Measure For Measure: The Death Of Edward Bredell

Asby's Gap

 

Although the campaign between [Union General Phil] Sheridan and [Confederate General Jubal] Early ended with the Union victory at Cedar Creek, the Federals had remained in the lower Shenandoah Valley.  Sheridan had not forgotten about Mosby nor Mosby about Sheridan.  Raids and counterraids still characterized the duel that had never really ceased.  On November 7, for instance, Colonel William Powell's cavalry division, entering Fauquier through Manassas Gap, rode through Markham, Piedmont, Rectortown, Upperville and Paris, collecting cattle and horses and burning crops and a few barns.

Mosby countered several days later, dispatching Richard Montjoy and Company D to the Valley.  Montjoy raided along the Valley Pike between Winchester and Newtown on the fifteenth.  His men bagged about twenty prisoners and their mounts.  Starting back for Fauquier the next day, Montjoy's men dispersed en route, with the Rangers who boarded in Loudoun County turning northeastward to cross the Shenandoah River at Castleman's Ferry.  Montjoy, with thirty men, proceeded toward Berry's Ferry and Ashby's Gap.  About two miles west of the crossing, a detachment of Blazer's Scouts attacked the Rebels.  The Yankee's gunfire killed Ranger Edward Bredell and scattered the others.  Mountjoy and Lieutenant Charles Grogan rallied the men a mile or so to the east at "Vineyard," the home of John Esten Cooke, one of Jeb Stuart's staff officers.  But the Scouts came on with a relentlessness, gunning down William A. Braxton, wounding five other Rangers and capturing two.  The remaining Confederates splashed across the river and escaped. 

-Mosby's Rangers

The above comes from Jeffry Wert's excellent book and, if you're interested in Civil War history, I recommend you pick it up.

Edward Bredell was killed in action on November 16, 1864, about two miles west of Berry's Ferry, in a skirmish between his company and a group from Blazer's Scouts, a unit that was specifically tasked with finding and eliminating Mosby's guerrillas.  While he died near Ashby's Gap, he did not die in the Battle of Ashby's Gap, which was a seperate engagement that took place in July 1864.  Incidentally, the skirmish in which Bredell was killed took place very near to what is today John Mosby Highway (U.S. Route 50).  Two days after Bredell's death, Mosby would effectively destroyed Blazer's Scouts at the Battle of Kabletown.

Berry's Ferry map from Civil War Scholars.com

While I don't want to get too much into the history of Mosby's Rangers, I think it's important to talk a bit about what was going on in the weeks leading up to Bredell's death, in order to understand the nature of the fight between the Rangers and the Scouts.  Mosby's men were, essentially, a partisan guerrilla band that would attack Union forces or raid behind their lines and then disperse or disappear among the civilian population in northern Virginia.  The Union response to Mosby's effectiveness was severe.  U.S. Grant issued Phil Sheridan rather simple instructions: "[Where] any of Mosby's men are caught hang them without trial".  While Sheridan did not issue general orders to execute prisoners, a series of executions and reprisals did take place.

John Singleton Mosby

On September 23, 1864, Union forces under the command of General George Custer executed six of Mosby's men, captured out of uniform, at Front Royal, Virginia.  The Union troops believed, erroneously, that during the skirmish that had taken place earlier that day, in which the six prisoners were captured, a Union officer had been executed by Mosby's men.  Four of the men were shot, one in the presence of his mother who had begged that his life be spared, and two were hanged.  On one of the hanged men, a note was pinned that read "Such is the fate of all of Mosby's men."

While Custer did not order the execution, Mosby held him personally responsible for the conduct of his men and Wert wrote that Mosby "instructed his men that whenever a member of Custer's command was captured, the prisoner should be separated from other captives and not forwarded to Richmond.  Mosby told Robert E. Lee in a letter of October 29 precisely what he had decided: 'It is my purpose to hang an equal number of Custer's men whenever I capture them.'  Lee gave his approval..."  By the time Mosby received word of Lee's approval, on November 6, another of his men had been executed by Union forces.

On November 6, at Rectortown, Virginia, seven Union prisoners, who had served under Custer, were selected by lot.  Four were ordered to be shot and three to be hanged, just as Mosby's men had been.  Of the four who were to be shot, two escaped and two were shot in the head but survived their execution.  The other three were not so lucky and were hung, one with a note pinned to his chest that read "These men have been hung in retaliation for an equal number of Colonel Mosby's men hung by order of General Custer, at Front Royal.  Measure for measure."

Capt. Richard Mountjoy

It is almost certain that Edward Bredell was at Rectortown that day because his commanding officer, Captain Richard Mountjoy, played a prominent role in the executions.  According to Wert, "As the condemned were being led to the place of execution in the Shenandoah Valley, the Ranger guard detail met Captain Richard Mounjoy and Company D in Ashby's Gap.  As was his custom, Montjoy was dressed fastidiously with a Masonic pin on the lapel of his coat.  Lieutenant Disosway, a member of the order, flashed the Masonic distress signal to Montjoy.  The Ranger captain convinced Edward Thompson, the Ranger in charge of the detail, to swap Disosway for a Custer trooper Montjoy had with him.  Thompson agreed, and Disosway was released to Montjoy for a cavalryman.  When Montjoy later told Mosby of the trade, the latter reminded the commander of Company D that the 43rd Battalion 'was no Masonic lodge.'"  It's an odd moment in a dark tale but the fact remains that Bredell most likely saw the execution party on November 6.

Interesting, Mosby, after the botched executions, did not seek to execute more of Custer's men, deciding that he had made his point.  On November 11, he wrote a letter to Sheridan, delivered under a flag of truce, stating what he had done and why he had done it.  He also stated that he would not execute any more prisoners "unless some new act of barbarity shall compel me reluctantly to adopt a course of policy repulsive to humanity."  The execution of prisoners in the Shenandoah Valley, by both Union and Confederate forces, ended at that point.  However, when Mosby's Rangers and Blazer's Scouts fought on November 16, the executions must have been fresh in the minds of all who took part in the battle and those engagements that took place around that time must have been desperate affairs.  In the back of Bredell's mind, and that of his comrades, must have been the thought that they would be executed if taken prisoner.   William Barclay Napton actually heard that Bredell had been executed and wrote as much in his journal. 

