Civil War baseball
Heritage Auctions
The Artifact
Baseball used by soldiers of the 17th New York Veteran Volunteer Infantry
Condition
The lemon peel-style baseball is deeply toned but the writing on it remains bold. The structural integrity of the sphere is strong, with no loose stitching or major defects to the leather.
Details
In August 1863, James S. France, 20, joined the 17th New York Veteran Volunteer Infantry as second lieutenant. Formed in New York City, the 17th comprised mainly veterans of other New York regiments that had folded recently after the expiration of their original terms of service, including Hawkins’ Zouaves (9th New York) and the First Fire Zouaves (11th New York). The men of the 17th were first dispatched to Tennessee before being assigned to Major General William T. Sherman’s force at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in January 1864. They remained with Sherman for the balance of the conflict, participating in the advance on Atlanta, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas Campaign.
Along the way, France—who was promoted to first lieutenant in July 1864 and to captain in March 1865—found that he was not alone in his interest in the burgeoning game of baseball. In May 1864, when the regiment was stationed at Decatur, Alabama, the baseball enthusiasts among them (according to a postwar account) “conceived the plan of sending to Nashville, 130 miles north, for a ball and bat.” After these items arrived, “many a hot game of baseball was played on the parade grounds.” If duty called when a game was in progress, it was customary for the soldier who had the ball in his hand at that moment to keep it until the next game could be played. This pattern of 17th soldiers playing ball when not in battle continued through war’s end. A final game took place in Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1865 before the regiment was mustered out. When it was over, the 17th’s Lieutenant G.A.O. Barnett was walking off the field with France. “Here, France,” he reportedly called, and tossed the ball (pictured here) to France, who stowed it away in his knapsack and became its final keeper.
Quotable
In February 1911, France brought the old baseball—on which someone at some time had written “Officers 17th N.Y.V.V.I.” and “Zouave B.B.C.”—to a banquet held at the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles, California, by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, an association of former Union military officers. A reporter for the Los Angeles Herald wrote of the event: “A feature of the evening was an old army baseball, owned by Capt. James S. France, who ‘played ball’ with the New York Zouaves, who were attached to the Sixteenth army corps during the Civil War. This baseball, lying at the plate of the captain, was the center of attraction, and many an old eye glistened with recollections of the time when it had been caught and thrown in his hands during the recreation days of the campaign.”
Price
$41,825 (realized at New York, New York, in February 2014). “The is the most thoroughly documented Civil War soldiers’ game-used baseball in the hobby,” a representative of Heritage Auctions noted at the time.
