When Paul Morphy brought chess mania to New Orleans

In the winter of 1857, a frenzy took over the city of New Orleans. Twenty-year-old Paul Morphy had returned to his home city from a trip to New York, where he dominated the best chess players in the country. This led to a craze that would continue until the summer of 1858. Merchants could not keep enough chess books, chessboards, and pieces to meet the demand. Newsboys on

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