Saloon Keepers and Sportswriters

A first look at post Civil War newspapers indicates that similar to rural areas, base ball enjoyed dramatic growth in New Jersey's cities during the second half of the decade, especially in 1866 and 1867.  While growth in rural areas began with the formation of the first base ball clubs, Newark, Jersey City and Paterson all had organized teams before the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.  Post war urban expansion, therefore, meant an increase in the number of teams, primarily junior clubs, plus other forms of base ball that couldn't happen in rural areas because of population limits.  In Newark and Paterson, for example, factory workers formed teams to take on their peers from competing businesses.  Interestingly workers in both cities played their matches during regular business hours, primarily on Saturdays and Mondays.  Enlightened management's willingness to allow some summer afternoons off for physical exercise was an important factor in enabling these teams to play at all since Sunday, the workers one day off, was not an option..

Henry Chadwick

Among the Newark businesses represented in match play were manufacturers of trunks, saddlery hardware and hats.  In almost every case the opposition consisted of workers from a competing company in the same field.  Because of its unique river location, Jersey City hosted matches between teams representing the different ferries serving New York and New Jersey.  Businesses without sufficient employees to field a team also found ways to get on the field which took a somewhat comical turn in July of 1867 in a match between saloon keepers of Newark's 1st and 4th Wards.

Based on an Newark Daily Advertiser article, the challengers from the 4th Ward team should have had no problem in filling their lineup since there were "more licensed liquor houses than any other ward" within its boundaries.   Bounded on the west by Broad Street, the east by the Passaic River and the south by William Street, the ward was "swarming with manfacturies" and had few residents other than an enclave of Newark's richest citizens living near the northern boundary on Park Place.  Also covering a relatively small geographic area was the neighboring 1st Ward, bounded on the west by High Street (today's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) extending to the north just short of Clay Street and sharing the Passaic River as an eastern boundary.  While saloons may not have been as prevalent as in the 4th Ward, there was apparently no shortage of places for a Newarker to quench his thirst as evidenced by saloons located at 21, 75 and 94 Broad Street.  It's small wonder that contemporary newspapers carried frequent references to the local temperance movement.

Jacob Wambold not only played in the saloon keepers match, but was also a member of the Newark Club, the city's first base ball team founded in 1855

A few days prior to the match, the Advertiser predicted a weighty affair between players "but little above or below two hundred pounds," with two prospective participants "going near three hundred."  One of these two prodigious "athletes" played shortstop, presumably with little range, but well "built" to knock down any thing hit close to him.  However at game time all but one of the 4th Ward eight (each team was one player short) were "sleek, fat and paunchy," while their opponents were "thin as a rail."  The weight disparity was ascribed to "more liberal" spending by 4th Ward saloon patrons which apparently led to both prosperity and paunch.

19th Century Beer Barrel 

Although its uncertain when beer drinking became a fixture at New Jersey base ball games, given the participating teams, it's no surprise that part of inner man was well provided for on this occasion.  On the way to the grounds in East Newark, eyewitnesses noted the players carried "more bottles" than "bats" and upon arrival a stand was set up "from which the 'lager' flowed freely."  If the beer was provided in case the game itself was boring that did not prove to be the case.  Although the 1st Ward group may have looked more athletic, the challengers took an early lead and held on for a 38-34 victory.  Both sides then adjourned for clam chowder at "Reynolds magnificent hotel" at the expense of the losers.  The Advertiser summed up the game as "a somewhat novel, if not very scientific match."

While there were no doubt local bragging rights riding on the outcome of the saloon keepers match, the cost of defeat paled in comparison to what was at stake in the September 1867 Newark - New York/Brooklyn newspaper reporters match.  Although the game's stated purpose was to provide "a means for making the acquaintance of the New York reporters," the Newark players obviously didn't want to embarrass themselves in front of their counterparts from the home of the New York game.  A poor performance in front of these distinguished visitors would be bad enough, but at least they didn't see the New York writers on a regular basis.  Worse still would be to disgrace themselves in front of some of the players, whose performance they evaluated on a regular basis.  Perhaps thinking the best defense was a good offense, the Advertiser's reporter took advantage of his public platform and used the paper's September 12, 1867 edition to proclaim that:

