The Killer Angels: Part 1

by Michael Shaara
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel explores the four turbulent days of the Battle of Gettysburg, a decisive moment in the American Civil War.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. corps
    an army unit usually consisting of two or more divisions
    He turned in his saddle, looked back, saw the entire Fifth Corps forming behind him.
    The Latin "corpus" means "body"--this might be helpful in remembering that a corps incorporates two or more divisions.
  2. brigade
    army unit smaller than a division
    The commander of that brigade, Bill Gamble, came up the hill on a muddy horse, trailed by a small cloud of aides, gazed westward with watery eyes.
    To keep track of how many soldiers are involved, keep in mind that a corps can be divided into divisions (which is about 10,000 troops each), and that a brigade (2,000-3,000 troops) is bigger than a battalion (less than 1,000 troops).
  3. hysteria
    state of violent mental agitation
    He had smelled out the shape of Lee’s army in all the rumors and bar talk and newspapers and hysteria he had drifted through all over eastern Pennsylvania, and on that day he was perhaps the only man alive who knew the positions of both armies.
  4. battalion
    an army unit consisting of a headquarters and companies
    But they come in whole battalions.
    Another definition ("a large indefinite number") and the example sentence make "whole battalions" seem much bigger and more threatening. Compare with "corps" and "brigade" in this list.
  5. pious
    having or showing or expressing reverence for a deity
    A strange friendship; grim and gambling Longstreet, formal and pious old Bobby Lee.
  6. reluctant
    not eager
    He rode slowly up the road, not really thinking, just moving, reluctant to stop.
  7. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    With some you postured and with some you groveled and with some you were imperious.
  8. exasperated
    greatly annoyed; out of patience
    The spy shrugged, exasperated, glooming at Sorrel.
  9. exuberant
    joyously unrestrained
    It was a short way through the night to Lee’s headquarters, and they rode past low sputtering campfires with the spy puffing exuberant blue smoke like a happy furnace.
  10. contemptuous
    expressing extreme scorn
    And people lookin’ down their noses and grinnin’ behind me back and all the time tellin’ me exactly what I want to know about who is where and how many and how long ago, and them not even knowin’ they’re doin’ it, too busy feelin’ contemptuous.
    Compare with "imperious" in this list. Although "contemptuous" has a connection to hate while "imperious" is connected to empires and command, the two adjectives are used synonymously in their example sentences to mean "look down upon."
  11. enrapture
    hold spellbound
    For a moment the spy was silent, enraptured, then he bowed suddenly from the waist.
  12. indomitable
    impossible to subdue
    It was bad to see the indomitable old man weak and hatless in the early morning, something soft in his eyes, pain in his face, the right hand rubbing the pain in the arm.
  13. inarticulate
    without or deprived of the use of speech or words
    They had been together for a long time in war and they had grown very close, but Lee was ever formal and Longstreet was inarticulate, so they stood for a long moment side by side without speaking, not looking at each other, listening to the raindrops fall in the leaves.
  14. canteen
    a flask for carrying water; used by soldiers or travelers
    He saw a wooden canteen, held in the big hand of Kilrain, cold drops of water on varnished sides.
  15. rhetoric
    study of the technique for using language effectively
    He was thirty-four years old, and on this day one year ago he had been a professor of rhetoric at Bowdoin College.
  16. bayonet
    a knife fixed to the end of a rifle and used as a weapon
    There were guards with fixed bayonets.
    "Fixed" means "being set firmly in position"--a bayonet that is fixed is attached to the end of a rifle and is ready to transfix ("to pierce with a pointed weapon").
  17. beckon
    summon with a wave, nod, or some other gesture
    He beckoned to the scarred man and waved to Glazier Estabrook.
  18. tactics
    branch of military science dealing with detailed maneuvers
    But he was not interested, and Longstreet, who loved to talk tactics and strategy, let it go.
    Compared with strategy, tactics is the play by play choices, and strategy, the overall plan.
