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{{Chronology Entry | {{Chronology Entry | ||
|Year=1862 | |||
|Year Number=17 | |||
|Headline=Ballplaying Frequently Played at Salisbury Prison in North Carolina | |Headline=Ballplaying Frequently Played at Salisbury Prison in North Carolina | ||
| | |Salience=1 | ||
| | |Tags=Civil War, Military, | ||
|Text=<p>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. | |Location=NC | ||
<p>In an unattributed and undated passage | |Country=United States | ||
<p>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. | |Coordinates=35.6709727, -80.4742261 | ||
<p>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."</p> | |State=NC | ||
<p> | |City=Salisbury | ||
|Game=Base Ball | |||
|Immediacy of Report=Contemporary | |||
|Age of Players=Adult | |||
|Text=<p>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..."</p> | |||
<p>[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."</p> | |||
<p>[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.</p> | |||
<p>[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."</p> | |||
<p>[D] An extended account of ballplaying at Salisbury, along with the Boetticher drawing, are found in <em>From Pastime to Passion. </em>It draws heavily on Jim Sumner, "Baseball at Salisbury Prison Camp," <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Baseball History</span> (Meckler, Westport CT, 1989). Similar but unattributed coverage is found in Kirsch, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Baseball in Blue and Gray</span> (Princeton U, 2003), pp 43-45. PBall file: CW21.</p> | |||
<p>[E] See also Giles W. Shurtleff account of prison life in the (Wilson) history of the Seventh Ohio, p. 324. Shurtleff had played while at Oberlin College. <span>Shurtleff, one of the second basemen in this game, describes playing daily baseball games at Salisbury. He recalled one particular game in which his team held a late-inning, one-run lead. “A long fly ball was hit toward the Captain in right field,” Shurtleff said, “but in order to catch it and win the game, he was forced to cross the ‘deadline,’ the demarcation between the prison yard and escape. In that instant he had to decide if he would cross the line, with the very real risk of being shot, or let the ball drop harmlessly to the ground giving advantage to the other team. He opted to make the catch because he was fairly certain the guard on duty that day would not shoot. They won the game.”</span></p> | |||
<p>See also The Congregationalist, May 4, 1864.</p> | |||
|Sources=<p>[A] Wells Twombley, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">200 Years of Sport in America</span> (McGraw-Hill, 1976), page 71.</p> | |||
<p>[B] Ward and Burns, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Baseball Illustrated</span>, at pages 10-11.</p> | |||
<p>[C] Magnum.</p> | |||
<p>[D] Patricia Millen, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">From Pastime to Passion: Baseball and the Civil War</span> (Heritage Books, 2001), pp.27-31.</p> | |||
<p>[E] Patricia Millen, "The POW Game-- Captive Union Soldiers Play a Baseball Game at Salisbury, NC", in <em>Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century </em>(SABR, 2013), pp. 36-38</p> | |||
<p>William Crossley, "Extracts from My Diary" p. 43.</p> | |||
|Warning=<p>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.</p> | |||
|Submitted by=Bruce Allardice | |||
|Reviewed=Yes | |Reviewed=Yes | ||
| | |Has Supplemental Text=No | ||
}} | }} | ||
Latest revision as of 08:04, 13 July 2024
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Ballplaying Frequently Played at Salisbury Prison in North Carolina
| Salience | Prominent |
|---|---|
| Tags | Civil War, MilitaryCivil War, Military |
| Location | NCNC |
| City/State/Country: | Salisbury, NC, United States |
| Modern Address | |
| Game | Base BallBase Ball |
| Immediacy of Report | Contemporary |
| Age of Players | AdultAdult |
| Holiday | |
| Notables | |
| Text | 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 (Wilson) history of the Seventh Ohio, p. 324. Shurtleff had played while at Oberlin College. Shurtleff, one of the second basemen in this game, describes playing daily baseball games at Salisbury. He recalled one particular game in which his team held a late-inning, one-run lead. “A long fly ball was hit toward the Captain in right field,” Shurtleff said, “but in order to catch it and win the game, he was forced to cross the ‘deadline,’ the demarcation between the prison yard and escape. In that instant he had to decide if he would cross the line, with the very real risk of being shot, or let the ball drop harmlessly to the ground giving advantage to the other team. He opted to make the catch because he was fairly certain the guard on duty that day would not shoot. They won the game.” See also The Congregationalist, May 4, 1864. |
| Sources | [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. |
| Warning | 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. |
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| Submitted by | Bruce Allardice |
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1862.17 Ballplaying Frequently Played at Salisbury Prison in North Carolina"
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