Newark Daily Advertiser - September 12, 1867

Recognizing the seriousness of the occasion, the Newark writers arranged to use the Eureka Club's (Newark's premier club) grounds near Adams street in the Ironbound section and asked the Aetna and Social Friendship Clubs to postpone their previously scheduled contest.  The importance of the match was under scored by the Newark Evening Courier devoting a significant amount of space to its account of the game.  Since, however, its base ball reporter was playing, writing about the match fell to an unidentified scribe who not only had never have played the game, but also claimed he had seen only two matches before this one.  The writer didn't make his job any easier by arriving in the third inning to find the Newarkers ahead 9-3.  He then proceeded to identify first base as the "first bag of sand" (an error later corrected) and attributing a catch to "what's his name."  As the match progressed, however, the writer  got some sense of the proceedings and provided a coherent account of the game's dramatic conclusion.

G. Wisner Thorne of the Newark Evening Courier - pitcher for the Newark reporters team

Going to the bottom of the eighth, Newark led 21-13 but the New York/Brooklyn crew erupted for nine runs to take a 22-21 lead as the match went to the top of the ninth.  With their backs to the wall, in front of their fellow citizens, the Newark scribes rose to the occasion and tallied six times for a five run advantage.  With victory within reach, pitcher, G. Wisner Thorne of the Courier bore down and limited the visitors to one meaningless run.  Much of the Newark reporters success was credited to Thorne's pitching, he also hit a home run, the only one of the contest.  Credit was also due to catcher, R. Newton Crane of the Advertiser who retired 10 of the opposition on foul balls.  While this may have been Crane's biggest on the field  base ball moment, he went on to play a significant off the field role in base ball on a much bigger stage both nationally and even internationally, stay tuned.

Robert Newton Crane of the Newark Daily Advertiser and  Thorne's battery mate 

After the match, the participants adjourned to the City Dining Saloon on Broad Street for an hour of songs and speeches, lubricated, no doubt, by some of Newark's best brew.  In a very hospitable gesture, the Newark writers presented awards for the best opponent batting, fielding and "superior playing."  Of special interest is a "handsomely inscribed broad, baker's shovel bat" presented to Gill of the Sunday News.  A regulation bat had already been presented to another New York reporter and this "baker's shovel bat" is reminiscent of descriptions of bats used by the Antiquarian Knickerbockers in their "old fashioned base ball" matches

Also of note is a "handsome parlor ball" given to one Chadwick of the Ball Player's Chronicle, who is, clearly, the Father of Base Ball himself, Henry Chadwick.  Regardless of how Chadwick's fellow reporters felt about his writing, they clearly didn't think much of him as a player since he batted last.  Although the visitors "returned home highly delighted with the afternoon's sport," they couldn't have been as happy, and perhaps relieved, as the home team who had preserved their honor.  While some had predicted a muffin match "with the totals of the score ambitiously reaching among the hundreds," in fact there were "numerous exhibitions of individual play by both nines which would have done credit to experienced players."

Newark Daily Advertiser - September 14, 1867

An important aspect of these "non-club" matches was that they allowed more men to actually get on the field and play a match game in a formalized setting under rules enforced by an umpire.  Some had doubtless played base ball in less structured settings, but for the most part the only way to have shared this experience was as a member of a base ball club with all of the corresponding requirements and responsibilities.  It will be important to look in more detail at some of the participants especially in the "company" games, but some had to be too old to join a junior club and/or meet all of the requirements of a formal club.  Factory workers or tradesmen playing under a company name against an organized opponent were experiencing base ball without a required club membership they couldn't have or didn't want.  This additional exposure to base ball had to help increase its popularity as the country moved into the post war era.

In Chadwick's footsteps - New Jersey's First Sportswriters

If the newspaper accounts of the October 1845 New York - Brooklyn base ball contests were the first media coverage of match games, then they marked the beginning of an over 80 year period where most people got base ball news primarily from print media.  Until the rapid growth of radio in the 1920's, newspapers were the main means people learned about, became interested in and followed what quickly became known as the national game.  Especially important during the pioneer period were the sports weeklies such as the Sunday Mercury, The New York Clipper, and the different incarnations of the Spirit of the Times.

Masthead of the New York Clipper

For a national audience these publications provided access to baseball to those who, even if so inclined, had no easy means to watch a match.  On a more local level in New Jersey, the closest thing to a statewide publication was the Newark Daily Advertiser (founded in 1832), with a modest circulation of about 4000.  As with other 19th century newspapers, the Advertiser reached an audience beyond Newark through the mail and weekly newspapers that repeated stories first printed in the Newark paper.

