Property:Text
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"Text" is a predefined property that represents text of arbitrary length and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki. This property is pre-deployed (also known as special property) and comes with additional administrative privileges but can be used just like any other user-defined property.
This is a property of type Text.
1
<p>“The health of the entire Army remains good, and the men enjoy themselves by athletic exercises and other amusements between parades and drills, pitching quoits, playing base ball and cricket, and horse racing are their every day pastimes.”</p><p>“Penn,” [sic?] in “Our Army Correspondence,” [Pittsburgh?] <u>Chronicle, </u>Thursday, April 16, 1863. Provided by Michael Aubrecht, May 15, 2009. This long piece focuses some on the “three Pittsburgh and Alleghany regiments, viz. Sixty-Second, One Hundred and Twenty-Third, and One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth,” but the remark about recreation does not appear to apply to them only. The correspondent writes from a camp near Falmouth, VA. </p> +
<p>“All We two Compnys do is to drill 1 and ½ hower in th mornig gon gard once in two Weaks We play ball pitch quoits the rest of the time. We play the New York Gam most of the time. Mass Game some We Changle other Regement and thay us the 25 Mass is the Best plays 46 next 44 next 51 Nex Battarys Next 5 R.I. Last some exciting games to. Have a Greesy pole Grees Pig all sorts of games you can think of Card Domonuse, &c. . . . But How are the girls in M [Marlboro NH] . . . the Boys have bases up & are in a stem to have me play ball I supose I must go. . . [resuming later:] My side got 10 tales. The other side got 7 talies the sam wons are going to try it to morrow.”</p>
<p>Letter from Ora W. Harvey, April 15, 1863, from New Bern NC. Harvey, from Marlboro NH, was with the 46<sup>th</sup> MA. New Bern had been captured by the North in March 1862 and held for the entire war. Text and facsimile online via the Notre Dame rare book collection, accessed 6/14/09 via ”’msn/cw 5026-01’” search. Marlboro NH is just west of Keene NH, and about 20 miles north of the MA border. New Bern is near the Atlantic coast and is about 100 miles SE of Raleigh.</p> +
<p>“Friday, April 17, 1863 Quite a fine day. Boys all playing ball. Co. drills in the afternoon.</p>
<p>“Wednesday, April 22, 1863 Cool with some appearances of a storm. Played ball today and got somewhat tired.”</p>
<p>G. S. Stuart and A. M. Jakeman, Jr., eds., <span style="text-decoration: underline;">John H. Stevens: Civil War </span>Diary (Miller Books, Acton ME, 1997), page 127. Provided by Michael Aubrecht, May 15, 1863. <strong>Note: </strong>we need to ascertain Stevens’ home and unit; the 9<sup>th</sup> PA lists a soldier by this name as a 1st Lt., as does the 5<sup>th</sup> MI, as does the 5<sup>th</sup> ME, which seems the most likely unit.. Text is not found via Google Books in June 2009.</p> +
<p>“The parade ground has been a busy place for a week or so past, ball-playing having become a mania in camp. Officers and men forget, for a time, the differences in rank and indulge in the invigorating sport with a school-boy’s ardor. [The account lists two recent inter-company games.] The game is the fashionable “New York Game,” played by nine on a side, and nine innings making a game. An undecided game is now pending between the Tenth Massachusetts and Thirty-Sixth New York regiments.”</p><p>Private Alpheris B. Parker, of the Tenth Massachusetts, on April 21, 1863, as cited [in part] in Ward and Burns, <u>Baseball</u> (Knopf, 1994), page 11. The original source is not there cited, but must be from a letter or diary written by Parker. The full quotation appears in J. K. Newell, <u>Ours. Annals of 10<sup>th</sup> Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, in the Rebellion</u> (C. A. Nichols, Springfield, 1875), page 199. The author of the history indicates that he “pirated” material from men’s accounts, sometimes without attribution, as seems to be the case with this passage. The 10<sup>th</sup> lists an “Alpheus Parker,” from Colrain in NW MA, on its Company G rolls. The Tenth’s winter camp in 1862-63 was near Falmouth VA, and In April it stood on the eve of the Chancellorsville battle.