Semantic search
1862.86 An interesting game of base ball in Oxford, MS
Jenkins Lloyd Jones, "An Artilleryman's Civil War Diary": "Near Oxford, Friday, Dec. 19th... The delightful weather succeeded in enticing most of the boys from their well worn decks [of cards] and cribbage boards,bring them out in ball playing, pitching quoits, etc. Tallied for an interesting game of base ball."
Dec. 19, 1862, near Oxford, MS. Jones was a member of the 6th WI Battery.
Jenkins Lloyd Jones, "An Artilleryman's Civil War Diary"
Dup of 1862.20?
1862.87 Maryland Confederates Play Town Ball
"Our only game out here is Town Ball and with the rest of the Maryland Boys we sometimes get up a game."
Diary of Edward Tilghman Paca, Oct. 26, 1862 entry, in Maryland Historical Magazine, 1994, p. 459.
Maryland Historical Magazine, 1994, p. 459.
1862.88 21st MA "played ball a good deal..."
James Madison Stone, "Personal Recollections of the Civil War" chapter 3 says that in mid-1862 "While at Newport News we had a rather pleasant time. We drilled a little, we played ball a good deal..."
Stone was with the 21st MA.
The Barre [MA] Gazette, June 13, 1862 prints a May 20th letter from a soldier in the 21st which says that each night closes with "a game of wicket."
James Madison Stone, "Personal Recollections of the Civil War"
The Barre Gazette, June 13, 1862
1862.89 71st NY enjoy themselves with a baseball game
The New York Sunday Mercury, June 29, 1862 reports on a baseball game between Co. K, 71st NY, and a picked nine from the rest of the 71st. The box score is given. Co. K lost 33-11, but they were all "enjoying themselves." Another game of the same regiment, same place, is reported in The New York Sunday Mercury, Aug. 3, 1862. The officers of the regiment gave a "splendid colaltion" after the match.
Tenleytown was then MD, now part of DC.
1862.9 First Admission Fees for Baseball?
May 15, 1862: "The Union Baseball Grounds at March Avenue and Rutledge Street in Brooklyn is opened, the first enclosed ball field to charge an admission fee."
James Charlton, The Baseball Chronology (Macmillan, 1991), page 15.
Regarding the opening of the Union Grounds, see:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Feb. 12 and May 16, 1862; New York Clipper, Feb. 22, 1862; New York Sunday Mercury May 11 and May 18, 1862,
Caveats: Admission was charged in 1858 for the Brooklyn-New York games at the Fashion Race Course, Queens, which was enclosed but not a 'ball field'.
Before the Union Grounds, there were no ball field enclosed for the purpose of charging admission.
Admission had occasionally also been charged for "benefit" games for charities or to honor prominent players.
1862.94 Union Army Parolees Play baseball at Camp Douglas
The New York Sunday Mercury, Oct. 26, 1862 reports on a game of baseball at Camp Douglas, the Confederate POW camp in Chicago, on the 22nd. between two teams of Union army parolees from Companies A and F, 5th NY Artillery. The latter won 15-14, with "good pitching" shown on both sides. Se also same, Nov. 9, 1862.
Parolees were army prisoners who were at home, awaiting exchange for enemy POWs.
1862.98 50th NC Plays ball in Eastern NC
"War Diary of Kinchen Jahu Carpenter" (1955) p. 9: "We drilled some, did picket duty, played ball..." This in the fall/winter of 1862, when the 50th was stationed in eastern NC.
1862.99 First ball playing in Wyoming
The 1862 Journal of Jane Holbrook Gould, in Annals of Iowa, 3rd series v. 37, relates the experience of emigrants on the Lander Trail. Her July 20th entry, when the group was camped at the Green River crossing of the Lander Trail (near modern Big Piney, WY): "Toward night the men played ball and appeared to enjoy it very much. It seemed like old times."
Unfortunately, the Journal doesn't make clear what kind of "ball" was played.
1862c.54 Confederate soldiers in need of base ball and cricket bats
"Camp Games. Every volunteer who has been in service, has realized the tedium of camp life. Between reveille and breakfast--between morning and evening drill--there is waste time, which might be used advantageously at such many exercises as cricket, base ball, foot ball, quoit pitching, etc. A recent visit to some of our camp[s], showed several parties enjoying a quiet hand at pitching quoits in a shady grove. Cannot some of our hardware dealers have a supply cast, and let our soldiers know where they can be procured? Cricket and base ball bats are also wanted, and a few dozen substantial foot balls would, we are sure, find ready sale. For want of such things, the time of the soldier is mainly spent in playing cards."
