Take Me Out to the Ball Game (And Away From Camp): How Soldiers Used Sports to Cope During War Time

Abstract

Snowball fights during the Civil War were a pretty big deal. In fact, sports and fitness in general played a role in shaping ideals of honor, courage, and idolization among the Armies of the Potomac and Northern Virginia, and they proved to have an impact on the life of the individual soldier by distracting him (or possibly her) from the monotonous routine of camp life and establishing bonds of comradeship. [excerpt