Some Thoughts On Ball-Playing In The Illinois Country
by Jeffrey Kittel
Back in 2010, at the old website, I wrote a series of posts about early ball-playing in the Illinois Country. I'm putting it up here because it's a series that I've always been proud of. It reads like a bunch of blog posts strung together because that's what it is but I think, four years later, the research and conclusions still hold up.
I wrote a bit about this last week and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts and findings regarding early ball-playing in the Illinois Country in the late 18th and early 19th century.
Before I proceed, let me define the concept of the Illinois Country for those who are unaware of it. Essentially, the Illinois Country was a geographical, rather than political or legal, entity. It was the part of North America, claimed, explored and settled by the French in the 17th and 18th century, that is pictured in the above map. While the borders of the Illinois Country were largely undefined, basically it was the great river valley that was created by the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri Rivers. The northern border was normally considered the Illinois River, the eastern border was the Wabash River and the western border was undefined (but certainly extended west of the Mississippi). Before France lost her territories east of the Mississippi to England after the French and Indian War, the Illinois Country was considered part of Upper Louisiana. After the French and Indian War, the Mississippi River became the western border of the Illinois Country.
I think that the concept of the Illinois Country is useful for looking at the spread and development of baseball in America for several reasons. First, it takes out the arbitrariness of modern state borders. It allows us to look at the spread of the game in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Iowa as an organic whole rather than on a state-by-state basis. It gives us a look at the bigger picture in a more natural way. Secondly, when we look at ball-playing in the Illinois Country, we are looking at the influence that two different cultures had on the game. In general, the area was settled first by the French and then by Anglo-Americans and each culture was unique. It's safe to assume that each culture was playing different ball-games and that the interaction between the two in the Illinois Country had an effect on the development of the game in the area. Finally, I believe that the concept of the Illinois Country gives us not only a geographical and cultural construct to work with but it also gives a well-defined time frame to investigate. We know when the first Europeans came to the area and we know when the first settlements were established. Looking at the history of the Illinois Country allows us to go to the beginning of ball-playing in the area.
My look at ball-playing in the Illinois Country, however, leaves out one thing that I think I should mention. There is substantial evidence of ball-playing by the Native Americans in the Illinois Country and there is no doubt that they were playing ball games prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Personally, I find this rather interesting and have enjoyed reading 18th century accounts of Native American ball games. But, for our purposes, I'm not certain if these accounts are relative to an investigation into the development and spread of pre-modern baseball in the Illinois Country. There is no evidence that I'm aware of that shows these games influencing pre-modern baseball. I may very well be and would love to be wrong about this. I'm open to any arguments or ideas that anyone would like to suggest about Native American ball-playing and how it should be treated in an investigation of the development of the pre-modern game.
All of this information was developed while working on the SABR Spread Project and I should thank Larry McRay for, one, involving me in the project and, two, focusing my attention on Illinois. As I've said many times, I'm very parochial in my research and thinking. I'm interested in 19th century baseball in St. Louis and that's where my focus has been. This parochial mindset has given me a set of biases that has blinded me to certain possibilities when it comes to the spread of the pre-modern game and the origins of ball-playing in St. Louis. It's always been my thinking that any ball-playing in the region originated in St. Louis and spread outward from there. St. Louis was the biggest town, had the most people and the largest cultural and economic impact on the region. St. Louis influenced other towns in the region the way the gravitation of the Earth influences the orbit of the Moon. What I've failed to think about is that the Moon also has influence on the Earth and the towns and people of the Illinois Country had a cultural and economic influence on St. Louis. Also, and just as important, St. Louis was not the first settlement in the Illinois Country. There were Europeans living in the area before the city was established and that's also something that I overlooked.
While getting the Spread Project underway, Larry passed along a couple of early Illinois references from the Protoball Chronology that peaked my interest. Attempting to run down more information about these references, I got pulled into the history of the settlement of the Illinois Country. Over the next few days, I'll share some of what I found as well as some speculation about the origins of ball-playing in the Illinois Country.
As I wrote yesterday, the idea of looking at the history, spread and development of the pre-modern game within the context of the history of the Illinois Country represents, at least for me, a breakthrough in how to research, organize and present the history of baseball in the Midwest. I don't want to blow this out proportion or present it as the greatest thing since the invention of foul territory but I think it's a useful construct that hasn't been explored. If I were to write a grand, three-volume history of 19th century baseball in St. Louis, I would start with the European settlement of the Illinois Country because that's were the history of ball-playing in the area begins.
European involvement in the Pays des Illinois (the country of the Illinois Indians) began in the late 17th century, as the French solidified their claims to the area beginning with the explorations of Marquette and Joliet in 1673. They built a series of forts and settlements in the Illinois Country that can be seen in the above map. Missionary settlements were established at Cahokia and Kaskaskia in 1699 and 1703, respectively. Fort de Chartres was the first fort built in the area, in 1718, and the settlement of Prairie du Rocher was established near the fort in 1722. St. Genevieve was built in 1750 and Fort Massac, near present-day Metropolis, Illinois, was built seven years later.
This French colony in the Illinois Country does not appear to have been particularly large, with a population that never exceeded four thousand, and life in the colony centered around missionary work, mining and farming. The French had a difficult time getting people to come to the area from France itself and most of the early settlers were from French Canada.
I should mention at this point that I really don't know that much about life in the Illinois Country during the French colonial era but I'm in the process of reading about it and gathering information. A lot of the sources, obviously, are in French, a language which I can't speak or read. I could really use a translator. If anybody can read French and feels like translating a book about 19th century French children's games, let me know. The job makes up for its lack of pay by all the hard work that you have to put into it. But the point here is that we're at the beginning of this process and it's important to identify the French settlements in the Illinois Country so that we know were to begin to look for evidence of ball-playing.
