Have You Lost Your MARBLES?

[Tom Hughes]

Civil War soldiers loved games like anyone else..Checkers, chess, cards, even marbles!
I wanted to share these clay marbles I've found in camps around Vicksburg, MS. They appear to have been fashioned from clay and heated in the campfires. They were not symmetrical but looked like they might suffice for a game or two.

Here's a close up of one of these clay fashioned marbles.

I can imagine that boredom in the camp gave way to innovative ways to stay entertained. This is just one more way in which the soldiers probably kept busy with their amusements.

The good news about these little gems is that if a soldier LOST HIS MARBLES, he could just make a new one!

Thanks for looking!

 

[John Winn]

Way cool. I've never seen clay marbles before and somehow just never thought about it. Of course !

 

[UCVRelics]

Nice ones. I love finding them and here are 4 I found in the CS camps here. What was the star for?

 

[Tom Hughes]

Nice ones. I love finding them and here are 4 I found in the CS camps here. What was the star for?
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That's star is pretty neat. I've never seen one with a star. I'm guessing these were purchased and brought with them.
The ones I found were crude and made in the camp and baked in the fire. That's what it appears.

 

[UCVRelics]

The only 2 games that come to mind are marbles (like when I was a kid with shooters etc) and Chinese checkers