Some of Mosby's Rangers

This was the world that Edward Bredell was living in when he was killed just west of Berry's Ferry.  It's difficult for me to imagine the pioneer ball-player, the science student at Brown University and the business manager of the Missouri Glass Company involved in a nasty, dirty, brutal partisan guerrilla fight in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864.  But Bredell was one of Mosby's men and, after his capture at Vicksburg and his parole, he actively sought to join the Rangers.  Ulysses S. Grant, if he had the chance, would have hung him for that.  A bullet fired by one of Blazer's Scouts, however, saw to it that an execution would not be necessary.    

The Captivating Stories Of Freedom

Another Slave Stampede - Supposed Work of Abolitionists. - A few days since five negroes belonging to Mr. Edward Bredell, disappeared very suddenly from their master's farm, some six miles from this city, on the Clayton road.  The runaway party consists of a woman, aged about sixty, her two two sons and daughter, aged respectfully seven, twelve, and twenty-one years, and a young girl, closely related to the family.  the negro "Ike," twenty-one years old, was Mr. Bredell's coachman, and enjoyed the most unlimited confidence of his owner.  Mr. Bredell, himself, is on a visit to the East, the slaves at the time of their stampede, being in charge of an overseer.  The mother, it seems, devised the plan of departure from the farm, though there are circumstances which lead to the belief that the negroes had previously been tampered with by white men.  The old woman, having prepared her children for the journey, approached the overseer, as it was customary for her to do, with the request for permission to visit some colored neighbors.

This request was promptly granted, though we are informed the negroes had scarcely left the premises, before the suspicions of the overseer were awakened.  So strong indeed was his impression that all was not right, that he soon after went to the house which they pretended to visit, only to find that so far from being, or having been there during the day, their whereabouts were unknown.  The conviction was at once established that the slaves had run away.  Thus far they have eluded pursuit, though we understand no very extraordinary exertions have as yet been made to capture them.  The slaves had a most comfortable home - were well cared for, and well protected - and nothing, it is supposed, but the captivating stories of freedom, and life in Canada, breathed into their willing ears by some Abolitionist, could have induced them to take the step they have.  Mr. Bredell, a few years since, it will be remembered, emancipated thirty or forty slaves in Baltimore, property left him by will, and these who have now absented themselves, might possibly in the course of time have been served in the same way. - St. Louis News, Saturday.

-Louisville Daily Journal, August 28, 1860


Never underestimate the power of the idea of freedom.

I can't remember if I ever mentioned the fact that the Bredells owned slaves but this story about the escape of several of their slaves made the papers across the country.  This particular story from the Louisville paper has much more detail than I've ever seen and I figured I'd pass it along, since I'm in the mood to talk about the Bredells.

Knowing the various political leanings of the members, how would you have liked to have been at the next Cyclone Club practice day following the escape of the Bredell slaves, with the insinuation that it was the work of abolitionists?  I'm sure it made for an interesting conversation.  And it's important to note that it was instances like this that divided the country and the Cyclone Club.  The country didn't just wake up one day and decide to have a civil war.  It was one step forward after another until the situation was broken beyond repair.  There were people who believed it noble and proper to help slaves escape, just as there were others who saw it as accessory to theft and a violation of property rights.  Those kind of views could not be reconciled, regardless of whether you were fellow countrymen, family, friends or clubmates.  Step by step, incident by incident, they grew ever farther apart, hardening in their beliefs, until all that was left was war.      

Edward Bredell, Sr., And The Missouri Glass Company

There is a very nice biographical essay of Edward Bredell, Sr., in the Encyclopedia of the History of St. Louis: A Compendium of History and Biography for Ready Reference (1899), pp 218-219, that includes the picture above and some of the following information:

In 1834 [after graduating from Yale law school] he returned to St. Louis with the intention of practicing his profession here, but after being admitted to the bar, the delicate state of his health caused him to change his plans, and he engaged in commercial pursuits.  With the patrimony he had inherited, he embarked in merchandising in St. Louis, as a member of the firm of Sweringen & Bredell.  Later he associated with himself his brother, J.C. Bredell, under the firm of Edward & J.C. Bredell.  Both these houses were wholesale and retail establishments, and both were prosperous ventures in a financial sense.  Subsequently Mr. Bredell retired from mercantile pursuits and engaged in mining operations, smelting and shipping copper ore on Meramec River from Franklin County.  The Perrys, who were distinguished citizens of Missouri at an early day, and to whom Mr. Bredell had become related by marriage, were pioneers in the lead business in this state, and when one of the leading members of the family died, Mr. Bredell took charge of the interests of the estate and thus became identified with the working of lead mines and the manufacture of lead in St. Francis County.  These mines were known as the "Perry Mines," and the operations there were on a very large scale for many years.  Eventually Mr. Bredell retired from the conduct of this business and built the Missouri Glass Works for his son.  He became president of the corporation operating this enterprise, and remained at its head, or was connected with it as director, until he retired from business...The only son of Mr. and Mrs. Bredell was Edward Bredell, Jr., who was born August 3, 1839.  At the outbreak of the Civil War the younger Edward Bredell joined the Confederate Army, was commissioned captain and was assigned to duty on the staff of General Charles Feifer, in command of a brigade of Missouri troops.  After the battle of Corinth, Mississippi, he was transferred to General Mosby's command, and served in the famous "Black Horse Cavalry," until killed at the battle of Fredericksburg.  He was a gallant soldier and distinguished himself for bravery on numerous fields.

Leaving aside what I think are some obvious errors in the Civil War record of Edward Bredell, Jr., the most important piece of information that I take away from this is that Bredell, Sr., built the Missouri Glass Company for his son.  Also, I found it interesting that the writer of the essay whitewashed Bredell, Sr.'s pro-Southern political leanings and the difficulties he suffered in St. Louis during the war - difficulties that include the confiscation of his property and imprisonment.  