Their are several sources that speak about ball-playing in French Illinois during this era but almost all of them are related to Native American games, specifically le jeu de la crosse (my French is improving by leaps and bounds the further I get into this project). The Gratiot sourcereferences ball-playing in late 18th century St. Louis but I've yet to find the original source. Henry Gratiot stated in 1825 that "when a Boy, he has frequently played Ball against [Motard's Mill.]" I had speculated that Gratiot may have been playing barn ball but further research leads me to believe that he was most likely playing la balle au mur (ball and wall). I've found a source with a long description of la balle au mur but, alas, it's in French and the translation is going to take some time. It appears to be a two-person game similar to handball but once I manage to translate the text, I'll know more.
But, at the moment, that's really it as far as sources describing ball-playing in the Illinois Country during the French colonial period. However, the Gratiot source confirms that the French settlers were playing ball-games and I believe that it's only a matter of time and effort before more sources emerge. The reason I believe this is simple: the French settlers brought their civilization with them to the Illinois Country and ball-playing was a part of that civilization. David Block, inBaseball Before We Knew It, wrote about the culture of ball-playing in France and raised questions about whether the French ball games influenced English baseball or vice versa. Specifically, he mentioned theque and le balle empoisonee but there were several other French ball games that were played during the colonial era including la balle au mur, la balle aux pots and balle au camp. Again, I'm in the process of translating text and discovering more about these games. While these games may or may not have had an impact on the development of baseball, they were more likely than not played in the Illinois Country in the 18th century and were probably the first European ball games played in the area.
When we look at the history, development and evolution of baseball in America, we tend to overlook the contributions of the French to the ball-playing culture that grew up in America in 18th and 19th century. This is understandable because of the prominent role that the English and the Anglo-Americans played in the development of the game in the Eastern part of the country. But we shouldn't overlook the contributions of the French and the impact that they had on American culture, specifically in the Illinois Country, New Orleans and the upper Midwest. In these areas, the first European ball-games played had to have been French ball-games. That fact, for some reason, appears to have slipped through the cracks.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about the coming of the Anglo-Americans and an explosion in ball-playing in the Illinois Country in the 1820s.
I've been talking over the last two days about the idea of looking at the early history of ball-playing in the Midwest within the context of the history of the Illinois Country as well as the idea that the French brought the first European ball games to the Midwest in the 18th century. I've also lamented the fact that I can not speak, read or write French and that I could use a French translator (please send your resume to [email protected]). Today, I want to look briefly at the history of the Illinois Country under Anglo-American rule and, more importantly, the impact that Anglo-American settlers had on ball-playing in the region.
After the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years' War, if you prefer), the English took control of the Illinois Country east of the Mississippi. The English, rather shortsightedly, closed the area to European settlement with the Proclamation of 1763 and in 1787, during the Revolution, George Rogers Clark led 175 soldiers into the Illinois Country and captured Fort Massac, Cahokia, Kaskaskia and Vincennes, securing the area for the Americans. With the Louisiana Purchase, the western part of the Illinois Country was added to the United States in 1804.
The result of all of this chaos during the last half of the 18th century was a discouragement of European settlement in the Illinois Country. The French/Creole population declined in the eastern part of the country, many resettling across the Mississippi in St. Louis and there was little Anglo-American settlement in the area prior to 1800, due to discouragement by the English prior to the Revolution and a conflict between Virginia and the Federal government over control of the area after the war. The passage of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, Illinois becoming a separate territory in 1809 and, finally, a state in 1818 settled the political uncertainty. A stable political situation for the first time in over half a century and the beginning of the public sale of land in 1814 had a significant effect on the number of people coming into the Illinois Country.
The Anglo-American settlement of the Illinois Country occurred in two phases. The first took place at the beginning of the 19th century as Southerners, mostly from Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, began to settle in the southern part of the state. The settlement patterns prior to 1820 can be seen in the two maps below.
One can see that settlement followed the rivers of Southern Illinois inland from the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and was largely centered in the American Bottoms area, across the Mississippi from St. Louis, and along the Wabash River on the Illinois/Indiana border.
The earliest references to ball-playing in Illinois come from this period. Interestingly, these references come from a colony of Englishmen who had settled near the Wabash after the War of 1812. The Protoball Chronology has the following:
1818c.5 – English Immigrants from Surrey Take Cricket to IL
“There have been [p.295/p.296] several cricket-matches this summer [of 1819], both at Wanborough and Birk Prarie; the Americans seem much pleased at the sight of the game, as it is new to them.” John Woods, Two Years Residence on th Settlement of the English Prarie, in the Illinois Country (Longman & Co., London, 1822), pp. 295-296.
On page 148 of the book: “On the second of October, there was a game of cricket played at Wanborough by the young men of the settlement; this they called keeping Catherine Hill fair, many of the players being from the neighborhood of Godalming and Guildford.”
In 1818 [page 295]: “some of the young men were gone to a county court at Palmyra, [but] there was no cricket-match, as was intended, only a game of trap-ball.”
The English Prairie settlement was centered around Albion, Illinois in Edwards County. There were some settlers already in Edwards County when the English showed up, mostly Kentuckians, and, understandably, they were not too pleased with their new neighbors.
While looking into the history of the English Prairie colony, I found this:
When I first arrived at Albion, a more disorganized, demoralized state of society never existed: the experiment has been made, the abandonment of Christian institutes and Christian Sabbaths, and living without God in the world has been fairly tried. If those theologians in England who despise the Sabbath and laugh at congregational worship, had been sent to the English settlement in Illinois at the time I arrived, they would, or they ought to have hid their faces for shame. Some of the English played at cricket, the backwoodsmen shot at marks, their favourite sport, and the Sunday revels ended in riot and savage fighting: this was too much even for infidel nerves.
-Letters from the Illinois, 1820-1821
So the earliest references to ball-playing in the Illinois Country, excepting the Gratiot source and references to Native American games, was to cricket and trap-ball, played by Englishmen, between 1818 and 1820.
I'm not sure how significant it is that there are no sources (that I've been able to find) that describe ball-playing among the Southerners who moved to the Illinois Country in this first large wave of Anglo-American settlement. I find it difficult to accept the idea that ball-playing was not a significant part of their culture but that may very well be true. Ball-playing may have been more prevalent in Yankee culture than it was in the culture of Southerners. I just don't know right now.
