The Baseball was
played at Salisbury in the early part of 1862 when POWs from New Orleans and Tuscaloosa
were sent to Salisbury. W.C. Bates mentioned the advent of Baseball at Salisbury in
his Stars and Stripes but regretted "that we have no official report
of the match-game of baseball played in Salisbury between the New Orleans and Tuscaloosa
boys, resulting in the triumph of the latter; the cells of the Parish Prison were
unfavorable to the development of the skill of the 'New Orleans nine.' "¹
Prisoner Gray mentions that baseball was played nearly every day the weather permitted. Claims have been made that these were the first
baseball games played in the South.
This is
a Painting of the "First Baseball Game played in the South"
This
picture is an indication of the hospital conditions in the Salisbury Prison.
In the
background you may note the dead being loaded onto a cart for burial
in the trenches with
a swing and a heave.
This is the
only structure that remains from the Confederate Prison. It is located in the 200 block of
East Bank Street.
It originally was a story and a half log house owned by William Valentine, a free man of
color, who was also a banker.
Across
the railroad tracks from the guardhouse a commissary house once stood. The railroad
arrived in 1855 and was the perfect corridor for shipping supplies. On December 9, 1861
the first of 120 union prisoners were unloaded at Salisbury.
This is an
original document of the Confederate States Prison Rules
The most ambitious escape attempt took place on Friday, November 25, 1864.
Owing to lack of food, very little shelter, the extreme winter of 1864 and overcrowding
due to transfers from Andersonville the prisoners rushed the gates. The gate cannon was
fired three times killing 65 persons outright and wounding and unknown number. Official
reports put the number of prisoners who died from wounds and cannon fire at over 250.
This is an artists rendition of the "Massacre of the Union
Prisoners
attempting to escape from the Salisbury Prison on November 25, 1864.