</p><p>In April 1864 the 10<sup>th</sup> was camped near Brandy Station VA. <u>Ours</u> [page 256] suddenly lists ballplaying on seven days between April 13 and May 3. Wicket was played on April 13 [10<sup>th</sup> vs, 37<sup>th</sup>] and April 23<sup>rd </sup>[10<sup>th</sup> vs 37<sup>th</sup>]. Base ball was played on April 18 [10<sup>th</sup> vs. 2<sup>nd</sup> RI], April 26 [10thj vs, 2<sup>nd</sup> RI], April 28 [officers of 120<sup>th</sup> vs. officers of 37<sup>th</sup>], April 30 [10<sup>th</sup> vs. 1<sup>st</sup> NJ, and May 3 [Company I vs. Company I]. The next day they all left for the Battle of the Wilderness.</p><p><u>Ours</u> was accessed 6/14/09 at Google Books via “ours annals” search. </p>
<p>The New York Sunday Mercury, April 26, 1863 reports on the 10th/36th game, played on the 20th in the rain to a 20-20 tie [ba].</p>
<p>“April 22d pleasant. On wood detail this morning. This afternoon the 9 best base ball players of the 2 New York Troy regiment play with the best 9 Jerseymen in our brigade for <em>300.00. </em>The Jersey boys beat 20 inings & a ining not played.”</p>
<p>Heyward Emmell, Journal, April 22 1863. Provided by Michael Aubrecht, May 15, 2009. It would seem that Emmell was not familiar with base ball, or the game was played by unusual rules. A NPS research note places Emmell in the 7<sup>th</sup> NJ regiment, which may have been in the same brigade as the 2<sup>nd</sup> NY and 9<sup>th</sup> NJ. <strong>Note:</strong> the men were about to fight at Chancellorsville in VA, but we do not know the location of this game.</p>
<p>The New York Herald, April 29, 1863, appears to report this game, in a letter datelined April 24 from "near the Rappahannock." The 2nd brigade, 2nd division, Army of the Potomac included 4 NJ regiments and the 2nd NY. A team from the 5th/7th/8th NJ played the 2nd NY for $100 a side and "betting ran high." NJ won. Gives a box score.</p> +
<p>“[O]ur camp was made merry by the common prevalence of a variety of sports. Horse racing was quite extensively practiced, the presence of the paymasters enabling the officers to make up purses with much freedom. . . . In the Second Brigade of the Second division base ball became the popular amusement, and matches between regiments were of every day occurrence. The brigade counts for New Jersey regiments and one (the Second) from New York. The Jerseymen had played a number of matches between themselves, when the New Yorkers challenged the first nine from all the Jersey regiments to a match for $150 a side. The game was played on Tuesday, and attracted a large crowd. Betting ran high, with odds at the outset in favor of the New Yorkers. The playing was spirited on both sides; but the Jersey boys displayed the greater skill, and quickly turned the popular enthusiasm. They won the match on their eighth innings by twenty-three runs.” An elaborate box score is included.</p>
<p>“Near the Rappahannock, April 24, 1863: Sports in Camp,” <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Herald</span>, April 24, 1863. Provided by John Maurath, January 18, 2008. <strong>Note:</strong> our image is truncated in the middle of the box score, and more text may appear in the full article. The NJ nine comprised 5 players from the 8<sup>th</sup> NJ, 3 from the 7<sup>th</sup> NJ, and 1 player from the 5<sup>th</sup> NJ.</p>
<p>The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Trenton State Gazette</span> carried a brief account of this game on May 2, 1863. It reported the final score as 34-14, the stakes were $100 a side, and noted that the 2<sup>nd</sup> NY was from Troy NY.</p> +
<p>“I thought we should have been half way to Richmond before this time, but here we are all very much taken up with base ball playing recently. Yesterday the fifth N. Jersey played the rest of the Brigade for $100 a side and we beat them, to day we played the second New York on the same terms and beat them, and tomorrow the Eight New Jersey playes the second N.Y. for $300 a side, and then we play the Sickles Brigade.”</p>
