Semantic search
1861.69 Pitching Quoits and Playing Ball
The New York Herald, May 14, 1861 reports on Col. Allen's regiment, the 1st NY National Guard, camped on Staten Island: "The hours of recreation are generally employed by the men in pitching quoits and playing ball."
The New York Herald, May 14, 1861
1861.7 Ontario Lads to Try the New York Game, May Forego "Canadian Game"
The year-old Young Canadian Base Ball Club [Woodstock, ON] met in Spring 1861, elected officers, reported themselves "flourishing" with forty members, and basked in the memory of a 6-0 1860 season. "At the last meeting of the club it was resolved that they should practice the New York game for one month, and if at the end of that time they liked it better than the Canadian game, they would adopt it altogether."
See also #1820s.19, #1838.4, #1856.18, and #1860.29 above.
The New York Clipper (date omitted in scrapbook clipping; from context it was about May 1861). Note- not found in May issues
1861.70 Excelsior Brigade amuses itself
The New York Herald, May 23, 1861, reports on the Excelsior Brigade (a NYC unit), camped at Red House, Harlem: "During the time that the men are at leisure they amuse themselves by boxing, playing ball, jumping, running, or an any other harmless way they may see fit."
The New York Herald, May 23, 1861
1861.71 Irish Soldiers play ball with Rebel shells
The Cleveland Herald, Nov. 26, 1861, headlined "New One for Paddy" explains how Irish-American soldiers reacted to Confederate shelling: "One of the Massachusetts regiments had a game of base ball they day after the slaughter of Edwards' Ferry [the battle of BAlls Bluff], bu the Cleveland Hibernian Guard of the Eighth Ohio regiment, beat them at Romney... the Hibernian Guard actually stacked their arms and commenced playing ball with the six pounders that the enemy sent among them, tossing them about as cooly as if they were in the Cleveland Public Square."
Given the weight of the cannon balls, could this have been a rugby-like ball game?
The Cleveland Herald, Nov. 26, 1861
1861.72 Secesh and Unionists fraternize on ball field
The New York Herald, June 28, 1861: "Fraternization--I had the pleasure of beholding an oasis of fraternization of members of the Excelsior Base Ball Club, of Brooklyn, N.Y., composed in part of officers and privates attached to the Thirteenth Regiment New York State Militia, stationed on Mount Clare, near the city, and the Excelsior Base Ball Club of Baltimore, which is composed of secessionists almost to a man..." They played a game, the Baltimore club winning 26-25.
The New York Herald, June 28, 1861
1861.73 NC Lt. mentions baseball
Cornell University has a ms. letter dated 12-29-1861 from Lt. William Nunnally, 13th NC infantry, in which he mentions baseball, and visiting the CSS Merrimac. From the context, he must have been near Norfolk, VA at the time.
Cornell U., Box 1, Folder 19, catalog entry.
1861.74 New York Times advocates baseball for the army
“Let our army of 150,000 amuse themselves, and let cricket, quoit and base ball, alternating with the daily drill, give them vigor and endurance."
“The Lines of Arlington,” New York Times, Sept. 15, 1861.
“The Lines of Arlington,” New York Times, Sept. 15, 1861.
1861.75 36th Illinois Plays base ball in Aurora Camp
"Hiram, of Big Rock, in lieu of it opened a boxing gymnasium. This, with base ball, filled up the intervals between meal time and drill."
History of the 36th Illinois, p. 24. This was at Camp Hammond in Aurora, IL, in 1861.
Bennett and Haigh, History of the 36th Illinois, p. 24.
1861.76 Base ball in Rochester Camp
"A traveler going south out of Rochester on Mt. Hope Avenue during the war years would pass by Mt. Hope Cemetery, and then, just past the fork in the road formed by the West and East Henrietta roads, would come to the entrance of a military camp. Inside, he might glimpse an artillery company hard at drill, while off-duty recruits played a game of baseball."
This is Camp Hillhouse, in Rochester, NY.
Levy and Tynan, "Campgrounds of the Civil War," Rochester History, Summer 2004, p. 6.
1861.77 White House Secretaries watch Zouaves play ball
"When John Hay and George Nicolay drove their rented buggy over to Camp Lincoln to say hello to their friend Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, they found him wearing his “blouzy red shirt” and enjoying that New York favorite: Base Ball. Most New York firefighters played the game, and among those involved was Ellsworth’s aide-de-camp, Captain John “Jack” Wildey.
