Category: Wallace-delafield

Wallace Delafield

2/12/2016

Mr. Chester presented the petition of the "Cyclone Base Ball Club," praying the Council to grant them the privilege of using for their playground the vacant space formerly reserved for the military at Lafayette Park, and also the right of leveling and smoothing the same for that purpose...

[Mr. Wells] presented petition of C.L. Kretschmar, W. Delafield, et. al., members of the Commercial Base Ball Club, asking permission to use the grounds in Lafayette Park, as petitioned for by the Cyclone Club.

-Missouri Republican, March 5, 1861

Commercial Base Ball Club - There will be a meeting of the members of this Club at their room (Gas Company's Building) No. 21 Pine street on Thursday, 17th March, 1862. A full attendance is requested, as business of importance will come before the meeting.

Wallace Delafield, Secretary.

-Missouri Republican, March 12, 1862

Wallace Delafield, a member of the Commercial Base Ball Club of St. Louis, was born in Cincinnati on May 1, 1840. At some point his family moved to St. Louis and the young Delafield was educated at Edward Wyman's school. In 1854, he went to work as a clerk for F. A. Hunt & Company and then for William N. Newell & Company. By 1857, Delafield was working as a clerk for Pomeroy & Benton, a wholesale dry goods store, and after the Civil War he returned to work for William Benton until 1869. That year he entered the general insurance business with Lewis Snow and the company they formed, Delafield & Snow, was still operating in St. Louis at the time of Delafield's death on August 8, 1915.

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St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: Business Of Importance

7/18/2014

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Moving on to 1862:

Commercial Base Ball Club - There will be a meeting of the members of this Club at their room (Gas Company's Building) No. 21 Pine street on Thursday, 17th March, 1862. A full attendance is requested, as business of importance will come before the meeting.

Wallace Delafield, Secretary.

-Missouri Republican, March 12, 1862

As a new baseball season began in St. Louis in 1862, the war was raging and there was a lot going on. On March 3, Union forces began the siege of New Madrid, Missouri, in what would become known as the Battle Of Island Number Ten.

Island Number Ten

Look at that picture. You needed control of that island to control the Mississippi and one of the major objectives of the Union in the west was to gain control of the lower Mississippi, from Cairo to New Orleans. During the Battle of Island Number Ten (which, by the way, is a great name for a battle), the city-class ironclads, designed by James Eads and built in Carondelet, saw some of their first action.

The USS St. Louis

Equally as important as the fight at New Madrid was the Battle of Pea Ridge, which began on March 6. This battle, which was fought in northern Arkansas, resulted in a Union victory that essentially removed any serious Confederate threat against Missouri. The war would go on and there would be continued fighting in the state but, with the victory at Pea Ridge, the Union had effective control of the state.

The Battle of Pea Ridge

Finally, something you may have heard of before. On March 9, at Hampton Roads, Virginia, the Monitor and the Merrimac had their famous clash. I don't think I have to tell you anything about this one although I will add I'm aware that the Merrimac was actually the CSS Virginia but when I was a kid we called it the Merrimac. The Monitor and the Merrimac has a much better ring to it than the Monitor and the Virginia.

The Monitor and some other ship

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Wallace Delafield

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: Business Of Importance

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