<p>Stanley Gaines, 7<sup>th</sup> NJ, to his sister from “Camp near Falmouth Va April 22d/63. In an earlier letter to a friend on April 14, 1863, Gaines had written, “Morality is certainly at a low ebb in the army, more preferring to play ball than to go to church, but a more generous open hearted and jolly crew than our soldiers it is hard to find.” Provided by Michael Aubrecht, May 15, 2009.</p> +
<p>[A] “The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Rochester Evening Express</span> published a letter from a soldier dated March 31, 1863, saying the Union Troops near what is now Leeland Station in Stafford were amusing themselves by running races and ‘playing ball, the latter being the favorite amusement or our correspondent. ‘We played nearly all day yesterday, our gallant Colonel looking on with as much pleasure as though he had a hand in . . . . (Quite a number of spectators assembled on our parade ground to witness the expertness of our officers, as they were practicing a match-game with the commissioned officers of the veteran 13th.) I learn that the 108<sup>th</sup> Regiment and the 14<sup>th</sup> Brooklyn Regiment were to play a match game of ball to-day for a purse of $25. . . . It may appear that we should be engaged in something else beside playing base ball, but I tell you it is one of the best things in the world to keep up the spirits of the men, , and not only that, but it is of vast importance to their health, and necessary to the development of their muscle . . . . The old veteran Joe (Gen. Joseph Hooker) himself can be seen out on the field encouraging the boys on as earnest as if he were on the battlefield.”</p>
<p>[B] In a 2001 article, Allison Barash cites parts of this communiqué, and adds that the writer was “Captain Patrick H. “True Blue” Sullivan of the 140<sup>th</sup> New York Volunteers, who had played for Rochester’s Lone Stars Club before the war and was obviously hopelessly addicted to the game, left many written statements of Civil War ballgames.” She does note give a source for this passage or the other writings.</p> +
<p>“William D. Rogers closed a letter to his parents by confessing he was stopping to ‘join the Boys in a game of Ball which has become a great amusement here.’”</p>
<p>J. S. Sheppard, “’By the Noble Daring of Her Sons; The Florida Brigade of the Army of Tennessee,” (PhD Dissertation, Florida State U, 2008), page 200. Sheppard’s citation: “William D. Rogers to Dear Papa and Mother, April 17, 1863. William D. Rogers Letters, 1862-1865.” Thesis accessed 6/15/09 via Google Scholar search “’noble daring’ Sheppard.’’ Rogers’ unit was evidently at winter quarters near Tullahoma TN then, about 80miles SE of Nashville and 245 miles N of the Alabama border. Rogers was from Alabama.</p> +
<p>“Occasionally they indulged in the amusing and time-honored game of base-ball, but not infrequently they were called from this pleasure, to some arduous and important duty.”</p>
<p>William Whitman and Charles True, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Maine in the War for Union</span> (Dingley, Lewiston, 1865), page 247. It seems clear from context that ballplaying was not infrequent. It is unclear from the phrasing whether they played the NY game or an old-fashioned form. The passage seems to imply that the game was played in 1862-1863 winter camp; the Tenth ME was at Stafford Court House VA from January to April 1863.</p> +
<p>“During the winter the ground was occasionally covered with snow and battles with snow balls took place, different regiments challenging each other. When the weather was pleasant baseball became popular, and there were many excellent players on the Third Brigade. These games were watched by great crowds with intense interest. On April 18<sup>th</sup>, the 49<sup>th</sup> and 77<sup>th</sup> Regiments played a grand game on the parade ground.”</p>
<p>F. D. Bidwell, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">History of the Forty-Ninth New York Volunters</span> (J. B. Lyon, Albany, 1916), pages 28-29. Accessed on Google Books 6/27/09 via “forty-ninth new” search. The regiment formed in the Buffalo area, and was at Falmouth VA on April 18.</p> +
