" The Game Of Secession " , A Bloodless War From 1862, With Cheating!

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
snake game SecessionGame_jpg_CROP.jpg

" This Game is played with two dice or a tee-totum
*, and any number may play it. Whatever number is thrown, the player must place his counter on that number, and at every throw, add the number thrown to his former one. The player that is sent from one to another, backwards or forward, is not entitled to the advantage or disadvantage of that Jump, they must remain where they are sent until their turn to throw again." NYPL

'
With cheating ' because this game, from a Philadelphia manufacturer, hysterically allows players extra turns and a move forward when their pieces fall on Union images. Confederate images earn players a move backwards. Little one sided!
snake game SecessionGame_jpg_CROP resized.jpg

Only 1862, by war's end this would not have fit on a board.

No idea if General Winfield Scott, his All-American Hero image ( he really, really was, too! ) gracing the board, was responsible for the game's format, a kinda snarling snake, if snakes snarled- ' snake ', ' Anaconda ' ? McFarland & Thomson, Printers, 211 Walnut St. Philada., are not around any longer, to ask. Seems likely?

snake game SecessionGame_jpg_CROP1.jpg

This is as close-up as my program can get without blurring images. Guessing the captions would be incomprehensible anyway. They nearly always are.

snake game SecessionGame_jpg_CROP2.jpg


" Or Sketches of the Rebellion ", freely embellished with scenes from the war and political commentary by way of era cartoons, these seem attached to those red, white and blue spaces.

If only the whole war, and all wars could be held this way- on a board, on a table, well, no cheating.

snake game SecessionGame_jpg_CROP bottom.jpg


3 years from Appomattox, not a shot fired or band aid applied but The End. What a great war!
 
This great JPK! And you inspired me to search for more info. From Slate:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vaul...civil_war_board_game_1862_pro_union_game.html

The four-color game board is a collage of small patriotic scenes, portraits of Union and Confederate generals, and cartoons mocking the Confederate cause.

Printed 19 years after the publication of the first board game in the United States, this game’s method of play is simple: Using two dice or a “tee-to-tum,” players advanced the number of spaces dictated by their throw. Unlike the multitude of Civil War–themed board games in today’s market, this game has no element of strategy, nor does it test the player’s knowledge of the military or political scene of the time.

Players can land on spaces that celebrate Union victories and jump ahead, or have the bad luck to land on a Confederate-themed space and be sent back. The player advancing to space 71, which depicts a Zouave Union infantryman in hand-to-hand conflict with a mounted Confederate cavalry officer, could jump 28 spaces to celebrate the Zouave’s bravery.

Meanwhile, the Confederate illustrations often mock the other side’s leaders or armies. In space 79, for instance, “Mrs. Columbia” (a stand-in symbolizing the Union) holds a little “Jeff Davis” and shows him his “Christmas Tree”—growing out of a bucket labeled “rebellion,” it’s a leafless stick festooned with snakes. Landing on this spot could set a luckless player back by 44 spaces.
Poor Jeff not only snakes but also a noose is in the tree! I thought it was supposed to be of the sour apple variety, not Christmas.
 
A close-up of the game's final space. Text copied from the source.

It's a lot like the children's game Candy Land, except with a bit more bloodshed.
1412645659-1.jpg

The game shows an American bald eagle strangling a snake representing Southern secessionism. It's a game of pure chance. Players take turns rolling dice. The number on the die represents the number of spaces that they can advance. Landing on some spaces sends them forward or back as the fortunes of war dictate. The final space shows a bird representing secessionism baked to a crisp.
http://www.neatorama.com/2014/10/07/This-1862-Board-Game-Was-the-Civil-War-Version-of-Candy-Land/
 
A close-up of the game's final space. Text copied from the source.

It's a lot like the children's game Candy Land, except with a bit more bloodshed.
1412645659-1.jpg

The game shows an American bald eagle strangling a snake representing Southern secessionism. It's a game of pure chance. Players take turns rolling dice. The number on the die represents the number of spaces that they can advance. Landing on some spaces sends them forward or back as the fortunes of war dictate. The final space shows a bird representing secessionism baked to a crisp.
http://www.neatorama.com/2014/10/07/This-1862-Board-Game-Was-the-Civil-War-Version-of-Candy-Land/


Is that what that is? Thank you! Couldn't make it out and thanks for all the information!! Print was so small, just defeated me! Plus, had a few questions you just wrapped up in these posts. Now I'm more smitten.

" Civil War version of Candy Land ", too funny!
 
Is that what that is? Thank you! Couldn't make it out and thanks for all the information!! Print was so small, just defeated me! Plus, had a few questions you just wrapped up in these posts. Now I'm more smitten.

" Civil War version of Candy Land ", too funny!

It was my pleasure JPK. But, all credit accrues to you due your post. I was drawn to it and when something piques my curiosity I am impelled, nay I am "cursed", to search for more info and if I find something I feel will add something, share it.

Like you, I am curious about the various illustrations and their captions. Perhaps a fellow member, with the necessary skill and sense of humor, will take pity on us and enhance some more of them. The source above is the only one I could find with any isolated detail.

The only members that come immediately to mind, that fit the above, are @Mike Serpa and @AndyHall , if they have the time and don't mind the imposition.
 
A close-up of the game's final space. Text copied from the source.

It's a lot like the children's game Candy Land, except with a bit more bloodshed.
1412645659-1.jpg

The game shows an American bald eagle strangling a snake representing Southern secessionism. It's a game of pure chance. Players take turns rolling dice. The number on the die represents the number of spaces that they can advance. Landing on some spaces sends them forward or back as the fortunes of war dictate. The final space shows a bird representing secessionism baked to a crisp.
http://www.neatorama.com/2014/10/07/This-1862-Board-Game-Was-the-Civil-War-Version-of-Candy-Land/
I couldn't get a sense from this article whether the interpretations of the scene were the author's or if they were included in the game. Why would they use a bird to represent secessionism? The bird/eagle was the symbol of the US, was it not?
 
I couldn't get a sense from this article whether the interpretations of the scene were the author's or if they were included in the game. Why would they use a bird to represent secessionism? The bird/eagle was the symbol of the US, was it not?

I was confused at first as well. The U.S. Eagle they are referring to at first is at the top-left of the game.

I interpret the bird at bottom in iso. as an imitation eagle, w/ bent and crooked arrows in its talons, representing the Confederacy being reduced to a fried chicken. :smile:
 
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