In the summer of 1859 a meeting was held in the office of the old Missouri Glass Company, on Fifth street between Pine and Olive.  M.W. Griswold, a clerk in the company's store, who had lately moved to St. Louis from Brooklyn, N.Y., an enthusiast on baseball, aided by the exertions of Ed Bredele, had gathered together the nucleus of a club...

-St. Louis Republic, April 21, 1895

The Missouri Glass Company's Works are situated in the First Ward of the city of St. Louis, west of the Arsenal.  The Company was incorporated by an act of the Legislature and went into operation under their charter on the 29th day of May, and elected Edward Bredell, President, and Edward Daly, Secretary...

-Missouri Republican, December 26, 1859

In the summer of 1859 a meeting was held in the office of the old Missouri Glass Company, on Fifth street between Pine and Olive.  M.W. Griswold, a clerk in the company's store, who had lately moved to St. Louis from Brooklyn, N.Y., an enthusiast on baseball, aided by the exertions of Ed Bredell, had gathered together the nucleus of a club...

-St. Louis Republic, April 21, 1895

​Alfred H. Spink
Author The National Game
St. Louis, Mo.,

Dear Sir-One of the reporters of "The Standard Union" of Brooklyn, N.Y., showed me a few days ago a book written by you entitled the history of baseball.

To start at the commencement of the game in its first introduction into Missouri I would refer you to the files of "The Missouri Democrat" for the Winter of 1859 and 1860, where in you will find published "the rules of the game," also a diagram showing the field and the position of each player made from a rough sketch I gave to Mr. McKee and Fishback, the publishers, or to Mr. Houser, at that time their bookkeeper, cashier and confidential office man (and, by the way, a mighty fine young man).

At this same time I was organizing the first baseball club, "The Cyclone," which name was suggested by one of its members, Mr. Whitney, of the Boatman's Savings Bank.

Other members of "The Cyclone" were John Riggin, Wm. Charles and Orvill Mathews (the latter the late Commodore Mathews of the U.S. Navy), John Prather, Fred Benton, (later captain under Gen. Custer), Mr. Fullerton, (later a General, U.S.A.), Mr. Alfred Berenda and his brother, Mr. Ferd Garesche, Mr. Charles Kearney (son of Gen. Kearney), Mr. Edward Bredell, Jr., and a number of other young men of St. Louis.

Soon after the organization of "The Cyclone" several others were started, viz: "Morning Stars," "The Empire," "The Commercial" and later on several others.

The first match game played between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, (if not to the Pacific Coast), was between "The Cyclone" and "The Morning Stars" and was played in 1860, just back of the Old Fair Grounds in North St. Louis, "The Morning Stars" winning the game, the score of the game I now have. It is 50 years old, and the ball used in that first match game was for years used as the championship trophy, it going from one club to the other, and the last the writer ever heard of it, it was in possession of the Empire Club. I personally sent to New York for the ball to be used in this first match, and after the game it was gilded in gold and lettered with the score of the game.

"The Morning Star Club" was a "town ball" club and played from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Tuesday and Friday mornings in Carr's Park, but after considerable urging and coaxing on my part they passed a resolution at one of their meetings that they would try the national rules for one morning if I would coach them, or more properly, teach them, which I consented to do if they would agree to stick to it for the full hour without "kicking," for as I told them they would no like it until after playing it for a sufficient length of time to become familiar with some of its fine points, all of which they agreed to and kept their word like good fellows as they were, but in ten minutes I could see most of them were disgusted, yet they stuck to it for their hour's play. At the breaking up of the game to go home they asked me if I would coach them one more morning as they began to "kindy like it." I was on hand their next play day, or rather play morning at 5. Result they never played "town ball" after that second inning and in their first match, as stated above, "waxed" my own club. I could give you many incidents up to the breaking out of the civil war and the disbanding of "The Cyclone" by its members taking part on one side or the other.

Hoping you will excuse my intruding with these little facts in regard to early ball playing in St. Louis, I am

Yours Respectfully
Merritt W. Griswold.

P.S.-Although I am now in my 77th year, I take just as much interest in that splendid game as when a kid at school in old Chautauqua Co., New York, or when a member of the "Putnams" of Brooklyn in 1857 and the "Hiawathas" of the same place in 1858-59 in which latter year I went to St. Louis.