<p>May 16<sup>th</sup>, 1863. “We have had a fine game of Town Ball which gave me good Exercise, and I was on the Side that beat.” May 28<sup>th</sup>, 1863. “We have [jus]t had a fine game of Town Ball and I was on the Beating Side. Nothing can beat me and Sergeant. Jones. He is a first rate man.”</p>
<p>Letters from Corporal William Harden, Company G, 63<sup>rd</sup> Infantry Regiment, Georgia Volunteers, to his wife, written from just east of Savannah at “Thunderbolt.”. Accessed 6/26/09 at the Giamatti Center of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Civil War file. The 63<sup>rd</sup> formed in Savannah, and Harden had previously lived in Pike County, which is directly south of Atlanta.</p> +
<p>“The civil war, however, arrested the development of the new game [base ball] for a time. It was played during the war in camps all over the south. Regiments and companies having their teams. Sergeant Dryden, of an Iowa regiment, relates that during the long waits in the trenches before Vicksburg, the Union and Confederate soldiers jokingly challenged each other to play baseball, and that during the brief truces the men of his company and the enemy played catch from line to line.</p>
<p>“’We were throwing and catching the ball belonging to our company ne day,’ he relates, ‘when firing commenced afresh and the men dived into their holes. There was a big fellow named Holleran who, after we got to cover, wanted to go over and whip the ‘Johnny Reb’ who hd stolen our ball. The next morning during a lull in the firing, that ‘Reb’ yelled to us and in a minute the baseball came flying over the works, so we played a game on our next relief.’”</p>
<p>The siege of Vicksburg MS occurred from late May to July 4 1863. Many Iowa regiments participated.</p> +
<p>“Another favorite amusement in the corps was the game of base ball. There were many excellent players in the different regiments, and it was common for the ball-players of one regiment or brigade to challenge another regiment or brigade.’ He added: ‘These matches were watched by great crowds of soldiers with intense interest.’”</p>
<p>George T. Stevens, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Three Years in the Sixth Corps</span> (Gray, Albany, 1866), page 183. Accessed on Google Books 6/15/09 via “’three years with the sixth’” search. (Part of this passage is cited in George B. Kirsch, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Baseball in Blue and Gray</span>, (Princeton U Press, 2003), page 37). Stevens’ 77<sup>th</sup> NY was in winter camp at White Oak Church, near Falmouth VA, in 1862-63. Stevens was a regimental surgeon.</p>
<p>Stevens [page 191] also reports that, awaiting the assault on Chancellorsville, even as the sounds of nearby clashes rolled in, “the thundering of the guns and the trembling of the earth seemed like a series of earthquakes. The spirit of our boys rose, and the battle on the right progressed, and there seemed to be indications of work for them. Groups might be seen at any time, when we were not standing in the line of battle, telling yarns, singing songs, playing ball, and pitching quoits, while they momentarily looked for the order to advance upon the heights, into the very jaws of death.”</p> +
<p>Finding, on the Chancellorsville battlefield, a partly used diary in the abandoned knapsack of a Union soldier from the 87<sup>th</sup> NY, Robert T. Douglass started making entries in May 1864.</p>
<p>“May 26 . . . Quite pleasant this afternoon. Played a game of ball with my friends in the 40<sup>th</sup> Va. Reg.” “May 27. . . . Relieved from guard this morning. Out in the field playing ball with a portion of the 40<sup>th</sup> Reg.” “May 28. . . . Played ball.” “May 30. . . . Played ball this evening for sport as I had nothing else to do. Bad news from home.” “June 2. . . . Played ball this afternoon. No news in camp of any importance.” “June 11 . . . . Played a game of ball called cat.” Douglass returned the diary to its original owner in 1867.</p>
