Seventh US Cavalry Base Ball in Kansas, 1868–1870, Revised

Authors

Mark E. Eberle, Fort Hays State UniversityFollow

Files

DOI

10.58809/WHKS7656

Date

2025

Abstract

From 1868 through 1870, the Seventh US Cavalry and other military units played baseball in Kansas at their various posts and in the field. Details of several games were reported in local newspapers, as well as the New York Clipper. The Seventh Cavalry clubs, most notably Captain Frederick Benteen’s Company H, continued to play through 1875 while stationed in the South and the Dakota Territory, before the regiment was decimated at the Battle of Little Bighorn (Greasy Grass) in 1876. This essay focuses on the Seventh Cavalry’s baseball experiences in Kansas. A list of known games played by the regiment from 1868 through 1875 and several newspaper clippings of box scores are provided. This essay was originally published in 2019 and has undergone revisions and corrections for its release in 2025 as part of the five-volume anthology Peeking through the Knothole. The open-access, digital version of this essay is available through the “Download” button on this webpage. The print-on-demand version is available through the “Buy this Book” button for volume one of the anthology (Essays on Baseball Origins in the West, 1858–1883).

Keywords

Seventh US Cavalry, Seventh Cavalry, Kansas baseball, Dakota baseball, Black Hills, Barnitz, Beecher, Benteen, Keogh, Fort Harker, Fort Hays, Fort Leavenworth, Fort Wallace

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Rights

© The Author (s)

Comments

For questions contact ScholarsRepository@fhsu.edu

Originally Published 2019

Revised Edition 2025

Recommended Citation

Eberle, Mark E., "Seventh US Cavalry Base Ball in Kansas, 1868–1870, Revised" (2025). Monographs. 12.
DOI: 10.58809/WHKS7656
Available at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/all_monographs/12