Troops at Camp Jackson in May 1861
I don't want to spend a lot of time here talking about the events of Camp Jackson, soI'll just direct you to the Missouri Civil War Museum and their excellent page on the subject. Also, here's a nice little video that I found at a website called Missouri's Civil War:
I also recommend this video:
The Aftermath of Camp Jackson
The one thing I'd like to note about Camp Jackson is how it relates to the history of St. Louis baseball. In this confrontation between Union forces and the Missouri militia, we find a few of the most significant pioneer baseball players in St. Louis history. Merritt Griswold, who was one of the founders of the Cyclone Club and helped popularize the New York game in St. Louis, was an officer serving with Union forces at Camp Jackson. His clubmate, Willis Walker, also was serving with the Union side. Captured at Camp Jackson was another member of the Cyclone Club, Ferdinand Garesche, a left-handed hitting shortstop who turned the first known triple-play in St. Louis baseball history. Also captured that day was Martin Burke, a pitcher with the Morning Stars who would go on to fight in the war as an officer in the Confederate army.
Martin Burke
So we had not only a city and state divided but the baseball community in St. Louis was divided as well. Members of the baseball fraternity would go on to serve on both sides in the war. Some would be killed in action. Some would be taken prisoner. Some would become generals. But in May of 1861, these men were pointing guns at each other in St. Louis. Men who the previous year had taken part in some of the earliest baseball games ever played in the city were now willing to fight and kill each other. People - men, women and children - died in St. Louis on May 10, 1861, and some of our pioneer ballplayers were in the middle of all of that.
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