Questions Of Loyalty

This may be one of the coolest things I've ever found.  Pictured above is a copy of a loyalty oath signed by Cyclone Club member Ferdinand Garesche.  Garesche was captured at Camp Jackson in May of 1861 and was forced to sign a loyalty oath at that time before he was paroled.  This particular document appears to be dated April 1, 1867 and Garesche needed to sign it in order to comply with provisions of the new Missouri constitution that had been adopted in 1865.  I also found a copy of a loyalty oath signed by Edward Farish, another member of the Cyclone Club, that was dated October of 1865.

Interestingly, there are references in the papers of the St. Louis Provost Marshall dating to May and June of 1863 with regards to the loyalty of Garesche and Farish's clubmate, Charles Kearney.  It appears that Kearney was accused of being "disloyal" in May 1863 and the next month it appears that Kearney refused to sign a loyalty oath.

The fact that Farish and Kearney were not particularly pro-Union is important information.  We already knew that, among the Cyclone Club, Basil Duke, Ed Bredell, Gratz Moses and Ferdinand Garesche either served in the Confederate army or had pro-Confederate sympathies.  We also know that Merritt Griswold, Orville Matthews, Frederick Benteen, Joseph Fullerton, John Riggin, Alexander Crossman, Griff Prather and Willie Walker either served in the Union army or had pro-Union sympathies.  This division within the club is important because we have several sources stating that it was these specific political divisions that led to the breakup of the club in 1861.

If you've been reading the parts of Duke's memoir that I've been posting, you can get a feeling for the political stresses that these gentlemen were living under.  It's almost impossible to imagine Duke and Orville Matthews, a United States naval officer, sitting together in the same room in the spring of 1861.  It's almost impossible to imagine Griswold and Bredell being friends.  But, prior to the outbreak of the war, these men were friends and clubmates.  These men enjoyed each others company and played together on the baseball field.  But, by the summer of 1861, the stress and the pressure of the war was too much and, just as the nation had torn itself apart, the Cyclone Club splintered along political lines and dissolved.

Again, this is all about context.  It's about putting these men, this club and this era of baseball history in the proper context.  I think that it's easy to think of the Civil War as an abstraction, as something remote and removed.  But it was the reality of men like Ferdinand Garesche, who claimed, after Camp Jackson, that he was not pro-secession and that he was only visiting the camp when the attack took place.  Regardless of the fact that he was most likely a conditional Unionist and never took up arms against the United States, he was forced, twice, to sign a loyalty oath and forever lived with the stigma of being disloyal.  This was the man who turned the first unassisted triple play in St. Louis baseball history.  He was a pioneer of the game in St. Louis and a member of the city's first baseball club.  But the loyalty oath at the top of this post is tangible evidence of the effect the Civil War had on his life.        

Charles Kearny

Charles Kearny, a son of the celebrated Gen. Stephen W. Kearny,...is an old settler of St. Joseph (Missouri) and has been for many years a clerk in the Pacific Hotel.  He is well known to commercial travelers and has been a witness of the great changes, not only in this city but in the surrounding country.  In 1878, he assumed the position of clerk in the Pacific House...During all these years our subject has been day clerk, hardly missing a day.

Our subject was born in Jefferson Barracks, Mo., March 7, 1834, and is son of Gen. Stephen and Mary (Radford) Kearny...

In 1855 Mr. Kearny came to St. Joseph, where he entered into a retail grocery business, and built the second brick house in the place.  On account of the wildcat money and the corresponding depression in financial circles, he left the business at the end of two years, and then went to Texas where he engaged in running a ranch, raising horses and sheep until the war broke out.  For the following two years he was in St. Louis and other cities.  Going to Leavenworth, Kans., he engaged in the grain and commission business, contracting to furnish the Government with supplies.

In 1866 Mr. Kearny returned to St. Joseph as agent for the St. Louis Steamboat line, continuing with them for about two years.  His next step was to operate a farm of one hundred and sixty acres near Wathena, Doniphan county, Kan., and he continued as a farmer for some fifteen years.  While there, he was one of the County Commissioners for two years.

In Jersey City, in September, 1855, our subject married Miss Annie Stewart, who was born in New Jersey.  Her father, Thomas G. Stewart, was for some years a business man in St. Louis...Mr. and Mrs. Kearny have seven children: Mary, the wife of W.W. Bloss, formerly editor of the Gazette; Harriet, Mrs. H.A. Owen; Annie, wife of W.C. Bragg; Radford, who is engaged in the cigar business in this city; Robert, a clerk in the Micholet Hotel; Jennie and Phillip, who live at home.

Under John Corby Mr. Kearny was a City Councilman...He is a Democrat in politics, and religiously belongs to Christ Episcopal Church.