Edward Bredell's Military Record

As I stated yesterday, I was looking around for more information about Edward Bredell's military record and I found a couple of decent sources that give an outline of what Bredell was doing during the war.  The first was Civil War Record of Brown University (1920) - and now you know how I figured out that Bredell went to Brown.  That work gave the following summary of Bredell's Civil War service on page 28:

Edward Bredell.  First Lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp on the staff of General J.S. Bowen, April 23, 1863.  July 4, 1863, he was made a prisoner at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and paroled.  Later he enlisted as a private in Company D (Mosby's Cavalry command), Captain R.P. Montjoy's Company, organized in 1864.  He was killed in action...

The fact that Bredell was at Vicksburg was news to me.  The day after Vicksburg surrendered and Bredell was taken prisoner, the Commercial Club was celebrating the Fourth of July by playing a baseball game at Lafayette Park, the former grounds of Bredell's old ball club.  I imagine that the events of Gettysburg and Vicksburg were the big news of the day and you have to wonder how many of Bredell's old ball-playing friends learned about his capture that day.

The other source I found was a website called ranger95.com, which has some fantastic and detailed information about Civil War units.  Bredell is listed with the 43rd Cavalry Battalion, Company D, under the command of Captain Richard Paul Montjoy:

Enl. at age 22.  Occ. gentleman.  Pvt. in Co. of light art.  1st Lt. and ADC 6-10-62 to 8-30-62 Phofer's 3rd Brig., Maury's Div. Army of the West.  Recommended 1-7-63 as 1st Lt. & ADC to Gen. John S. Bowen.  Trans. 4-23-63 to staff of Gen. Bowen.  Capt. 7-4-63 at Vicksburg, Par. (date unknown).  Inv. in battles at Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Baker's Cr. and Big Black.  Filed application 6-6-64 for appointment to A & IG Dept.  Joined the 43rd. Va. Cav. (date unknown).  KIA. 11-16-64 in the "Vinyard Fight" near Berry's Ferry.  Bur. originally in the Shenandoah R. but later removed to Cool Spring Methodist Church Cem, Delaplane, Fauquier Co.  Remains later removed to the grounds of his father's home in St. Louis, Mo. on Laffayette Ave. between McNair and Missouri streets.  B. 1839, son of Edward Bredell and Angeline C. Perry.  

The June 10, 1862 date of Bredell's enlistment seems reasonably accurate, given that the Missouri Republican (June 20, 1864) stated that he had left St. Louis to join the rebellion on June 17th.  However, I would argue that Bredell's occupation should be listed as engineer, rather than gentleman.  Also, I think it's interesting to note that he had only been with Mosby's Rangers a few months before he was killed and most likely would have survived the war if he had honored the conditions of his parole.  And having said that, I don't know what the conditions of his parole were and he may have honored them by not serving as an officer with Mosby's outfit.  But, I think it's safe to say, if Bredell had honored the spirit of his parole and did not take up arms again against the United States, he would have survived the war.       

Edward Bredell, Class Of 1859

I got a copy of Jeffry Wert's Mosby Rangers in the mail this week.  Although I've read bits and pieces of the book before, I wanted to take a closer look at the battle in which Edward Bredell was killed, as it never seemed too clear as to what happened.  Wert's book is an excellent history of John Mosby's guerrilla unit and does have a great account of the battle, which I'll pass along shortly.  But, while looking for more information about Bredell's military record, I made a rather important discovery:  Edward Bredell attended Brown University.

Bredell, according to various sources, was a member of Browns' class of 1859 and was certainly at the university during the 1855-56 term.  According to A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Brown University, 1855-1856, Bredell was a first-year student, staying at University Hall and studying science.  His course load included classes in mathematics (geometry and algebra), chemistry, physiology and a foreign language (either French or German).  The 1857-58 catalogue does not list Bredell as a student at Brown and the Historical Catalogue of Brown University (1914) lists him as someone who attended the university but did not graduate.  It's unclear if Bredell was still at Brown in 1856-57 but, if he returned for a second year, he would have taken classes in natural philosophy, rhetoric, history, intellectual philosophy with a choice of electives among civil engineering, practical chemistry, and geology.

This is extremely significant for a couple of reasons.  First, Bredell was studying science and this was a course of study that would have a practical application in his life.  In May 1859, Bredell was named the business manager of the Missouri Glass Company, a company co-owned by his father.  If you look at the operations of the company, it's obvious that a great deal of practical scientific and engineering knowledge was necessary to run a company like that.  Bredell gained that knowledge at Brown University.  Also, Merritt Griswold, who also worked at the Missouri Glass Company, was an engineer and it appears that the two men shared a love of science, as well as a love of baseball.  We know how the two men, being co-workers, met and, with their shared science background, we can begin to imagine how they may have formed a friendship that had a significant impact on the history of St. Louis baseball.

More importantly, to that history and friendship, it's likely that Bredell had been exposed to the New York game while at Brown, which is located in Providence, Rhode Island.  Brown University played a significant role in the history of collegiate athletics and, specifically, in the history of collegiate baseball.  Providence, itself, had a history of ball-playing that dated back, at least, to the 1820s, a baseball club was formed there in 1857 and Brown had baseball clubs by the early 1860s.  I have little doubt that baseball was being played in Providence and at Brown when Bredell was there and, given his baseball activities in St. Louis a few years later, it's likely that he first played the game while a university student.  At the very least, Bredell most likely saw the New York game being played while a student in Providence.

This information completely changes the story of how the Cyclone Club was formed in the summer of 1859.  Previously, it always appeared that Griswold instigated the formation of the club.  We knew that he had played the game in Brooklyn and there are several sources that state that he formed the club.  Based on the information that we had, it was obvious that Griswold introduced the New York game to St. Louis and was behind the formation of the first club.  We also know that Bredell played a role in the formation of the Cyclones and he has been credited as the club's co-founder but I always assumed that it was Griswold who was behind everything and he had just talked his friend into starting the club with him.  However, with the information that he had either seen or played the New York game while a student at Brown, Edward Bredell assumes a much more prominent role in this story.

