1777.4
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British POWs Linger in Colonies -- Did They Help Sew Base Ball's Seeds?
| Salience | Noteworthy |
|---|---|
| Tags | EquipmentEquipment |
| Location | |
| City/State/Country: | United States |
| Modern Address | |
| Game | |
| Immediacy of Report | Contemporary |
| Age of Players | AdultAdult |
| Holiday | |
| Notables | |
| Text | Nearly 5000 of British General Burgoyne's troops, surrendered in their 1777 loss at Saratoga, remained in American camps for several years. They were known to play the game of "bat and ball" as they were interned variously in Cambridge MA, Virginia, and central Pennsylvania, and to have maintained a store of hickory sticks, ostensibly for the purpose of such play. Nearly a third of them deserted over the years, some settling in America. Could they not have helped acquaint the new nation with their English game? |
| Sources | Brian Turner, "Sticks or Clubs: Ball Play Along the Route of Burgoyne's "Convention Army", Base Ball, volume 11 (2019), pp. 1 -16. |
| Warning | |
| Comment | In 1778, a court-martial reviewed a claim that interned soldiers outside Boston possessed some dangerous weapons, and in defense "Burgoyne introduced into evidence a set of 'hickory sticks designed to play at bat and ball'." Edit with form to add a comment |
| Query | Edit with form to add a query |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| External Number | |
| Submitted by | Brian Turner |
| Submission Note | |
| Has Supplemental Text |
1777.4 British POWs Linger in Colonies -- Did They Help Sew Base Ball's Seeds?"
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