But I do know that when I start to give up on the Southerners who settled Southern Illinois prior to 1820, I find stuff like this:
In the early times, fifty or sixty years ago, when the modern games of croquet and base-ball were unknown, the people used to amuse themselves with marbles, "town-ball"-which was base-ball in a rude state-and other simple pastimes of a like character. Col. Mayo says, the first amusement he remembers in the county was a game of town-ball, on the day of the public sale of lots in Paris, in which many of the "young men of the period engaged."
-The History of Edgar County, Illinois
Edgar County is just north of Edwards County and at the northern fringe of Southern settlement. The book the reference comes from was published in 1879 and "fifty or sixty years ago" would place the ball-playing in the same time-frame as the Albion references, around 1820 or so.
At the moment, that is the extent of references to ball-playing among the first wave of Anglo-American settlers in the Illinois Country. There are some later references to town-ball and old cat, from the 1830-1850 period, and while they're significant, it's likely that the ball-playing that was taking place in Southern Illinois during that period was influenced by the arrival of the Yankees in central Illinois after 1820 as well as technological advances that increased trade and travel in the region. While I'm not writing off the Southerners as ball-players, there is, so far, not much evidence of them playing ball-games prior to 1820. Much more work needs to be done and there is plenty of research ahead but, as of now, I don't see much of a ball-playing culture among the earliest settlers of Southern Illinois, especially when compared to the Yankees who flooded into central Illinois after 1820.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about this flood of Yankees and the culture of ball-playing that they brought with them during the second stage of the Anglo-American settlement of the Illinois Country. And I apologize for the fact that this now looks like a five-part posting. I had absolutely no idea that this was going to run on for so long but it is what it is.
So here I am, still prattling on about ball-playing and the Illinois Country. But at least today, we're getting to the juicy stuff.
The second wave of Anglo-American settlement of the Illinois Country occurred immediately after Illinois became a state in 1818. It took place in the central part of the state and followed the Illinois River north. In the above map, we see the extent of the spread of settlement in 1840. We see the southern settlements in the American Bottoms and Wabash River areas as well as a new population center in the Sangamon River valley that was settled largely by Yankees from New England, New York and Pennsylvania. These new settlers brought a culture of ball-playing with them.
Their are numerous accounts of pioneer life in the Illinois Country in the decades before the Civil War and many of them contain references to ball-playing. In the histories of Menard County, Mason County, Fulton County, McLean County, and Henry County, there are several references to town-ball and bull-pen as favorite pastimes. All of these counties were in the Sangamon River valley, just north and west of Springfield, Illinois. But together, they describe a lively ball-playing culture existing among the Yankee settlers of central Illinois that began in the 1820s and continued into the Civil War era.
Before I pass along a few of these references, I want to make one observation. Evidence of this ball-playing culture in central Illinois lends a great deal of credence to the Abraham Lincoln town-ball stories. It is often difficult to separate truth from myth when it comes to Lincoln and this is true when it comes to the Lincoln ball-playing stories. They are often dismissed as apocryphal and having been created in an attempt to wrap baseball in the flag. While some of that may be accurate, the fact that a vigorous ball-playing culture existed in central Illinois at the time Lincoln lived there and that the men of the community were active ball-players supports the idea that Lincoln was a ball-player. Each Lincoln ball-playing reference has to be judged on its own merits but, in general, I think it's safe to say that Lincoln, like all the men in his community, played pre-modern baseball. It would have been an aberration if he hadn't.
The evidence of an active ball-playing community exists in the county histories of central Illinois. A series of these histories were written in the 1870s and, while they are not contemporary evidence of ball-playing in the area, they do present testimony from people who had lived during the pioneer era. All the caveats about the memory of human beings apply and much more research needs to be done but the fact that there are multiple accounts describing, in similar detail, ball-playing in central Illinois in the 1820-1840 era gives weight to the evidence. I offer some of the more interesting accounts below:
The principal game among the boys was "bullpen," a kind of ball. The party was equally divided. A field was laid out with as many corners, or bases, as there were men on a side. They tossed for choice, the winners' side taking the corners, or bases, the others going into the "pen." The game was this: The men on the bases, tossing the ball from one to another as rapidly as they could, threw and struck one in the "pen" whenever they could. If one threw and struck no one, he was out; but if he struck one, the men on the bases all ran away, and if the one struck first did not throw and hit one in return, he was out; though if he did, both kept their places. So the game went on till all on the "corners" were out; the others then took the bases. This was a rough, but lively and amusing game. Those in the "pen" often had their ribs sorely battered with the ball; but many became such adepts in the art of "dodging" the ball when thrown at them, that it was almost impossible to strike them. The game was, in time, abandoned for a game called "town ball;" the present base ball being town ball reduced to a science.
-The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois
Almost all sources agree that bullpen was a popular game in central Illinois during the pioneer era. A close reading of this source has town-ball growing in popularity in the 1820s.
Canton was incorporated as a town Feb. 10, 1837. Upon that day an election was held to vote for or against incorporation, resulting in the adoption of the measure by a majority of 34, there being 46 ballots cast. Immediately thereafter the following five Trustees were chosen: David Markley, Joel Wright, Thomas J. Little, William B. Cogswell and Franklin P. Offield. They held this first meeting March 27, 1837, "at Frederic Mennerts' inn..." Under by-laws adopted by this Board, revenue was to be raised by a tax on all real estate within the boundaries of the town, which, it was provided, should be assessed at its true value, and upon the assessment "an ad-valorem tax of not exceeding fifty cents on every one hundred dollars should be levied by the President and Trustees annually." Section 36 of the ordinances provided that "any person who shall on the Sabbath day play at bandy, cricket, cat, town-ball, corner-ball, over-ball, fives or any other game of ball, within the limits of the corporation, or shall engage in pitching dollars or quarters, or any other game, in any public place, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined the sum of one dollar."
-History of Fulton County, Illinois
This is a fascinating reference that gives us a catalogue of ball-games that were being played in central Illinois in the 1830s. I find it significant that one of the first things that the Board of Trustees did upon incorporation of the city was to ban ball-playing on Sundays. This speaks, I believe, to the extent of ball-playing activity in the area. If there wasn't a great deal of ball-playing going on, there would have been no need to pass a law against it. Also, the fact that town-ball is specifically mentioned, separate from a number of other ball-games, suggests that this was a specific game played in central Illinois, rather than a catch-all term used to describe any number of pre-modern ball games. I believe that Larry either has this reference up at Protoball already or it will be up after the next update.
