The Resolutes Were A Bunch Of Cheaters

The match game of base ball, which was to come off on yesterday afternoon between the Hope and Resolute Clubs of this city, did not come off on account of a dispute arising between both Clubs - the latter Club having two players on their nine belonging to the Empire Club.

-Missouri Republican, September 27, 1864

And know we know even more about the Hope and Resolutes.  The Resolutes were a bunch of cheaters and the two clubs probably didn't like each other much. 

At first glance, the Resolutes attempt to use two members of the Empire Club in their nine doesn't appear to be that big of a deal.  It wasn't uncommon for a club to use members of other clubs to fill out their nine for a match, if they were short players.  The fact that the Hope protested this tells us a few things.  First, the scheduled match was viewed by the clubs as something more than a friendly.  There was something at stake in this match.  It may have been simply pride or honor but it may also have been the season series.      

Secondly, this tells us a great deal about the nature of baseball in St. Louis during the Civil War.  The fact that there was a protest shows us that the game had developed beyond its social function and was seen as something more than physical exercise and fun.  The game had developed a competitive function and the teams were playing to win.  This is extremely important as it parallels the national evolution of the game Morris talked about in But Didn't We Have Fun? and Goldstein wrote about in A History of Early Baseball.  This is more evidence to support the idea that St. Louis baseball, during the war, was dynamic and growing.         

It's possible that were looking at the development of the idea of a St. Louis baseball champion and a series that determined or impacted the championship.  While I've always believed that the Empire Club was the best team in St. Louis during the war years, the Hope and Resolutes appear to have been more active in 1863 and 1864 and it's possible that they were the two best clubs in St. Louis at the time.  The list of teams that could have been the champions of St. Louis during the period is certainly limited to the Empires, Hope, Resolutes and Commercials and I have no real evidence that suggests one club was better than the others.  The idea of a St. Louis and Missouri champion didn't really develop officially until after the war and it's probably futile to talk about a St. Louis champion until the 1865 season, when the Empires claimed the mythical Championship of the West.  But, if the game in St. Louis had developed a competitive character by 1863 or 1864, it would have been natural to argue over and attempt to determine who was the best club in the city.  It's human nature. 

We see this kind of dispute, again and again, in the late 1860s and early 1870s, as teams are fighting for the championship under the auspices of the state amateur association and the association had to adjudicate the disputes.  It's fascinating to see the same thing in 1864 when there was no official body to mediate between the clubs and enforce the rules of competition.  It's simply not something I expected to see during the war years and is another in a growing list of examples showing that the evolution of the game in St. Louis was not as retarded during the Civil War as I had previously believed.     

It Seems That I Know A Lot About The Hope And Resolute Clubs

There was an interesting match of base ball Saturday afternoon, between the Hope and Resolute clubs, the former being successful.  The total runs were: Hope 33; Resolute 21.

-Missouri Republican, August 30, 1864

The Hope and Resolute Clubs were two of the more active clubs in St. Louis during the later part of the Civil War and they continued to play in the post-war era.  They both had junior clubs and there is substantial evidence of the social activities of the clubs during the late war years.  It is known that the Resolutes had their home ground at the Abby Racetrack and that the Hopes formed in September of 1863.

This is actually a shockingly large amount of information to have about two obscure St. Louis Civil War-era clubs.   

The 1861 Rules

There is an ad in the August 8, 1864 issue of the Missouri Republican for a book entitled The Finger-Post to Public Business.  The subtitle of the book is Containing the mode of forming and conducting Societies, Clubs and other Organized Associations and the ad mentions that it contains the "Rules of Cricket, Base Ball, Shinny, Yachting and Rowing, and Instruction concerning Incorporations..."

Being the industrious fellow that I am, I thought I'd see if I could find a copy of this book and, it just so happens, that there is a copy online at Google Books.  It turns out that The Finger-Post to Public Business contains the "Rules and Regulations Adopted by the National Association of Base-Ball Players, Held in New York, December 11, 1861."  