The Charleston (SC) Mercury (3 Apr 1862). Available digitally through "Accessible Archives."
Duplicate of 1862.27
1862c.56 Dime Admission Free Adopted at More Sites
In 1862, a ten-cent admission fee is reported at the Union Grounds. In 1864, the some fee provided entry at the Capitoline Grounds.
Sources?
Are these the only two other known collection of entry fees in the middle 1860s?
1863.1 Ballplaying Peaks in the Civil War Camps
[A] "[In April 1863] the Third Corps and the Sixth Corps baseball teams met near White Oak Church, Virginia, to play for the championship of the Army of the Potomac."
[B] "Ballplaying in the Civil War Camps increased rapidly during the War, reaching a peak of 82 known games in April 1863 -- while the troops still remained in their winter camps. Base ball was by a large margin the game of choice among soldiers, but wicket, cricket, and the Massachusetts game were occasionally played. Play was much more common in the winter camps than near the battle fronts."
[C] Note: In August 2013 Civil War scholar Bruce Allardice added this context to the recollected Army-wide "championship game":
"The pitcher for the winning team was Lt. James Alexander Linen (1840-1918) of the 26th NJ, formerly of the Newark Eureka BBC. Linen later headed the bank, hence the mention in the book. In 1865 Linen organized the Wyoming BBC of Scranton, which changed its name to the Scranton BBC the next year. The 26th NJ was a Newark outfit, and a contemporary Newark newspaper says that many members of the prewar Eurekas and Adriatics of that town had joined the 26th. The 26th was in the Sixth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, stationed at/near White Oak Church near Fredericksburg, VA. April 1863, the army was in camp. The book says Linen played against Charlie Walker a former catcher of the Newark Adriatics who was now catcher for the "Third Corps" club.
"With all that being said, in my opinion the clubs that played this game weren't 'corps' clubs, but rather regimental and/or brigade clubs that by their play against other regiments/brigades claimed the Third and Sixth Corps championships.
"Steinke's "Scranton", page 44, has a line drawing and long article on Linen which mentions this game. See also the "New York Clipper" website, which has a photo of Linen."
[A] History. The First National Bank of Scranton, PA (Scranton, 1906), page 37. This is, at this time (2011), the only known reference to championship games in the warring armies.
As described in Patricia Millen, On the Battlefield, the New York Game Takes Hold, 1861-1865, Base Ball Journal, Volume 5, number 1 (Special Issue on Origins), pages 149-152.
[B] Larry McCray, Ballplaying in Civil War Camps.
[C] Bruce Allardice, email to Protoball of August, 2013.
[D] (((add Steinke ref and Clipper url here?)))
Note Civil War historian Bruce Allardice's caveat, above: "In my opinion the clubs that played weren't 'corps' clubs, but rather regimental or brigade clubs that by their play other regiments/brigades claimed the Third and Sixth Corps championships."
Is it possible that a collection of trophy balls, at the Hall of Fame or elsewhere, would provide more evidence of the prevalence of base ball in the Civil War?
1863.10 5th Massachusetts Artillery Plays Base Ball, 1863-1864
The history of the Fifth MA Battery has four brief references to base ball from March 1863 to February 1864. Two soldiers’ diaries note games on March 11, March 29, and April 11 1863 in Falmouth VA. A Captain Phillips wrote from Rappahannock Station on February 23, 1864: “I am sitting at my desk with my door wide open, and the men are playing ball out of doors.”
History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery [1861-1865] (Luther E. Cowles, Boston, 1902), pages 559, 564, 572, 774. Accessed . . .
1863.100 Georgians change from base to snow-balling
The Weekly Columbus Enquirer, Feb. 17, 1863 reports of Toombs' Georgia Brigade, stationed near Fredericksburg, VA: "The amusements of the camp since the late heavy fall of snow have changed from "base" to "snow-balling"--both of which are very healthful exercise.
The Weekly Columbus Enquirer, Feb. 17, 1863
1863.101 Rebel POWs play town ball at Camp Butler
The diary of William W. Heartsill, Confederate soldier (published under the title "1491 Days...") says that in March 1863, while in Camp Butler POW Camp near Springfield, IL, the prisoners played "town-ball."
