The Louisa Kearny Letter

Louisa Kearny's grave

In their Civil War Collection, the Missouri History Museum has a letter, dated August 28, 1862, written to Edward Bredell, Jr., by Louisa Kearny.  

This is interesting for several reasons.  First, Louisa Kearny was the daughter of Stephen Watts Kearny and the sister of Cyclone Club member Charles Kearny.  Obviously, there was some kind of relationship between Louisa Kearny and Bredell or, at the very least, between the Kearny and Bredell family and this helps explain how Charles Kearny ended up in the Cyclone Club.  Second, Louisa Kearny mentions several of Bredell's old club members in the letter.  While detailing the goings-on of their mutual friends, she mentions Joseph Fullerton and John Riggin in the letter.  She also mentions one of her brothers and, given the way she writes about him, I believe she's talking about Charles.  Lastly, the letter gives an interesting account of what life was like in St. Louis during the Civil War from the point of view of a Southern sympathizer and is worth reading just for that.

Also, I should add that, according to the Missouri Digital Heritage site, the letter "was intercepted by federal forces and published in the newspaper under the title 'Gems from the Rebel Mail Bag.'"  I have to say that the idea of Ed Bredell not getting this letter kind of breaks my heart a bit.  And I can only imagine the horror that Miss Kearny felt upon the publication of her private letter.  I find the whole story of the letter kind of sad.  

I'm posting some of the more interesting parts of the letter below but, if you'd like to read the whole thing, the full letter can be found at the Missouri History Museum's website.

St. Louis, August 28, 1862, 

Capt. Bredell:  You see your letter was appreciated, that I answer it so soon; and I hope this mail will get safely through.  St. Louis is very stupid now.  We have nothing in the way of amusement, and there is not the visiting there used to be, for we have no beaux to visit; indeed, our streets would be deserted if it were not for shoulder-straps.  Your friend, Mr. Fullerton, is fourth sergeant in the Hallack Guard, and went up to Lexington; but succeeded only in burning and sinking some little boats belonging to private individuals, for which the Democrat urges they should have some public demonstration for their personal bravery. 

...Mary and I spent the day last Tuesday with your mother.  She read us your letter, where you thought the young ladies should take care of the "little fellows."  We are very much obliged for the suggestion and think of forming a society immediately.... 

Our neighbor across the street is as savage as ever.  His daughter is Secretary to the "Ladies' Union Aid Society," and her favorite song is "John Brown's bones lie mouldering in the grave," which we have the full benefit of.  How some people fall to their proper level... 

John Riggin is in town again, and I expect there is soon to be a fight, as he always leaves about that time.  He was up here before and brought a negro man that he had stolen from the South. 

Oh! what would we not give to see our old Hero marching through the streets.  We have waited a long time, but I trust that before many months you will all come to release us from the hateful fetters that bind us, for nearly every day they come out with some new order; and this morning a man signing himself "Justice" thinks the women and children should be sent, with all traitors, out of the Federal lines.... 

Remember me to all my friends South, and if that brother of mine is with you, tell him to send me word.  I had a letter from him from Springfield, in which he said he was going back to Mississippi. 

I have set you such a good example that I hope to hear again from you, and with my best wishes and kindest regards for yourself, 

Believe me your friend, 

Miss L.

The photo at the top of the post comes from Louisa Kearny's memorial at Find A Grave.

The Death Of Joseph Fullerton

An eastbound passenger train on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad...met with an accident two miles west of Oakland (Maryland) to-day, in which one passenger, General J.S. Fullerton, a St. Louis capitalist, is thought to have been killed, and a dozen others more or less badly injured.

The wrecked train, which left St. Louis yesterday morning and Cincinnati last night, was running at the rate of forty-five miles an hour when, just as the engine reached the bridge across the Youghiogheny river, two miles from Oakland, the baggage car, express car, one passenger coach and sleeper jumped the track and rolled down the embankment and into the river.  The pullman car broke in two, but it is thought that all the passengers save General Fullerton were rescued.

A thorough search has been made for his body, but nothing has been found except his clothing, which remained in the wrecked car, and it is almost certain that his corpse is in the shallow water under the debris and cannot be recovered until the car is removed.  The wounded were brought to (Cumberland)...