The 1861 rules (or the rules for the 1862 season) are interesting in themselves but they are not as significant as the 1857 rules, which defined the modern game, the 1858 rules, which allowed the umpire to call strikes on the batter, the 1860 rules, which introduced the batter's box, or the 1863, which allowed the umpire to call balls.  I don't consider myself to be an expert on the minutia of 19th century baseball rule changes but those four sets of rules, I believe, are the most significant of the antebellum and war years.  I haven't gone through the 1861 rules in detail but it may be that they introduced the use of chalk foul lines, which is a unique distinction.  

More importantly, we see here, in the use of newspaper advertising, a way in which the rules of baseball were spread from New York throughout the country.  The Finger-Post was a book published in New York and it could be purchased from the publisher by anyone in the United States for $1.50.  Send your money to New York and you would receive your book in the mail.  Simple enough.  But if it wasn't for the growth of daily newspapers in the antebellum era, someone in St. Louis would never have discovered that he could have purchased the book.  When we talk about the growth of baseball and its spread outside of New York, newspapers and the new information technology of the era are an important part of the story.         

More Civil War-Era St. Louis Baseball Clubs

A match game of base ball came off on Thursday afternoon, between the Laclede and Young Commercial Base Ball Clubs, which resulted in a victory for the former.

A match game was also played yesterday afternoon on Gamble Lawn, between the St. Louis and Missouri Base Ball Clubs, which resulted in the defeat of the former.

-Missouri Republican, May 7, 1864


We continue to discover more baseball clubs that played in St. Louis during the Civil War.

I was aware that the Lacledes had organized in 1861 but this is the first evidence that I think I've ever seen of them playing a match during the war years.  The Young Commercials, I have always assumed, were the same club as the Commercial Juniors, who I knew were active during the war, but I should really look into that more.  And here we also find evidence of the existence, during the war, of the St. Louis and Missouri Clubs.

I should also point out that the St. Louis/Missouri match is more evidence of the popularity of Gamble Lawn as a site of games during the war.    

Were The Morning Stars Active In 1863?

An interesting game of Base Ball came off on Thursday, at Lafayette Park, between the "Morning Star" and "Young Commercial" Base Ball Clubs, resulting in the defeat of the former.

-Missouri Republican, May 3, 1863


I'm not sure why I titled the post in the form of a question given the material that I just presented to you but I have some doubts.  I've shown previously that clubs using the name "Morning Star" were active in both 1861 and 1862.  Here we have a club using the name and active in 1863.  But I'm unconvinced that the old antebellum, Carr Park Morning Stars were still active in 1862 and 1863.  I can see them being active in the spring and summer of 1861 but I know too much about the antebellum club to accept that it was still in existence after that. 

What I think we have here is clubs using the Morning Star name after the original club disbanded, much as you see various versions of a Red Stocking club in St. Louis in the 1880s.  I don't have much evidence to support this other than a hunch and the fact that there is no one in this 1863 game that I can identify as a member of the antebellum club but I think I'm right.        

Tobias Was Holding Out On Us

At a meeting of the "Commercial Base Ball Club," the following gentlemen were elected officers for the ensuing year:

Wm. Bliss Clark, Esq., President.
A.W. Howe, Esq., Vice President.
Jno. W. Donaldson, Esq., Secretary and Treasurer.
Messrs. C.F. Gauss, Edwin Fowler and Hy. L. Clark, Directors; and Messrs. E.H. Tobias and E.C. Simmons, Field Captains.

-Missouri Republican, May 3, 1863

While he mentioned that he was a member of the Commercials, Edmund Tobias never bothered to mention that he was one of the captains of the club during the Civil War.  I also don't believe he ever mentioned the fact that the Commercials played during the war.  In fact, I believe that he specifically mentioned that the club broke up at the beginning of the war.  But I guess I can find it in my heart to forgive the Herodotus of 19th century St. Louis baseball. 