Wildey played ball before he became a Fire Zouave. He played for the New York Mutuals, named for his own Mutual Hook and Ladder Company Number 1. The Mutuals were formed in 1857 and played amateur ball at the Hoboken Grounds, their home field. Many firefighters and city employees played in a variety of New York teams, but the Mutuals were reckoned the best. It was perfectly normal for a handmade ball, a bit larger and softer than today’s baseball, to be found in the knapsack of an 11th New York Fire Zouave."
Hay and Nicolai were Pres. Lincon's Secretaries, and Ellsworth was perhaps Lincoln's closest young friend. Hay later became Secretary of State.
"Home Run Derby Star Captain "Jack" Wildey, The Emerging Civil War blog, July 16, 2018
1861.78 12th New York Plays the Nationals of DC
See the New York Sunday Mercury, June 30, 1861. Members of the 12th NY played a pickup team of the Nationals of DC, in DC, on "Tuesday last." Gives a box score.
1861.8 Vermont Club Forms
A club formed in Chester, VT.
The New York Clipper, April 20, 1861
1861.80 Left and Right Wings of 9th NY Play
. Right and left wings of the 9th NY play. Sgt.Major Burtis, an old member of the
Gotham club, pitchers the left wing to a 40-6 victory. Gives a box score.
New York Sunday Mercury, Oct. 13, 1861
1861.82 "Old members of New York Clubs" play near DC
The New York Sunday Mercury, Nov. 3, 1861 reports that the Van Houten Club of the 1st NJ defeated company A of that regiment 49-24 in a 6 inning game. "Many of the contestants are old members of New York clubs..." Gives a box score. Letter dated Oct. 29, Camp St. John, near Alexandria.
1861.83 The Mozart Regiment Plays Baseball
The New York Sunday Mercury, Nov. 3, 1861 reports that on Oct. 28th, near Fairfax, VA, members of Company I of the Mozart Regiment (40th NY), "partly composed of ball-players," defeated a picked nine from the rest of the regiment. The New York Sunday Mercury, Nov. 10, 1861 reports the return match, also won by Co. I.
The regiment wasn't musical, but rather named after the Mozart Hall wing of the NYC Democratic Party.
Styple, "Writing and Fighting..." p. 46
Styple, "Writing and Fighting..." p. 46 prints (from the NYSM) the box score of the game.
1861.84 2nd Fire Zouaves Match
The New York Sunday Mercury, Nov. 17, 1861 reports on a game between two nines of the 2nd Fire Zouaves, camped near Indian Head, MD. Company K's nine defeated Company I's 23-19.
The regiment was formally known as the 73rd NY Infantry.
1861.85 Colonel calls off drill so game can be played
The New York Sunday Mercury, Dec. 8, 1861 reports that the 14th NY defeated a team from the 24th NY so badly that the 24th quit in the 5th inning, already down 25-4. Game played in camp on the 25th. When the game started, the 30th NY was drilling on the hoped-for ball field, but upon request, the colonel of the 30th called off the drill so the game could be played.
The 24th was stationed near Upton's Hill, Fairfax County.
1861.86 A Battalion of Base Ballists?
The New York Sunday Mercury, Aug. 18, 1861 reports: "We are informed by a correspondent that several gentlemen well known in base ball circles, have a project under consideration for the formation of a battalion or regiment, exclusively of base ball players: and it is seriously contemplated to recommend a call fora special meeting of the National Association of Base Ball Players, for the purpose of bringing the matter more immediately before representatives of all the clubs." The Mercury notes that many ball players are already in the army, so the idea may not be practical, but that if only 5 men from each club joined, "better material for soldiers... cannot be found."
1861.87 Heavy battle losses don't stop baseball playing
The Chicago Tribune, Nov. 18, 1861 has an article on a visit tot he Army of the Potomac, where the writer visited a regiment recently decimated in the Battle of Ball's Bluff, and sees "a party at play in a vigorous game of base ball, and that not forty eight hours after they stood hemmed in by the rebels..."