Personal telegrams from the scene of the wreck place the death of General Fullerton beyond a doubt.  Joseph Fullerton left (Washington, D.C.) a week ago in connection with the work of the Chickamauga National Military park commission, joined General Henry V. Boynton, at Chattanooga, Sunday.  He left there Tuesday for St. Louis, whee he remained until yesterday, when he took the ill-fated train.

-The Daily Picayune, March 21, 1897

Gen. Joseph S. Fullerton, who lost his life in the Baltimore & Ohio train wreck in Maryland to-day, was born about sixty years ago at Chillicothe, O.  He had distinguished family connections, and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes were his first cousins.  He was educated at Oxford, O., and practiced law at St. Louis.  Shortly after the war broke out, he entered the service as a captain on the staff of Capt. Gordon Granger and served several years with conspicuous gallantry, participating at Chickamauga and other notable engagements.  During the regime of President Andrew Johnson he was postmaster at St. Louis.  President Harrison appointed him president of the Chickamauga Park commission and since then he has spent practically all of his time (in Washington, D.C.) engaged in that work.  He was prominent in the social and club life of both St. Louis and Washington, and was secretary of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland...

-The Milwaukee Sentinel, March 21, 1897

The search for the body of Gen. Joseph Fullerton of St. Louis, who was killed in the railway accident on Saturday, was resumed this morning at daybreak.  About 150 men are engaged in the work.  The Pullman car in which Gen. Fullerton met his death and under which his body is thought to be lying was removed from the river but up to mid-day no trace of the remains have been found.

-The Milwaukee Journal, March 22, 1897 

The body of General Joseph S. Fullerton of St. Louis, who was killed in the railway accident on the Baltimore and Ohio road near Oakland some weeks ago, was found in the Yiougheny river this morning, eight miles below the bridge where the accident occurred.  The body was found by a farmer who was duck hunting.

-The Galveston Daily News, April 10, 1897

This morning the body of the late Gen. Joseph Fullerton of St. Louis arrived (in Chillicothe, Ohio) accompanied by his brother, Humphrey Fullerton of St. Louis; Miss Madge Fullerton of Washington and the only daughter of deceased, a child 9 years old.

Gen. Stanley of Washington and Gen. H.V. Boynton, W.P. Hucksford, secretary of the senate Military committee, came on the same train.  After funeral services, conducted by the Rev. W.C. Stinson in the First Presbyterian church, the body was buried in the cemetery here.

-The Milwaukee Sentinel, April 12, 1897

A New Picture Of Joseph Fullerton

Well...it's new to me. The picture itself is about 150 years old. Fullerton was a member of the Cyclone Club.

Giants On The Ball Field, Part Two

The legal fraternity was numerously represented in amateur days, and among others of that profession who took part in the sport was Judge E.T. Farish, whose present proportions hardly vouch for the assertion that he was then a very active and sprightly man.  Judge W.V.N. Bay of the state Supreme bench was an honorary member of the Empire Club, and witnessed every game that he possibly could.  He was a New Yorker by birth, and prior to coming West was a ball player on the banks of the Hudson River.  John S. Fullerton, a prominent member of the bar, Brigadier General in the Union Army and later Postmaster of this city, belonged to the Cyclone Club.  General Basil Duke of the Confederate Army, who was practicing his profession in St. Louis at the opening of the war was also a member of the Cyclone Club as was Dr. Gratz Moses, Rufus Gamble, Alfred Bernoudy, Recorder of Deeds, and Edward Bernoudy, whose widow is and has been for many years connected with the office of the Superintendent of Public Schools.  John T. Davis, the late millionaire dry goods merchant, played with the same club, and in after years, when he became head of the house founded by his father, Samuel C. Davis, organized and equipped a club of his own employees, gave it the name of his firm and was a playing member himself.  Another Cyclonist was Joseph Gamble, now occupying a pulpit in an Eastern State.  And still another was Edward Bredell, a scion of one of the leading St. Louis families, who joined Mosby's men in Virginia.  The Mathews brothers, Leonard and W.H., leading druggists, were of the same club, as also was the third brother, E.O. Mathews, the last player of the family who became a Commodore in the United States navy.  Other members were Alex Grossman, son of a United States army captain, Willie C. Walker, a leading wholesale boot and shoe merchant, and John Waddell, nephew of General D.M. Frost, who after the collapse of the Confederacy returned to Missouri and became State Insurance Commissioner.  The noblest Cyclonist of them all is still living in St. Louis...in the person of Missouri's National Democratic Committeeman, Colonel J. Griff Prather.