Mastheads of the three Newark Civil War era newspapers

A politically moderate paper in a fiercely partisan field, the Advertiser competed with the much more partisan Newark Evening Journal (Democrat) and Newark Daily Mercury (Republican).  All three papers along with the state's other daily newspapers in Jersey City (2), Paterson (2), Trenton (2) and New Brunswick (1) began reporting base ball news almost as soon as the first New Jersey clubs took the field in 1855.  Many of the early accounts appear to be submissions by club secretaries such as the identical account about the formation of the short-lived Pavonia Club (Jersey City) which appeared in both New Jersey and New York newspapers probably because the team had a very diligent secretary.  Some submissions must have become somewhat ungentlemanly as in September of 1859 the American Standard (Jersey City) insisted that:

                Persons sending accounts of matches between the different ball clubs to this office
                for publication, must avoid personalities in their remarks on the game; we cannot
                side with any particular club, but must treat all alike, therefore to insure insertion
                of these matters, personalities must be avoided.

Perhaps partially to avoid having to censor inappropriate comments, one of the Standard's competitors, the Daily Courier and Advertiser appointed what appears to be the first New Jersey base ball beat writer.  Beginning in 1858, this unidentified individual covered the growing number of Jersey City clubs especially the more competitive Lone Star and Hamilton Clubs.  The reporter was clearly knowledgeable about the larger base ball scene as an 1859 account of a Hamilton Club match, praises shortstop N. B. Shaffer as "rapidly approaching Gelston and Grum," players for the more prominent Eagle and Eckford  clubs.  The writer was also a fair judge of talent as Shaffer went on to play for the Eagle Club, becoming president in 1866.  The media attention seems to have been appreciated by the city's first ball players as more than one account mentions cheers for the Courier as part of post match festivities.

Newspaper coverage of base ball, along with base ball activity itself, declined when the Civil War broke out in 1861.  A lack of space for base ball was understandable given that the typical daily newspaper only allotted about half of a four page edition to news of all kinds.  Reports of battles, letters and news about local troops and especially editorials crowded out whatever base ball activity there might have been as extremely partisan Republican and Democratic newspapers conducted a harsh war of words at the same time the armies struggled on the battlefield.

Just one example of the editorial fireworks were the reactions of the three Newark newspapers to the Emancipation Proclamation in September of 1862, which make one wonder if they were referring to the same document.  The middle of the road Advertiser praised the "moderation and conservatism of the President," while the Republican Mercury accused any potential critics of giving aid and comfort to the enemy.  Not the least bit cowed by this unveiled accusation was the fiercely Democratic Daily Journal which called the Proclamation unconstitutional and warned that it might promote slave rebellion.  These verbal fisticuffs continued until July of 1864 when Edward Fuller, the peace-Democrat and Copperhead editor of the Journal, was arrested for treason after he urged the state's residents to resist the draft.  Wisely choosing not to make a martyr of Fuller, the government released him on bail and then allowed Fuller to plead guilty to a lesser charge in February of 1865.

John Y. Foster

Although peace came a few months later, the war's aftermath and Lincoln's assassination occupied most of the media's attention for the rest of 1865.  By 1866, however, more available space, the dramatic expansion of base ball and the advent of a new newspaper contributed to unprecedented base ball coverage in the Newark newspapers.  After the death of the Mercury at the end of 1863, the Advertiser was the semi-official Republican newspaper in Newark while the Journal (now called the Daily Journal) remained staunchly Democratic.  June of 1866, however, marked the founding of the Newark Evening Courier, edited by Republican leader and future New Jersey Civil War historian, John Y. Foster.  In a step that would have been unthinkable prior to 1865, the Courier proclaimed itself a Radical Republican paper (emphasis mine), committed, therefore, to a liberal agenda especially with regard to the rights of former slaves.

Almost immediately, the new paper also showed it intended to compete with its rivals on other fronts besides politics.  An August 1866 article belittled errors in the Advertiser's base ball coverage and gave a special reminder

                To those who are particular in having authentic base ball news, we would again say

'read the Courier'

Less than a year later, the Courier ratcheted up the pressure, proudly announcing the engaging of "the services of one of the most experienced base ball reporters in the country" exclusively for its readers.