The Chicago Tribune, Nov. 18, 1861
1861.88 In camp on Rikers Island
Charles F. Johnson, "The Long Roll," p. 16 (journal entry of May 21, 1861, when in camp at Rikers Island), mentions "a game of ball on the parade ground."
Johnson belonged to the 9th NY (Hawkins' Zouaves). Rikers Island is in New York harbor.
1861.89 Early-Days Monster in Left Field?
New-York Atlas, 10/21/1861
1861.9 Buckeye BBC Forms in Cincinnati OH
"The Buckeye Base Ball Club is the first institution of the kind organized in Cincinnati."
The New York Clipper, April 20, 1861
does this imply that this club was the first in town to play the New York game?
1861.90 Fort Wayne soldiers play town ball
A letter to the Fort Wayne Daily Times, May 16, 1861, states that Fort Wayne soldiers are playing town ball at Camp Morton.
Fort Wayne Daily Times, May 16, 1861
1861.94 Officers of US Chasseurs Play Base Ball
The 1st US Chasseurs (65th NY Infantry) while stationed in Camp Cochrane, DC had a game on Xmas day between the field and line officers. It ended in a 29-29 tie. The NYSM gives a box score. The two nines were called the "Old Bachelors" and the "Old Maids."
Styple, "Writing and Fighting..." p. 59 (from NYSM Dec. 29,1861)
1862.1 Brooklyn Games Organized as Benefits for Sick and Wounded Soldiers
Three games were announced in June 1862 for which net proceeds would be used for sick and wounded Union soldiers. The Eckfords and the Atlantics would play for a silver ball donated by the Continental Club. William Cammeyer provided the enclosed Union grounds without charge. Admission fees of 10 cents were projected to raise $6000 for soldiers' relief. The Eckford won the Silver Ball by winning two of three games.
"Relief for the Sick and Wounded," Brooklyn Eagle, June 21, 1862, page 2.
Craig Waff, "The 'Silver Ball' Game-- Eckfords vs. Atlantics at the Union Grounds", in Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century (SABR, 2013), pp. 39-42
1862.10 PA Base Ball Moves Beyond Philadelphia
"Base Ball Match. Harrisburg, August 21. - The first match game of base ball ever play in Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia, cam off here yesterday, between the Mountain Club of Altoona, and the Keystone Club of Harrisburg. It resulted in a victory for the latter."
PhiladelphiaInquirer, August 22, 1862. Accessed 5/20/2009 via subscription search.
See 1860.38. Either the 1860 game in Allegheny was unknown, or not considered to have been played under National Association rules.
Harrisburg PA is in central PA, about 90 miles W of Philadelphia.
1862.100 Mormon soldiers play ball in Wyoming
Fisher, "Utah and the Civil War" p. 52 quotes the diary of Dr. Harvey C. Hullinger, of Lot Smith's company of Utah volunteers, sent to guard the immigrant trails: "Friday, June 6, 1862... It rained this afternoon, and the men played ball."
The company was then camped at/near Independence Rock, a site on the Pioneer Trail that is today a historic site.
Is this the first baseball in Wyoming?
Fisher, "Utah and the Civil War" p. 52
1862.101 Artillerists play quoits and baseball
Hampton Smith (ed.), "Brother of Mine: The Civil War Letters of Thomas and William Christie," feature the wartime letter of a member of the 1st MN light artillery. There are several mentions of Thomas playing baseball in camp:
p. 56 (letter from Corinth, MS, June 26, 1862): "As to exercise, quoits and base ball fill up every leisure moment I have..." (with quoits being his favorite)
p. 111 (letter from Lake Providence, LA, March 11, 1863): "We sleep sound and dreamless, fatigued by our exertions at Base Ball through the Day."
p. 123 (Lake Providence, April 11, 1863): mentions "my habits of playing cricket, quoits, and base ball..."
Hampton Smith (ed.), "Brother of Mine: The Civil War Letters of Thomas and William Christie,"
1862.102 First Inter-City AA Game?
The following appeared in the Newark Daily Advertiser on September 30, 1862:
"Considerable excitement was created among the "colored" boys of this city yesterday by a base ball match between the Hamilton Club of this city and the Henson Club of Jamaica, Long Island, both composed of the descendants of Ham. The match was played on the grounds on Railroad Avenue, [near today's Penn. Station], in the presence of a goodly number of the "gentler sex," and resulted in favor of the Hensons."
