Yankees on the Court Square Played Ball With Hardtack

Just after the North and South War, Mamie Jones quoted Harry Fulenwider’s recollection that Union soldiers were garrisoned in the old Courtyard. He said they would play ball with their hardtack. Inside the old whitewashed plank fence, their blue coats and stacked guns filled him with awe as he peeped through the fence cracks to watch them.

He recalled that one day a soldier called him over and he was afraid. The soldier said: “Buddy, take this jit and get me a loaf of bread from the store.” He said he got it quickly and ran away, because he did not like seeing so many guns shining in their stacks.

Fulenwider said those Union soldiers were there to watch the Ku Klux fellars around Cleveland. He added that many of the younger men (Ku Klux) went away—some prospered and lived for many years, and some never saw the old home again.

Source: Mamie Jones.