The boys didn't play base ball in 1835. It hadn't been invented. Where I lived..., we played "town ball." There was a pitcher and catcher. We ran in a circle, and being hit by the ball was out, or the man running the bases could be "crossed out," by throwing the ball across his path ahead of him as he ran. They also played "one-old-cat" and "two-old-cat" with ball and bat.
-History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume 1
That's a nice reference to a cross out and again distinguishes between town-ball and other forms of ball games.
We played games to a finish, such as long town; town ball, which was a kind of rudimentary football; [and] shinny in cold weather to keep all warm and going...
-Educational Review: Volume XL
An interesting reference that complicates things a bit with the reference to town-ball as a type of football game but the reference to long town makes up for it. The writer is speaking about his school days in Canton, Missouri in the early 1850s. While the reference is dated a bit late for our purposes, I'm really interested in the possibility of the Anglo-American culture of ball-playing spreading to the rest of the Illinois Country. Canton was just across the river from the Sangamon River valley ball-playing area and the ball-games they were playing should have been influenced by the games played just east of the Mississippi. Also, shinny was being played in St. Louis in the 1850s so, again, we may be looking at evidence of a specific game spreading throughout the region. I'll have more to say about that tomorrow.
In the general, the point I'm trying to make today is that we see a great deal of ball-playing in the Illinois Country after the Yankees arrive in the 1820s. While there is evidence of the French and Southerners playing ball, it is nothing like what we see once the Yankees arrive. Once the Yankees settle in central Illinois, we see an explosion of ball-playing and a vibrant ball-playing culture. It appears, at this point, that we can trace the origins of baseball in the Illinois Country to the Yankees who settled central Illinois between 1820 and 1840. There was ball-playing going on in the Illinois Country prior to that but pre-modern baseball was most likely brought to the area by the Yankees.
Five thousand words later, I promise that I'm wrapping this up. Probably.
I think that there are two benefits to looking at the history of ball-playing in the Midwest within the context of the history of the Illinois Country. First, it gives us a well defined time frame and a better defined geographical framework to investigate the early history of baseball in the area. The Illinois Country defines the time frame that we should be researching. Marquette and Joliet begin their exploration of the area in 1673. Fort de Chartres is built in 1718. So we have a 150 year time frame to look at and research between the coming of the Europeans to the Illinois Country and the coming of the New York game. Geographically, it makes better sense to look at the Illinois Country, encompassing parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Iowa, rather than looking at things on a state-by-state basis. Modern state borders are rather arbitrary and have little to do with the cultural units that exist in the United States. Their is a much stronger cultural relationship between St. Louis, Missouri and Cahokia, Illinois than there is between Cahokia and Chicago or St. Louis and Kansas City. The geographical boarders of the Illinois Country (even defined as loosely as they are) provide a better cultural unit to investigate than do modern states.
The second benefit to the Illinois Country construct is that it illuminates early ball-playing in St. Louis (which is kind of what I'm about here at TGOG). It helps to place pioneer St. Louis in a proper context. St. Louis, like Kaskaskia or St. Genevieve, was just a little French trading village in the Illinois Country and did not have the cultural impact on the surrounding area that it would have later in the 19th century. St. Louis was heavily influenced by the French culture of colonial Upper Louisiana as well as the Anglo-American settlements in Illinois. It's entirely possible that the Anglo-Americans introduced pre-modern baseball to St. Louis and the relationship between the communities is something that we'll have to come to grips with if we want to understand the history of 19th century baseball in St. Louis.
I'm at the beginning of this project and it's something that I'm excited about. It's going to be a long-term, on-going thing that will take a great deal of time and effort to see through. Most of what is uncovered will probably end up at Protoball and whatever the SABR Spread Project becomes, although I'm sure that I'll post some of the more interesting things that are discovered here at the blog. I'm very much interested in bringing others into this and hope that we can get some of the local historical societies involved. Anybody that's interested in the history of early baseball in the Midwest or in the pioneer society of the Illinois Country should email me at [email protected] or leave a comment here at the blog. I'd love to hear your thoughts about all of this.
Basically, where we stand at this point is that I'm aware of ball-playing going on in the Illinois Country as early as the late 18th century and I believe that ball-playing was going in the Illinois Country from the time of first European settlements. These settlements didn't exist in a vacuum. They were part of a broader culture which had ball-playing as one of its features. It makes sense that the early pioneers brought this culture of ball-playing with them to the Illinois Country.
I have questions about ball-playing among the settlers of Southern Illinois. At the moment, there is little evidence suggesting ball-playing among the Southerners who settled the region until after the Yankees had settled the central part of Illinois. While I expect to find evidence of ball-playing in Southern Illinois in the 1800-1820 era, I'm thinking that the Yankees had an influence on the types of games played in Southern Illinois after 1820. Much more work needs to be done in this area and I still need to take a look at western Indiana and eastern Iowa (and Kentucky, for that matter). Where the settlers of Southern Illinois fit into the big picture at this point is still a mystery.
The influence that the Yankee settlers of central Illinois had on the area is unknown but we know that a ball-playing culture exits in central Illinois from the moment the Yankees show up. They bring not just ball games but it appears that they bring a specific form of pre-modern baseball that they called town-ball. There is no evidence suggesting that this form of pre-modern baseball was played among the French or Southern settlers of the Illinois Country. The earliest I can place pre-modern baseball in St. Louis is in the 1840s and that takes a generous interpretation of one specific source. But there are sources that place town-ball in Southern Illinois and parts of Missouri in the same period. So it's not much of a stretch to think that the Yankees brought pre-modern baseball to the Illinois Country in the 1820s and it spreads throughout the region in the next couple of decades. There is ample evidence to suggest that versions of the game were popular in the area in the 1850s.
