1862.71

Confederate Surgeon encourages ball-playing

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags	Civil War, MilitaryCivil War, Military
Location	US SouthUS South
City/State/Country:	[[{{{Country}}}]]
Modern Address
Game
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	AdultAdult
Holiday
Notables
Text	In his "Manual of Military Surgery" for CS surgeons, noted Dr. Julian Chisolm recommended that the army encourage "gymnastic exercises" to relieve the soldier's boredom: "The manly play of ball, with its invigorating exercise, is the common amusement in a Confederate camp. In winter this gives place to mock-battles with snowballs, when regiments and brigades are marshalled against each other in amicable array, and take as much pride in attacking and in repelling assaults, and taking prisoners, as they have felt on the battle-field in taking and holding an enemy's position. Besides ball-playing, soldiers in camp amuse themselves with rolling ten-pins, shooting marbles, throwing quoits, racing, wrestling — any of which are preferable to card-playing, which, in camp, is inseparable from gambling."
Sources	Chisolm book. See also Kirsch book, p. 31.
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Submitted by	Bruce Allardice
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Has Supplemental Text

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