Curious if anyone knows of intercity games between black clubs prior to September 1862 and any thoughts on what claim this game might have as an earliest known. [John Zinn]
Newark Daily Advertiser on September 30, 1862
Curious if anyone knows of intercity games between black clubs prior to September 1862 and any thoughts on what claim this game might have as an earliest known. [John Zinn]
1862.104 Ballplaying Featured on 1862 Letterhead for Camp Doubleday
[A] John Thorn:
"Abner Doubleday
has become a joke among us baseball folks. "He didn't invent baseball; baseball invented him." This letterhead, from 1862 ,may give pause even to hardened skeptics." John also notes that the game depicted does not resemble base ball, or wicket, or cricket.
[B]David Block:
The 1862 letters of Lester Winslow, of the 76th NY, at the National Archives, feature stationary printed with the heading "Camp Doubleday -- 76th New York" and show soldiers playing a bat-ball game. On this David Block writes:
"In the foreground of the illustration two soldiers face each other with bats, one striking a ball. Since no other players are involved, the only game that seems to correlate to the image is, in fact, drive ball. If not for Abner Doubleday's association, we would pay this little heed, but it is a matter of curiosity, if not amusement, to place baseball's legendary noninventor in such close proximity to a game involving a bat and ball."
[A] John Thorn, tweet (showing the letterhead) on 2/2/22.
[B] David Block, Baseball before We Knew It (U Nebraska, 2005), page 198. See also the brief Protoball Glossary entry on the game of Drive Ball.
This coincidence is not taken as evidence that Abner Doubleday "invented" base ball.
Camp Doubleday is described in an 1896 source as "just outside Brooklyn city limits." See:
https://museum.dmna.ny.gov/unit-history/artillery/5th-heavy-artillery-regiment/prison-pens-south; Other sources locate it on Long Island, NY.
A third source locates Camp Doubleday in Northwest Washington DC: https://www.northamericanforts.com/East/dc.html#NW
So which location is depicted on this letterhead?
[1] From John Thorn email, 2/5/2022; "Camp Doubleday appears to be in DC. It was also known as Fort Massachusetts. [SOURCE: HISTORY OF THE SEVENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS; WHAT IT ENDURED AND ACCOMPLISHED ; CONTAINING DESCRIPTIONS OF ITS TWENTY -FIVE BATTLES ; ITS MARCHES ; ITS CAMP AND BIVOUAC SCENES ; WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF FIFTY - THREE OFFICERS, AND A COMPLETE RECORD OF THE ENLISTED MEN . BY A. P. SMITH, LATE FIRST LIEUTENANT AND Q. M. , SEVENTY- SIXTH N. Y. VOLS. ILLUSTRATED WITH FORTY -NINE ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, BY J. P. DAVIS & SPEER, OF NEW YORK ; AND A LITHOGRAPH , BY L. N. ROSENTHAL, OF PHILADELPHIA . CORTLAND, N. Y. PRINTED FOR THE PUBLISHER. 1867]"
[2] From Bruce Allardice email, 2/5/2022:
---
David Block suggests the drawing (see below: game is shown near the image's center) shows Drive Ball, a fungo game. See Baseball Before We Knew It ,(2005), page 198. See also the sketchy Protoball Glossary entry on Drive Ball.
--
One auction house in 2015 claimed "This is perhaps the very first piece of American stationery depicting Union soldiers playing baseball. Amazingly, this lithograph has it all by showing Union soldiers at play in Camp Doubleday which, of course, was named after the game's creator Abner Doubleday!"
--
From John Thorn, 2/22/22: "Lithographer is Louis N. Rosenthal of Philadelphia. Born 1824." See https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/digitool%3A79709
Is it clear why someone would create such a letterhead?
Can we find a fuller description of drive ball?
How does Protoball give a source for John's Tweet for later users who want to see it?
1862.106 Confederate Prisoners Play Bull Pen at Fort Warren
Confederate prisoners played "bull pen" at the Fort Warren POW camp in Boston Harbor. See McGavock Diary, p. 626 (May 14, 1862)
They played "foot ball" on May 17, 23, June 28th, 1862. No details of this "foot ball" game are given. The game probably resembled "Boston Code football", a sort of rugby precursor of what we know as modern football. The first "foot ball" club organized in the US was the Oneida Foot Ball Club of Boston, formed in 1862.
