Defining Terms

Some of the words may be unfamiliar to the students, so we recommend asking the students to identify the words they don’t understand. It may be helpful to list the words on the board, along with their definition in the context of the Civil War.

For example:

on picket: on guard duty

Brigade: a very large group of soldiers

Yanks and Yankees: soldiers in the Union Army

shell out: fire cannons

double quick: very fast

regiments: a large group of soldiers, but smaller than a brigade

company: a group of soldiers, smaller than a regiment

carrying the colors for the Regiment: being responsible for carrying the flags for tha regiment

manage my horse: make the horse one is riding behaves properly

spurs: metal tools that attach onto boots, used by horseback riders

mean one: one that is of poor quality; state shops: factory owned by the state government

dispatch: letter or other type of written message

Thos: abbreviation for Thomas