Captain Tobias' club was one of the most important pioneer-era baseball clubs in St. Louis and I regret not writing about them in Base Ball Pioneers.  When the publication of the book got pushed back, I mentioned to Peter Morris that I wanted to add something about the club to my chapter, which was already completed.  In the end, I choose not to do so even though Peter thought it was a good idea.  I liked my chapter as it was and while I had some information on the Commercials, I just didn't think I had enough to put together something interesting.  Of course, it's three years later and I know a lot more about the club.  I know that they were one of the two most active clubs in St. Louis during the Civil War.  I know about their role in developing Lafayette Park as a baseball grounds.  I know more about the members of the club.  I know that they had a junior club.  I know who their officers were in 1863.

The Commercials have been overlooked by baseball historians.  That's something I want to rectify.        

The Third Anniversary Game

The Match Game of Base Ball between the married and single nines of the Empire Club, on Thursday, 16th instant, was won by the former by five runs.  

-Missouri Republican, April 19, 1863


This was the Empire Club's third anniversary game and was played at Gamble Lawn.  Unlike most of their other Civil War-era anniversary games, there were no problems or postponements.  For once, everything went smoothly.

Empire Club Officers For 1863

The Empire City Base Ball Club held a meeting Monday evening and elected the following officers for the ensuing year:

President, L.P. Fuller; Vice-President, Jno. F. Walton; Secretary, Jno. W. Williams; Treasurer, Henry Barklage; Captains, James Rule and Jno. F. Barrett; Directors, Daniel Coyle, C. Mosier and J.T. Murphy.

A grand game is to be played by the Club on Gamble Lawn on the 16th inst., the occasion being the anniversary of the organization of the Club - playing to commence at 2 P.M.

-Missouri Republican, April 9, 1863


A couple of weeks ago, I gave you the Empire Club officers for 1861 and now we have the officers for 1863.  Still haven't found the officers for 1862.  Of interest only to me is that one of the club directors was a Mosier.  My maternal grandmother was a Mosier and I like the idea that one of my ancestors could have been a member of the Empire Club.   

The Commercial's Club Room

Commercial Base Ball Club - There will be a meeting of the members of this Club at their room, (Gas Company's Building,) No. 31 Pine street on Thursday, 13th March, 1862.  A full attendance is requested, as business of importance will come before the meeting.  Wallace Delafield, Secretary.

-Missouri Republican, March 12, 1862


This is significant because it gives us the address of the Commercial's club room during the Civil War.  Also, I can't remember if I ever mentioned that Delafield was an officer of the club or not so let's pretend that this is new information.   

Death And The Civil War

I just had a chance to watch the PBS documentary Death and the Civil War and I wanted to recommend it to all of you. 

Anyone who has read this blog or has a familiarity with 19th century baseball knows the important role that the Civil War played in the history of the game.  We can disagree about what that role was and how the war impacted the evolution of the game but what is undeniable is the profound effect the war had on the nation.  Inspired by Drew Faust's This Republic of Suffering, Death and the Civil War takes an unique look at this by focusing on the 750,000 men who died in the war and the toll their deaths took on their families and the nation.  It tells an amazing story about how 19th century America thought of and dealt with death and how an infrastructure had to be developed to physically deal with the number of Civil War dead. 

It is extraordinary to realize but the nation was still dealing with the problem of getting the fallen a proper burial well into the 1870s.  Think about the photos you've seen of the dead at Antietam or Gettysburg.  Think about the number of people who died at Vicksburg and Shiloh.  Death and the Civil War tells the story of how the nation dealt with this.  It tells how the families dealt with it emotionally and how the nation dealt with it physically.  It tells us the story of how the soldiers themselves dealt with it.  It's just a fantastic documentary and I encourage you to watch it.

Of course, being who I am, I was thinking about baseball the whole time I was watching it.  I was thinking about Edward Bredell and his father and the story of how Bredell ended up being buried in St. Louis.  I was thinking about all these pioneer baseball players who went off to war and saw the horrors of battle.  I was thinking about how Peter Morris, in But Didn't We Have Fun?, wrote that, when these guys came back home, they simply no longer had time for baseball and moved on with their lives.  I was thinking about the post-war outbreak of baseball fever and how it may have been a reaction to all of the death that the nation had been subjected to.