Gower and Allen, "Pen and Sword" (McGavock Diary), p. 626 (May 14, 1862)
1862.107 Army Commander Watches Baseball game
Near Yorktown in April 1862, the 22nd MA played the 13th NY. Said one soldier of the 22nd, "I never enjoyed a game of ball better in my life..."
The army was in front of Yorktown at the time.
Army commander General George McClellan, and Corps commanders Heintzleman and Porter, rode by and witnessed the game.
Cambridge Chronicle, May 3, 1862
1862.108 President Lincoln to Umpire a Game?
In a long article about ballplayers joining the army, titled "The Base Ball Fraternity--How it will be Affected by the Volunteers Leaving" it notes "The Potomac Club occupies the Reservation Grounds, near the White House, and, as an umpire is a prominent personage in a contest, the 'boys' should select 'Old Abe' and they are sure to get justice done them. In his youth, among the rail splitters, doubtless he has often played 'one old cat' if not base ball."
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 31, 1862
1862.109 Kershaw's SC Brigade Plays Base Ball and Snow Balling
While in camp near Fredericksburg in the winter of 1862-63, the soldiers of Kershaw's SC Brigade amused themselves by playing base ball and having snow ball fights.
Dickert, "Kershaw's Brigade" p. 205
1862.110 Scots Soldiers Play Base-Ball and Cricket
In the Spring of 1862, while in camp in Beaufort, SC, the 79th NY Infantry, a Scottish-American unit known as the Highlanders, played "Base Ball and Cricket" to "occupy some of our leisure moments."
Todd, "The Seventy-Ninth..."
1862.111 Soldiers play Round Town Ball in camp
1862.112 Twenty-First CT plays baseball in camp
In Oct. 1862, while in camp near Lovettsville, the Twenty-First Connecticut "boys enjoyed a game of baseball.."
"The Story of the Twenty-First Regiment" p. 52
1862.114 Some interesting games of ball
Well we are still in camp at the same place and are very comfortable, within hearing of occasional cannonading at Island No. 10 last night and this morning. We hear a good deal of thunder out that way. Well, the boys are getting up a game of ball and yelling for me and recon I must go.
Saturday, 29th. I left off writing the above the other day to play ball and somehow have not finished this letter yet. By the way, we have some interesting games of ball down here in “Dixie,” to pass away these beginning to be long, warm days.
Asa Mulford, 11th Ohio Battery, New Madrid Mo, March 25, 1862
Shared and Spared
1862.115 Parolees play baseball at Camp Douglas
Richard C. Hulse, Co. F, 5th New York Heavy Artillery
Camp Douglas, Oct. 20, 25, 1862:
We are to have a baseball match between our company and Company A that was taken prisoners with us. They are making great preparations about it.
We had a game of baseball between our two companies and our company came off boss.
1862.116 Union occupiers play in Lexington MO
1862.117 Georgia soldiers play town and base ball in NC
The diary of a solder in the 3rd Georgia Infantry, in camp at Elizabeth City, NC,
says they played town ball of March 19, 1862, and base ball the next two days.
1862.118 Ball Playing at Shiloh
Lucius W. Barber of the 15th IL Infantry kept a wartime diary. His diary entries says some soldiers were "engaging in a game of ball:" the day prior to the battle of Shiloh. Ball playing mentioned 2-20-63 and 1-20-1864 in Memphis, TN.
Barber diary, NIU
1862.13 Government Survey: Athletic Games Forestall Woes of Soldiers Gambling
After examining nearly 200 regiments, the Sanitary Commission [it resembled today's Red Cross] was reported to have found that "in forty-two regiments, systematic athletic recreations (foot ball, base ball, &c) were general. In one hundred and fifty-six, there were none. Where there were none, card playing and other indoor games took their place. This invited gambling abuses, it was inferred.
"War Miscellanies. Interesting Army Statistics," Springfield [MA] Republican, January 25, 1862. Accessed via Genealogybank, 5/21/09. PBall file: CW13.
is it worth inspecting the report itself in search of further detail? It is not available online in May 2009.
