Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi

“Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi” is the vivid autobiographical account of professional card sharp George H. Devol, first published in 1887.

Drawing on forty years of experience aboard Mississippi and Western river steamboats, Devol narrates cheating methods, sure‑thing games, and colorful episodes involving soldiers, planters, merchants, and fellow gamblers, including his alleged clashes with Union general Benjamin Butler.

The book has since become a notable source on 19th‑century riverboat gambling culture and is frequently cited in discussions of early American gambling and deception literature.