Life at Sumter was not all centered on sowing death and mayhem. Along with board games and cards, the men played leapfrog and, according to Asst. Surgeon Crawford, “ball.” He did not specify what kind, but it was likely a variant of baseball, by then a popular sport that fellow officer Captain Doubleday would often, wrongly, be credited with inventing. They fished for blackfish and eels. On Sundays, when the weather allowed, they rowed a six-oared barge around the fort’s perimeter.
