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>“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> +
<p>Isaac Clason, of Company B in the 2<sup>nd</sup> Minnesota Volunteers, made 10 minimal references to ballplaying from January 29 to April 16, 1864. No more appear to the June end of the record. A typical entry was “Had a fine game of ball this afternoon” [March 17]. On January 29: “Spent today playing ball, pitching anvils and everything to amuse myself.” On April 5: “Had a fine game of ball and in the evening went to the Boulten Minstrels performance. Not very good entertainment.” The diary refers to “Ringgold” [and to peach trees in bloom in March] and it would seem that Clason spent his winter in the area of Ringgold Gap, GA, where a September 1863 defeat had stalled the North’s incipient drive toward Atlanta until May 7 1864. Ringgold GA is about 15 miles SE of Chattanooga and about 6 miles south of the Tennessee border.</p>
<p>Diary of Isaac W. Clason, accessed online at ancestry.com by Google web search “clason diary.”</p> +
<p>In a diary extending from January 1864 through January 1865, James Lormor of the 103<sup>rd</sup> New York Infantry made passing reference to having a “game of ball” on three dates from January 27 to February 6. The least laconic: “Saturday February 6 – Got up at five as usual went to work and fixed our tent The 89 and our boys had a game of ball Weather warm and pleasant” He mentions shelling Charleston and serving as picket at Pawnee Landing – was he on the Carolina coast east of Charleston SC?</p><p>Civil War Diary of James Cordin Lormor, 103<sup>rd</sup> New York Infantry, at civilwararchive.com, accessed 6/16/09 via Google web “stormo inlet” search. </p> +
<p>In his diary for the year 1864, Lieutenant Lemuel Abbott [10<sup>th</sup> VT] includes six entries on ballplaying. One involved a challenge from the non-commissioned officers to the officers to play for an oyster dinner [January 29], and another in which his Company challenged the regiment to “play a game of ball for $50 [March 19]. One day he reports that “a game of ball came off this afternoon in which the commissioned offers won. Two more games are to be played Monday if a good day. [January 30]” All ballplaying entries appear between January 29 and April 29.</p>
<p>Lemuel A. Abbott, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary 1864</span> (Free Press, Burlington, 1908), pages 13, 20, 28, 30, 41. The January entry is mentioned in Kirsch, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Baseball in Blue and </span>Gray, page 41. Accessed 6/19/09 on Google Books via “recollections 1864” search. Abbott’s Company B was from Burlington VT. Their camp during early 1864 was near Brandy Station, VA, about 60 miles SW of Washington and about 75 miles NW of Richmond.</p>
<p>See also Montpelier Daily Journal, Feb. 15, 1864, and Vermont Watchman, Feb. 19, 1864, for notice of the commissioned/non-commissioned officers game.</p> +
<p>“[Horse] [r]aces were a favorite amusement of the men in this camp . . . . Foot-races among the men wre frequently indulged in, not for the purpose of developing any <em>retreating</em> qualities. These were always exciting, and usually afforded themes for discussion and conversation for one day at least. Base-ball and foot-ball were favorite amusements among the soldiers, and afforded recreation which was highly appreciated.”</p>
<p>Rev. Geo. W. Bicknell, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">History of the Fifth Regiment Maine Volunteers</span> (Hall L. Davis, Portland, 1871), page 298. Bicknell writes this of the 63/64 winter camp. The camp was at White Oak Church, near Falmouth VA – which is about 3 miles NE of Fredericksburg.</p> +
