1862.39

Vermonters Play Manly Sport of Football, (and Base Ball) in Virginia

Salience	Peripheral
Tags	Civil War, Holidays, MilitaryCivil War, Holidays, Military
Location	VAVA
City/State/Country:	Fairfax, VA, United States
Modern Address
Game
Immediacy of Report	Retrospective
Age of Players	AdultAdult
Holiday	Thanksgiving
Notables
Text	Thanksgiving in Fairfax County in northernmost VA: “At 2 o’clock, the regiment turned out on the parade ground. The colonel had procured a foot ball. Sides were arranged by the lieutenant colonel and two or three royal games of foot ball – most manly of sports, and closest in its mimicry of actual warfare – were played. . . . Many joined in games of base ball; others formed rings and watched friendly contests of the champion wrestlers of the different companies . . . . It was a “tall time” all around.” George G. Benedict, “Letter from George Grenville Benedict, December 6, 1862,” Army Life in Virginia: Letters from the Twelfth Regiment (Free Press, Burlington, 1895), pp 80-81. Accessed 6/3/09 on Google Books via “army life in Virginia” search. Benedict, from Burlington, had been an editor and postmaster before the Civil War, and later became a state senator. The regiment appears to have been raised in the Burlington area. Submitted by Jeff Kittel, 5/12/09.
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External Number	27
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Has Supplemental Text

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