Bull Run: List 2

by Paul Fleischman
In this historical fiction, sixteen characters describe their actions and reactions connected to the first major battle of the Civil War, which was fought on July 21, 1861 in Virginia.

This list covers "Gideon Adams"–"James Dacy."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
40 words 16 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. infantry
    an army unit consisting of soldiers who fight on foot
    The next day four of us marched to a recruiting tent to join the infantry.
  2. resign
    accept as inevitable
    I, however, refused to resign myself to serving with shovel or spoon.
  3. fray
    a noisy fight
    I would stand at the front of the fray, not the rear, and would hold a rifle in my hand.
  4. furrow
    make or become wrinkled or creased
    His brows furrowed at my fumbling reply.
  5. infirmity
    the state of being weak in health or body
    He asked me my age, then whether I’d any physical infirmities.
  6. undertow
    a current that flows away from the shore after waves break
    “Mind the undertow!” someone called out. “Don’t get sucked under!”
  7. swaddle
    wrap very tightly in cloth, as a baby
    Every secessionist’s swaddling clothes are woven in Massachusetts, he said.
  8. quarry
    extract from or as if from an excavation
    His hobbyhorse is built of Maine cedar, his wedding ring worked by a Rhode Island goldsmith, his Colt revolver made in Connecticut, and his tombstone quarried in the hills of Vermont.
  9. bound
    headed or intending to head in a certain direction
    In the spring of ’61 the birds were bound north, but I was steering south for Washington.
  10. shank
    the part of the human leg between the knee and the ankle
    The streets were shank deep in mud and slops.
  11. boisterous
    noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline
    I set up next to a Michigan regiment, and a boisterous, brawling lot they were.
  12. glare
    look at with a fixed or angry gaze
    How fiercely they glared! How proud their postures, each one a Caesar to himself and his family.
  13. brisk
    very active
    And that evening, like so many others after, I did a brisk business, at ten cents a head, in exhibiting what I billed to be the first photograph of the human soul, plainly leaving a dying body.
  14. steeple
    a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
    It was grand to see the men ride in formations, sabers straight as church steeples.
  15. wager
    stake on the outcome of an issue
    They were as fond of wagering as of food. They’d race horses any chance they got.
  16. bandy
    curved outward at the knees
    The horse was named Greta. She was a small, bandy-legged gray. Teeth rotten. Ragged mane.
  17. intently
    with strained or eager attention
    How intently the men studied the art of killing.
  18. refine
    make more precise or increase the discriminatory powers of
    With what care their officers refined their skills through drilling, precision parades, mock charges.
  19. in earnest
    in a serious manner
    And yet, when the bugles are blown in earnest, how shocked we are that men bleed and die, as if we’d not striven day after day toward that very end.
  20. strive
    exert much effort or energy
    And yet, when the bugles are blown in earnest, how shocked we are that men bleed and die, as if we’d not striven day after day toward that very end.
  21. conspicuous
    without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious
    The paths between their tents were sewers, the aroma conspicuous half a mile away.
  22. foul
    make unclean
    The men drank fouled water, were crawling with vermin, and tormented their stomachs with a gut-strangling diet of salt pork fried in rancid grease.
  23. rancid
    having an offensive smell or taste
    The men drank fouled water, were crawling with vermin, and tormented their stomachs with a gut-strangling diet of salt pork fried in rancid grease.
  24. typhoid
    infection marked by intestinal inflammation and ulceration
    Typhoid and measles raced through the ranks.
  25. scurvy
    a condition caused by deficiency of ascorbic acid
    Scurvy and pneumonia claimed victims as well.
  26. consolation
    the comfort you feel when soothed in times of disappointment
    I felt defeat at each death, and consolation.
  27. maim
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
    Those who’d died, I told myself, at least hadn’t lived to maim and murder countless other men in battle.
  28. peddler
    someone who travels about selling wares
    Patrick entrusted Father’s glasses to a peddler who was heading our way. The man returned them to Father the next week and predicted that Patrick would make a fine soldier. Father sent him away without purchasing so much as a pin.
  29. dismal
    causing dejection
    The sod house seemed dismal without Patrick, and I stayed outside as much as I might.
  30. vile
    morally reprehensible
    He said he wished we’d seen him in his uniform, which had looked quite fine until two days before, when it had almost dissolved in the first hard rain. The vile profiteers who sold them would, he hoped, be hanged.
  31. profiteer
    one who makes excessive money on sales of scarce goods
    He said he wished we’d seen him in his uniform, which had looked quite fine until two days before, when it had almost dissolved in the first hard rain. The vile profiteers who sold them would, he hoped, be hanged.
  32. replenish
    fill something that had previously been emptied
    His letter replenished me, as if it were food.
  33. render
    show in, or as in, a picture
    How I longed to render my drawings in color!
  34. brigade
    army unit smaller than a division
    To show the red blouses of the Garibaldi Guards, the emerald flags of the Irish Brigade, the tricolored standard of New York’s French regiment, not to mention the companies of immigrant Germans and Scots and Poles, each with their own vivid uniforms.
  35. pantaloon
    trousers worn in former times
    Baggy red pantaloons flapping like sails, leather leggings, red-braided blue jackets, and atop every head a red fez cap from which hung a long black tassel.
  36. gawk
    look with amazement
    Walking down Pennsylvania Avenue, I stopped and gawked at the sight of them, and watched one push his companion through a barber’s plate-glass window for sport.
  37. penchant
    a strong liking or preference
    I’d heard tell of their penchant for mayhem.
  38. mayhem
    violent and needless disturbance
    I’d heard tell of their penchant for mayhem.
  39. pore
    direct one's attention on something
    He was poring over a book, and was practicing shouting orders to the trees.
  40. foreboding
    a feeling of evil to come
    He was poring over a book, and was practicing shouting orders to the trees. The scene filled me with foreboding.
Created on Mon May 13 11:08:01 EDT 2024 (updated Tue May 14 11:21:09 EDT 2024)

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