Civil War Baseball In St. Louis
The Camp Jackson Massacre - May 10, 1861
As I say, time and again, you can not understand the early history of baseball in St. Louis without understanding the Civil War. The history of the two are intertwined in a rather interesting way. Recent research, over the last few years, has uncovered a wealth of information about baseball in St. Louis during the war and has changed our understanding of the origins and early development of the game in the city. This page is devoted to telling the story of the pioneers of baseball in St. Louis who lived through one of the most tumultuous periods in our nation's history.
In a series of posts entitled St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War, I published all of the contemporary references I've found to Civil War era baseball in St. Louis, relying primarily on the Missouri Republican. Below, those posts are archived and linked, according to year:
1861
All of the posts covering the 1861 baseball season in St. Louis are now up and archived on their own page.
1862
All of the posts covering the 1862 baseball season in St. Louis are now up and archived on their own page.
1863
All of the posts covering the 1863 baseball season in St. Louis are now up and archived on their own page.
1864/1865
All of the posts covering the 1864 baseball season in St. Louis, plus information on the 1865 season through April of that year, are now up and archived on their own page.
Invited To The Field: A Source-Based Analysis of Baseball in St. Louis During The Civil War
St. Louis was one of the great hotbeds of baseball during the Civil War and the above piece presents information showing that.
In a series of posts entitled St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War, I published all of the contemporary references I've found to Civil War era baseball in St. Louis, relying primarily on the Missouri Republican. Below, those posts are archived and linked, according to year:
1861
All of the posts covering the 1861 baseball season in St. Louis are now up and archived on their own page.
1862
All of the posts covering the 1862 baseball season in St. Louis are now up and archived on their own page.
1863
All of the posts covering the 1863 baseball season in St. Louis are now up and archived on their own page.
1864/1865
All of the posts covering the 1864 baseball season in St. Louis, plus information on the 1865 season through April of that year, are now up and archived on their own page.
Invited To The Field: A Source-Based Analysis of Baseball in St. Louis During The Civil War
St. Louis was one of the great hotbeds of baseball during the Civil War and the above piece presents information showing that.
Basil Duke
The Civil War Reminiscences of General Basil W. Duke, C.S.A. is a fantastic book written by one of St. Louis' pioneer baseball players. I've excerpted the sections dealing with Duke's time in St. Louis.
St. Louis in the early 1860s
THE PIONEER BASEBALL ERA IN ST. LOUIS AND THE CIVIL WAR is a piece that I wrote, several years ago, for the website of the Missouri Civil War Museum. It's a bit out of date and doesn't reflect the most currant research but it's a good piece and contains a bunch of useful information.
Protoball has some fantastic information about Civil War-era baseball. There is an entire subsection of the Chronology devoted to Civil War-related baseball and Larry McCray has a great article entitled Ballplaying in Civil War Camps, which summarizes the available date about ballplaying activities among soldiers.
Protoball has some fantastic information about Civil War-era baseball. There is an entire subsection of the Chronology devoted to Civil War-related baseball and Larry McCray has a great article entitled Ballplaying in Civil War Camps, which summarizes the available date about ballplaying activities among soldiers.
The St. Louis Arsenal
A few resources that you may find interesting include Civil War St. Louis, a website I often use when doing research about the war; the Missouri History Museum's St. Louis Area Civil War Digitization Project, a database containing documents from the era; and the browsable and searchable Missouri Republican of 1861 to 1865, at the website of the State Historical Society of Missouri. Check TGOG's link section for more.