I've written before about how we need to place 19th century baseball in its proper context and how understanding the history of the Civil War helps us to do that.  I firmly believe that you can not understand the history of baseball in the United States without understanding the history of the Civil War.  In St. Louis, specifically, the origins and early development of the game in the city are intertwined with people and events surrounding the war.  Some of our earliest clubs break-up because of the outbreak of the war.  People like Jeremiah Fruin move to St. Louis because of the war.  People like Merritt Griswold leave St. Louis because of the war.  The development of the Empire Club as the best baseball team in St. Louis is directly tied to the war.

I can not emphasize enough how important it is to put these people and events into their proper context.  The Civil War was the biggest event in these peoples lives and it had a profound impact on them.  Death and the Civil War does a fantastic job of showing how the war changed people.  It shows us how they had to change in order to deal with the terrible events of the war.  And, as a historian, this helps me to understand Edward Bredell, Sr., Jeremiah Fruin, Merritt Griswold and the rest just a a little bit better.

As I said, I encourage you to watch it and I'm certain that you'll enjoy it.                     

The Top Twenty Games In 19th Century St. Louis Baseball History: # 15

15. August 22, 1861: Empire Club vs. Empire Club

St. Louis - May 10, 1861

The Match Game of Base Ball Interrupted--The match game of base ball, on Gamble avenue, yesterday, was brought to a somewhat abrupt termination.  While the game was in progress a German Home Guard came upon the field and persisted in remaining in the way of the players.  After having been asked two or three times to retire behind the line he was then taken by the arm by the person appointed to keep the field clear, when he (the Home Guard) attempted to strike him.  The blow was returned, the German going down.  He then went away, and in about half an hour afterwards a detachment of Home Guards came and surrounded the whole field, creating quite a panic among a number of ladies and gentlemen who were assembled to witness the game.  The order was given to take all the players to Turners' Hall as prisoners, but Mr. Griswold (formerly a captain in the Home Guards) and a few others persuaded the acting captain of the Home Guards to withdraw his men from the field.  The Guards were withdrawn.

-Missouri Republican, August 23, 1861


This is one of my favorite games in the history of St. Louis baseball and it's a significant event in the history of Civil War St. Louis. 

E.H. Tobias' version of what happened in this game is much more interesting than the account given in the Republican.  Tobias, while he had some of the details of the game wrong, wrote that the Empire Club was playing a game between the single and married members of the club and had set up a tent on the grounds for refreshments and for the playing members to use to change into their uniforms.  Above the tent, they raised a banner that had been given to the club by Col. John McNeil, who had received it from one of the St. Louis' old volunteer fire companies.  The St. Louis Home Guard, which had been federalized by Nathaniel Lyons prior to the attack on Camp Jackson, believed that the banner was a secessionist flag, surrounded the grounds and demanded that the flag be taken down. 

At that point, all hell broke loose.  According to Tobias, the Home Guard "marched straight to the middle of the field surprising the players and causing such consternation among the audience that it quickly dispersed amid the shrieks and cries of the terrorized women and children, and to the deep indignation of the members of the club, some few of whom giving way to their anger, seized on bats, bases (they were movable in those days) and anything with which they could make a fight. [Empire Club captain Jeremiah ] Fruin sprung to the front of the soldiers, ordered the ball players back and caused a suspension of hostilities." 

Things were a bit more serious than Tobias let on.  On May 10, 1861, following the attack on Camp Jackson, Union forces opened fire on a crowd in St. Louis, killing several people.  There was the very real possibility of violence here.  If Fruin had not restrained his players, it's entirely likely that the Home Guards would have opened fire on them.  Merritt Griswold, who was the umpire for the game and an officer in the Home Guard, also played a prominent role in calming things down.

