Faro, Monte, Chuck-a-luck, High-n-Low. Such were the gambling games preferred by Civil War soldiers in camp. As the war dragged on, however, and prayer meetings and preaching became more common among the thinned-out and desperate Rebel units, the chess boards might remain but the dice and cards might not have been so evident.

Indeed, as Private Bird Clark of the 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment relates in the novel, it was common for men going into a battle to be sure and leave their dice and cards with the baggage, so their kinfolk would not find them on their bodies should they be slain.