Newark Daily Journal - September 12, 1867

Unfortunately, as with the unidentified Jersey City reporter, the new writer went nameless.  Later that same year, however,  a match between Newark reporters and a similar group from Brooklyn and New York facilitated the possible identification of at least some early New Jersey sports writers.  A September 12, 1867 Journal article previewing the match listed not only each man's last name, but also his newspaper.  Even though the first names were not provided, it seemed that city directory listings of names and occupations would quickly identify the writers/players.  However, as with much 19th century base ball research, it wasn't that simple.

Richard W. Gilder 

Fortunately, however, further digging led to highly probable identifications of three of the Newark reporters and the team's scorer.  Then as now, the score keeper's position required a person of sound judgement and the Newark reporter's team was no exception.  R. W. Gilder is, in fact, Richard Watson Gilder, who became editor of the Century magazine, a leading 19th century publication, in addition to being a highly regarded poet and humanitarian.  Gilder worked for the Advertiser from 1864 until 1868 when he and Newton Crane left the paper to found the Newark Morning Register.  Crane was not just Gilder's partner on the Advertiser and the Morning Register, but also the pitcher on the Newark reporter's team.  Like, Gilder, Crane left Newark for bigger and better things including the editorial staff of the St. Louis Democrat, U.S. Consul to Manchester, England and a law career in Missouri.

The Century Magazine - during Richard W. Gilder's tenure as editor

Staying much closer to home was one of the Courier's  representatives on the team, G. Wisner Thorne.  Descended from some important members of the Revolutionary generation, Thorne began working for the Courier at 17 ultimately becoming the chief editor of the Sunday Call of Newark.  In addition he was active in the Episcopal Church, philanthropic activities and, predictably, the Sons of the American Revolution.  Also finding his calling in journalism was Frank W. Baldwin, who represented the Journal on the 1867 team.  Nineteen at the time of the match, Baldwin became editor of the Orange Chronicle in the neighboring community of the same name.

G. Wisner Throne

Since 19th century newspaper accounts didn't have by-lines, it's impossible to know how much base ball reporting these men or the remaining unidentified ones actually did.  The best guess is that given the extensive detailed base ball accounts in the Newark papers in 1866-67, each of them covered at least some base ball matches.  If nothing else, they at least symbolically represent those who recorded and reported the exploits of New Jersey's first base ball players.  Perhaps more importantly, they wrote not only the "first draft of history," but in many cases what is the only surviving record of the state's base ball pioneers.  

Year End Reflections

Year end  is typically a time for reflection, an opportunity to simultaneously look both backward and forward.  In that spirit, this post will reflect on A Manlys Pastime's forty-nine 2013 posts and consider where the blog might be going in the new year.  For the record, A Manly Pastime began in February of 2012 so we are closing in on the second anniversary.

Photo by Ann Colduvell

As in 2012, close to seven months of this year's posts combined a report on a Flemington Neshanock vintage base ball match and a historical connection or reflection.  I've discussed before why I'm involved in vintage base ball (six years all told), but in addition to the personal benefits, it also facilitates my thinking and writing about the 19th century game.  For example, while making the trip to Easton, Maryland for Sunday matches with the Talbot Fair Plays last April, I realized there was no similar 19th century experience as anyone foolish enough to play base ball on the Sabbath, risked jail time, fines and sometimes both.  The result was a post that reported on the day's matches and took a brief look at the history of Sunday base ball.

It's important, however, to be careful in using vintage base ball to understand, write and talk about 19th century base ball.  Just as Civil War re-enactors can't use real bullets, compromises on historical accuracy are part of vintage base ball such as using modern spikes for safety concerns.  Even with those compromises, however, I think vintage base ball contributes to historical research, perhaps in a similar way that reminiscences and memory can enrich and bring color to contemporary documents and data.

Richard Hershberger (in civilian clothes) and the Neshanock at Gettysburg - photo by Mark Granieri

One thing I am sure of is that there's value in vintage players and historians working together.  Last year Richard Hershberger was kind enough to attend a Neshanock match at the Gettysburg vintage base ball festival.  There was so much conversation and inter-action on the side lines about base ball history that it sometimes diverted attention from the match itself.  In fact, at one point the umpire came over not to discuss a call, but to be sure he had heard an historical point correctly.  Richard has also provided Brad Shaw with contemporary evidence on how umpires called games, part of the continual effort to achieve the highest possible level of historical accuracy in the vintage game.