In the April 21, 1895 issue of the St. Louis Republic, Leonard Matthews and Ferdinand Garesche, two members of the Cyclones, gave a brief history of the club.  The writer of the article (most likely E.H. Tobias) stated that "In the summer of 1859 a meeting was held in the office of the old Missouri Glass Company, on Fifth street between Pine and Olive.  M.W. Griswold, a clerk in the company's store, who had lately moved to St. Louis from Brooklyn, N.Y., an enthusiast on baseball, aided by the exertions of Ed Bredele, had gathered together the nucleus of a club..."  Reading this again, it sounds like Griswold and Bredell were working together to put together a baseball club and that makes sense.  If Bredell had played baseball at Brown and gained an appreciation of the game, it must have been a wonderful thing for him to meet Griswold and learn of his love of the game.  There couldn't have been many people in St. Louis, if any, with a practical knowledge of the New York game and here were two of them working together at the Missouri Glass Company.  I can imagine the two men forming a friendship over this rare, mutual interest and deciding, together, to form a baseball club.  The Cyclone Club was formed out of the friendship of Griswold and Bredell and their mutual love of the New York game.

Also, I think we have to be open to the idea that it was Bredell, rather than Griswold, who introduced the New York game to St. Louis.  We assumed that it was Griswold based largely on his letter to Al Spink and on our knowledge of his background.  But, if Bredell had seen or played the game while at Brown, he would have brought his knowledge of the New York game to St. Louis several years before Griswold arrived in the city.  However, the extent of Bredell's ball-playing activities at Brown and in St. Louis prior to forming the Cyclones is unknown so I think the most we can state is that it is very likely that there were people in St. Louis, specifically Edward Bredell, that had a knowledge of the New York game prior to Merritt Griswold's arrival.  Putting it another way, it no longer appears that Griswold's knowledge of the rules of the New York game and his experience playing the game was unique in St. Louis in 1859.                      

A Civil War-Era Muffin Game

A match came off yesterday afternoon between the Active and the Honorary members of the Empire Base Ball Club, with the following result:  We learn that our lymphatic friend Henry Clay Sexton, Counsellor W.V.N. Bay, Justice Wohlein, Deputy Sheriff George Stevens and others of the honorary department, "shed" their clothing only to come out of the contest losers - the "runs" being against them, 53 to 38.

-Missouri Republican, October 9, 1861


This was actually a fairly close game, with the "active" members only up by four runs after six innings.  Their margin of victory was padded by a ten-run ninth, although the "honorary" nine was helped out by the addition of James Yule to their side.  Sexton actually had a pretty good game, scoring seven runs - a tally that was only exceeded by James Fitzgerald and John Reynolds, two of the Empire Clubs best players.

Also, I think it should be noted that the Republican uses "active" and "honorary" while I believe the more accurate terms, based on what I know about Empire Club membership, would be "playing" and "non-playing" members.    

The Union Club In 1861

 Union Base Ball Club - The members of the U.B.B.C. are hereby notified to meet at the Play Grounds, Gamble's addition, on Monday next, 15th inst., at 3 o'clock, P.M.  Punctual attendance requested.  By order of the President.  

-Missouri Republican, July 12 1861


 And here's more evidence that the Union Club were active during the Civil War.  I have a box score of a Union-Empire match from December of 1861, which I believe is their first meeting, so it's evident that the club was active throughout the 1861 and 1862 season.  I guess I'll have to check 1863 and 1864.  

Another Civil War-Era Empire-Union Match

Champion Base Ball Match. - The base ball match between the Empire and Union Base Ball Clubs, for the Championship, on Gamble's Lawn, Thursday, resulted in the success of the Empire Club, in a total of 27 runs to 9.  

-Missouri Republican, November 28, 1862

This is the second Empire-Union match that I'm aware of from 1862, the first being won by the Unions by a score of 53-15.  I would bet that they played a third game.

Also, it should be noted that this was the Union Club and not the Union, Jrs.  The Unions, contrary to what the secondary sources said, were active in 1862 and the first nine was composed of familiar names such as Smith, Greenleaf, Billion, Finney, Freeman and Duncan.  And they were going against an Empire Club with Yule, Duffy, Barrett, Fuller, and Fitzgerald on it.  Those guys would battle each other for the rest of the decade.   

An 1809 Illinois Anti-Gaming Law

An Act to prevent unlawful gaming.  Adopted from the Virginia Code. 

Be it enacted by the Governor and Judges of the Illinois Territory, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same: 

Sec. 1.  That all promises, agreements, notes, bills, bonds, or other contracts, judgments, mortages, or other securities or conveyances whatsoever, made, given, granted, drawn or entered into or executed by any person or persons whatsoever, after passing this act, where the whole, or any part, of the consideration of such promise, agreement, conveyances or securities shall be for money or other valuable thing whatsoever, won, laid or betted at cards, dice, tables, tennis, bowles or any other game or games whatsoever, or at any horse race, cock fighting, or any other sport or pastime, or on any wager whatsoever, or for the reimbursing or repaying any money, knowingly lent or advanced at the time and place of such play, horse racing, cock fighting, or other sport or pastime, to any person or persons so gaming, betting, or waging, or that shall at such time and place, so play, bet or wager, shall be utterly void and of none effect, to all intents and purposes whatsoever; any law, custom or usage to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding.

-Illinois in the Eighteenth Century: A Report on the Documents in Belleville, Ill., Illustrating the early history of the State


The above comes from a report by Clarence Alvord and appears in the Bulletin of the Illinois State Historical Library, Volume 1, Number 1, and raises a lot of questions.

The earliest reference to ball-playing in Illinois, if memory serves, is an 1818 reference to trap-ball and cricket that was being played in the English Prairie area.  While we've yet to find any references early then that, my thinking has always been that ball-playing came to the region with the first French or Anglo-American settlers.  We know that there was ball-playing going on in St. Louis in the late 18th century and I tend to think that the same was going on in Kaskaskia and the other French communities on the east bank of the Mississippi.  We also know that as new communities were springing up in central Illinois, the people who settled that area were playing what they referred to as town ball.  So it seems logical to me that the Anglo-Americans who settled southern Illinois in the first two decades of the 19th century, between the establishments of the French towns in southwestern Illinois and the Anglo-American towns in central Illinois, would also have been playing ball, in some form.