  19. engagement
    a hostile meeting of opposing military forces
    “I been in eleven different engagements, Colonel. How many you been in?”
  20. obligated
    caused by law or conscience to follow a certain course
    “Listen, Buster. You’re a private now and I’m not supposed to keep you at headquarters in that rank. If you want to go on back to the ranks, you just say so, because I feel obligated—well, you don’t have to be here, but listen, I need you.”
  21. favoritism
    an inclination to privilege some person or group
    “You just be careful of the name business in front of the men. Listen, we don’t want anybody to think there’s favoritism.”
  22. adjutant
    an officer who acts as an assistant to a more senior officer
    “General Meade has his son as his adjutant.”
  23. appalling
    causing shock, dismay, or horror
    It came to him in the night sometimes with a sudden appalling shock that the boys he was fighting were boys he had grown up with.
    The Latin "palir" means "to grow pale"--an appalling shock can make one grow pale with fright or dismay.
  24. aristocracy
    the most powerful members of a society
    They were forming a new aristocracy, a new breed of glittering men, and Chamberlain had come to crush it.
  25. regiment
    army unit smaller than a division
    In the background the tents were coming down, the wagons were hitching, but some of the men of the Regiment had come out to watch and listen.
    Compare with "brigade" in this list--although the given definitions are identical, a brigade is actually made up of two or more regiments, while a regiment is made up of two or more battalions. In numbers, a brigade is bigger, but in their Latin roots, a regiment seems to have more power ("regere" means "to rule" while "brigare" means "to fight").
  26. clarity
    the quality of being coherent and easily understood
    The vision was brutally clear: he had to wonder at the clarity of it.
  27. glorious
    characterized by grandeur
    Try that against an Indian, that glorious charge, saber a-shining, and he’d drop behind a rock or a stump and shoot your glorious head off as you went by.
    "Glorious" also means "having or deserving or conferring high honor"--the use of the adjective twice suggests this definition in a mocking way. Charging with a shiny saber might look glorious, but it also creates an easy target for an Indian with a gun and does not lead to glory as a headless horseman.
  28. deploy
    place troops or weapons in battle formation
    After that he deployed the brigades.
  29. cavalier
    a gallant or courtly gentleman
    The only ones who even irritated him were the cavaliers, the high-bred, feathery, courtly ones who spoke like Englishmen and treated a man like dirt.
    The given definition is suggested by the example sentence's use of the adjective "courtly" ("refined or imposing in manner or appearance"), but the intended definition is connected to the Latin "caballus" which means "horse" and to the word "cavalry" which means "troops trained to fight on horseback."
  30. seminary
    a school for training ministers or priests or rabbis
    A preacher from the Seminary began a low, insistent, theological argument with a young lieutenant, back and forth, back and forth, the staff listening with admiration at the lovely words.
  31. perpetually
    without interruption
    He was very thin and perpetually astonished and somewhat gap-toothed, and his manner of talking alone was enough to convulse them, and he enjoyed it.
  32. pungent
    strong and sharp to the sense of taste or smell
    Longstreet whiffed a pungent odor.
  33. ribald
    humorously vulgar
    Someone suggested they drink to that, but Pickett reminded one and all soulfully of his oath to Sallie, schoolgirl Sallie, who was half his age, and that brought up a round of ribald kidding that should have insulted Pickett but didn’t.
  34. reminisce
    recall the past
    He sat off to one side, withdrawing, had one long hot swig from Armistead’s flask, disciplined himself not to take another, withdrew against the trunk of a cool tree, letting the night come over him, listening to them talk, reminiscing.
  35. indelible
    not able to be forgotten, removed, or erased
    He felt a spasm of pain like a blast of sudden cold, saw the patient high-boned Indian face, that beautiful woman, indelible suffering.
Created on Sat Feb 15 12:35:22 EST 2014 (updated Thu Aug 16 14:30:41 EDT 2018)

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