The Gettysburg festival was the subject of a post entitled "Weekend at Gettysburg" which discussed the vintage base ball festival, New Jersey's Civil War Sesquicentennial ceremonies at Gettysburg and the story of the 11th New Jersey's sacrifices in that historic battle.  To my surprise the post got over 100 views within 24 hours, matched only by a recent post commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 33rd New Jersey's service during the battles for Chattanooga.  There are no plans to turn A Manly Pastime into a Civil War blog, but there will be similar digressions in 2014 around other Sesquicentennial events, probably beginning in May.  It's also likely that my research into the 1919 World Series will pop up at some point.

11th New Jersey monument at Gettysburg

Looking back at other 2013 blog topics, I realize that unintentionally, I wrote a fair amount about 19th century base ball in Newark.  Among the subjects were Newark's first base ball grounds, early black base ball and the ever fascinating Antiquarian Knickerbockers.  Currently I'm going through Newark newspapers from 1861 to 1870 (trust me, it's a lot of microfilm) as part of analyzing base ball's growth in New Jersey throughout the pioneer period (1855-1870).  While any conclusions are premature, what I've seen reinforces Newark's importance in base ball's growth in New Jersey and beyond.  Apparently close enough to Manhattan and Elysian Fields to attract Newark's young men to the "new" game, the city's role as a railroad hub seems to have been a major factor in the game's expansion in antebellum New Jersey.  Indeed almost without exception, every community that had a base ball club before the Civil War also had a direct railroad connection to Newark.

1855 Newark Daily Advertiser account of Newark's first base ball clubs

All of this will get a lot of my research attention in 2014, some of which will undoubtedly find its way into the blog.  One of the blog's major benefits for me is as vehicle to "think out loud" before anything gets cast in any more concrete form.  As important as Newark base ball is, however, the rest of the state won't be neglected as the plan is to cover all of New Jersey.  It will be especially interesting to look at the experience in southern new Jersey where there is no evidence of any base ball clubs through 1860 with the exception of Camden.  And the Camden Club actually played Philadelphia town ball and didn't convert to the New York game until about 1864.  Most suburban/rural communities in northern New Jersey seem to have gotten their first clubs in 1865 and 1866, will it be the same in south Jersey?  Stay tuned.

The current plan is to begin the new year with a look at the original Flemington Neshanock which was short lived and had limited on-the-field success, but it's probably not a bad way to begin 2014 in a blog that moves back and forth between the past and the present.  Barring something unforeseen that will begin the week of January 6th.  Until then best wishes for the holidays and all of 2014.  Thanks for taking the time to visit A Manly Pastime.

Update to Remembering with Advantages

Thanks to Peter Morris for letting me know that Anna Clark was the mother of a major league base ball player, although he played in only one major league game.  The Cincinnati Post article referenced in "Remembering with advantages," mentions that her son played for the "old Muldoons and later in the Southern League."  Peter wrote about his efforts to research Ed Clark in his book Cracking Baseball's Cold Cases.   According to the entry about Clark, he pitched in one major league game on July 4, 1886 for Philadelphia of the American Association.  Post base ball, he served two tours in the army including one during the Spanish American War.  Clark died in 1927 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Remembering with Advantages

In an end note to his book, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, Allen Guelzo describes the debate among Lincoln scholars about the appropriate use of reminiscences about the 16th President, reminiscences many years after the actual events.  The concern, of course, is that there are often significant differences between memories of long ago events and contemporary source material about those same events.  Not surprisingly the differences tend to improve the role or position of the one doing the remembering.

Denver Post - 10-2-1919

As with so many things, Shakespeare best described the human tendency to exaggerate one's own role when he had Henry V tell his badly outnumbered army moments before the battle of Agincourt:

"Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot

But he'll remember, with advantages, 

What feats he did that day."

It's not hard to understand how remembering with self-serving advantages hurts efforts to write history accurately.  There are, however, advantages to remembering - advantages such as remembering that contributes to a more inclusive historical record, remembering which adds color and detail to the story and remembering that highlights a specific act.  This all came to mind while going through contemporary newspapers to research the infamous 1919 World Series for SABR's Deadball Committee's World Series project.  While reading about that controversial 20th century event, I found memories of not just one, but two great 19th century baseball clubs, remembering with "advantages" for the historical record.