Now the Republican mentions nothing about the flag and blames the incident on one unruly member of the Home Guard.  This is entirely possible, although no reason is given for the soldier's behavior.  It's possible that he was the one who mistakenly believed that the Empire Club was flying a rebel banner and that's what set him off.  That is, of course, speculative but one of the reasons I believe Tobias' version of events is because of the fact that Basil Duke had almost caused a riot in March 1861 by doing exactly what the Empire Club was accused of doing.  In fact, the Empire Club banner that Tobias described was rather similar to the banner flown by Duke.

Martial law had been declared in St. Louis on August 14, 1861, just over a week before the Empire Club's match, and things were rather tense in the city.  Nathaniel Lyons had been killed in action on August 10th at the Battle of Wilson's Creek.  The fate of Missouri and St. Louis was still up in the air.  The Civil War was very real and very close to home to the people of St. Louis.  The idea that the United States military would break up a baseball game and come close to shooting ballplayers seems alien to us but that was the reality that the citizens of St. Louis were dealing with during the first summer of the war.  As I mentioned, civilians had already been shot upon and killed by U.S. forces in St. Louis.  The Civil War was not an abstract idea to these people.  It was very much a daily matter of life and death.  And this game is the perfect example of that.             

A Praiseworthy Enterprise

All travelers speak of the physical deterioration of American men and women from the average old world standard.  All agree that the want of muscular exercise, or the prevalence of particular obnoxious kinds are the predisposing causes of this deterioration...

Within a decade - partly owing to the example set by the general introduction of the Turner's societies and an appreciation of our national defect by teachers and writers for youth - a reform has set in, in the shape of gymnastic clubs, base ball clubs, and other organizations devoted to the cultivation of the physical man.  These associations are highly praiseworthy, and are generally conducted with decorum.  Few, except the best of our citizens, whether minors or adults, would seek satisfaction in innocent and beneficial recreation.  Hence we find the much more numerous class of both who might lower the respectability of such diversions...and turn to the race-course, the gambling house, the grog-shop or the brothel.  

-Missouri Republican, August 30, 1863


I don't know if I've ever heard of the possibility that baseball spread and grew in popularity because of some kind of progressive reform pushing physical exercise.  There was a reform movement in the 1870s, supporting shorter work weeks, that played a role in the growth of the number of amateur baseball clubs but I'm talking more about the origins of the game and how it spread in the 1850s and 1860s.  With the growth of the urban population and the physically negative effects of an urban life, it seems possible that there could have been some kind of movement encouraging physical exercise during this period and baseball was in a position to take advantage of that.  I don't really know if that's true but it's an interesting thought.

Grasping At Straws

First grand Basket Pic-nic of the Hope Base Ball Club, to be given on August 4th, at Laclede Station, on the P.R.R.  Cars leave precisely at 8 o'clock A.M.  Tickets one dollar.

P.S. - An interesting game of base ball to be played on the occasion.

-Missouri Republican, August 2, 1864


This is a vital piece of information as far as tracing the first baseball game in Granite City, Illinois, is concerned.  Now, as I live in Granite City, this is rather interesting to me and I admit that it may be of interest only to me.

Several years ago, I posted about a picnic that the Resolute Club held somewhere around the area that would become Granite City.  I had to assume that baseball was played at the picnic and the above piece from the Republican supports that assumption.

I know I'm grasping at straws but I like the idea that a baseball game took place in 1865 just a few blocks from where I live.       

The Commercial Club At Gamble Lawn

The Commercial Base Ball Club have their regular field exercise on Gamble Lawn this Saturday afternoon.  Members are requested to be prompt in attendance, and Base Ball players generally are invited to the field.

-Missouri Republican, June 18, 1864


This is really interesting.  One of the last references to the Commercial Club in the Republican was in 1863 and it was in regards to their trying to get a clubhouse built at Lafayette Park.  That request was taken to the Common Council, where it was placed in the hands of a subcommittee who forwarded it to the Board of Improvements.  I'm not sure what happened after that.  However, here we find the club holding their practice days at Gamble Lawn and that leads me to believe that the club's request was turned down.  If they had been allowed to build a clubhouse at Lafayette Park, they would be playing at Lafayette Park.  But they're not.

