Following Gettysburg both sides settled into camps or defensive fortifications during the long, monotonous stretch from July 1863 to August 1864. As in any war, boredom filled the everyday life of Civil War soldiers. Union and Confederate fighting men averaged fifty days in camp for every day in battle. Lulls in the fighting allowed men to bond and build up morale before the next frontal assaults decimated regimental strength and destroyed small-unit cohesion.

Northern Camps.

Reveille woke Union soldiers every morning at five o'clock (six in the winter). After roll call and breakfast, the soldiers spent the rest of the day drilling and marching. The daily drills were designed to break resistance to military authority and to make soldiers work as a cohesive unit. The Northern enlisted men hated it. "The first thing in the morning is drill, then drill, then drill again," wrote one...