The Mountain Campaigns in Georgia

Snowball fight between Civil War soldiers.

“Capt CH Slocomb lost two front teeth—Lieut Challeron a blackeye—Among the Privates of the 5th Co was 5 bloody noses [and] a Blackeye—all of them more or less bruised….”

—Confederate soldier E. Mussence, on a snowball fight between troops from Louisiana and Georgia, in his diary, March 31, 1863

“Snow-ball battles were sometimes fought with such vigor as to disable the combatants. The result of such a fight was the capture of the defeated party’s cooking utensils, and any food that might be contained in them.”

—Confederate soldier Royall Figg, reflecting in his memoirs on life in camp in January 1863

“There must have been at least ten thousand men engaged in the battle. Snow flew in every direction…. Captain Reilly was on his horse, and had the appearance of a ‘Lager Beer Dutchman.’ The men piled snow upon him until it was almost impossible to tell the color of his horse….”

—Texas soldier J.M. Polk, on a snowball fight that occurred in the camp of the Army of North Virginia in December 1862, in his memoirs

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Snowball

“Both regiments formed in line of battle…. At the signal, the battle commenced; charges and counter-charges were made, prisoners were taken on either side, the air was filled with white missiles, and the stentorian cheers went up as one or other party gained an advantage.”

—George T. Stevens, 77th New York Infantry, on a snowball fight that occurred between a Vermont and a New Jersey regiment, in his memoirs

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Joseph F. Knipe

“Th[e] … officers … saw that the men were getting too serious with their play. General Knipe mounted a stump and tried to make a speech, to quiet the disturbance. He was compelled to beat a hasty retreat amid the shower of snow balls that assailed him from all sides.”

—Charles W. Boyce, 28th New York Infantry, on a “brigade snow ball” in early 1863 in which their brigade commander, Joseph F. Knipe (above), became entangled, in his memoirs