Though he went down to his middle in the mud below, he won the bet. Doubtless he came out of the slough rather worse for the leap, so far as personal appearance was concerned, but his plight only assures us that he looked before he leaped, as he always did, for hard pan, or solid rock, might have been trying even to his nerves, in a jump of twenty-five feet."
It is largely rumored that during the siege of Vicksburg, a now grown up Grant spent long hours into the night playing Solitaire marbles. This game is almost exactly like our current "Peg Game", with players trying to jump other marbles until there is only one left. It is claimed that while playing this strategy game he created his plan of leading his troops away from Vicksburg before then circling the city and resuming the siege.
Grant played this "Marble Solitaire" so much that the Victorian era marble board is now nicknamed "The Grant Marble Board". If you go do a google search right now for "Grant Marble board" you will be treated to a few articles mentioning a board like the attached images.
Hope everyone learned something about our highest commander.
Stay Civil
"There is a sort of unexpectedness about Grant, which he began to develop as a boy. He does just what the beholder does not anticipate, surprises by sticking to anything, when according to ordinary rules, on ought to give up, or confounds by a course of action hitherto unheard of. He holds on to the pony when he ought to be thrown; he comes home with a load of logs when he ought to have come home empty; he accomplishes many a feat in which he ought to have failed, according to the every-day rules of life. He was fond of playing marbles, which seems to be the only strictly boys' amusement in which he indulged. He bet half a dozen marbles with a school-mate that he would jump twenty-five feed in a single leap, selecting his own ground for the feat. If I had been there, I should have taken that bet, for it seemed as impossible for the little fellow like him to do it, as it did to capture Vicksburg.
Grant went to a perpendicular bluff, having requisite height, and jumped down at one leap, for if the terms of the wager had required it, it would have hardly have been convenient to make two leaps of it. Though he went down to his middle in the mud below, he won the bet. Doubtless he came out of the slough rather worse for the leap, so far as personal appearance was concerned, but his plight only assures us that he looked before he leaped, as he always did, for hard pan, or solid rock, might have been trying even to his nerves, in a jump of twenty-five feet."
It is largely rumored that during the siege of Vicksburg, a now grown up Grant spent long hours into the night playing Solitaire marbles. This game is almost exactly like our current "Peg Game", with players trying to jump other marbles until there is only one left. It is claimed that while playing this strategy game he created his plan of leading his troops away from Vicksburg before then circling the city and resuming the siege.
Grant played this "Marble Solitaire" so much that the Victorian era marble board is now nicknamed "The Grant Marble Board". If you go do a google search right now for "Grant Marble board" you will be treated to a few articles mentioning a board like the attached images.
Hope everyone learned something about our highest commander.
Stay Civil
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To be honest, I'm surprised at where he has been 'popping up' lately, and you've introduced me to things about Grant I never knew.
Bringing the