<p>A CSA Chaplain wrote: “At leisure hours I frequently engaged with the young men on my regiment in a game of base-ball, for exercise in part, but principally to effect what it was ever my purpose to do, viz., to draw men out from their tents into the light of day, where evil practices are discouraged or corrected.</p><p>Rev. A. C. Hopkins [Chaplain, 2<sup>nd</sup> Virginia Infantry], in “Appendix: Letters from Our Army Workers,” J. W. Jones, <u>Christ in the Camp, or Religion in Lee’s Army</u> (B. F. Johnson, Richmond, 1887), page 472. Accessed on Google Books 6/17/09 via “jones ‘in the camp’” search. Hopkins in this passage refers to the regiment’s winter camp “near Pisgah’s Church in Orange County [VA].The area is about 25 miles E of Fredericksburg and 60 miles NE of Richmond. </p> +
<p>“February 12, 1864. Officers played a game of base ball this afternoon.”</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p> +
<p>“A game between the Eighth and the 114<sup>th</sup> Vermont Regiments near Franklin, Louisiana, in February 1864 was won by the former, 21 to 9.”</p><p>Bell Irvin Wiley, <u>The Common Soldier in the Civil War</u> (Grosset and Dunlap, New York, 1952) Book One, page 170. Wiley’s footnotes are clustered, and it difficult to determine source which is which. . The “diary of James F. Williams, Feb. 6, 1864” seems a possibility. The 114<sup>th</sup> New York was in camp near Franklin in early 1864, and seems the likely opponent of the Eighth VT. [There is no record of a 114<sup>th</sup> VT regiment.] The Eighth’s Regimental history does not mention any ballplaying, or a 114<sup>th</sup> regiment. The Eighth was recruited from northern VT. </p> +
<p>“[T]he Thirty-Seventh provided liberal physical recreation. Nearly every pleasant day in the intervals between drills a game of base-ball or ‘wicket’ formed a center of attention for the unemployed members of the brigade; these games were becoming largely inter-regimental, a variety of ‘teams’ were organized throughout the brigade, some of which became very proficient. If a fall of snow prevented the regular pastime, it only furnished the opportunity for another, and many a battle of snow-balls was conducted. . . . ”</p>
<p>James L. Bowen, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">History of the Thirty-Seventh Regiment, Mass. Volunteers</span> (Bryan and Co., Holyoke), 1884), page 260. In winter 1863/1864 the regiment, and evidently its brigade, was at “Camp Sedgwick” on the Rapidan River in VA.</p>
<p>The regiment was in a camp at Warren Station VA [near Petersburg], the 37<sup>th</sup> history [page 406] paints this early spring 1865 tableau: “As the warming weather of early succeeded the interminable storms of the severe winter, and the hoarse voice of the frog began to resound from the surrounding marshes, games of quoits and ball became possible on the color line and mingled with the good news of the collapsing of the rebellion in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">other</span> directions.”</p> +
<p>“March 1 . . . I played wicket ball, pitched quarters and stayed with Smith.” “March 2 . . . Helped get dinner, drilled, played ball, got some water to drink . . .”</p><p>Alonzo Miller, “Diary of Alonzo Miller, March 1864,” in Alonzo Miller, <u>Diaries and Letters, 1864-1865</u> (Alexander Street Press, 1958), page 122. Provided by Jeff Kittel, May 12 2009. Miller was with the 12<sup>th</sup> WI, which participated in Sherman’s Atlanta campaign in 1864. It might be inferred that Miller was from Prescott WI, which is on the Minnesota border and about 20 miles S or St. Paul. Available online via subscription June 2009. <b>Note:</b> can we confirm that Miller’s letters and diaries have no other ballplaying references? </p> +
<p>[March 3] “Went on shore at 10 ½ o’clock this morning and played base ball for about 3 hours. At 3 p.m. practiced with revolver.”</p>
<p>[March 10] “Went out in the afternoon and exercised my men in company drill. Played a game of ball.”</p>
<p>J. Jones and E. Keuchel, eds., <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Civil War Marine: a Diary of the Red River Expedition, 1864</span> (US Marine Corps, 1975) page 34-35. Provided by Jeff Kittel, May 12, 2009. Church was a member of the small [3800 troops] Marine Corps sent from Cairo IL to support the Red River campaign, intended to liberate TX, AR, and LA [it didn’t]. The base ball entries preceded the March 13 start of fighting. Church’s diary covers three spring months of 1864.</p> +