Also of interest is the general invitation that the club extended to all ball players.  Why would they do that?  Was the club short players?  Was the war having a negative effect on the number of players in the city?  Or was it just courtesy?  Maybe they were just being nice but I'm not sure if I've ever seen an open invitation like that to a club's practice day.        

A Civil War-Era Baseball Grounds At Eighth And Hickory

A spirited match took place yesterday at the grounds on Eighth and Hickory streets, between the Empire and Hickory clubs.  The former proved the victors by a score of twenty-eight, to nine for the latter.

-Missouri Republican, May 10, 1864

This is specifically notable for the fact that the game was played at Eighth and Hickory.  I was unaware of a baseball grounds located in the area, which is the currant location of the 4 Hands Brewing Company, makers of outstanding beer. 

And, again, I'm hammering home the point that there was much more baseball activity going on in St. Louis during the Civil War than was previously believed.  Also, it's not just that there was baseball going on but that the game was growing in St. Louis during the war, with new players, new clubs and new grounds.    

The Beaten Party Are Not Yet Satisfied

Last Saturday, the "Enterprise" Base Ball club of this city, and the "Carondelet" Club of Carondelet, played a match game for a ball, in which the St. Louis boys came out "first best" by large odds, leaving he Carondelet players fairly behind, according to a report of the game which has been sent us by Master Plant, the Scorer for the "Enterprise."  We learn, however, that the beaten party are not yet satisfied, and that another game is to be played to-day.

-Missouri Republican, April 9, 1864


Again, to the same point, we see substantial baseball activity in St. Louis during the war years, when the secondary sources and general theory suggested we wouldn't find it.  This evidence is going to have a profound impact on not only St. Louis baseball history but, I believe, on the history of baseball during the Civil War.  We're going to have to come up with a new way of thinking about baseball during the Civil War that deals with this data.      

Two Newly Organized Clubs Of This City

A match of base ball was played on Sunday afternoon, September 27th, between two newly organized clubs of this city - Hope and Eclipse - which was a decided victory of the former.  Umpire, David Coyle; Scorers, J. Fountain and J.H. Teahen...

-Missouri Republican, September 28, 1863

This goes to what I was talking about yesterday.  Here we have two new clubs forming in September 1863, at the height of the Civil War, when our general theory about the effect of the war on the growth of the game would lead us to believe that this wouldn't be happening.  Among the eighteen players in this game, which the Hope won 26-21, I don't recognize one name.  So these were not the pioneer players of the antebellum years or guys who were playing in the first few years of the war.  These look like new players taking up the game and forming new clubs while St. Louis is under martial law and millions of men are fighting on battlefields across the country.

Again, I have to say that the evidence supports the idea that the war had little or no effect on the growth of the game in St. Louis.  

For The Purpose Of Securing Their Clothing While Playing Base Ball

Mr. Dailey presented a petition from members of the Commercial Base Ball Club, asking the passage of an ordinance granting them permission to erect a building at Lafayette Park for the purpose of securing their clothing while playing base ball.  Referred to special committee of three.

-Missouri Democrat, June 13, 1863


A couple of months ago, I posted a little something about this but this piece from the Missouri Democrat gives us the added details about the building the Commercials wanted to put up at the park.  Again, I have to point out that this is an unexpected expansion of baseball activity at a time when our general thinking about the effects of the Civil War on baseball activity would lead us to think that there would be a contraction in the number of clubs and games being played.  If the war had a negative effect on the health of the game, you wouldn't expect to see the Commercial Club wanting to build a clubhouse at Lafayette Park in 1863.

The question of what kind of effect the Civil War had on baseball is an interesting one and now is not really the time to get into it.  But the old conventional wisdom that the war helped spread the game is, to say the least, unsupported by evidence.  There is substantially more evidence that the growth of the game was hindered by the war.  However, the evidence that I'm finding for Civil War-era St. Louis doesn't seem to fit into either one of those two categories.  The war did not influence the spread of the game to St. Louis because it was already being played here before the war broke out.  On the other hand, the war doesn't seem to have hindered it's growth or popularity much.  Yes, there were clubs that broke up due to the war.  Yes, we see much more activity among junior clubs than senior clubs.  But it appears that there were more clubs active in St. Louis in any given year of the war than there were in 1859 or 1860.  The game continued to grow in St. Louis during the war.  And that is not what I expected to find when I started looking through the Civil War newspapers.

