After the Civil War ended in 1865, many Americans were looking to rebuild their shattered lives. For many, settling on the frontier was the best hope. Recently freed slaves could hope for land and new start in the west, where hard work was valued over customs. Posted in Armies, Books & Authors, Civil War in Pop Culture, Common Soldier, Emerging Civil War, Personalities Tagged A.J. Grayson, camp activities, Carleton Young, Chuck-a-luck, gambling in the Civil War, Gov. Morton, Sam Watson, soldier games of chance 5 Comments. The Civil War in the United States began in 1861, after decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states over slavery, states’ rights and westward expansion. Eleven southern. Soldiers and Gambling: the Civil War The Civil War, like all wars, provided many opportunities for gambling among soldiers.
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HARPER'S WEEKLY. THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC—GAMBLERS AT THE PROVOST MARSHAL'S HEAD-QUARTERS.—[SKETCHED BY A. R. WAUD.]GAMBLERS IN THE ARMY.How General Patrick deals with gambling we discover from the picture above. Mr. Waud writes: 'Some inveterate players, belonging to the Ninety-third New York, were provided with a table, dice, and a tin cup for a dice-box, and, under charge of a guard, were kept at their favorite amusement all day, playing for beans, with boards slung on their shoulders with the word GAMBLER written on them. They did not seem to enjoy it, an attempt to make the most of their time and play for greenbacks being nipped in the bud. Dinner was also denied them, on the plea that gamblers have no time for meals. Much harm, no doubt, results from gambling; but it is useless to punish the men while it is so prevalent a vice with the officers.' Gambling has always been more or less prevalent in armies. GAMBLERS, THIEVES, AND VAGABONDS—A SCENE INWASHINGTON.—[SEE PAGE 711.] |
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Civil War Soldiers Gambling
There is great outrage across the United States at the thought of building a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero in NYC. Political pundits, politicians, and everyday people are concerned about this issue. Some people say that the idea of a mosque one-tenth of a mile from Ground Zero is morally wrong.[i] The religion which condoned the attacks that left thousands of people dead should pick another spot for their mosque and community center. Other people counter that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents us legally and morally from preventing the construction of the mosque. To deny the freedom of religion to Muslims is hypocritical and contrary to our national moral compass. Interestingly, at a site a little over 200 miles away from Ground Zero, a similar war of words is being waged over the right to build a structure that is morally offensive to some people. This site is Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania and the structure is a casino.
In 2005 a developer planned to build a large casino and hotel at the northwest corner of Gettysburg.[ii] Concerned local townspeople and businesses, as well as national historic preservation interests prevented the approval of the project by the Pennsylvania government. A year later the same development company wanted to refurbish an existing hotel on the south side of the park into the Mason-Dixon Casino and submitted a plan to do so. Citizens, both local and national, as well as historic preservation advocates are fighting to prevent the approval of this plan. Their main argument is that the casino’s business plan is flawed. In essence, these people who oppose the casino are just as outraged about this local issue as many Americans are about the proposed construction of the mosque in New York City.
Will a proposed casino one-half mile from Gettysburg National Military Park detract from the historical significance of this memorial? Personally I believe that it will, just as the construction of a Wal-Mart outside the Wilderness National Military Park in Virginia will detract from its historical significance. In addition to the aesthetic reasons for not having a commercial presence so close to what is hallowed ground, there are definite economic concerns of what a casino will do to the local economy.
The main source of income in Gettysburg is what is called “heritage tourism.” This type of tourism refers to travel by all ages to participate in the cultural history of an area. In Gettysburg the tourists range from children (I remember taking my three-year old daughter here) to elderly retirees finally able to travel and see the country. Millions of dollars are pumped into the local economy through lodging, food, tours, and shopping. Now the developers of the Mason-Dixon casino promise the people of Gettysburg that even more money will be pumped into their wallets when the casino opens. There are numerous problems with their business plan, but there are two primary problems that were identified by the Public and Environmental Finance Associates (PEFA) in an independent analysis of the Local Impact Report (LIR) prepared by the developers.[iii] (Click here to view the report). The first is that the LIR does not properly account for the jobs the casino developers promise will be created. The second is that the LIR did not look at the problems other towns with national historic sites encountered once gambling was authorized. Charles McElhose, a local business owner and a spokesman for Businesses Against the Casino, said that “Many things were unaccounted for, or perhaps purposefully omitted, in the Mason-Dixon impact report. …There is very real potential for a ‘snowball effect’ that could devastate our economy.” Obviously, both the Mason-Dixon Casino and the Businesses Against the Casino have their own agendas, but the analysis of the LIR by PEFA shows some inconsistencies in the LIR that could “devastate” the Gettysburg economy.
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The first LIR claim that the PEFA analysis debunks is the promise that the local economy will improve from the millions of dollars that would pour into the casino. What the LIR doesn’t make clear is that this amount of money would merely be diverted from heritage tourism into the casino. The PEFA study says that 78.4 million dollars that is normally spent at small businesses would be spent solely in the casino. PEFA estimates that 1,130 existing jobs and numerous businesses would be lost. Similarly, while the LIR claims that the casino will require “375 full-time equivalent positions,” in reality these jobs are “cannibalized from an existing local business.” The economic promise of these jobs is no better than any current jobs because the 375 jobs are actually a mix of full and part-time positions that pay only slightly above minimum wage. Lastly, there is the issue of how much of their own money the residents of Gettysburg will spend gambling. The only people who get rich at casinos are the owners. Despite the promise of easy riches, only a lucky few ever get rich. Most everybody else just gets poorer.
The second issue that the LIR didn’t examine was how gambling impacted a similar community. The LIR cited well-know gambling cities like Atlantic City as the source for information on how Gettysburg would prosper if the casino was built. Why didn’t the developers cite a place like Vicksburg, Mississippi which has a similar size and economy? It’s because gambling at Vicksburg has negatively impacted the heritage tourism economy in that city.
Vicksburg is the site of Vickburg National Military Park, which contains many of the site from the final siege and assault of that city in 1863. Thousands of visitors tour the park each year and bring needed dollars into the local economy. The PEFA study reveals that in 1994, when casinos first opened on riverboats moored on the Mississippi,visitation to the park plummeted. It took four years for the numbers to recover to pre-1994 levels. In 2005 when Hurricane Katrina caused devastation throughout the South, visitation to the park took another significant drop. After the damage from the hurricane was repaired at the park and the casinos, visitation to the park dropped by 20 percent although traffic on the highway to the main entrance rose 12 percent. One can infer this is because people were taking this alternate route to the casinos because at the same time traffic on the primary route rose by 64 percent! People were bypassing the historic park to go gamble. The PEFA study also revealed that downtown Vicksburg is suffering from the failed economic promise of the casino. Approximately 40 percent of the buildings are empty and traffic on key portions of the streets is down by 17 percent. From these statistics it is easy to imagine something similar happening to Gettysburg with the Mason-Dixon Casino.
Civil War Bingo
The Mason-Dixon Casino is promising a golden tomorrow for the residents of Gettysburg, but the casino’s promise is hollow. The town leaders and the citizens of this town would be wise to put up a united front against a deeply flawed plan that promises only future problems. When the developers have sucked ever possible dollar from the local community you can bet that these people will put Gettysburg in their rear-view mirror. They won’t see the damage they have done to the local economy through addiction to gambling and reduced economic prosperity. They will just be looking for the next historic site to ruin in their quest for the almighty dollar.
Civil War Gaming Miniatures
Image: “Anne Gambling” From flickr, attribution to greengardenvienna