1862.14 22nd MA beats 13th NY in the Massachusetts Game
"Fast Day (at home) April 3, there was no drill, and twelve of our enlisted men challenged an equal number from the Thirteenth New York, to a game of base-ball, Massachusetts game. We beat the New-Yorkers, 34 to 10."
J. L. Parker and R. G. Carter, History of the Twenty-Second Massachusetts Infantry (The Regimental Association, Boston, 1887), pages 79-80.
Fast Day in MA was traditionally associated with ballplaying. The 22nd MA, organized in Lynnfield MA (about 15 miles N of Boston), was camped at Falmouth VA in April, as was the 13th NY. The 13th was from Rochester and would likely have known the old-fashioned game. PBall file: CW-126.
1862.15 NY and MA Regiments Play Two Games Near the Civil War Front
Mr. Jewell, from the 13th NY Regiment's Company A, provided a generous [15 column-inches] account of two regulation NY-rules games played on April 15, 1862, near the Confederate lines at Yorktown VA. Sharing picket duties with members of the 22nd MA Regiment, Jewell says that "at about half-past 10 o'clock some one proposed a game of Base Ball. Sides were chosen and it commenced." [As scorer, Jewell's box scores did not mark the sides as a contest between regiments, and it may have involved mixed teams. He did note that the leadoff batter/catcher for the "Scott" side was a member of Boston's Trimountain Base Ball Club.] "It was decidedly 'cool' to play a game of Base Ball in sight of the enemy's breastworks." Between games the ball was re-covered with leather from a calf boot found on the ground. During the afternoon game, Union troops in the area were evidently sending artillery fire out toward the Rebs as they were building new fortifications in the distance. General McClelland's entourage is reported to have passed toward the front while the game was in progress. Jewell sent his account to the Rochester paper. The two games, each played to a full mine innings, were won by Scott's side, 13-9 and 14-12.
Source: Rochester Union and Advertiser, April 24, 1862, page 2, column 2. PBall file: CW16.
1862.16 13th Massachusetts Plays Ball Near Officers, Dignitaries, Enemy Lines
"In the afternoons, after battalion drill, the game of base-ball daily occupied the attention of the boys. On one of these occasions, General Hartsuff riding by, got off his horse and requested permission to catch behind the bat, informing us there was nothing he enjoyed so much. He gave it up after a few minutes and rode away, having made a very pleasant impression."
Davis also mentions a game of ball being played in April 1863 as large numbers of troops were awaiting a formal review by President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton near the Potomac River, "to the no small amusement of the lookers-on" [page 198]. In November 1863, still in Virginia, Davis reports that while awaiting an order to attack a nearby Confederate force, "Time dragged along, and no movement was made. We were all tired of the inaction and the heavy strain on the mind from hours of expectation, and so we had a game of ball to pass away the time. Occasionally the ball would be batted over the crest of the hill in front, in range of the rebel skirmishers, necessitating some one going after it. It was a risky piece of business and required quick work, but it was got every time." [page 288.]
In March 1864, the 13th played the 104th NY and won 62-20. "As opportunities for indulging our love for this pastime were not very frequent, we got a deal of pleasure out of it." [page 309.] Later that month, the regiment celebrated the escape and return the colonel of the 16th Maine with base-ball, along with chasing greased pigs and a sack race. [Page 313.]
Charles E. Davis, Jr., Three Years in the Army: The Story of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers (Estes and Lauriat, Boston MA, 1894), page 56. The full text was accessed on 6/1/09 on Google books via a search for "'Charles E. Davis' three". PBall file: CW20.
Also cited in Kirsch, Baseball in Blue and Gray (Princeton U, 2003), page 41.
The first entry is dated May 6, 1862, when the regiment was in the vicinity of Warrenton VA. There is no further detail on the version of base ball that was played.
1862.17 Ballplaying Frequently Played at Salisbury Prison in North Carolina
Beginning in 1862, prisoners' diary accounts refer to a number of base ball games [by New York rules; Millen infers that games occurred "almost daily"] at Salisbury prison in NC. Charles Gray, a Union doctor who arrived at Salisbury in May 1862, reported ball playing "for those who like it and are able." RI soldier William Crossley in a May 21, 1862 diary entry described a "great game of baseball" between prisoners transferred from New Orleans and Tuscaloosa AL, which brought "as much enjoyment to the Rebs as to the Yanks, for they came in hundreds to see the sport..."
