CROQUET IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN: A Craze or Just Crazy? by Marisa Masterson

 Besides the obvious that they are both works of literature, what do Alice in Wonderland and Little Women share in common? Croquet and cheating.

By the time the American Civil War was over, the croquet craze had spread from England to the United States. At the same time baseball was gaining popularity, a game many men brought back to hometowns after serving in the war. That sport was for men, though. People at the time considered croquet a placid sport appropriate for ladies. 

Placid? In both of the books mentioned above, the women are caught cheating at croquet. True to life? Definitely.

Using her long skirts, a woman might hide the ball. Without anyone seeing the ball, she moves it (known as scuffling) to where she needs it. Or maybe she would peek around to see if anyone was watching. Unobserved, she taps ball to the spot she wants. 

No wonder people were publishing croquet handbooks at the time. Besides rule books to stop cheating, women began to wear croquet dresses with slightly raised hems. This hints at another reason the game was popular--flirting.

A peek at a woman's ankles tantalized men. The game itself gave men and women time together, often after dinner in the evening. Before this, members of higher society isolated men and women after that meal. Croquet brought them back together and even gave an excuse for touching. A man could "help" a woman by standing behind her to line up a shot or teach her how to swing the mallet.

In recent years, a previously unknown photo of Billy the Kid appeared. In it, he and friends play croquet on the rough ground of New Mexico. The photo shows the group celebrating a wedding and clearly demonstrates men and women interacting. By the 1870s, the game had grown so popular in the United States that it is being played in the barely settled West. Interesting! I wonder if Billy the Kid cheated?

I mention Billy the Kid because of his connection to New Mexico and the Lincoln County War. This month, I released a new book set in New Mexico and loosely based on the violence and division that took place there. 

Renie Hunter gladly accepts Harland McGregor's proposal before he leaves to join the Army of the West. Two years pass before he finally sends for her. Her uncle, the man who raised her, insists the young couple marry by proxy before she leaves. After all, he argues, New Mexico is far from the world they know.

The proxy marriage might prove to be a bad idea. When Renie arrives in the small western town of Harmony, the husband who meets her train seems different from the sweetheart who slipped the small ring on her finger years earlier. Will she still be able to reach the tenderness buried deep inside Harland?
The novel is loosely based on the Lincoln County War.
184 pages

ROAD TRIP #history #SweetAmericanaSweethearts

Have you ever experienced that road trip where you have to get there and get back, and have no time to stop and visit the history that is flying by? Recently I did just that on my way to the Western Fictioneers Convention in Oklahoma City, OK. So, I've decided to write a post about what I wished I'd had time to see. At least with some research, I can share what might have been. 

Heading south on Interstate 25 through Colorado I passed Pueblo, Trinidad and went over Raton Pass. All three are part of the Latin American Heritage of Colorado. I know Bat Masterson was city marshal of Trinidad, and Pueblo had its beginnings as a commercial fort. Raton Pass was an early crossing on the Santa Fe Trail. (for more on Raton Pass Raton Pass History)

Capulin Volcano

I headed east along the northern part of New Mexico and Texas.  As anyone who knows Texas, they have so many wonderful historic markers along their roads. Some day I'll read most. Of course the route also took me by Capulin Volcano National Monument. (more on this volcano can be found here: Capulin )

Historic Marker - Texas

Hitting Oklahoma City, I had the chance to visit the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum and so what they had on display. The rest of the time was spent with other Western authors and listening to their shared expertise. 

Leaving I headed north toward Dodge City. I drove through the lands that the Indians made their own after being driven to the area. I traveled part of the Chisholm Trail. 

In Kansas, I saw the sign for St. Jacob's Well. I had no idea what it was until I did a search. Pretty interesting. St. Jacob's Well

Of course, who hasn't heard of Dodge City, Kansas. The end of the trail drive. The wild and woolly west with Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and all the others who passed through the town. 

Once I made it to Highway 50 heading west, I was traversing The Santa Fe Trail and Scenic and History Byway Auto Tour Route. It is a lonely stretch of road, but what a time to take in all I'd missed along the way. (Santa Fe Trail- Mountain Route)

Marker in Coolidge, KS

I drove through Syracuse and Coolidge, Kansas. There was something about that area that drew me to it. In fact it was the only place I stopped to take a photo. Since it was Sunday, there was nothing open. When I did some research, I found out why. (Hamilton County Kansas) For those who would enjoy deeper research (Bibliography of Hamilton County) For some history on Coolidge, which from what I understand was a wild place in the 1880s. (Coolidge History) The one thing I really loved, from the site "Coolidge has a city ordinance that prohibits women from riding naked on horseback. Yes this is left over from the late 1880's indicating the wild west issues that occurred with Trail City (headlined in the 1880's as the wickedest town in the west) only two miles away." 

I wondered what the travel would have been like for those who traveled the Santa Fe trail to trade with those businesses in New Mexico. What was it like for Zebulon Pike as he explored the region at the behest of the government? Looking at the land and its features, I wondered at the cattle drives as the made their way north, looking for water, going up and down the rolling land of Northern Oklahoma and Southern Kansas. The twelve hundred plus miles I drove in two day, how long would it have taken a man or woman on horseback? What of the towns that began as someones dreams, some of which grew and others that faded or are just barely holding one?

So the next time a Road Trip comes up, I may have to take a few extra days and stop along the way.  What would your dream trip be?

Building in Coolidge, KS

In the novel "Josie's Dream", Josie travels from her home in Iowa to the plains of Colorado in search of the place she will call 'home'.  Here is a short excerpt:

Breathing deeply of the independence she felt, Josie reached down to pick up her cases. Looking around, Josie took in the small town. It was just as she had dreamed, the main street with its business buildings standing like sentinels to keep the town safe, help it grow. Houses, some with fences, some without, ringed the outer reaches of the area.

Since corresponding with Dr. Harriett Leonard, a past student of her medical school and dear friend, despite the difference in age, Josie had been dreaming of coming to Colorado. Dr. Leonard had offered to let her work at the Spa in Manitou Springs where Harriett was the proprietor, but Josie wanted to create a practice in a smaller town, where people really needed her.

Now here she was in Kiowa Wells, on the eastern plains of Colorado just a few miles from the railhead at Kit Carson. Her biggest obstacle now was finding a place to set up her medical practice.

Despite his reservations, her father gave her a medical bag, equipped with the basics. “Something to remind you of this commitment, your Hippocratic oath,” were his parting words.

Her parents, though still in Iowa, were in her heart. Still, she knew it had been time to leave. While others of her friends were getting married, she had gone to medical school, her path clear to her.

Amazon e-book purchase here

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Member of National League of American Pen Women,

Women Writing the West,

Pikes Peak Posse of the Westerners

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Photo and Poem: Click Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here