Essentially, what I've presented here is a thin sketch of an outline tracing the development of pre-modern baseball in the Illinois Country from 1700 to the late 1850s, when the New York game found its way west. There is much work to be done fleshing out this outline and I'm certain that many of my conclusions will be reworked as more evidence comes to light. But I think we're off to a good start.
Before I proceed, let me define the concept of the Illinois Country for those who are unaware of it. Essentially, the Illinois Country was a geographical, rather than political or legal, entity. It was the part of North America, claimed, explored and settled by the French in the 17th and 18th century, that is pictured in the above map. While the borders of the Illinois Country were largely undefined, basically it was the great river valley that was created by the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri Rivers. The northern border was normally considered the Illinois River, the eastern border was the Wabash River and the western border was undefined (but certainly extended west of the Mississippi). Before France lost her territories east of the Mississippi to England after the French and Indian War, the Illinois Country was considered part of Upper Louisiana. After the French and Indian War, the Mississippi River became the western border of the Illinois Country.
I think that the concept of the Illinois Country is useful for looking at the spread and development of baseball in America for several reasons. First, it takes out the arbitrariness of modern state borders. It allows us to look at the spread of the game in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Iowa as an organic whole rather than on a state-by-state basis. It gives us a look at the bigger picture in a more natural way. Secondly, when we look at ball-playing in the Illinois Country, we are looking at the influence that two different cultures had on the game. In general, the area was settled first by the French and then by Anglo-Americans and each culture was unique. It's safe to assume that each culture was playing different ball-games and that the interaction between the two in the Illinois Country had an effect on the development of the game in the area. Finally, I believe that the concept of the Illinois Country gives us not only a geographical and cultural construct to work with but it also gives a well-defined time frame to investigate. We know when the first Europeans came to the area and we know when the first settlements were established. Looking at the history of the Illinois Country allows us to go to the beginning of ball-playing in the area.
My look at ball-playing in the Illinois Country, however, leaves out one thing that I think I should mention. There is substantial evidence of ball-playing by the Native Americans in the Illinois Country and there is no doubt that they were playing ball games prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Personally, I find this rather interesting and have enjoyed reading 18th century accounts of Native American ball games. But, for our purposes, I'm not certain if these accounts are relative to an investigation into the development and spread of pre-modern baseball in the Illinois Country. There is no evidence that I'm aware of that shows these games influencing pre-modern baseball. I may very well be and would love to be wrong about this. I'm open to any arguments or ideas that anyone would like to suggest about Native American ball-playing and how it should be treated in an investigation of the development of the pre-modern game.
All of this information was developed while working on the SABR Spread Project and I should thank Larry McRay for, one, involving me in the project and, two, focusing my attention on Illinois. As I've said many times, I'm very parochial in my research and thinking. I'm interested in 19th century baseball in St. Louis and that's where my focus has been. This parochial mindset has given me a set of biases that has blinded me to certain possibilities when it comes to the spread of the pre-modern game and the origins of ball-playing in St. Louis. It's always been my thinking that any ball-playing in the region originated in St. Louis and spread outward from there. St. Louis was the biggest town, had the most people and the largest cultural and economic impact on the region. St. Louis influenced other towns in the region the way the gravitation of the Earth influences the orbit of the Moon. What I've failed to think about is that the Moon also has influence on the Earth and the towns and people of the Illinois Country had a cultural and economic influence on St. Louis. Also, and just as important, St. Louis was not the first settlement in the Illinois Country. There were Europeans living in the area before the city was established and that's also something that I overlooked.
While getting the Spread Project underway, Larry passed along a couple of early Illinois references from the Protoball Chronology that peaked my interest. Attempting to run down more information about these references, I got pulled into the history of the settlement of the Illinois Country. Over the next few days, I'll share some of what I found as well as some speculation about the origins of ball-playing in the Illinois Country.
As I wrote yesterday, the idea of looking at the history, spread and development of the pre-modern game within the context of the history of the Illinois Country represents, at least for me, a breakthrough in how to research, organize and present the history of baseball in the Midwest. I don't want to blow this out proportion or present it as the greatest thing since the invention of foul territory but I think it's a useful construct that hasn't been explored. If I were to write a grand, three-volume history of 19th century baseball in St. Louis, I would start with the European settlement of the Illinois Country because that's were the history of ball-playing in the area begins.
European involvement in the Pays des Illinois (the country of the Illinois Indians) began in the late 17th century, as the French solidified their claims to the area beginning with the explorations of Marquette and Joliet in 1673. They built a series of forts and settlements in the Illinois Country that can be seen in the above map. Missionary settlements were established at Cahokia and Kaskaskia in 1699 and 1703, respectively. Fort de Chartres was the first fort built in the area, in 1718, and the settlement of Prairie du Rocher was established near the fort in 1722. St. Genevieve was built in 1750 and Fort Massac, near present-day Metropolis, Illinois, was built seven years later.
This French colony in the Illinois Country does not appear to have been particularly large, with a population that never exceeded four thousand, and life in the colony centered around missionary work, mining and farming. The French had a difficult time getting people to come to the area from France itself and most of the early settlers were from French Canada.
I should mention at this point that I really don't know that much about life in the Illinois Country during the French colonial era but I'm in the process of reading about it and gathering information. A lot of the sources, obviously, are in French, a language which I can't speak or read. I could really use a translator. If anybody can read French and feels like translating a book about 19th century French children's games, let me know. The job makes up for its lack of pay by all the hard work that you have to put into it. But the point here is that we're at the beginning of this process and it's important to identify the French settlements in the Illinois Country so that we know were to begin to look for evidence of ball-playing.
Their are several sources that speak about ball-playing in French Illinois during this era but almost all of them are related to Native American games, specifically le jeu de la crosse (my French is improving by leaps and bounds the further I get into this project). The Gratiot sourcereferences ball-playing in late 18th century St. Louis but I've yet to find the original source. Henry Gratiot stated in 1825 that "when a Boy, he has frequently played Ball against [Motard's Mill.]" I had speculated that Gratiot may have been playing barn ball but further research leads me to believe that he was most likely playing la balle au mur (ball and wall). I've found a source with a long description of la balle au mur but, alas, it's in French and the translation is going to take some time. It appears to be a two-person game similar to handball but once I manage to translate the text, I'll know more.
