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Historians have documented extensively the popularity of baseball during the Civil War. In fact, it was the movement of soldiers from New York and New England, where the sport had spread rapidly in the 1850s, into other parts of the country that was in part responsible for its rise in popularity. To exercise and combat boredom, soldiers played baseball in camp, on the edges of battlefields, and even in prison camps.
Baseball historian George B. Kirsch notes that the camp at Salisbury was known for the frequency of its games. In an 1862 diary entry, Salisbury prisoner Dr. Charles Carroll Gray recorded that the Fourth of July was “celebrated with music, reading of the Declaration of Independence, and sack and foot races in the afternoon, and also a baseball game.” [2] Other prisoners at Salisbury detailed the rivalries between different teams in the camp.
Boetticher’s print shows a wide view of the prison yard. The game takes place in the center of the composition. The batter stands at right. In the middle, the pitcher is frozen in his wind-up, while a runner behind him attempts to steal second base. Groups of officers and soldiers are arranged around them watching the game. Their expressions are grave but engaged. Boetticher makes an effort to depict different physical types and distinctive details of hair, features, and clothing. Some are formally attired in their uniforms, while others sport a more casual style of dress. Around the game, other prisoners rest, converse, read newspapers, or play jacks; some perform labors such as feeding hogs, carrying benches and buckets, or tending fires. Several high-ranking men in the right foreground stand apart and show little interest in the game; these may be an attempt at portraiture. The tents and buildings of the prison camp are visible in the background, as is the fence that runs the perimeter of the yard. The main prison building, an abandoned cotton factory identifiable by a domed cupola, is visible in the distance at left. [3] In the middle distance, troops march in formation. The flag of the Confederacy flies over the camp. Despite the bleak realities of imprisonment, there is a sense of ease and contentment in the image, conveyed in part by pleasures of the game, the glowing sky and sunlight, and the well-ordered composition. The birds flying free overhead perhaps hint at Boetticher’s hopes for liberation.
The artist did not have long to wait, as he was exchanged for a Confederate soldier on September 30, 1862. [4] This practice of prisoner exchange early in the war helped to keep prison populations down in both Union and Confederate prisons and may help to explain the comfortable conditions the artist depicted in his lithograph. Unfortunately, those conditions would not last throughout the war’s duration. By 1864, the population in the camp at Salisbury had swelled from 5,000 to 10,000. Overcrowding and reduced rations led to disease and death; the true number of prisoners who died at Salisbury may never be known. [5] Today, the site is a national cemetery, and northern states such as Maine and Pennsylvania have erected monuments on the grounds to commemorate their war dead.
Notes:
[1] Natalie Spassky, American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art vol. 2 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in association with Princeton University Press, 1985), 3.
[2] George B. Kirsch, Baseball in Blue and Gray: The National Pastime During the Civil War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003), 43.
[3] Louis A. Brown, The Salisbury Prison: A Case Study of Confederate Military Prisons, 1861–1865 (Wendell, NC: Avera Press and Broadfoot’s Bookmark, 1980), xvi.
[4] Spassky, American Paintings, 3.
[5] http://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/salisbury.asp
ProvenanceTo 1983
Barbara B. Millhouse, New York, NY and Winston-Salem, NC. [1]
From 1983
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on December 29, 1983. [2]
Notes:
[1] Deed of Gift, object file.
[2] See note 1.
Exhibition History
Weiss, Daniel. Archaeology: A Publication of the Archaeological Institute of America, 2019. pg. 18
DepartmentAmerican Art
Union Prisoners at Salisbury, N.C.