I think that this law, established in 1809, supports that idea to a certain extent.  Now it has been well established that the favorite pastime of the settlers of the area during the 18th and early 19th century was card-playing and horse racing and this law was most likely intended to curb gambling on those activities.  But we do have an interesting reference from 1795 that described ball-playing, south of the Ohio river, as being a "common diversion."  And the folks that settled southern Illinois in the first two decades of the 19th century came from Kentucky, Tennessee and western Virginia, which is most likely the area the source was describing.  Therefore, I'm thinking that the portion of the law that mentioned "any other sport or pastime" could very well pertain to bat and ball games.

While it should be noted that it's possible that the law was adopted, verbatim, from a previous Virginia law, the references to tennis and bowles are very interesting.  Given the influence of French culture in the area, it is quite likely that they did play a form of boules, a game which had been played in France since, at least, the 16th century.  It's entirely possible that jeu de boules could have been introduced into the Pays des Illinois at the beginning of the 18th century and was one of first ball-games played in the area.  Also, I would guess that tennis could be a reference to variants of jeu de paume, although I find it difficult to imagine 18th century settlers playing court tennis.  But if we assume that the French and Anglo-American settlers were playing variants of boules and tennis in Illinois in 1809 then this law would be the earliest reference to ball-playing in Illinois and the St. Louis region that we have and, therefore, is extremely significant.

Some Great Pictures Of Basil Duke

Have I ever mentioned how much I really like Basil Duke?  Yeah, I probably have.  His life story is just extraordinarily interesting and he was an important historical figure, as a pioneer baseball player in St. Louis and as one of the commanding officers of Morgan's Raiders.  Sure, I kind of make him out to be the villain in the story of antebellum St. Louis baseball but, if he was anything, Duke was a man of honor and the things that he did, he did because he believed in them.  Also, it should be noted, he was also a historian and Civil War Reminiscences and History of Morgan's Cavalry are important works.  Duke, in the 1880s, was a regular contributor to Southern Bivouac, a historical journal, and he helped found the Kentucky chapter of the Southern Historical Society.  In many ways, his work helped shape the idea of the Lost Cause.

I found the above photo of Duke at a website about poetry-writing lawyers and it comes from a book published in 1897 called Some Kentucky Lawyers of the Past and Present.  The photo below is really cool and it comes 1864, when Duke was a prisoner of war in Ohio.  Duke is in the back row, second from the right.  I found the picture at a very nice website about the Lexington Rifles, Morgan's original cavalry unit.   

       

The Brown Stockings Almost Moved To Washington Square

It may be news to the public to know that negotiations were once on foot to secure Washington Square for a base ball park.  Just before the disclosures at Louisville that resulted in the expulsion of Devlin and others who had been engaged to play in St. Louis the following season from the National League, the local base ball organization had taken steps in the direction indicated.  Records were overhauled, and it was discovered that the square could be leased by the city if the consent of the heirs of the donor was obtained.  One of these, Mr. J.B.C. Lucas, was at the time President of the St. Louis Base Ball Association.  The expulsion of Devlin and his associates led to the disbanding of the club, and the movement to secure Washington Park was therefore abandoned.  

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, January 31, 1883


What was once Washington Square Park is now the currant location of St. Louis City Hall, on Market Street.  While it's fascinating to think about the Brown Stockings abandoning the Grand Avenue Grounds and playing in a ballpark downtown, the more interesting thing here is the way the article whitewashes Brown Stockings' history.  There is no mention of crooked St. Louis ballplayers, thrown games or financial loses and the entire reason for the club disbanding is laid at the feet of Devlin and the Louisville scandal.  It's pretty amazing to see such historical revisionism less than a decade after the events took place.  

Lucas' State Of Mind

"I have nothing to say, except that I feel better over Thomas' success in getting McCormick, Glasscock and Briody than if some one had given me $10,000," said President Lucas to a Globe-Democrat reporter.  "I don't take any pride in contract-breaking as a regular business, but it is a good thing to succeed when self-preservation forces you to engage in it.  There is also great pleasure in going into the enemy's camp, capturing their guns and using them on your own side."

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 10, 1884

George Washington Bradley Gets A Second Opinion

The injury sustained by Geo. W. Bradley, of the Cincinnati Unions, in his collision with Dunlap during Thursday's game at the Union Grounds, proved to be more serious than at first reported.  An examination made yesterday morning developed the fact that one of the small bones of his right forearm was broken, and he will be forced to retire from the field for at least a month, if not for the rest of the season.  He left for Cincinnati last night.  No more earnest or painstaking player ever appeared on the diamond, and the accident will cause general regret among patrons of the game in all parts of the country.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 9, 1884


I'm much too lazy to go look up game accounts but it's possible that this was the end of Bradley's pitching career.  While he continued his baseball career, playing in various leagues for several more years (including a short stint with Philadelphia in the AA), Bradley never pitched in the major leagues after 1884.  So maybe we should add to the list of Dunlap's accomplishments that he ended George Bradley's pitching career.

The 1884 Maroons: Dunlap Quickly Procured A Glass Of Brandy

The St. Louis and Cincinnati Unions played the last game but one of their championship series yesterday afternoon, and it was a most interesting contest.  In the first inning, after the home team had drawn a blank, Hawes hit to Sweeny and was fielded out at first.  Then Harbridge hit away out to the left fence, and Boyle, after a hard run, just touched the ball and then dropped it.  On Silvester's hit Harbidge went to second, and on a passed ball he got to third.  Crane then hit to right field and Harbidge scored.  Crane stole second and third and came home on a passed ball.  The visitors held the lead by a score of 2 to 1 until the sixth inning.  Then Dunlap sent a slasher to left field, and a moment later had stolen his way to third.  He scored on Shafer's hit, and the latter was advanced to second on Gleason's safe drive past Jones.  After Sweeny's fly had been taken by Barber, Boyle hit to Bradley, forcing Gleason at second, but Shafer went to third on the play, and came home on Crotty's throw down to catch Boyle at second.  In the seventh the home team increased their lead.  Brennan hit safe to left and reached third on a wild pitch and passed ball.  He scored on Dunlap's line drive to left for two bases.  A moment later Dunlap, who had stolen third, started for home on a ball that had got a short distance by Crotty.  The latter fielded to Bradley who covered the plate with his back turned to the runner.

