Moving Forward With Help From The Past

Sports and Entertainment during the Antebellum Period
Competing and Playing in the midst of the Civil War

The Civil War was a rather depressing time for America. Family members and best friends were fighting each other in order to settle the dispute over session and slavery. Although this was happening, Americans were still passing time with games and entertaining things during the war. The Civil War(1861-1865) was during the Antebellum Period in American(1784-1865) which is when Americans shared the same desire to compete and win. They introduced some fun games like baseball, horse racing, billiards, bowling, and cricket.
Baseball was mainly popular in larger cities on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line but grew into a popular game during the Civil War that Americans from all different backgrounds could enjoy together. A lot of people found that baseball brought many Americans joy and togetherness during the Civil War. People also liked baseball because even a person of average height and weight could be successful at the game. Even the military played baseball to pass time while away at war. The Union Soldiers would play baseball while in Southern prison camps and the Confederate watched them play and begin playing too. They enjoyed it because it was a fun game that also provided conditioning for them. By the time the war was over, people from all over America found themselves playing baseball. It is now known as America’s National Pastime.
Cricket was big in America in 1860. Though once the Civil War broke out in 1861, many American soldiers found that it was hard to bring equipment with them while they were fighting. While cricket prospered largely in countries like England and Canada, it was one of America’s early war “casualties”.
Bowling was also introduced around the time of the Civil War. Dutch, English and German settlers brought bowling to America in the early 1800s. There was a lot of gambling centered around bowling so some states such as Connecticut made it illegal to maintain any “nine pin lanes”. It was extremely popular during the war but more with the rich rather than soldiers. Some of the wealthy even had a bowling lane installed in their mansion. After the Civil War, bowling was still spreading across America and in 1895, the American Bowling Congress was founded.
Horse Racing was very popular during the Civil War. Many Americans betted on their favorite horses to win much like we do today. Although most big cities in the North banned horse racing to protect people’s safety, jockey clubs were formed to keep the sport alive. A race was held before the Civil War between the North and the South and the North won in 1823. Three more of these races were held in 1836, 1842, and 1854.
Yatching was popular among the upper-class during the Civil War Era. The very first yachting club, The New York Yacht Club was founded in 1844 and after that yacht clubs began popping up everywhere.
Billiards, now known as pool, was popular during the Civil War. People during this time liked to gamble and billiards was a fun way for them to do so. Only males took part in billiard competition. Lower classes of society enjoyed public pool for gambling rather than the wealthy parts of society. In 1865 The American Billiard Association was founded by Micheal Phelan.
Cockfighting was also enjoyed by some Americans in the South during the 1860s even though it was becoming widely outlawed in 1856. Cockfights were attended by all classes of society but usually were only attended by men.
Overall, a lot of sports and games were either invented or reintroduced to America during the Civil War. The ones outlined in this post were the most popular sports and games played during the Civil War.

1.    gorman 04.26.10 @ 4:17 pm      

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