The Cyclone Thesis posits the following:  The Cyclone Base Ball Club of St. Louis was the first baseball club in St. Louis history and they began playing in the summer of 1859.

The First Base Ball Match In St. Louis - The first regular game of base ball played in our city will come off between the members of the "Cyclone" and "Morning Star" Base Ball Clubs, on Monday, the 9th inst., at 4 o'clock, P.M., in the field immediately west of the Fair Grounds.  The game, we understand is to be played according to the rules of the National Convention of Ball Players.  As the clerk of the weather has been consulted, everybody interested is anticipating a good afternoon's sport.  We rejoice to see the national game coming into such high favor with our young men.

To start at the commencement of the game in its first introduction into Missouri I would refer you to the files of "The Missouri Democrat" for the Winter of 1859 and 1860, where in you will find published "the rules of the game," also a diagram showing the field and the position of each player made from a rough sketch I gave to Mr. McKee and Fishback, the publishers, or to Mr. Houser, at that time their bookkeeper, cashier and confidential office man (and, by the way, a mighty fine young man).

At this same time I was organizing the first baseball club, "The Cyclone," which name was suggested by one of its members, Mr. Whitney, of the Boatman's Savings Bank.

Gentlemen - In addition to the rules and regulations for playing base ball, as adopted by the "United States Convention of Base Ball Players," I send you a diagram of the field, with the position of each man when engaged in a match.  As you expressed yourself desirous of publishing the latest rules of our national game, I thought a diagram of the field would be quite necessary to those unaccustomed to play according to the rules.  And I would further state that the Unites States Convention recognize no playing unless in strict conformity to those rules and regulations.

Yours respectfully,
M.W. Griswold.

-Missouri Democrat, April 26, 1860 

The diagram that appeared with Griswold's letter and the rules of baseball in the Missouri Democrat in April of 1860

The Cyclone Club came into existence in 1859 and included in its membership some of the brightest young men of St. Louis, among them a number of whom have left the impress of their handiwork in almost every honorable calling.

In the summer of 1859 a meeting was held in the office of the old Missouri Glass Company, on fifth street between Pine and Olive. M.W. Griswold, a clerk in the company's store, who had lately moved to St. Louis from Brooklyn, N.Y., an enthusiast on baseball, aided by the exertions of Ed Bredele, had gathered together the nucleus of a club, and after one or two preliminary meetings, the Cyclone Baseball Club was formed, the first in St. Louis, and the first west of the Alleghanies.

At this same time [as he was publishing the rules of the game in a St. Louis newspaper] I was organizing the first baseball club, "The Cyclone," which name was suggested by one of its members, Mr. Whitney, of the Boatman's Savings Bank...

​Soon after the organization of "The Cyclone" several others were started, viz: "Morning Stars," "The Empire," "The Commercial" and later on several others.

In the meantime the Civil War had been in progress and in 1862 Mr. [Leonard] Matthews, Chester H. Crum and John Riggin were sent with guns on their shoulders to arrest all who did not enlist in the militia.

​-St. Louis, The Fourth City, Volume 2; p. 762

Leonard Matthews

John Riggin

Born on June 16, 1834 in Clermont County, Ohio, John Griffith Prather worked on riverboats from a young age, moving to St. Louis in 1850. In 1852, he moved to California where he worked as a salmon fisherman before returning to St. Louis in 1855 to assist in his uncle’s wholesale liquor business. During the Civil War, Prather, served as an officer with the 5th Regimental Missouri Militia.

After the war, Col. Griff Prather, as he was commonly known, took over his uncle’s business and specialized in selling “Wine, Liquors, Cigars, &c.” to the many steamboats that frequented the St. Louis riverfront. He also owned shares in several steamboats throughout the 1860’s and 70’s that worked the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Red, and Arkansas rivers.

Prather, like Garesche´, was involved with the Democratic political machine in St. Louis. He was a member of the Democratic National Committee and, according to The New York Times, was “instrumental” in securing the 1888 Democratic National Convention for St. Louis.

On January 13, 1859, Prather married Marie Clementine Carriere, a member of the prominent Chouteau and Laclede families of St. Louis. He died on December 27, 1903.