As Dunlap reached home Bradley at the same moment received the ball and swung around with it.  A collision was the result, Bradley falling to the ground looking pale as death and apparently insensible.  Two or three of this comrades took hold of him, while Dunlap quickly procured a glass of brandy.  The liquor brought Bradley too but he was so badly shocked by the collision that he could not regain his feet without assistance.  He complained of great pains in his right arm and said he thought it was broken, but Dr. Robert Luedeking, who was present, examined the injured member and pronounced it only badly sprained.  Little Dick Burns, who was just recovering from an attack of malarial fever, happened to be on the grounds and went to center field for the visitors while Sylvestor was brought in to pitch.  Gleason hit him safe as a starter and Boyle followed suit.  Then Quinn batted to Jones, who threw to Crane, forcing Boyle, and a double play would have resulted, but Crane threw low and Gleason scored the last run of the game.  

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 8, 1884


This was the Maroons' thirteenth win in a row and they were at the beginning of a stretch where they would go 37-2.  They were twelve and a half games up.

The 1884 Maroons: Both Pitchers Were Batted Hard

The second game of the present series between the Cincinnati and the St. Louis Unions attracted about 1,000 spectators to Union Park yesterday afternoon.  Sylvester and Swartz were the visitors' battery, and to the latter may be charged their defeat, three passed balls at critical moments deciding the game in favor of the home team.  Werden and Brennan were in the points for the home team.  Both pitchers were batted hard, Sylvester for twelve base hits and Werden for nine, and besides these long flies to the outfield were frequent.  The work of Boyle, for the local nine, at left field, was surpassingly fine, he taking in five high-hit balls, three of his catches being very difficult.  Ryder, at center, also put out three men, making two noteworthy catches.  The Cincinnati outfield made ten catches.  At left Bradley captured three, each being perfectly judged.  O'Leary, at center, distinguished himself by two exceptionably beautiful running catches, one of which should have resulted in a double play, a muff by Crane destroying the chance for the second out.  His score shows three put-outs and three assists.  At right Harbidge made three good catches and made one assist to the home plate.  Ryder allowed a ground hit to get by him and also made a fumble; otherwise the outfield work was of rare excellence.  The infield honors were shared by Quinn, Hawes, Dunlap, Jones and Whitehead.  At first base Quinn put out fourteen and Hawes eleven, neither making an error.  Quinn made a very pretty running catch of a ball that was hit over him.  Dunlap put out one and assisted seven times, but made one error on an apparently easy ground hit.  Jones took a line fly from Shaffer's bat and made six assists.  Whitehead made two catches, going well out into left field for one, and assisted four times.  He made two fumbles, but saved errors by matchless throwing to first.  In the seventh inning, when Bradley was on second and Barber on first, Hawes hit over Ryder for three bases.  From the fence Ryder threw to Dunlap, who was fifty yards back of second.  Dunlap sent the ball straight to Brennan, who caught Barber at the plate.  O'Leary did not believe that Barber was out, but the decision was certainly correct, and Dan was mistaken.  

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 7, 1884

The 1884 Maroons: Sweeney Throws A One-Hitter

The Cincinnati Unions failed to make a run yesterday in the game with the St. Louis Unions, which was witnessed by about 3,000 persons.  Sweeny's pitching was wonderfully effective, only one hit being made off his delivery.  On the other hand, the local batsmen found no difficulty in hitting Bradley's delivery, and the result of their operations at the plate were thirteen hits and a total of sixteen bases.  The fielding errors were limited to four by the Cincinnati team, Sylvester making three and Jones one, while Whitehead's two fumbles constituted the only misplays on the part of the home nine.  In both instances Whitehead recovered the ball quickly and sent it like a shot to first, making the decision extremely close.  Neither Baker nor Crotty acquitted themselves very creditably behind the bat, the former having two and the latter four passed balls.  In all other respect the fielding was sharp and brilliant.  While the game was not exciting on account of the inability to hit Sweeny's delivery, it was nevertheless greatly enjoyed by the spectators, all of whom were curious to see how the Californian would succeed when opposed by the Cincinnati delegation.  It is scarcely necessary to remark that his skillful work elicited general admiration and all observers agreed that he is an invaluable acquisition to the Unions.  It was not until the seventh inning that the visitors scored their solitary hit.  Then Sylvester drove the ball to right and came near being thrown out at first by Shaffer, the accuracy of the decision being doubted by many.  Bradley exercised all of his old time cunning, but the local sluggers were remorseless and drove the ball right and left with vigor and viciousness.  Rowe led at the bat with three hits, one a two-bagger, and Dunlap, Shaffer, Quinn and Sweeny each scored two hits, Dunlap and Shaffer each making a two-bagger.  

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 6, 1884

The Miraculously Curative Effects Of Getting Hit In The Face By A Baseball

Presented without comment, because anything I'd say would just be mean.

Mr. Andrew Haymaker, of Charleston, who has been blind in one eye for fifty-four years, in consequence of a film growing over it, was suddenly restored to sight, a short time since, in the following manner: - He was standing on the steps of the court house, in that village, while a number of men and boys were playing ball. – The ball projected with great force, struck him in the blind eye, completely removing the film, and restoring sight.  Considerable inflammation followed, but it is now getting better, and the sight is good. 

-Daily Hawk Eye and Telegraph (Burlington, Iowa), July 11, 1855 [reprinted from the Chicago Journal]

Charleston, Illinois is in central Illinois, a good one hundred and fifty miles east of St. Louis and it's probably closer to Indianapolis than it is to St. Louis.  But this is worthwhile for two reasons.  First, this is more evidence of the rich ball-playing culture that existed in central Illinois in the first half of the 19th century and it's evidence from an area where I haven't seen a lot of references to ball-playing during this specific time period.  So that's good.  And, of course, the second reason would be that this reference presents evidence of the miraculously curative effects of getting hit in the face by a baseball.  So there's that.  Unless you're Dickie Thon.

The Rank And File Of 19th Century Major League Baseball

The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball is out and available at fine bookstores everywhere.  This a companion book to the two-volume Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, and includes a lot of great stuff that we were unable to get into the first two books.  Basically, it's volume three and, if you take the work as a whole, you have a fantastic reference source for 19th century baseball.  David Nemec has to be commended for the work he put in to get these books published and all of the contributors did a fantastic job.

