account lessons on the American Civil War lean to focus on its uncheerful aspects : a divided up country , rampant gangrene , and Ken Burns appear prominently in most classes . However , despite schedules packed with receiving shoddy aesculapian care and standing still for arcminute on final stage to have their photograph taken , some Confederate soldiers found the time to stage what sounds like one of the most strategically reasoned snowball conflict in story .
On January 28 , 1863 , two feet of snow covered a gravid detail of Confederate troops camp in Virginia ’s Rappahannock Valley . Rather than complaining about the cold conditions , the First and Fourth Texas Infantry put their military training to turn .
On the morning of January 29 , they launched a major snowball offense against their comrade in the Fifth Texas Infantry , who somehow repelled their assaulter before make up one’s mind to get together them in a snow assault on the Third Arkansas Infantry , which deliver cursorily beneath a slushy bombardment . The conquered Arkansans joined forces with the winner , and together they set out to pelt the encampment of the nearby Georgia Brigade .
This combined expeditionary military force rolled into the Georgian coterie fortify with bags of snowballs and decorated with engagement flags , but the Georgia Brigade had received advance notice and managed to put up a valiant fight for over an hour before eventually falling . The overcome Georgians connect their vanquisher and attacking another segmentation . By this point , upwards of 9,000 troop were engaged in Methedrine combat that grew increasingly more serious as rock - centre snowballs get in the mix .
After hours of this melee , the Texas Brigade apparently won a Pyrrhic victory in which many soldier suffer slight injuries . In reaction to the convulsion and the disfiguration of a few troops , General James Longstreet , commander of the Army of Northern Virginia , reportedly shun snowball fighting .
