Louis Schneider and his friend Stuart discuss the baseball Louis brought with him on his tour as a Union soldier in the Civil War. Stuart is frequently scared, and Louis explains that most people end up either crazy or scared after their first engagement. Louis explains that his father is an excellent baseball player, but he could not play professionally because his legs got injured in an explosion during a fire. His father also gave him a baseball with the letter S engraved on it and told him to make sure he brought it home from the war. 

The two Yankee soldiers walk into a store in the South. Louis is worried, but Stuart goes in with hundreds of Confederate dollars he has taken from dead soldiers and purchases a large quantity of food for themselves and other soldiers. Louis lied about his age to fight in the war, and other soldiers call Louis “Lucky Louis,” but he believes that it is his ball, not himself, that is lucky. The soldiers decide to play baseball, and they agree to play by New York rules. Now, many teams only allow an out if a ball is caught on a fly rather than on a bounce.