A match game of Base Ball was played on Hickory and Ham streets, between the Imperial, Jr., and Mississippi Base Ball Clubs, resulting in the defeat of the former.
-Missouri Republican, April 10, 1865
We have a couple of new clubs here for 1865. I don't believe I have any other references to the Mississippi Club and, while I have two references to the Imperials, this is the first reference to a junior club. Taking a quick glance through the 1865 material, I'd say there were at least ten new clubs active in St. Louis that year. The general pattern that we see nationwide is an increase in clubs and matches in 1865, after the war ends. This is the beginning of the outbreak of post-war Base Ball Fever and what we see in St. Louis in 1865 appears to fit the national pattern.
On April 9, the day before this notice appeared in the paper and, likely, the day this game was played, the Battle of Appomattox Court House was fought and Lee surrendered to Grant in the parlor of Wilmer McClean's House. With the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, the war in the East was basically over. However, regardless of what you learned in school, the Civil War was fought in other places besides Virginia and it would take some time for it to wind down in the West. So we're not done with this just yet.
On April 9, the day before this notice appeared in the paper and, likely, the day this game was played, the Battle of Appomattox Court House was fought and Lee surrendered to Grant in the parlor of Wilmer McClean's House. With the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, the war in the East was basically over. However, regardless of what you learned in school, the Civil War was fought in other places besides Virginia and it would take some time for it to wind down in the West. So we're not done with this just yet.
Wilmer McClean's House
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