 -St. Louis Daily Republic, February 9, 1896 

At this point I should probably state that I find it increasingly difficult to remember what information I've posted on the blog and what I've saved for various other projects.  A great deal of the work I've done on the antebellum clubs and their members I've not posted for proprietary reasons.  Most of the information in the Republic article is not new to me but I think much of it hasn't been posted here yet and should be new to regular readers of this blog (all four of you).  The exciting thing about this article is that, beside being a extraordinary source of information, I'm getting a chance to share some information with you that I've held back for various reasons.

As an example of this complicated relationship between my research, this blog, and my other projects, I don't think I've ever posted anything about Jonathan Davis.  However, over the last year I've learned a great deal about him and have a nice little biographical sketch of him written up.  I knew that Davis was the son of Samuel C. Davis and took over his father's business.  What was new to me was the information about Davis starting the Samuel C. Davis Base Ball Club.  That's great stuff and I'll have to incorporate it into my other work.  It actually impacts to areas of my research: the history of the Cyclone Club and the history of postbellum amateur mercantile clubs.  

  

I also like the description of Griff Prather as "the noblest Cyclonist of them all."  That's definitely getting edited into his biographical sketch.

I should mention that the "John S. Fullerton" mentioned in the article as a member of the Cyclone Club is actually Joseph Scott Fullerton.  Also, "Alex Grossman" is Alex Crosman, the only baseball player that I know of who was eaten by sharks.            

Fullerton's Grave

Here's another photo of Joseph Fullerton, a member of the Cyclone Club, as well as a photo of his final resting place.

Merritt Griswold And The Civil War In St. Louis

When I first looked at Merritt Griswold's Civil War service records last year, I wasn't particularly impressed. He mustered into the Company D of the 3rd Regiment of the United States Reserve Corp as a Captain on May 8, 1861 and mustered out on August 17, 1861. Looking at the records, it seemed that Griswold had pretty much sat out the war. However, having done some research on the war in St. Louis, it appears that Griswold and his unit played a significant role in securing the city for the Union.

In the Spring of 1861, the loyalty of St. Louis and Missouri, a slave state, was very much in doubt. While the Missouri Constitutional Convention of March 1861 had voted overwhelmingly to keep Missouri in the Union, Governor Claiborne Jackson had pro-Confederate sympathies and refused Abraham Lincoln's order to raise troops for the Union. The state militias that were already existent were in the process of dividing along Union/Confederate lines and the pro-Jackson militias were actually taking offensive actions against Federal targets. In April of 1861, the Federal arsenal at Liberty, Missouri was seized and there were fears that the arsenal at St. Louis, the largest in a slave state, would be targeted.

The pro-Union forces in Missouri, led by Colonel Frank Blair and Captain Nathaniel Lyons, took decisive actions in April and May of 1861 to secure St. Louis. First, in what can best be described as an extra-constitutional move, Blair and Lyons hastily began to raise troops. Relying heavily on the Wide Awakes, a pro-Union political organization, Blair and Lyons raised ten regiments who would come to be known as the Home Guards. Second, with new troops in hand, Lyons seized the arsenal at St. Louis, securing it for the Union.

From there, things spiralled out of control quickly. On April 24th, three days after the seizure of the arsenal, a group from the pro-Confederate Minute Men political organization in St. Louis fired on a street car, believing that it was being used to transfer arms from the arsenal to Illinois. On May 1st, Governor Jackson called up the Missouri Militia and ordered it to encamp just outside of St. Louis. This encampment, which was dubbed "Camp Jackson", was just south of the present day location of St. Louis University and included the property upon which Thomas McNeary would build the Compton Avenue Grounds.

On May 10th, Lyons ordered the arrests of 670 members of the St. Louis Minute Men and, at the same time, an attack on Camp Jackson. Both the arrests and the surrender of the camp were accomplished peacefully but the strong display of Union force created an uproar among the pro-Confederate citizens of St. Louis.