My copy was waiting for me at home yesterday, after I got home from work, and the first thing I flipped open to was the entry for Packy Dillon.  I can't tell you how great it feels to see all the information about Patrick Henry Dillon that was entrusted to me by the Dillon family find its way into print.  Dillon is probably my favorite 19th century baseball player and it's really cool to see him get the recognition that he deserves. 

So go buy a copy because, let's face it, this is something you want and need.      

The Morning Stars in 1861

A match of Base Ball came off yesterday afternoon, at the West end of the Fair Grounds, between the Morning Star and the Tiger clubs, which resulted in favor of the former.  The score stood 20 to 6.

-Missouri Republican, July 16, 1861


I believe that this is the first source that shows the Morning Stars playing a game after the Civil War had broken out. 

A Black Club In Decatur In 1870

We had fondly hoped that the enfranchisement of the colored people would tend to levate their ideas and aspirations but our anticipations have come to grief.  The young colored men of Decatur have, we are sorry to say, taken a step backward - they have organized a base ball club.

-Decatur Republican, May 12, 1870


Honestly, I think I now know more about black baseball in Decatur in 1870 than I do about black baseball in St. Louis during the same period. 

First-Class Agricultural Improvements And Accomplishments

The Chicago Journal in speaking of this subject says, "Judging from the extent and character of various County Fairs, in this and other States, games of base ball and horse racing are evidently considered first-class "agricultural" improvements and accomplishments.  Less of both would be more creditable to all concerned."

We hear the same complaint from nearly all the Fairs in this part of the State.

-Alton Telegraph, September 20, 1867

Four Old Cat In Southern Illinois

We played marbles and we played a game of ball in which there were four corners, four batters and four catchers, "four old cat," as it was then called.

-Reminiscences of William H. Packwood


I can't remember how I found this reference but I either got it at Protoball or Larry McCray sent it to me.  Either way, tip of the hat to Larry, who has this reference listed in the Protoball Chronology in the 1840s.  Regardless, Packwood's story originally appeared in the Oregon Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, in 1915.

The importance of this reference lies in the fact that Packwood, as a young man, lived in Mt. Vernon and Sparta, Illinois, about 75 miles or so southeast of St. Louis.  He was talking about his school days in southern Illinois and, since he was born in 1832, Larry's dating is plausible.  Therefore, we can say that old cat was being played in southern Illinois in the early 1840s.  I would add that Packwood was most likely living in Sparta at the time of his schooling, that he was most certainly done with school by 1844 and that it's possible to argue that the reference could be dated to the late 1830s.          

The Young People Had Formed A Base Ball Club (And Enjoyed Themselves)

Our “Traveling Correspondent,” W.H. P., who is also a traveling correspondent of the New York Spirit of the Times, in a recent letter to that paper dated Havana, Ill., thus speaks of the excitement there on the “Base Ball” question:

I found the young people had formed a base ball club, and enjoyed themselves three times a week at the sport.  There were some good, and even expert players, and two or three would rank with the best at the North.  Among the members were the principal bankers, lawyers and merchants.  One evening last week an exciting match took place, playing commencing at four o’clock.  The court was in session, an important case was on; twenty-four hours had been occupied in selecting a jury, and among them was two members of the club.  The principal counsel was also a member, and all were itching to be out of the courtroom on the ground.  Every few minutes some one would come into court with a slip of paper of the game.  The excitement increased as cheers from the outside arose.  The solicitor could no longer withstand it and throwing down his “brief,” exclaimed, “Gentleman of the jury, d—m the case; I must see that base ball game played.”  The judge coincided and adjourned till candlelight, and all were soon on the ground, the jury being under the charge of the sheriff, were escorted to good position, the members being allowed to take part, and the game was finished satisfactorily. 

-Davenport Daily Gazette, April 10, 1861 

Havana is located on the Illinois River, about a hundred miles or so north of St. Louis, in Mason County.  

This is a real interesting reference that raises questions pertaining to how baseball spread across the United States.  We know that there was an active ball-playing community in Mason County, going back to the 1820s, and that town ball was a popular activity in the area.  So it's entirely possible that this is a town ball reference, with the local Havana variant simply being called "base ball."  However, the regulation game had reached Chicago and eastern Iowa by 1858 and St. Louis by 1859 so its possible that this is a reference to the regulation game being played in a small, rural, central Illinois town in 1861, as the Civil War was just breaking out.  The fact that the report appeared in Spirit of the Times, I think, supports the idea that this was the regulation game.     

And the idea that this was the regulation game fascinates me.  I think it's generally accepted that the regulation game spread far and wide before the Civil War but, for the most part, the spread was limited (outside of the Northeast) to the larger urban areas and that the game didn't reach the more rural areas until after the war.  St. Louis, Chicago and Davenport have the regulation game prior to the war but it doesn't reach Quincy, Illinois or Decatur until after the war.  That's the pattern of spread that's supported by the evidence that I've seen.  But this reference runs contrary to that general pattern.  Is our thinking wrong about when the game reached the rural West or is this just an outlier?  It's impossible to say but it's not out of the realm of possibility that they were playing the New York game in Havana in 1861.  Stranger things have happened. 

One thing I should point out is the possibility that the story is not true.  The whole thing seems to be a tall tale and I have serious doubts about most of the facts reported in the story.  That doesn't necessarily mean that the report of a baseball club in Havana is false and it may have just been the device upon which the writer hung his tale.  But the rest of it just seems like a country bumpkin story told to entertain New Yorkers.          

Dating The Gratiot Reference

Henry Gratiot

 
The Gratiot reference is the oldest known reference to ball-playing in St. Louis and it comes from a deposition that Henry Gratiot gave to Theodore Hunt, the United States recorder of land titles in Missouri, in 1825.  In the deposition, Gratiot was asked if he had any knowledge about a windmill in St. Louis owned by Joseph Motard, to which he answered that he had "a perfect knowledge of the situation of Motard's windmill, for when a Boy he has frequently played Ball against this same Mill."  When I first came across this reference a couple of years ago, I assumed, based on Gratiot's age, that the ball-playing he referred to in the deposition had taken place in the 1790s or the first decade of the 1800s.  Based on more research, I can confirm that the ball-playing mentioned in the Gratiot reference should be dated no later than 1800.

