25. Both sides sought relief from boredom in the long encampments
On average about one day in thirty saw contact with the enemy through the course of the Civil War. The remaining time was spent in finding ways to combat unceasing ennui. Drilling and the rudiments of military life led to boredom which the average soldier found oppressive. To fight it, Northern troops played baseball, held boxing matches, and fell back on the activity practiced by armies since ancient times, gambling. Their Southern counterparts did the same, as well as holding wrestling matches and footraces, as well as cockfights, though as the war went on chickens became scarce and when found usually became food as soon as a fire could be started.