Artist
Otto Boetticher
(circa 1816 - after 1864)
Date1863
Mediumhand-colored lithograph on paper
DimensionsPaper: 25 1/2 x 40 1/4 in. (64.8 x 102.2 cm)
SignedOtto Botticher/1862 del
Credit LineGift of Barbara B. Millhouse
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number1983.2.38
DescriptionIn August 1861, painter and lithographer Otto Boetticher mustered in as a captain in the Sixty-Eighth New York Volunteer Regiment of Infantry. His military experience as an officer in the Prussian army before his immigration to America might explain the rank conferred on him in his new unit. Just seven months later, he was captured by Confederate forces and sent to the military prison in Salisbury, North Carolina. [1] One may assume that he passed time during his incarceration sketching and drawing, but only one image from this period was reproduced in lithographic form after his release: this unusual depiction of prisoners of war playing baseball. The inscription on the print notes that the artist drew the scene from nature, or as he observed it personally.Historians have documented extensively the popularity of baseball during the Civil War. In fact, it was the movement of soldiers from New York and New England, where the sport had spread rapidly in the 1850s, into other parts of the country that was in part responsible for its rise in popularity. To exercise and combat boredom, soldiers played baseball in camp, on the edges of battlefields, and even in prison camps.
Baseball historian George B. Kirsch notes that the camp at Salisbury was known for the frequency of its games. In an 1862 diary entry, Salisbury prisoner Dr. Charles Carroll Gray recorded that the Fourth of July was “celebrated with music, reading of the Declaration of Independence, and sack and foot races in the afternoon, and also a baseball game.” [2] Other prisoners at Salisbury detailed the rivalries between different teams in the camp.
Boetticher’s print shows a wide view of the prison yard. The game takes place in the center of the composition. The batter stands at right. In the middle, the pitcher is frozen in his wind-up, while a runner behind him attempts to steal second base. Groups of officers and soldiers are arranged around them watching the game. Their expressions are grave but engaged. Boetticher makes an effort to depict different physical types and distinctive details of hair, features, and clothing. Some are formally attired in their uniforms, while others sport a more casual style of dress. Around the game, other prisoners rest, converse, read newspapers, or play jacks; some perform labors such as feeding hogs, carrying benches and buckets, or tending fires. Several high-ranking men in the right foreground stand apart and show little interest in the game; these may be an attempt at portraiture. The tents and buildings of the prison camp are visible in the background, as is the fence that runs the perimeter of the yard. The main prison building, an abandoned cotton factory identifiable by a domed cupola, is visible in the distance at left. [3] In the middle distance, troops march in formation. The flag of the Confederacy flies over the camp. Despite the bleak realities of imprisonment, there is a sense of ease and contentment in the image, conveyed in part by pleasures of the game, the glowing sky and sunlight, and the well-ordered composition. The birds flying free overhead perhaps hint at Boetticher’s hopes for liberation.
The artist did not have long to wait, as he was exchanged for a Confederate soldier on September 30, 1862. [4] This practice of prisoner exchange early in the war helped to keep prison populations down in both Union and Confederate prisons and may help to explain the comfortable conditions the artist depicted in his lithograph. Unfortunately, those conditions would not last throughout the war’s duration. By 1864, the population in the camp at Salisbury had swelled from 5,000 to 10,000. Overcrowding and reduced rations led to disease and death; the true number of prisoners who died at Salisbury may never be known. [5] Today, the site is a national cemetery, and northern states such as Maine and Pennsylvania have erected monuments on the grounds to commemorate their war dead.
Notes:
[1] Natalie Spassky, American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art vol. 2 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in association with Princeton University Press, 1985), 3.
[2] George B. Kirsch, Baseball in Blue and Gray: The National Pastime During the Civil War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003), 43.
[3] Louis A. Brown, The Salisbury Prison: A Case Study of Confederate Military Prisons, 1861–1865 (Wendell, NC: Avera Press and Broadfoot’s Bookmark, 1980), xvi.
[4] Spassky, American Paintings, 3.
[5] http://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/salisbury.asp
ProvenanceTo 1983
Barbara B. Millhouse, New York, NY and Winston-Salem, NC. [1]
From 1983
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on December 29, 1983. [2]
Notes:
[1] Deed of Gift, object file.
[2] See note 1.
Exhibition History
Weiss, Daniel. Archaeology: A Publication of the Archaeological Institute of America, 2019. pg. 18
Status
Not on view