[A] In an unattributed and undated passage, Josephus Clarkson, a prisoner from Boston "recalled in his diary that one of the Union solders wandered over and picked up a pine branch that had dropped on the ground. Another soldier wrapped a stone in a couple of woolen socks and tied the bundle with a string. The soldiers started a baseball game of sorts, although there was much argument over whether to use Town Ball rules or play like New Yorkers. 'To put a man out by Town Ball rules you could plug him as he ran,' wrote Clarkson. 'Since many of the men were in a weakened condition, it was agreed to play the faster but less harsh New York rules, which intrigued our guards. The game of baseball had been played much in the South, but many of them [the guards] had never seen the sport devised by Mr. Cartwright. Eventually they found proper bats for us to play with and we fashioned a ball that was soft and a great bounders.'" According to Clarkson, a pitcher from Texas was banished from playing in a guards/captives game after "badly laming" several prisoners. "By and large," he said, "baseball was quite a popular pastime of troops on both sides, as a means of relaxing before and after battles."
[B] Otto Boetticher, a commercial artist before the war, was imprisoned at Salisbury for part of 1862 and drew a picture of a ball game in progress at the prison that was published in color in 1863. A fine reproduction appears in Ward and Burns.
[C] Adolphus Magnum, A visiting Confederate chaplain, noted in 1862 that "a number of the younger and less dignified [Union officers] ran like schoolboys to the playing ground and were soon joining In high glee in a game of ball."
[D] An extended account of ballplaying at Salisbury, along with the Boetticher drawing, are found in From Pastime to Passion. It draws heavily on Jim Sumner, "Baseball at Salisbury Prison Camp," Baseball History (Meckler, Westport CT, 1989). Similar but unattributed coverage is found in Kirsch, Baseball in Blue and Gray (Princeton U, 2003), pp 43-45. PBall file: CW21.
[E] See also Giles W. Shurtleff account of prison life in the history of the Seventh Ohio, p. 324. Shurtleff had played while at Oberlin College. See also The Congregationalist, May 4, 1864.
[A] Wells Twombley, 200 Years of Sport in America (McGraw-Hill, 1976), page 71.
[B] Ward and Burns, Baseball Illustrated, at pages 10-11.
[C] Magnum.
[D] Patricia Millen, From Pastime to Passion: Baseball and the Civil War (Heritage Books, 2001), pp.27-31.
[E] Patricia Millen, "The POW Game-- Captive Union Soldiers Play a Baseball Game at Salisbury, NC", in Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century (SABR, 2013), pp. 36-38
William Crossley, "Extracts from My Diary" p. 43.
It would be desirable to locate and inspect the Josephus Clarkson diary used in Twombley [A, above.]. Clarkson, described as a ship's chandler before the war, does not yield to Google or Genealogy bank as of 6/6/2009 or 4/3/2013. John Thorn's repeated searches have also come up empty. Particularly questionable is Clarkson's very early identification of Cartwright as an originator of the NY game.
1862.18 Impact of War Lessens in NYC
[A] "BALL PLAYERS OFF TO THE WAR.-- But few of the fraternity, in comparison with the number who left in May, 1861, have gone off to the war this time in the militia regiments...All the clubs have their representatives in the several regiments...but the hegira of warlike ball-players is nothing near as great as in 1861, the necessity not being as pressing..."
[B] "Base Ball. The return of the 47th and 13th regiments has given quite an impetus to ball playing, and the vigor and energy that characterizes the ball player are again displaying themselves in the various clubs."
[C] "BASE BALL. THE BALTIC BASE BALL CLUB OF NEW YORK. It is really a pleasure to welcome the 'Old Baltics' again to the base ball field. At the commencement of the rebellion a great many of the most active and prominent members of this club, patriotically enlisted under and fought for the 'old flag;' this was the main cause of the club's temporary disbandment..."
[A] New York Sunday Mercury, June 1, 1862
[B] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sep. 9, 1862
[C] Wilkes' Spirit of the Times, Nov. 29, 1862
In an editorial printed on Aug. 9, 1862 Fitzgerald's City Item, of Philadelphia listed arguments for continuing base ball during the war.