Heartsill book
1863.102 117th IL plays town ball near Memphis
Gerlings's "One Hundred Seventeenth Illinois" p. 105: "May 18. Some of us played "town-ball" on the drill grounds. Col. Moore and Lt. Kerr being the leaders of the two sides." Same May 19, 20.
Col. Risdon Moore's 117th IL was stationed at Fort Pickering, Memphis in May 1863.
Gerlings's "One Hundred Seventeenth Illinois" p. 105
1863.103 Arkansas soldiers play "Old Fashioned Town Ball"
General Abe Buford
Willis, Arkansas Confederates, p. 406, refers to Arkansas Confederates playing town ball, citing J. P. Cannon, "Inside of Rebeldom" p. 98 [Nov. 1863 in camp at Canton, MS]: "One of the most popular schemes invented to have fun and to pass the time was a game called 'old fashioned town ball,' which is the ancestor of today's baseball. Even Gen. Buford took great interest in the game, although his 300 pounds of flesh and fat (mostly fat)... prevented any participation more than a mere spectator."
Confederate Gen. Abraham Buford was an overweight and fun-loving brigade commander.
J. P. Cannon, "Inside of Rebeldom" p. 98
1863.104 Grant's Men Play Town-Ball in the Swamps
Woodworth, "Nothing But Victory: The Army of Tennessee, 1861-1865" p. 299 writes that Grant's army , in camp at Lake Providence opposite Vicksburg, "had time to play 'town ball' in their off-duty hours."
Woodworth cites the diary of Abram J. Vanauken, Feb. 3, 7, 12, 13, 1863, at the Illinois State Historical Library.
Woodworth, "Nothing But Victory: The Army of Tennessee, 1861-1865" p. 299
1863.105 16th Vermont Plays Baseball
The Library of Virginia's online index to manuscripts lists the letters of Herbert G. Bond, 16th VT, 1862-63, which "mention the troops playing baseball." The index lists the ballplaying in Fairfax County.
The 16th was stationed in the VA defenses of Washington DC for most of this time.
1863.106 1st Delaware Plays Ball and Horseshoes
The Library of Virginia's online index to manuscripts lists the letter of Thomas D. G. Smith, March 31, 1863, which "mentions playing ball and horseshoes." The index lists the game as in Stafford County.
At this time the 1st was stationed near Falmouth, Stafford County, VA.
1863.107 Dispute between MA and NY rules
Frommer, "Old Time Baseball" p. 36-37 lists 1863 games--26th PA vs. 22nd MA and 13th NY v. 62nd NY--where disputes broke out over whether to play by the MA or NY rules.
Frommer, "Old Time Baseball" p. 36-37
1863.108 Ball playing popular in 1st Minnesota
"Campaigning with the First Minnesota: A Civil War Diary" diary of Isaac Lyman Taylor, 1st MN, in MN Historical Society Journal. March 18, 1863 entry "Reading, writings, & playing ball." March 23 entry notes that ball playing is very popular in the regiment. The regiment was stationed near Falmouth, VA.
"Campaigning with the First Minnesota: A Civil War Diary"
1863.109 17th Mississippi plays town ball
Tucker, "Barksdale's Charge" p. 34 cites a 4-20-63 letter of Pvt. Joseph A. Miller, 17th MS: "We [here] taken a game of town ball this morning..."
Tucker, "Barksdale's Charge" p. 34
1863.11 23-Year-Old Iowa Cavalryman Played Ball, Probably in SW Missouri
“Mar 13 [1863] Wrote a letter to George and one to father. In the afternoon played a game of ball. Mar 14 Played a game of ball in the afternoon. Bill rode my horse on the forage guard.”
James H. Cowan, “Cowan’s Civil War Diary,” transcribed by Juanita Lewis, accessed 6/7/098 at http://iagenweb.org/civilwar/regiment/cavalry/01st/cowan.html. The diary, noted as volume 2, covers from September 1862 through April of 1863. The website notes that Cowan was from northernmost Iowa. His location in early March is inferred, perhaps incorrectly, from towns named Springfield, Rollo (Rolla?), Salem in the Feb/March entries.