Cal McVey of the 1869 Red Stockings celebrating the 1919 Reds victory in game four of the World Series

Cincinnati Post 10-7-1919

One of the connections to a great 19th century club isn't a surprise as 1919 was the 50th anniversary of the legendary Cincinnati Red Stockings' 1869 transcontinental tour and 57-0 record.  While there is no direct relationship between the two Cincinnati clubs, the modern (1919 modern) team took time in their World Series preparations, to remember their city's first great professional team.  While the organizers first thought Cal McVey and Hall of Famer George Wright were the only surviving Red Stockings, they were contacted by Oakely "Oak" or "Oke" Taylor, a reserve player who was then included in the event (thanks to John Thorn for the information about Taylor).  As a result, this effort to remember the 1869 Red Stockings some 50 years later had the "advantage" of including someone who otherwise might have been forgotten.  Of course, none of this would have happened had Taylor not had the good fortune to be alive in 1919.

Cincinnati Post - 10-4-1919

Although not as significant as the surviving Red Stockings, the Cincinnati Post wrote about one of their surviving fans, 79 year old Anna Clark, who had transferred her affections to the "modern" Reds.  In honor of the National League champions, she had knitted "small red stockings" similar to those "the girls of 69 wore in corsages as tributes" to the undefeated 1869 club.  Mrs. Clark would have been 29 in 1869 so she easily could have seen base ball in Cincinnati throughout the 1860s' including the first Cincinnati baseball clubs. Assuming the newspaper account is accurate, the "advantage" of this reminiscence is a picture (albeit years afterwards) of an early female baseball fan and at least one way the distaff side supported their team.

Like the Cincinnati newspaper, legendary sportswriter Damon Runyan paid attention to the historical connections of the 1919 Series and wrote about Reds business manager, Frank C. Bancroft, who "away, way back in the long ago piloted the Providence club to a championship."  The reference is to the 1884 Providence Grays, led on the field by Hall of Fame pitcher, Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn who won 59 games that year while pitching 678 plus innings, a story well documented in Ed Achorn's fine book Fifty-Nine in '84.

This was certainly noteworthy, but what was especially interesting was a further comment by Runyan that Bancroft  was "a good old scout," even though "he did invent the doubleheader."  That claim seemed too fantastic to believe, but I went to Peter Morris's invaluable A Game of Inches and found it is accurate, at least in a manner of speaking.  According to the entry, much of which is based on Charlie Bevis' research, in the 1880s' major league clubs began playing two games on holidays as morning and afternoon games with separate admissions.  As business manager of the Reds, Bancroft reportedly introduced the idea of playing two games for one admission on weekdays and coined the name "doubleheader," or at least popularized the name if he didn't invent it.  Unlike Anna Clark, Frank Bancroft was in no danger of dropping off of the historical radar, but Runyan's remembering him, in a nationally syndicated column, no less, highlights his story for a larger audience.

Frank Bancroft (in civilian clothes) with the Reds on a trip to Cuba

Reminiscences can never take the place of contemporary, eyewitness accounts of historic events.  And, as Shakespeare pointed out, they can also exaggerate or distort what actually happened.  But as these three examples show, remembering has a place in the historical process - it can contribute to a more inclusive story and be the seasoning that adds invaluable color and richness.

A Civil War Digression

Posts  about 19th century base ball will resume the week of December 1st, but this is a special post in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the battle of Chattanooga which began on November 23, 1863 and lasted until the 25th.  I especially want to honor the service of the 33rd New Jersey, a regiment that "saw the elephant" (experienced combat for the first time) in that battle.  The 33rd New Jersey was formed in Newark during the summer of 1863 and got off to an inauspicious start when about 25% of the men deserted before the regiment left Newark.  Initially the regiment was sent to Virginia where they were attached to the XI Corps which earlier that year had disgraced itself by running away at Chancellorsville and hadn't done much better at Gettysburg.

These young men from New Jersey probably thought that like most of the state's soldiers, they would serve in the East, but it didn't work out that way.  After the Union defeat at Chickamauga at the end of September of 1863 and the equally disastrous retreat back to Chattanooga, it was decided to send reinforcements to an army now commanded by U. S. Grant.  Probably thinking they could solve two problems at the same time, the government chose to sent the XI Corps as well as the XII Corps (another under performing unit) to Chattanooga under the overall command of Joseph Hooker, who had also failed at Chancellorsville.