James Peckham, in General Nathaniel Lyon and Missouri in 1861, has Lyon's account of what happened next:

Captain C. Blandowski, of Company F. (Third Missouri Volunteers), had been ordered with his company to guard the western gateway leading into the camp. The surrendered troops had passed out, and were standing passively between the enclosing lines on the road, when a crowd of disunionists began hostile demonstrations against Company F. At first these demonstrations consisted only of vulgar epithets and the most abusive language; but the crowd, encouraged by the forbearance and the silence of the Federal soldiers, began hurling rocks, brickbats, and other missiles at the faithful company. Notwithstanding several of the company were seriously hurt by these missiles, each man remained in line, which so emboldened the crowd that they discharged pistols at the soldiers, at the same time yelling and daring the latter to fight. Not until one of his men was shot dead, several severely wounded, and himself shot in the leg, did the Captain feel it his duty to retaliate; and as he fell, he commanded his men to fire. The order was obeyed, and the multitude fell back, leaving upon the grass-covered ground some twenty of their number, dead or dying. Some fifteen were instantly killed, and several others died within an hour. Several of Sigel's men were wounded, and two killed.

The actions of Blair and Lyons, despite the catastrophe that followed the surrender of Camp Jackson, secured St. Louis for the Union and, combined with U. S. Grant's actions at Cairo, Illinois and Paducah, Kentucky a few months later, was one of the most significant acts in the Western theatre of the war. With St. Louis, Cairo, and Paducah under control, the Union had secured the Upper Mississippi, the Western Ohio, and the Missouri rivers.

What was Merritt Griswold's role in all of this? While it's unknown what specific role he played in the attack on Camp Jackson, it is known that the 3rd Regiment took part in the attack. Peckham writes that "The regiments selected by Lyon to assist in the capture of Camp Jackson were the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Mo. Vols., and the Third and Fourth 'Home Guards' (Reserve Corps)." I think it can be assumed that Captain Griswold was present at the attack on Camp Jackson and was involved, during the late spring and summer of 1861, in securing St. Louis for the Union.

More importantly, Griswold's service in the 3rd Regiment tells us a great deal about him. In recruiting the Home Guards, Lyon relied heavily on two sources: German immigrants and the Wide Awakes. Since Griswold was not a German immigrant, it's rather likely that he was member of the Wide Awakes. Galusha Anderson, in The Story of a Border City During the Civil War, describes the group as "Republican in politics. It was made up of the most progressive young men of St. Louis. Many of them had just come into the Republican ranks; their political faith was new; they had the zeal and enthusiasm of recent converts. They were also stimulated by the fact that they were called upon to maintain their political doctrine in the face of the stoutest opposition. With their torchlights they had just been marching and hurrahing for Lincoln. They had cheered the vigorous speeches of their brilliant orators. Their candidate, though defeated in their city and State, had been triumphantly elected to the Presidency. Such a body of men, flushed with victory, was a political force which every thoughtful man saw must be reckoned with."

Anthony Monachello, in his article America's Civil War: Struggle For St. Louis, describes the Wide Awakes as "a shadowy political organization" that "spent most of their time attempting to win the hearts and minds of the local populace by organizing demonstrations, posting signs and publishing pamphlets extolling the virtues of their (cause)." They were also described as, essentially, a paramilitary organization that had violent clashes with their Minute Men rivals as early as March 4, 1861 and were stockpiling arms and undergoing military training in preparation for the outbreak of war.

I think that it's safe to assume that Griswold was ardently pro-Union. He took decisive steps in joining the Home Guards to defend the Union cause in St. Louis and most likely had been a member of a significant pro-Union political organization for some time before the outbreak of hostilities in St. Louis.

Under those circumstances, his statement to Al Spink that the Cyclone Club broke up due to the Civil War is rather poignant. The political tensions within the club must have been severe. Griswold, one of the founders of the club, was an active Unionist. His teammate, and co-worker, Edward Bredell, was obviously and firmly on the opposite side. Club President Leonard Matthews found the war "inconvenient" and purchased a substitute to serve for him. His own family was divided over the war and his father tried to talk his brother and fellow club member, Orville Matthews, into resigning from the Navy. Orville Matthews, of course, did no such thing and served the Union cause with honor.

Other club members who served with the Union include John Riggin, John Prather (who also served in the Home Guards), Frederick Benteen (who helped organize a company of cavalrymen in St. Louis), Joseph Fullerton, and William Collier.

I can find no record of any member of the Cyclone Club serving with the Confederates other than Bredell. However, since all known members of the club have yet to be positively identified, I feel that the chances are good that there were others.

Note: The three images in this post are of Camp Jackson (top), St. Louis 1861 (middle), and the attack on Camp Jackson (last).