Cowan was in the 1st Iowa Cavalry. [ba]
1863.110 Town Ball Played by 28th Alabama
Hallock, editor, "The Civil War Letters of Joshua K. Callaway," p. 94 cites a letter from Shelbyvlle, TN, June 1863: "there is a big game of 'Town Ball' going on out there and they are all very jolly..."
Callaway was in the 28th AL Infantry.
Hallock, editor, "The Civil War Letters of Joshua K. Callaway," p. 94
1863.111 Baseball played at Rhode Island Army Hospital
Grzyb, "Rhode Island's Civil War Hospital" (a book about the Portsmouth Grove Hospital in Portsmouth) p. 114 quotes the diary of Pvt. George Peck, 2nd Rhode Island: "Got my ankle hurt today by a bat playing ball." The book notes that ballplaying was a recreation at this hospital.
Grzyb, "Rhode Island's Civil War Hospital" p. 114
1863.112 19th Massachusetts plays 7th Michigan
Ward's "The 96th Pennsylvania.." p. 301 cites Fairchild's History of the 27th NY as noting games played between the 19th MA and 7th MI.
Same page 146: On St. Patrick's Day "regiments of the VI Corps played a game of baseball."
Ward's "The 96th Pennsylvania.." p. 301, 146
1863.113 A Change from Dodging Leaden Balls
The New York Clipper reported on a game between the 14th Regiment from Brooklyn and the 30th New York Volunteers during the summer of 1863. The Clipper included the box score and commented, “Our soldier boys will have their ‘hand in’ at base ball, it seems, and we commend them there for, as it must be a very agreeable change from dodging leaden balls.”
“Base Ball in the Army,” New York Clipper, June 13, 1863.
1863.114 Southern Girls Play Town Ball and Cat in Clarksville
Nannie E. Haskins diary, Feb. 25, 1863
Saturday morning opened with heavy clouds to obscure the Sun; after breakfasted, we all went out and had a game of hot ball – town ball and cat. They were all new to me, that is I never played them before. I have seen my brothers and other boys play them. We came to town about ten o’clock, by dinner time it was raining.
1863.115 SC soldier writes of chuck a luck and town ball in camp
McConnell diary, U. of South Carolina
The Yorkville (SC) Enquirer, Feb. 4, 1863 prints a letter from a soldier of the 17th SC from Camp Kershaw, near Kinston, which relates the soldiers in camp are playing "the sports sof boyhood in games of "Prison ball," "Bull pen," etc."
1863.116 "we had a game of ball notwithstanding"
Woodworth, "Cultures in Conflict--the American Civil War" p. 99 cites the Jan. 6, 1863 diary of Aurelius Voorhis, 46th IN, in Grant's army near Vicksburg, writing: "A cold, raw wind blew all day... We had a game of ball notwithstanding... [Drill] will take up some of our ball playing time but it suits me."
Woodworth, "Cultures in Conflict--the American Civil War" p. 99
1863.117 Future President notes ballplaying in camp
Rutherford B. Hayes
"Conspicuous Gallantry: Civil War Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes" contains a April 22, 1863 letter from Camp White in which Hayes' notes that "Drilling, boating, ball-playing and the like make the time pass pleasantly."
Camp White was near Charleston, WV. Hayes had played ball while in college.
"Conspicuous Gallantry: Civil War Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes"
1863.118 36th Illinois loses to 24th Wisconsin by 50
A favorite amusement all through our Murfreesboro stay was
base ball, and many an hour was spent at Camp Schaffer in this absorbing game. Sometimes the fun was varied by a contest with some other regiment, and though the 36th were very skillful, they sometimes met their match, as one record very candidly says : "In the afternoon eight boys of the 24th Wisconsin played ball against eight of ours and beat us (!) by fifty a very interesting
game."Bennett and Haigh, "36th Illinois" p. 425
1863.119 The officers mingled with the men
"The 6th was in fine shape. The return of the sick and wounded and the new recruits put us well up in numbers. The officers with one or two exceptions mingled with the men in fun and friendship. We played Base Ball, Foot Ball and Snow Ball when there was snow together."