<p>Provided by Michael Aubrecht, May 15, 2009. The diary is also found online: Google web search: “douglass diary morrisville.” <strong>Note:</strong> Douglass’ unit appears to have stayed near the Stafford/Chancellorsville area in May and June. His diary entries continue through 1863 but have no additional ballplaying references. Accessed online 6/15/09.</p> +
<p>“Roddie Shaw wrote that baseball fever also swept through his regiment, mentioned ‘while I write the Regt. Is engaged in a game of town-ball one of our greatest sources of amusement.’”</p><p>J. S. Sheppard, “’By the Noble Daring of Her Sons; The Florida Brigade of the Army of Tennessee,” (PhD Dissertation, Florida State U, 2008), page 200. ’’ Sheppard’s citation: “Roddie Shaw to My Dear Sister, May 17, 1863. FSA, Tallahassee, FL.” Thesis accessed 6/15/09 via Google Scholar search “’noble daring’ Sheppard.” Shaw’s 4<sup>th</sup> FL unit was evidently at winter quarters near Tullahoma TN then, about 80miles SE of Nashville and 245 miles N of the Alabama border. Shaw was from Quincy, FL, which is about 20 miles NW of Tallahassee and about ten miles S of the Georgia border. </p> +
<p>“A sergeant from the 62<sup>nd</sup> N.Y. Volunteers wrote to the <u>New York Clipper</u> sporting weekly on May 30 of 1863 to clarify the rules as he knew them: ‘That in making a home run in a game of baseball the runner is allowed to run 2’ either side of the bases without touching them. I claim that he is obligated to touch each base as he passes it; . . . To play now in N.Y. is to touch the base in all cases; so that the matter is settled, and the rules can now be interpreted correctly.’”</p><p>Patricia Millen, <u>From Pastime to Passion: Baseball and the Civil War</u> (Heritage Books,2001), page 20. The 62<sup>nd</sup> NY, recruited from New York City, had fought at Chancellorsville in early May, sustaining its heaviest casualties, and Gettysburg was a month ahead. <b>Note: </b>can we obtain the article? </p> +
<p>“That June a correspondent to the [New York] <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Clipper</span> reported a match following the Massachusetts game rules played for $50 a side between Massachusetts’ Eleventh Regiment and the Twenty Sixth of Pennsylvania. He noted: ‘we have four clubs in our brigade, and there are several more in the division.’”</p>
<p>George B. Kirsch, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Base Ball in Blue Gray</span> (Princeton U Press, 2003), page 39. The 26<sup>th</sup> had fought in the May 1863 Chancellorsville battle, seems likely to be in Virginia in June, perhaps back at Falmouth. Kirsch does not specify the date of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Clipper</span> article. It seems unusual that a MA – PA game would have been featured in a New York paper. <strong>Note:</strong> can we locate this article?</p> +
<p>“During the [Thanksgiving] holiday of 1863, twenty picked men from the brigade [2nd Brigade, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac] and some of the members of the old ‘Honey Run Club’ from the Germantown, Pennsylvania area reportedly played ball.”</p>
<p>Patricia Millen, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Passion to Pastime: Baseball and the Civil War </span>(Heritage Books, 2001), page 24. Millen cites the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Clipper</span> for November 14<sup>th</sup> and November 28, 1863. The location of the game is not indicated in the book.</p>
<p>See also 1862.84. The Clipper of Nov. 14th indicates that the game would be town ball, played on the 25th at the parade ground of the 2nd brigade, 2nd division, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac, then stationed in VA.</p> +
<p>“As Confederate soldier Corporal William Harding wrote while stationed in Georgia in 1863, ‘had a fine game of Town ball which gave me good exercise. . .’”</p>
<p>Patricia Millen, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Passion to Pastime: Baseball and the Civil War </span>(Heritage Books, 2001), page 19. Millen cites “Harding, John. Letter. Cooperstown, NY: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library. 1863.” <strong>Note:</strong> can we obtain a facsimile of the letter, and determine Harding’s unit and the GA location of the game?</p> +