Rev. Rufus E. Gamble, formerly of this county, now pastor of a Southern Methodist Church of St. Joe, is visiting relatives here.  Mr. Gamble's bad health may compel him to cease preaching regularly, in which event he thinks of going into business in this city.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 1, 1876

The will of Mrs. Louisa R. Gamble, widow of Archibald Gamble, was probated yesterday.  The estate is divided into seven equal parts for the benefit of her children and grandchildren...(Including) one part to her son, Rev. Joseph Gamble...(and) one part to her son, Rev. Rufus E. Gamble...The will is dated July 5, 1878, and is witnessed by Edward Bredell and Charles B. Cox.
​
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 9, 1879

 The Benteen Base Ball Club of Ft. Rice and the Actives of Ft. Lincoln played their third game at Lincoln to-day, for the championship.  The two previous games were played in the Black Hills, and were very closely contested, the scores standing 6 to 11 in the first and 11 to 16 in the latter, consequently the final game promises to be an exciting one.

-Bismarck Daily Tribune, September 9, 1874

Frederick William Benteen was born in the Virginia port city of Petersburg on August 24,1834 to Theodore Charles and Caroline Hargrove Benteen. The Benteens had moved to Virginia from Baltimore shortly after the birth of their first child, Henrietta Elizabeth, in October 1831. The elder Benteen earned a prosperous living as a paint and hardware contractor, securing a private education for his son at the Petersburg Classical Institute, where Frederick was first trained in military drill. Sadly, Caroline Benteen died suddenly in 1841, leaving a young husband and family. Undoubtedly, the loss of his mother at such an impressionable age impacted Frederick, but to what extent is unknown.

Following the marriage of his daughter in the spring of 1849, Charley Benteen followed the call of the west and moved his family to St. Louis, Missouri. There, he remarried, established a paint and glass supply business, and employed his sixteen-year-old son as a sign painter. In 1856, Frederick became acquainted with Catharine Louisa Norman, a young woman recently arrived in St. Louis from Philadelphia. "Kate", a staunch supporter of the Union, would have a profound influence on the future of Frederick Benteen.

The election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. President in 1860 polarized the country, and Missouri was no less affected than any other state in the Union. Kate strongly urged Frederick to support the cause of the Union forces in Missouri. His father, an ardent secessionist, vehemently opposed Frederick's association with Unionists, igniting a family crisis that was never truly resolved. When told of his son's decision to support the Union, Charley Benteen retorted, "I hope the first God damned bullet gets you."

As early as July 1861, Frederick was observing and supervising the drill of volunteer infantry companies in and around the St. Louis Arsenal. He got his first taste of battle -- although not officially on the rosters of any of the participating units -- on August 10, at Wilson's Creek. Outnumbered five to one, volunteer and Federal forces under Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon attacked a concentrated force of 22,000 Confederates ten miles southwest of Springfield, inflicting over 5000 casualties before retreating in ultimate defeat to Rolla. The opening act of the Civil War in Missouri, although inauspicious, cemented Frederick's decision to join with the volunteers.

On September 1, the 67 members of what would become the 1st Battalion, Missouri Cavalry, held an election of officers; Frederick Benteen was elected first lieutenant of C Company. By October 1, the battalion was at full strength and Benteen was elected captain and commander of C Company. Twelve days later, Benteen saw his first action as an officer at Dutch Hollow against a large body of irregular Confederate cavalry.

On January 7, 1862, Benteen married his longtime girlfriend, Kate Norman, at Saint George's Church in St. Louis. Only her immediate family attended the ceremony. Their honeymoon was short; within three days, Frederick returned to Rolla. Kate settled into their new home to wait out the war.

He was a good soldier, Benteen. He was dearly fond of fishing ("I saw him wade over his boot tops many times into the cold water to get mountain trout," one of his troopers recalled in later years) and he loved baseball with an extraordinary passion. As a matter of fact, most men in H Company were members of the "Benteen baseball and gymnasium club." The Benteen Nine, it seems, was a ringer. It regularly shellacked Army competition. For instance, in June 1875, when the Benteens played the Fort Randall First Infantry, the final score was Benteens, 54; Randalls, 5.