But, at the moment, that's really it as far as sources describing ball-playing in the Illinois Country during the French colonial period. However, the Gratiot source confirms that the French settlers were playing ball-games and I believe that it's only a matter of time and effort before more sources emerge. The reason I believe this is simple: the French settlers brought their civilization with them to the Illinois Country and ball-playing was a part of that civilization. David Block, inBaseball Before We Knew It, wrote about the culture of ball-playing in France and raised questions about whether the French ball games influenced English baseball or vice versa. Specifically, he mentioned theque and le balle empoisonee but there were several other French ball games that were played during the colonial era including la balle au mur, la balle aux pots and balle au camp. Again, I'm in the process of translating text and discovering more about these games. While these games may or may not have had an impact on the development of baseball, they were more likely than not played in the Illinois Country in the 18th century and were probably the first European ball games played in the area.
When we look at the history, development and evolution of baseball in America, we tend to overlook the contributions of the French to the ball-playing culture that grew up in America in 18th and 19th century. This is understandable because of the prominent role that the English and the Anglo-Americans played in the development of the game in the Eastern part of the country. But we shouldn't overlook the contributions of the French and the impact that they had on American culture, specifically in the Illinois Country, New Orleans and the upper Midwest. In these areas, the first European ball-games played had to have been French ball-games. That fact, for some reason, appears to have slipped through the cracks.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about the coming of the Anglo-Americans and an explosion in ball-playing in the Illinois Country in the 1820s.
I've been talking over the last two days about the idea of looking at the early history of ball-playing in the Midwest within the context of the history of the Illinois Country as well as the idea that the French brought the first European ball games to the Midwest in the 18th century. I've also lamented the fact that I can not speak, read or write French and that I could use a French translator (please send your resume to [email protected]). Today, I want to look briefly at the history of the Illinois Country under Anglo-American rule and, more importantly, the impact that Anglo-American settlers had on ball-playing in the region.
After the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years' War, if you prefer), the English took control of the Illinois Country east of the Mississippi. The English, rather shortsightedly, closed the area to European settlement with the Proclamation of 1763 and in 1787, during the Revolution, George Rogers Clark led 175 soldiers into the Illinois Country and captured Fort Massac, Cahokia, Kaskaskia and Vincennes, securing the area for the Americans. With the Louisiana Purchase, the western part of the Illinois Country was added to the United States in 1804.
The result of all of this chaos during the last half of the 18th century was a discouragement of European settlement in the Illinois Country. The French/Creole population declined in the eastern part of the country, many resettling across the Mississippi in St. Louis and there was little Anglo-American settlement in the area prior to 1800, due to discouragement by the English prior to the Revolution and a conflict between Virginia and the Federal government over control of the area after the war. The passage of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, Illinois becoming a separate territory in 1809 and, finally, a state in 1818 settled the political uncertainty. A stable political situation for the first time in over half a century and the beginning of the public sale of land in 1814 had a significant effect on the number of people coming into the Illinois Country.
The Anglo-American settlement of the Illinois Country occurred in two phases. The first took place at the beginning of the 19th century as Southerners, mostly from Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, began to settle in the southern part of the state. The settlement patterns prior to 1820 can be seen in the two maps below.
One can see that settlement followed the rivers of Southern Illinois inland from the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and was largely centered in the American Bottoms area, across the Mississippi from St. Louis, and along the Wabash River on the Illinois/Indiana border.
The earliest references to ball-playing in Illinois come from this period. Interestingly, these references come from a colony of Englishmen who had settled near the Wabash after the War of 1812. The Protoball Chronology has the following:
1818c.5 – English Immigrants from Surrey Take Cricket to IL
“There have been [p.295/p.296] several cricket-matches this summer [of 1819], both at Wanborough and Birk Prarie; the Americans seem much pleased at the sight of the game, as it is new to them.” John Woods, Two Years Residence on th Settlement of the English Prarie, in the Illinois Country (Longman & Co., London, 1822), pp. 295-296.
On page 148 of the book: “On the second of October, there was a game of cricket played at Wanborough by the young men of the settlement; this they called keeping Catherine Hill fair, many of the players being from the neighborhood of Godalming and Guildford.”
In 1818 [page 295]: “some of the young men were gone to a county court at Palmyra, [but] there was no cricket-match, as was intended, only a game of trap-ball.”
The English Prairie settlement was centered around Albion, Illinois in Edwards County. There were some settlers already in Edwards County when the English showed up, mostly Kentuckians, and, understandably, they were not too pleased with their new neighbors.
While looking into the history of the English Prairie colony, I found this:
When I first arrived at Albion, a more disorganized, demoralized state of society never existed: the experiment has been made, the abandonment of Christian institutes and Christian Sabbaths, and living without God in the world has been fairly tried. If those theologians in England who despise the Sabbath and laugh at congregational worship, had been sent to the English settlement in Illinois at the time I arrived, they would, or they ought to have hid their faces for shame. Some of the English played at cricket, the backwoodsmen shot at marks, their favourite sport, and the Sunday revels ended in riot and savage fighting: this was too much even for infidel nerves.
-Letters from the Illinois, 1820-1821
So the earliest references to ball-playing in the Illinois Country, excepting the Gratiot source and references to Native American games, was to cricket and trap-ball, played by Englishmen, between 1818 and 1820.
I'm not sure how significant it is that there are no sources (that I've been able to find) that describe ball-playing among the Southerners who moved to the Illinois Country in this first large wave of Anglo-American settlement. I find it difficult to accept the idea that ball-playing was not a significant part of their culture but that may very well be true. Ball-playing may have been more prevalent in Yankee culture than it was in the culture of Southerners. I just don't know right now.
But I do know that when I start to give up on the Southerners who settled Southern Illinois prior to 1820, I find stuff like this:
In the early times, fifty or sixty years ago, when the modern games of croquet and base-ball were unknown, the people used to amuse themselves with marbles, "town-ball"-which was base-ball in a rude state-and other simple pastimes of a like character. Col. Mayo says, the first amusement he remembers in the county was a game of town-ball, on the day of the public sale of lots in Paris, in which many of the "young men of the period engaged."