The 1800 date is a bit conservative and based on the work of Louis Houck, who put together a timeline in his two volume history of Missouri and placed the Gratiot reference with other events in 1800.  However, based on research into the life of Joseph Motard and his mill, I think that the mid-1790s is a more likely date for Gratiot's ball-playing days.  There are several sources that date the building of Motard's mill to 1784 or 1785 and there's another source that confirms that it had been built by 1788.  Also, there are several sources that state that the mill only stood for about a decade and there are contemporary sources from 1798 that reported that the mill had fallen into disrepair and disuse.  Therefore, I think it's safe to say that Gratiot's ball-playing took place before 1800, by which time the mill had most likely been torn down.

Henry Gratiot was born in 1789 and I think it's fair to assume that by the age of five or six, he could have been out playing ball games with the other boys of the town.  That would place the activities mentioned in the Gratiot reference to around 1795.  St. Louis was founded in 1764 so we have evidence of ball-playing in the city just thirty years after Laclede and Chouteau set foot in the area and several years before St. Louis became part of the United States.

I think that, generally speaking, when talking or writing about the Gratiot reference, I'll probably use Houck's date mostly because I have a great deal of respect for Houck's work and, also, 1800 is a nice round number.  But the reality is that there was ball-playing going on in St. Louis in the 18th century and we can date specific instances of ball-playing to around 1895. 

The picture, above, of the young Gratiot comes from the Wisconson Historical Society images collection and I don't want them to think that I would ever imagine using their images without permission and there's no way that I have a copy of the picture anywhere on my computer.  Because that would be wrong.   

The Benteen Base Ball Club

 The Benteen Base Ball Club of Ft. Rice and the Actives of Ft. Lincoln played their third game at Lincoln to-day, for the championship.  The two previous games were played in the Black Hills, and were very closely contested, the scores standing 6 to 11 in the first and 11 to 16 in the latter, consequently the final game promises to be an exciting one.

-Bismarck Daily Tribune, September 9, 1874


Edmund Tobias, in his history of St. Louis baseball that was published in The Sporting News, wrote about Frederick Benteen's baseball activities in the West.  Here we find a contemporary source supporting Tobias' work.


Benteen, who played with the Cyclone Club prior to the Civil War, arrived at Ft. Rice in June of 1873 and was serving with the 7th Cavalry, under General Custer.  I've been trying to find the first instances of baseball playing in various western states and it's interesting, but not surprising, that the first baseball clubs in the Dakota Territory appear to have been formed by soldiers.  Benteen, it can be argued, was a baseball pioneer in two states - Missouri, where he was a member of the first baseball club to play the regulation game, and North Dakota, where he helped form one of the first baseball clubs in the state.

Town Ball In Ste. Genevieve During The Civil War

The acting Coroner of this county was called upon, on Friday last, to hold an inquest upon the body of Eli La Rose, who was most cruelly murdered on the day before by John Criswell of this county. The circumstances as appears by the weight of testimony before the inquest were about these: Young La Rose was engaged playing a game of town ball, on an old field in the town of New Bourbon, with nearly all the men and boys of the town. Having run until he was somewhat exhausted, threw himself down on the grass to rest. Lying upon his right side, he placed his elbow upon the ground and rested his head upon the palm of his hand. In this position, Criswell approached him from the rear and commenced his blow with a stick, with such rapidity, that three blows had been struck before he could be reached by those nearest to them. The blows fell upon the left temple, first of which most likely done the work; and most strange to say, that the skull was neither broken, nor the head moved from the position on the hand. Death ensued from concussion of the brain...He lived about fourteen hours.  

It seems that on two former occasions there had been difficulties between the them. The last time it came to blows, when the deceased knocked Criswell down, both being somewhat intoxicated. When the death blows were struck, the other day, Criswell rather exultingly said, "you are the fellow I have been after this long while. Let that learn you know how to strike a drunk man with a slug shot."   

The murderer is yet at large. He took with him his only son, a boy about ten or twelve years old.--[Ste. Genevieve Plaindealer.]

-Missouri Republican, June 8, 1862


I was going through my notes and found this rather horrific story about a murder that took place just outside of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, which is about fifty miles south of St. Louis and was the first city founded by Europeans west of the Mississippi.  Obviously, the point of all of this is not the murder but the setting of the murder - a Civil War era town ball game in Ste. Gen.

The continued popularity of town ball during this era is rather interesting.  The regulation game had taken roots in the major urban centers of the West in the years immediately prior to the outbreak of the war but town ball was still being played in St. Louis through the war years.  I spent a lot of time searching through Civil War journals and letters and there were substantially more references to games of town ball than there was to baseball.  This, I think, speaks to the popularity of bat and ball games in the United States in the antebellum era and, also, to the idea that the regulation game had not penetrated much past the major urban areas of the West.  That fact has always led me to think that the war disrupted the natural evolutionary spread of the regulation game and that baseball would have reached the more rural areas of the West in the early 1860s if the war had not broken out.

Also, this goes to the idea that there was nothing predetermined about the spread of the regulation game - people across the nation had their own bat and ball games that they played and enjoyed and they did not have to give those up for baseball.  That they did so is fascinating and something that demands a great deal more research and study.    
 

Sweeny Conforms

George Seward, before calling play yesterday, notified Sweeny that he would have to deliver the ball with his arm below his shoulder or pass a balk called for every infraction of the rule.  Sweeny conformed to the rule and all reports that he could not do so proved to be false.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 6, 1884

Now That's A Nickname

Dave Foutz

The "Mephistophelian Foutz" is the way they refer in Louisville to the Browns' new pitcher.

-St. Louis Globe-Demcorat, August 5, 1884

Hitting off Foutz was like hitting off the Devil himself.

I think that Foutz' accepted nickname was "Scissors" but we need to petition B-Ref to change it to "Mephistophelian Foutz."  I know that now and forever I will refer to him by that name.

In Case You Were Worried

Dunlap's hands are all right again and he will cover his old position at second to-day.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 5, 1884

The 1884 Maroons Take The Day Off

The St. Louis Unions, with President Lucas and Vice President Espenchied, spent yesterday at Creve Coeur Lake fishing.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 5, 1884