C. N. Drew, "Yankee Scout" p. 89. He was with the light division, 6th Corps, near Falmouth in 1863.
C. N. Drew, "Yankee Scout" p. 89
1863.12 Line Officers of 17th Maine Play 9 Innings for an Oyster Dinner
“What think you, man of pen and scissors, of our hardships and sufferings, including the rigors of a winter campaign and other poetical ideas, when I tell you that the line officers of our Regiment played a match game of base ball last Saturday. The contest was between the right and left wings for the purpose of ascertaining which party should pay the expenses of an oyster supper.” The Left Wing won, 24-21, in a game evidently played by NY rules – nine players played nine innings and with 27 outs.
“From the 17th Maine Regiment,” Lewiston [Me] Daily Evening Journal, March 23, 1863, page 1. Provided by Michael Aubrecht, May 15, 2009. The printed missive, signed “Right Wing,” is headed “Camp Pitcher near Falmouth, VA, March 15th 1863.” The full text of the Regiment’s history, The Red Diamond Regiment, by William Jordan, is not accessible online as of June 2009. Lewiston ME is about 35 miles N of Portland.
1863.120 A bully game of base ball
"Had a bully game of base ball. Received letters from home."
Livermore, "My Story of the War" p. 379, quoting from the Chicago Mercantile Battery, at the siege of Vicksburg.
Livermore, "My Story of the War" p. 379
1863.121 Soldiers Play Wicket in Little Rock
From the Civil War journal of James B. Lockney, Wisconsin 28th Regiment.
"In Camp near Little Rock. Ark Wednesday Sept 30, 1863.
Today was rainy in the A.M. & drizzled some P.M. The boys had a game of Wicket the first time I ever saw it played. They used clubs of hurdles and a large ball about 6 in. in diameter. Some of the Officers took part & the game passed off quietly."
Note that the camp was probably in what is now the Little Rock city limits. [Caleb Hardwick]
1863.122 64th New York played ball
Marsh, "Brotherhood of Battle" quotes a soldier letter as saying the 64th NY "played ball" near Fredericksburg in early 1863. The author notes this was probably baseball.
Marsh, "Brotherhood of Battle"
1863.123 Confederate Cavalry plays ball in WVA
"...Jones and Imboden linked up, and spent several days together in Weston, where they staged a parade through the town and the troops under their command played ball on the grounds of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum."
Charleston Gazette-Mail, May 2, 2013. Jones and Imboden commanded brigades of VA Confederate cavalry. See also Summers, "The Baltimore and Ohio in the Civil War" p. 136, which notes this game was May 4, 1863 in Weston, now WVA.
Charleston Gazette-Mail, May 2, 2013
1863.124 49th NY plays base-ball near Falmouth
The Buffalo Evening Courier, April 4, 1863, prints a letter from a soldier in the 49th NY, datelined March 28 near Falmouth, Va: "Captain Seilkirk's Company (Co. D), which consists nearly of sporting boys, have excellent times in amusing themselves with boxing-gloves, base-ball, &c."
The Buffalo Evening Courier, April 4, 1863
1863.125 115th NY soldier Plays Ball
From auction catalog on www.invaluable.com, March 30, 2018, the 1863 Civil War Diary of David L. Mann:
Description: Manuscript diary of Private David L. Mann, New York 115th Infantry, Company E. Mann was a POW at Harper's Ferry in 1862 and notes he returned to Harper's Ferry, as well as Gettysburg, several times. A small selection from the diary, April 17th, "Boys are playing ball." June 13, "Attacked. Hold the enemy 1800 strong in check until the train is out of danger." June 14th, "Skirmished all day." Further discussions of metal caskets for dead soldiers, fighting, scouting, picketing, a drunken captain sounding a false alarm to saddle up. About 40% written in.
[the location is not given, but is probably VA]
1863.126 Hawkins' Zouaves Play 51st NY
The New York Sunday Mercury, March 29, 1863 reports that at Newport News on the 24th, the first nine of Hawkins' Zoauves (9th NY) Played a match game with the first nine of the 51st NY, winning 21-10. A box score is given. The report notes that several names will be familiar to those in the baseball fraternity.
Whitney, "The Hawkins Zouaves" p. 173 says these two regiments played March 4, 7, and 24.
1863.129 9th NY plays for a barrel of ale
The New York Sunday Mercury, April 26, 1863 reports that on the 20th and 21st, near Fletcher's Chapel, VA, two nines of the 9th NY (Hawkins' Zouaves) played "3 fine games," the prize being a barrel of ale. At the end the barrel was "besieged" by the whole regiment, and "run out" in no time.