Captain Samuel Waldron - Killed in Action at Chattanooga on November 23, 1863

The 33rd arrived in early October and spent most of the next seven weeks guarding a portion of the supply line into Chattanooga.  Eventually however, the regiment was ordered to Lookout Valley near Chattanooga where as Captain Samuel Waldron of the 33rd put it, "Certain it is one hundred and twenty thousand men are not massed here for nothing."  Waldron may not have had the correct total of the Union forces, but he was right that the Union forces were gathering in Chattanooga and nearby Lookout Valley for an assault on the Confederate positions on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain.

Colonel George Washington Mindil - 19 year old commanding officer of the 33rd New Jersey

The decisive struggle for Chattanooga began on the beautiful afternoon of November 23rd under "crystal blue autumn skies," when Grant ordered a reconnaissance in force towards Orchard Knob, a "steep, craggy knoll" between the Union lines and Missionary Ridge.  For some unaccountable reason, the Confederates thought the Union troops were forming up for some kind of drill or parade.  The ensuing attack quickly disabused them of that notion and the Union troops took Orchard Knob which today is home to battlefield monuments including that of New Jersey.

Captain William Boggs - mortally wounded at Chattanooga on November 23, 1863

The 33rd was to the left of the main attack and were ordered to advance in support at about 3:30.  They went no more than ten yards before coming under Confederate fire for the first time.  Almost immediately Captain William Boggs was shot through the left arm.  The 33rd's regimental commander, 19 year old Colonel George Washington Mindil ordered Lieutenant John Toffey to take Boggs' place.  Advancing through bullets that "flew like hailstones," Toffey arrived and had barely begun giving orders when he too was wounded in his thigh.  Also hit by Confederate fire was the aforementioned Captain Waldron who died instantly from a bullet through the heart.  Ultimately the 33rd's advance reached Citico Creek and the regiment held the near side of Citico Creek until relieved about 8:00 that night.

Contemporary view of Lookout Mountain

The struggle for Chattanooga would go on for two more days, with the 33rd only marginally engaged on the third day.  The second day was highlighted by the Federal assault on Lookout Mountain (the battle above the clouds), by that point the 33rd was on the far left of the Union line about as far away from the fighting as possible.  It's likely however that the Jerseymen joined the cheers that went up and down the Union lines the next morning when the fog cleared and the Stars and Stripes were seen atop Lookout Mountain.

Lieutenant John Toffey - wounded and permanently disabled on November 23, 1863

 The third day was, of course, the Union attack on Missionary Ridge, the Thirty-third was still on the far left and suffered some casualties from Confederate artillery.  The end of the battle brought no respite for the 33rd as on the following day they were part of a force sent off towards Knoxville to relieve the siege of that city.  The regiment were without their knapsacks so they spent the entire almost three week march with no tents and blankets, marching and sleeping in rain and mud, an experience that would be repeated frequently in their two years of service.

New Jersey monument on Orchard Knob at Chattanooga - photo by Wayne Hsieh

While the 33rd did not see heavy fighting at Chattanooga, their baptism of fire was not without cost, human cost.  In addition to Captain Waldron and Thomas Marsh who were killed on the battlefield, four other members of the regiment lost their lives at Chattanooga.  Captain Boggs died of his wounds as did William Post, Samuel Seering and Lewis Mangold.  John Toffey would survive his wound, but was disabled for the rest of his life.  In 1897 he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry that day in Chattanooga. In spite of his disability, Toffey served in the Veterans Reserve Corps in Washington D.C. where he was an eyewitness to Abraham Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater.

Thirty-third New Jersey's Battle Flag

After Chattanooga, the 33rd took part in all of William Tecumseh Sherman's great campaigns in the west, beginning with the Atlanta Campaign, followed by the March to the Sea and the Carolinas Campaign.  Effectively they walked from Chattanooga to Atlanta to Savannah to Washington D.C. before taking the train back to Newark in July of 1865.  The 150th anniversary of all those events will take place in 2014 and 2015 so there may very well be further Civil War digressions like this one.

Brief Break

With the end of the vintage base ball season, A Manly Pastime is going to take a relatively brief break so I can finish another writing project and get organized about future 19th century base ball topics.  I expect to be back no later than December 1st.  Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read the blog and especially those who provide feedback.