-The History of Edgar County, Illinois
Edgar County is just north of Edwards County and at the northern fringe of Southern settlement. The book the reference comes from was published in 1879 and "fifty or sixty years ago" would place the ball-playing in the same time-frame as the Albion references, around 1820 or so.
At the moment, that is the extent of references to ball-playing among the first wave of Anglo-American settlers in the Illinois Country. There are some later references to town-ball and old cat, from the 1830-1850 period, and while they're significant, it's likely that the ball-playing that was taking place in Southern Illinois during that period was influenced by the arrival of the Yankees in central Illinois after 1820 as well as technological advances that increased trade and travel in the region. While I'm not writing off the Southerners as ball-players, there is, so far, not much evidence of them playing ball-games prior to 1820. Much more work needs to be done and there is plenty of research ahead but, as of now, I don't see much of a ball-playing culture among the earliest settlers of Southern Illinois, especially when compared to the Yankees who flooded into central Illinois after 1820.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about this flood of Yankees and the culture of ball-playing that they brought with them during the second stage of the Anglo-American settlement of the Illinois Country. And I apologize for the fact that this now looks like a five-part posting. I had absolutely no idea that this was going to run on for so long but it is what it is.
So here I am, still prattling on about ball-playing and the Illinois Country. But at least today, we're getting to the juicy stuff.
The second wave of Anglo-American settlement of the Illinois Country occurred immediately after Illinois became a state in 1818. It took place in the central part of the state and followed the Illinois River north. In the above map, we see the extent of the spread of settlement in 1840. We see the southern settlements in the American Bottoms and Wabash River areas as well as a new population center in the Sangamon River valley that was settled largely by Yankees from New England, New York and Pennsylvania. These new settlers brought a culture of ball-playing with them.
Their are numerous accounts of pioneer life in the Illinois Country in the decades before the Civil War and many of them contain references to ball-playing. In the histories of Menard County, Mason County, Fulton County, McLean County, and Henry County, there are several references to town-ball and bull-pen as favorite pastimes. All of these counties were in the Sangamon River valley, just north and west of Springfield, Illinois. But together, they describe a lively ball-playing culture existing among the Yankee settlers of central Illinois that began in the 1820s and continued into the Civil War era.
Before I pass along a few of these references, I want to make one observation. Evidence of this ball-playing culture in central Illinois lends a great deal of credence to the Abraham Lincoln town-ball stories. It is often difficult to separate truth from myth when it comes to Lincoln and this is true when it comes to the Lincoln ball-playing stories. They are often dismissed as apocryphal and having been created in an attempt to wrap baseball in the flag. While some of that may be accurate, the fact that a vigorous ball-playing culture existed in central Illinois at the time Lincoln lived there and that the men of the community were active ball-players supports the idea that Lincoln was a ball-player. Each Lincoln ball-playing reference has to be judged on its own merits but, in general, I think it's safe to say that Lincoln, like all the men in his community, played pre-modern baseball. It would have been an aberration if he hadn't.
The evidence of an active ball-playing community exists in the county histories of central Illinois. A series of these histories were written in the 1870s and, while they are not contemporary evidence of ball-playing in the area, they do present testimony from people who had lived during the pioneer era. All the caveats about the memory of human beings apply and much more research needs to be done but the fact that there are multiple accounts describing, in similar detail, ball-playing in central Illinois in the 1820-1840 era gives weight to the evidence. I offer some of the more interesting accounts below:
The principal game among the boys was "bullpen," a kind of ball. The party was equally divided. A field was laid out with as many corners, or bases, as there were men on a side. They tossed for choice, the winners' side taking the corners, or bases, the others going into the "pen." The game was this: The men on the bases, tossing the ball from one to another as rapidly as they could, threw and struck one in the "pen" whenever they could. If one threw and struck no one, he was out; but if he struck one, the men on the bases all ran away, and if the one struck first did not throw and hit one in return, he was out; though if he did, both kept their places. So the game went on till all on the "corners" were out; the others then took the bases. This was a rough, but lively and amusing game. Those in the "pen" often had their ribs sorely battered with the ball; but many became such adepts in the art of "dodging" the ball when thrown at them, that it was almost impossible to strike them. The game was, in time, abandoned for a game called "town ball;" the present base ball being town ball reduced to a science.
-The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois
Almost all sources agree that bullpen was a popular game in central Illinois during the pioneer era. A close reading of this source has town-ball growing in popularity in the 1820s.
Canton was incorporated as a town Feb. 10, 1837. Upon that day an election was held to vote for or against incorporation, resulting in the adoption of the measure by a majority of 34, there being 46 ballots cast. Immediately thereafter the following five Trustees were chosen: David Markley, Joel Wright, Thomas J. Little, William B. Cogswell and Franklin P. Offield. They held this first meeting March 27, 1837, "at Frederic Mennerts' inn..." Under by-laws adopted by this Board, revenue was to be raised by a tax on all real estate within the boundaries of the town, which, it was provided, should be assessed at its true value, and upon the assessment "an ad-valorem tax of not exceeding fifty cents on every one hundred dollars should be levied by the President and Trustees annually." Section 36 of the ordinances provided that "any person who shall on the Sabbath day play at bandy, cricket, cat, town-ball, corner-ball, over-ball, fives or any other game of ball, within the limits of the corporation, or shall engage in pitching dollars or quarters, or any other game, in any public place, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined the sum of one dollar."
-History of Fulton County, Illinois
This is a fascinating reference that gives us a catalogue of ball-games that were being played in central Illinois in the 1830s. I find it significant that one of the first things that the Board of Trustees did upon incorporation of the city was to ban ball-playing on Sundays. This speaks, I believe, to the extent of ball-playing activity in the area. If there wasn't a great deal of ball-playing going on, there would have been no need to pass a law against it. Also, the fact that town-ball is specifically mentioned, separate from a number of other ball-games, suggests that this was a specific game played in central Illinois, rather than a catch-all term used to describe any number of pre-modern ball games. I believe that Larry either has this reference up at Protoball already or it will be up after the next update.