St. Louis certainly has a unique place in baseball history, as well as American history in general, so I don't think it's possible to say that what we find in St. Louis during the war applies to the rest of the nation.  However, what was taking place in St. Louis must be accounted for.  It's impossible to say now that the war had an overall negative effect on the spread and growth of the game because the war seemed to have little effect on the growth of the game in St. Louis, where it was new and had just taken root.  The only way to argue that the war had a negative effect on the growth of the game in St. Louis is to say that it would have grown more than it did from 1861 to 1865 if not for the war.  I think you may be able to argue that but then you're arguing hypotheticals and degrees and things that can never be proven.

The bottom line is that no currant interpretation of the effect of the Civil War on the spread and growth of baseball fits the evidence that we find in Civil War-era St. Louis.                     

Martin Burke

Martin Burke

[Martin] Burke, a pitcher for the Morning Stars was born in Canada in 1836.  Living in St. Louis by 1860, he was a partner in a small grocery store and lived on N. 16th Street near Carr Square Park. 

While living in St. Louis, Burke joined the St. Louis Greys, the oldest volunteer militia unit in the city and by 1861 he was the Greys' commanding officer.  The Greys were mustered at Camp Jackson in May of 1861 and it can be assumed that Burke surrendered to Union forces along with the other Missouri militia units at Camp Jackson.  While he was most likely released upon promising not to take up arms against the Union, Burke joined the 1st Missouri Infantry on the Confederate side, serving as Captain.  In "short time [he] was brought home severely wounded.  He did not long survive..."

-Base Ball Pioneers 1850-1870


I started reading a biography of John S. Bowen, whose staff Edward Bredell served on, and I quickly came across the name of Martin Burke.  Bowen lived in St. Louis prior to the war and moved in the same circles as some of the city's pioneer baseball players.  He most likely knew the Bredell family prior to the outbreak of the war and, given the nature of their roles at the time of the Camp Jackson affair, he also probably knew Basil Duke.  Burke served under Bowen at Camp Jackson and, later, with the 1st Missouri Infantry.  It appears that the two men were friends.

The above photo of Burke comes from the Missouri History Museum. 

More On Bredell's Parole And Exchange

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, December 5, 1863.

Mr. President:  A general summary of the military operations of the past year is furnished by the report of the General-in-Chief, herewith submitted...

Exchanges under the cartel are now stopped, mainly for the following reasons:

First.  At Vicksburg over 30,000 rebel prisoners fell into our hands, and over 5,000 more at Port Hudson.  These prisoners were paroled and suffered to return to their homes until exchanged pursuant to the terms of the cartel.  But the rebel agent, in violation of the cartel, declared the Vicksburg prisoners exchanged; and, without being exchanged, the Port Hudson prisoners he, without just cause, and in open violation of the cartel, declared released from their parole.  These prisoners were returned to their ranks, and a portion of them were found fighting at Chattanooga and again captured.  For this breach of faith, unexampled in civilized warfare, the only apology or excuse was that an equal number of prisoners had been captured by the enemy...

Respectfully submitted.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.

I found Stanton's letter, explaining how the exchange cartel broke down following Vicksburg, in a PDF at the Villages Civil War Study Group website. 

As far as Bredell's situation is concerned, I think we have enough evidence to state that he was captured (or surrendered) at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, signed his parole form, stating that he would not take up arms against the United States until such time as he was exchanged, that same day and was most likely shipped to Mobile, Alabama, where he arrived no later than the middle of August 1863.  The Confederates then unilaterally declared that he, and the other Vicksburg parolees were exchanged and he was, in the view of his government, free to rejoin the fight.