Photo by Mark Granieri
On Memorial Day, the Neshanock once again converged on Newtown, Pennsylvania to take on the hometown Newton Strakes, a local team assembled for just this one game. Although this year's version of the Strakes was reportedly new to vintage base ball, they were definitely well acquainted with how to play the game, combining good hitting and stout defense. Flemington won the toss and elected to strike second, sending Newtown to the line where they promptly tallied four times. The Neshanock got two back in their half of the inning, but Newtown added four more runs over the next six innings while holding Flemington to just one. Leading 8-3 heading to the top of the eighth, the Strakes put together another four running inning for an insurmountable 12-3 lead, although the Neshanock added four tallies in the last two innings for a final score of 12-7.
Photo by Mark Granieri
While Newtown did very well at the striker's line, what really stood out was their defense, playing errorless ball throughout. Most vintage teams struggle to get through a game without an error, for a local team to do so is a major accomplishment. Flemington was once again led on offense by Danny "Lefty" Gallagher with another clear score, reaching base all three times he was up. Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner, Mark "Gaslight" Granieri, Gregg "Burner" Wiseburn, Scott "Snuffy" Hengst and "Jersey" Jim Nunn all contributed two hits to the Neshanock attack. Flemington also had some good efforts in the field with Chris "Low Ball" Lowry making a fine bound out catch at second while Matt Nunn made two good plays in right field both in the same inning. With the loss, the Neshanock are 3-1 on the season heading into next Saturday's visit to Woodbridge, New Jersey to take on another local team. Hopefully, they won't be as proficient as the Strakes.
Photo by Mark Granieri
We are only about a week away from the opening of "New Jersey Baseball: From the Cradle to the Major Leagues, 1855 to 1915," a new exhibit at the Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton. Obviously, the Civil War is part of that period and while the war's influence on baseball has probably been exaggerated, one thing is certain, New Jersey troops played their share of baseball. The only requirements for a baseball game were players, space, bats, and balls, all of which were readily available. To tell this part of the story, the exhibit will focus on a game played in April of 1863 between the officers and senior non-commissioned officers of the 11th New Jersey regiment. The game has special relevance to Memorial Day, a holiday that was created to honor the Union dead. Visitors to the exhibit will see a scorecard from the game as well as original photographs (carte-de-vistes) of almost all of the participants. The scorecard comes from Thomas Marbaker's
History of the 11th New Jersey Volunteers (courtesy of Longstreet House) while the pictures are available courtesy of John Kuhl, one of the great collectors of New Jersey Civil War material and a true gentleman if there ever was one.
Photo by Mark Granieri
The game was played between teams led by Captains Luther Martin and Dorastus Logan. It isn't known how the sides were chosen, but clearly the talent was not evenly divided since Martin's team took an 18-5 lead after two innings on the way to a one-sided 40-15 win. What is noteworthy however is not the game itself, but rather what happened to the players a few months later in a small village in southern Pennsylvania called Gettysburg. It would have been hard for the 11th New Jersey to be in a worse place than on the Emmitsburg Road on July 2nd when the regiment came under Confederate attack from two different directions In a matter of moments, the two senior officers were wounded and carried from the field. Next up was Captain Martin, the regiment's senior captain, but he was quickly wounded and while limping to the rear hit a second time and killed. At about the same time, his opposing captain in the April baseball game, Captain Logan was also fatally shot. In the space of just about 12 minutes, the 11th New Jersey went through three commanding officers and by the time the day's fighting was over, almost every officer above the rank of lieutenant had been killed or wounded.
11th New Jersey Monument on the Emmitsburg Road at Gettysburg
Without a doubt Martin's and Logan's deaths at a young age are tragic, but the full extent of their sacrifice can be more fully understood and appreciated by looking at the impact their deaths had on their widows and the small children they left behind. Fortunately, both the widows and their children were not without financial support because the Federal government provided a $20 per month pension to widows plus $2 a month for every child under the age of 16. Since the average working man in Newark in 1860 made about $300 a year, the amounts are not as low as we might think. Both widows started receiving their pensions promptly. Logan's widow, Catharine, lived in Morristown and had two children, one of whom was over 16 and not eligible for the pension. Little information seems to have survived about her later life, but Mrs. Logan lived until 1911, almost 50 years after her husband's death at Gettysburg.
Dorastus Logan's Grave Marker
Martin, who had been the publisher of the
Plainfield Gazette, left a widow (Isabella) and four young children, ages six, four, three and six months living in Elizabeth. Most likely, he never saw his youngest son William who was born in February of 1863. Like Catharine Logan, Isabella Martin received her pension, but even with the money she apparently couldn't keep her family together since 10 years later in 1873, the three youngest were in the Soldier's Children's Home in Trenton. These unfortunate youngsters were just three of the 1600 orphans and half orphans left by New Jersey's deceased soldiers. Growing up without a father, who they probably scarcely remembered, in an institution, not a home, the Martin children shared more than a little in their father's sacrifice. By 1910, Isabella, who would live until 1913, was an inmate in the Baptist Home for the Aged in Newark, suggesting her life continued to be difficult long after that fateful July day in Gettysburg.
Luther Martin's Grave Marker
Why did Thomas Marbaker include the scorecard of a relatively insignificant baseball game in his regimental history? He never said, but it clearly was not because it was such a memorable game from a competitive standpoint. We don't know the date or the weather, but it is reasonable to believe it was a nice day since as soldiers they had spent enough time outside in bad weather that they wouldn't choose to do so in off duty hours. Most likely it was one of those early spring days that are full of hope and promise regardless of the circumstances. While there was probably plenty of apprehension about the upcoming spring campaign, there was also hope that this time, they would win a decisive victory and end the war. In the meantime, what better way to spend the day than playing this "new" game that had become increasingly popular throughout the state. Some 25 years later when Marbaker sat down to write the regiment's story, it is understandable he wanted to remember them at a time of hope and happiness and used baseball as a means to do so. Similarly, seeing these exhibit items at Morven can help us use baseball to remember them, their families and their sacrifices. It is in Lincoln's words "altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."
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