The boys didn't play base ball in 1835. It hadn't been invented. Where I lived..., we played "town ball." There was a pitcher and catcher. We ran in a circle, and being hit by the ball was out, or the man running the bases could be "crossed out," by throwing the ball across his path ahead of him as he ran. They also played "one-old-cat" and "two-old-cat" with ball and bat.
-History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume 1
That's a nice reference to a cross out and again distinguishes between town-ball and other forms of ball games.
We played games to a finish, such as long town; town ball, which was a kind of rudimentary football; [and] shinny in cold weather to keep all warm and going...
-Educational Review: Volume XL
An interesting reference that complicates things a bit with the reference to town-ball as a type of football game but the reference to long town makes up for it. The writer is speaking about his school days in Canton, Missouri in the early 1850s. While the reference is dated a bit late for our purposes, I'm really interested in the possibility of the Anglo-American culture of ball-playing spreading to the rest of the Illinois Country. Canton was just across the river from the Sangamon River valley ball-playing area and the ball-games they were playing should have been influenced by the games played just east of the Mississippi. Also, shinny was being played in St. Louis in the 1850s so, again, we may be looking at evidence of a specific game spreading throughout the region. I'll have more to say about that tomorrow.
In the general, the point I'm trying to make today is that we see a great deal of ball-playing in the Illinois Country after the Yankees arrive in the 1820s. While there is evidence of the French and Southerners playing ball, it is nothing like what we see once the Yankees arrive. Once the Yankees settle in central Illinois, we see an explosion of ball-playing and a vibrant ball-playing culture. It appears, at this point, that we can trace the origins of baseball in the Illinois Country to the Yankees who settled central Illinois between 1820 and 1840. There was ball-playing going on in the Illinois Country prior to that but pre-modern baseball was most likely brought to the area by the Yankees.
Five thousand words later, I promise that I'm wrapping this up. Probably.
I think that there are two benefits to looking at the history of ball-playing in the Midwest within the context of the history of the Illinois Country. First, it gives us a well defined time frame and a better defined geographical framework to investigate the early history of baseball in the area. The Illinois Country defines the time frame that we should be researching. Marquette and Joliet begin their exploration of the area in 1673. Fort de Chartres is built in 1718. So we have a 150 year time frame to look at and research between the coming of the Europeans to the Illinois Country and the coming of the New York game. Geographically, it makes better sense to look at the Illinois Country, encompassing parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Iowa, rather than looking at things on a state-by-state basis. Modern state borders are rather arbitrary and have little to do with the cultural units that exist in the United States. Their is a much stronger cultural relationship between St. Louis, Missouri and Cahokia, Illinois than there is between Cahokia and Chicago or St. Louis and Kansas City. The geographical boarders of the Illinois Country (even defined as loosely as they are) provide a better cultural unit to investigate than do modern states.
The second benefit to the Illinois Country construct is that it illuminates early ball-playing in St. Louis (which is kind of what I'm about here at TGOG). It helps to place pioneer St. Louis in a proper context. St. Louis, like Kaskaskia or St. Genevieve, was just a little French trading village in the Illinois Country and did not have the cultural impact on the surrounding area that it would have later in the 19th century. St. Louis was heavily influenced by the French culture of colonial Upper Louisiana as well as the Anglo-American settlements in Illinois. It's entirely possible that the Anglo-Americans introduced pre-modern baseball to St. Louis and the relationship between the communities is something that we'll have to come to grips with if we want to understand the history of 19th century baseball in St. Louis.
I'm at the beginning of this project and it's something that I'm excited about. It's going to be a long-term, on-going thing that will take a great deal of time and effort to see through. Most of what is uncovered will probably end up at Protoball and whatever the SABR Spread Project becomes, although I'm sure that I'll post some of the more interesting things that are discovered here at the blog. I'm very much interested in bringing others into this and hope that we can get some of the local historical societies involved. Anybody that's interested in the history of early baseball in the Midwest or in the pioneer society of the Illinois Country should email me at [email protected] or leave a comment here at the blog. I'd love to hear your thoughts about all of this.
Basically, where we stand at this point is that I'm aware of ball-playing going on in the Illinois Country as early as the late 18th century and I believe that ball-playing was going in the Illinois Country from the time of first European settlements. These settlements didn't exist in a vacuum. They were part of a broader culture which had ball-playing as one of its features. It makes sense that the early pioneers brought this culture of ball-playing with them to the Illinois Country.
I have questions about ball-playing among the settlers of Southern Illinois. At the moment, there is little evidence suggesting ball-playing among the Southerners who settled the region until after the Yankees had settled the central part of Illinois. While I expect to find evidence of ball-playing in Southern Illinois in the 1800-1820 era, I'm thinking that the Yankees had an influence on the types of games played in Southern Illinois after 1820. Much more work needs to be done in this area and I still need to take a look at western Indiana and eastern Iowa (and Kentucky, for that matter). Where the settlers of Southern Illinois fit into the big picture at this point is still a mystery.
The influence that the Yankee settlers of central Illinois had on the area is unknown but we know that a ball-playing culture exits in central Illinois from the moment the Yankees show up. They bring not just ball games but it appears that they bring a specific form of pre-modern baseball that they called town-ball. There is no evidence suggesting that this form of pre-modern baseball was played among the French or Southern settlers of the Illinois Country. The earliest I can place pre-modern baseball in St. Louis is in the 1840s and that takes a generous interpretation of one specific source. But there are sources that place town-ball in Southern Illinois and parts of Missouri in the same period. So it's not much of a stretch to think that the Yankees brought pre-modern baseball to the Illinois Country in the 1820s and it spreads throughout the region in the next couple of decades. There is ample evidence to suggest that versions of the game were popular in the area in the 1850s.
Essentially, what I've presented here is a thin sketch of an outline tracing the development of pre-modern baseball in the Illinois Country from 1700 to the late 1850s, when the New York game found its way west. There is much work to be done fleshing out this outline and I'm certain that many of my conclusions will be reworked as more evidence comes to light. But I think we're off to a good start.
