Washington Nationals Play Baseball at Swampoodle Grounds

This photograph of the Washington Nationals baseball team was taken between 1886-1889. The team is seen playing on Swampoodle Grounds, also known as Capitol Park and later the location of Union Station, in northeast Washington, D.C. On August 30, 1865 the Nationals and the Brooklyn Atlantics became the first organized sports teams to visit a president in the White House when they visited President Andrew Johnson following a competition on the White Lot. The White Lot, later known as the Ellipse, was located south of the White House.