More On Joseph Fullerton

Brigadier-General Joseph Scott Fullerton was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. At the age of sixteen he entered the Freshman class at Miami University, and graduated in 1855. He entered the Cincinnati Law School, graduating there in 1858. Soon after leaving the Law School he removed from Chillicothe to St. Louis, Missouri. There, while preparing to practice his profession, he took an active part with the Union men of Missouri in their struggle against secession. In the fall of 1861 he was appointed secretary of a committee, being the Honorable Joseph Holt, Judge David Davis, and Honorable Hugh Campbell, appointed by the President to examine into the military affairs of the Department of the West. Though anxious for field service, he was being unwillingly detained in the rear by the work of this commission till the fall of 1862. He was offered by Governor Gamble, of Missouri, a commission as major of infantry, but declined this because of his want of military knowledge.

At once, being relieved from the commission, he entered the service as a private. October 14, 1862, soon after enlisting, he was appointed lieutenant in the Second Missouri Infantry, and at the request of Major General Gordon Granger was detailed for duty with him as aide-de-camp. In such capacity he served in the Kentucky campaign till the spring of 1863. In April, 1863, he was appointed major and assistant adjutant-general, and assigned to duty as General Granger's chief of staff. Soon after the battle of Chickamauga he was appointed assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and assigned to duty as assistant adjutant-general of the Fourth Army Corps. He was ordered to duty as assistant adjutant-general of the Army of the Tennessee by the War Department when General Sherman was about to move with that army from Atlanta to the sea; but General Thomas objecting to the transfer, he was retained with the Army of the Cumberland.

General Fullerton participated in the first battle at Franklin, Tennessee; Shelbyville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Buzzard Roost Gap, Dalton, Resaca, New Hope Church, Pine-Top Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach-Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesborough, Lovejoy Station, Columbia, Spring Hill, Franklin, Nashville, etc. He was brevetted colonel for "distinguished services and gallantry in the Atlanta campaign," and brigadier-general "for most valuable services and distinguished personal gallantry at the battles of Franklin and Nashville." In May, 1865, he was assigned to duty to assist General Howard in organizing the Freedmen's Bureau. From this duty he asked to be relieved. In October, 1865, he was sent by President Johnson to adjust the difficulties existing in Louisiana between State officers, citizens, officers of the military service, and officers of the Freedmen's Bureau. Having succeeded in this work, he returned to Washington and offered his resignation from the military service. Such was not accepted, and he was assigned to duty with the President as acting military secretary.

In April, 1866, he was sent South with General J. B. Stedman, by the President, to inspect the social and political condition of the people, and the conduct of the Freedmen's Bureau. The reports made by these officers caused expressions of great bitterness from radical politicians then engaged in the work of reconstruction in the Southern States. But concerning their reports the leading Republican paper of the day, the New York Tribune, said, " The two commissioners have performed an important public service.... Generals Stedman and Fullerton have pricked some pretty bubbles. They have exposed the hollowness of much maudlin sympathy for the negro," etc. Having performed this duty, General Fullerton again, for the third time, tendered his resignation from the military service, and urging this it was accepted, and he was mustered out in September, 1866.

He was offered the commission of colonel of one of the new regiments of the regular army, but not caring for military life in the time of peace declined the same, and returned to civil life. After leaving the service he was appointed postmaster of St. Louis, which office he held for two years, and then retired to take up the practice of law. For twenty-five years he has been treasurer of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, next to the G. A. R. the largest military society.

In the fall of 1890 he gave up the practice of law in St. Louis, and since then has been actively engaged as chairman of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Commission.

From Officers of the Volunteer Army and Navy who served in the Civil War

More On The Make-Up Of The Cyclone Club

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

Other members of "The Cyclone" were John Riggin, Wm. Charles and Orvill Mathews (the latter the late Commodore Mathews of the U.S. Navy), John Prather, Fred Benton, (later captain under Gen. Custer), Mr. Fullerton, (later a General, U.S.A.), Mr. Alfred Berenda and his brother, Mr. Ferd Garesche, Mr. Charles Kearney (son of Gen. Kearney), Mr. Edward Bredell, Jr., and a number of other young men of St. Louis.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Martial Make-up Of The Cyclone Club

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

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

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

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

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

Joseph Fullerton

Joseph Fullerton, according to Merritt Griswold, was a member of the Cyclone Club in 1860. His death was reported in the March 22, 1897 issue of the New York Times and that article appears below.









Hat tip to Bill Battle who was kind enough to send me the Fullerton article.