Ohio's First Baseball Game: <i>Played by Confederates and Taught to Yankees</i>

Abstract

The history of baseball is fraught with myths, a number of which are rooted in the game's relationship with the American Civil War. However, some events that occurred in Ohio may debunk at least one of those myths. Some have said that the Civil War was a major catalyst for the spread of baseball across America as Northern solders taught the game to their Southern counterparts. It has often been said that this occurred while the rebels were held as captives and their guards taught them the game. In Ohio, however, there is one instance in which this process seems to have been reversed-Southern prisoners teaching the game to Federal guard forces instead. These events will also offer a surprising insight: The first match game of baseball in Ohio-played by New York rules and between two clubs-was contested on Lake Erie by Southern gentlemen held captive at a Civil War prison on Johnson's Island.Johnson's Island, located in Lake Erie about three miles from Sandusky, Ohio, was the site of one of 32 Union prisons operated during the war, and the only one constructed specifically for captive Confederate officers. In operation between April 1862 and war's end, its usual population was around 2,500 officers; in aggregate, more than 9,000 (including seven general officers) were imprisoned there. Because the men held there were among the most highly educated of the South, the written record of their experiences is vast. It is from their firsthand accounts that we can be certain that baseball was an important activity at Johnson's Island Prisoner of War Depot.Some weeks before the 27th day of August 1864, the Confederate Base Ball Club issued a challenge to the Southern Base Ball Club for a match. Both clubs were made up of Confederate officer prisoners of war held on the island. Acceptance of the challenge, for what was called a championship game, caused anticipation and betting. The excitement of the proposed match spread to nearby Sandusky, as described by Lieutenant Michael McNamara of Louisiana, himself a prisoner on Johnson's Island:They also organized base-ball clubs-the Southern nine, composed of those below the rank of captain-of which Charlie Pierce was captain and catcher, and the Confederate nine, composed of the higher officers. Their championship game was considered one of the finest ever played, and was witnessed by upwards of 3,000 people, including the prisoners, officers, and citizens of Sandusky, Ohio, who eagerly embraced the opportunity to be present.Colonel Daniel Robinson Hundley of Alabama was also there and wrote about Johnson's Island baseball in his diary. His entire entry for Saturday, August 27:The great excitement to-day has been about the match game of base-ball between the Southron [sic] and the Confederate base-ball clubs-the former having for their colors white shirts, and the latter red shirts. The game was very spirited-nine innings-and won by the white shirts. During the progress of the game, nearly all the prisoners looked on with eager interest, and bets were made freely among those who had the necessary cash; and who were given to such practices; and very soon the crowd was pretty equally divided between the partisans of the white shirts and those of the red shirts, and a real rebel yell went up from one side or the other at every success of their chosen colors. The Yankees themselves outside the prison yard seemed to be not indifferent spectators to the game, but crowded the housetops, and looked on with as much interest almost as did the rebels themselves.The diary entry of Lieutenant William Peel of Mississippi-likewise confined at Johnson's Island-about this same match confirms Hundley's observations and adds some new facts:There has been, for several weeks, a challenge pending over one of the baseball clubs.The Confederate Club challenged the Southern Club. The game came off today and created more excitement than anything has done in the yard for a long time. …