-Portrait and biographical record of Buchanan and Clinton counties, Missouri

According to this, Kearny did not return to St. Louis until, at the earliest, April of 1861.  Based on that, it's difficult to see how he could have been a member of the Cyclone Club, as Merritt Griswold stated in his letter to Al Spink.  We have a decent amount of knowledge about the activities of the club in 1859 and 1860 but know nothing about what happened in the spring of 1861 except for the fact that the club broke up.  It's possible that the club, despite deep political divisions, was still active right up until the Camp Jackson affair in May of 1861.  It's possible that Kearny arrived in St. Louis just prior to the break up of the club, joined and was able to get in a few games.  It's also possible that the book, which was written in 1893 and most likely based on Kearny's recollections, is wrong.  It's also possible that Griswold was wrong and Kearny was never a member of the Cyclone Club.  

At this point, without further evidence, it's difficult to say.  However, I'm inclined to believe that the timeline is off by a year of so and Griswold was correct to state that Kearny was a member of the Cyclones.   

More On The Make-Up Of The Cyclone Club

In his letter to Al Spink, Merritt Griswold wrote the following:

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.

Several of these men can be identified in Kennedy's 1860 St. Louis City Directory. Most interestingly, Edward Bredell, Jr. was the son of Edward Bredell, Sr., who was the president of the Missouri Glass Company. Bredell, Jr. worked for his father's company as a clerk, as did Merritt Griswold. Therefore, Bredell, Jr. and Griswold were not only members of the same baseball club but also co-workers.

According to Kennedy's Directory, John Riggin, Jr. worked for a real estate firm with his father, John Riggin, Sr. John G. Prather was employed with Daniel G. Taylor & Co., which sold wine and liquor. Ferdinand Garesche was a principle (along with John P. Norris) in the firm of Norris & Garesche who are listed as proprietors of the Western Spice Mills.

If one reads "Wm. Charles and Orvill Mathews" to mean "Wm. Charles Mathews and Orvill Mathews" then we can identify William Mathews, proprietor of Wm. Mathews & Co., as a member of the Cyclone Club. He is listed in the Directory as a commission merchant. There is no William Charles listed in the directory.

Fred Benton is Frederick William Benteen, who is listed in Kennedy's Directory as a painter. According to the Wyoming Tales and Trails website, Benteen was born in 1834, died in 1898, and retired from the United States Army as a brigadier general. It goes on to say that "At the beginning of the Civil War his family was living in St. Louis. As a result of the War, he was estranged from his father. At the beginning of the War, he announced his intention to enlist in Union forces. His father declared that he hoped his son would be killed by a Confederate bullet, preferable fired by a Benteen. Nevertheless, he enlisted. During the war he was responsible for the capture of a Confederate steamboat upon which his father was serving as an engineer. While other members of the crew were paroled, the elder Benteen remained imprisoned...His army career effectively ended upon a court martial for alleged drunkedness in which he was found guilty of three counts. Benteen, himself, felt himself a failure. " At the Battle of Little Big Horn, Benteen was in command of three companies and was wounded in the right hand.

Charles Kearny is listed in Kennedy's Directory as a clerk and according to the Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri was the son of Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny and the husband of Annie Stewart.

Orvill Mathews is, of course, Edmund Orville Matthews and Mr. Fullerton is J.S. Fullerton.

Based on this research, I have to seriously back away from the ideas that I had concerning the influence of St. Louis' military community on the development of baseball in the city. Certainly Orville Matthews was an active duty naval officer at the time he was a member of the Cyclone Club and Jeremiah Fruin was in the army when he came to St. Louis. Benteen and Fullerton, however, did not join the army until the Civil War and there is no evidence, so far, of Kearny serving in the military.

Update: Griswold, in his letter to Spink, also mentioned a "Mr. Whitney" who worked for "Boatman's Savings Bank" and was the one who suggested the name "Cyclone" for the club. "Mr. Whitney" was Robert S. Whitney who worked as a teller at what was then called Boatman's Savings Institution.

The Martial Make-up Of The Cyclone Club

I've been looking at the members of the Cyclone Club and noticed that several of the members were either in the military in 1860 or would go on to have prominent military careers.

Merritt Griswold was a Captain with the 3rd regiment of the United States Reserve Corp. Orville Matthews was a graduate of the Naval Academy, Class of 1855. Joseph Fullerton was practicing law in St. Louis in 1860 but would serve as an officer in the Civil War and rise to the rank of General. Edward Bredell was an officer in the Confederate army and served with Mosby's Rangers. Charles Kearny was the son of General Stephen Watts Kearny. Fred Benton would serve as a Captain under General Custer.

One would have to assume it's common for teams of this era to have a high percentage of members who would serve in the Civil War. But I think the Cyclones may be a bit different. Matthews was an active duty naval officer in 1860. It's likely that Kearny was an active duty army officer and Griswold was already a member of Reserve Corp. This leads me to speculate that the Cyclone Club may have been formed by some of the military men in St. Louis and their friends (heavy emphasis on speculate).

Add to this the fact that Jeremiah Fruin was in the army prior to the Civil War and was stationed in St. Louis in 1861 and one can begin to see a pattern. The influence of military men who came to St. Louis prior to and during the Civil War on the development of baseball in the city seems to be rather prominent and demands more research.

Note: The picture at the top of this post is of the cemetary at Jefferson Barracks around the turn of the century.