I would bring to the attention of all a very edifying
article in the November/December 2006 of American
Heritage magazine on the history of the game of Poker
in as it evolved in America ~ I would offer these two
tantalizing excerpts:
"Poker estabished itself along the Mississippi
during the 1820s, but references to the game did reach
print until 1837. That year it was mentioned in James
Heldreth's 'Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains.'
In speaking of a man who 'lost some cool hundreds last
night at poker,' the author felt the need to explain
in a footnote that poker was 'a favorite game of cards
at the south and west.'
Other references to poker appear soon afterward,
including a poignant and often reprinted 1838 account
of a 'colored fireman' on a Mississippi steamboat who
was caught in a wicked losing streak and 'ventured his
full value as a slave' on a turn of a card. He lost,
and the winner handed him over to a slave dealer. The
incident was offered as an example of the 'vile and
pernicious practice of gaming.'
The staking of human lives was an ignoble facet of
early poker playing. 'It wasn't at all uncommon to hear
an old planter betting off his Negroes on a good hand,'
recalled Tom Ellison, a riverboat professional. 'I
saw a little colored boy stand up to $300 to back his
master's faith in a little flush that wasn't any good
on earth.' "

And this insight into the reasoning of Command Staff:

"If poker grew up on the Mississippi, it came to
maturity during the Civil War. Gambling was a
welcome diversion for soldiers on both sides, and
poker was a convenient, easy, and spirited game.
When Sherman was advancing on Atlanta, word reached
his headquarters that John Bell Hood had been
appointed the new Confederate commander opposite him.
The story circulated among Union ranks that a
Kentucky colonel who had known Hood approached
Sherman to inform him that in a poker game Hood had
'bet $2,500 with nary a pair in his hand.' Reading
Hood's aggressive, bluffing style, Sherman prepared
for the defensive. The Confederate attack came the
next day, and Hood's gamble was soundly defeated."

I would urge all interested to purchase a copy of this
fine magazine, and read the entire article.

Yer comrade, messmate and most obedient servant,
James C. Schumann