WORD LISTS

"I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863" by Lauren Tarshis, Chapters 7–16

Tue Oct 17 09:10:21 EDT 2023
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
In this seventh book of the historical fiction I Survived series, eleven-year-old Thomas runs away from a plantation and ends up helping Union soldiers fight for his freedom on a Pennsylvania battlefield.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–16
canteen
The men scrambled to fold up their tents, pack up their knapsacks, and fill their canteens at the stream.
rickety
But the rebel fighters were fierce, even though some fought barefoot, with rickety guns that could barely shoot.
rummage
Henry looked into his knapsack, rummaging around, as though he might find the answer folded up with his blanket.
shell
Some of the big guns shot cannonballs that were even heavier than Thomas. Others shot shells, explosives that were filled with razor-sharp metal strips, nails, and metal balls.
artillery
Men who managed to survive the artillery blasts were met with a storm of bullets.
retreat
Four more regiments were sent in before the generals finally ordered the Union army to retreat.
scorching
The days were scorching hot, and some men had collapsed on the side of the road, their faces beet red, their wool uniforms soaked in sweat.
drill
“Line up! Line up!” Captain Campbell shouted. Thomas had watched the men drill back at the camp.
bayonet
During drills they sometimes smiled and joked as they marched, tossing their hats into the air and catching them with the sharp metal tips of their bayonets.
musket
Bullets from a hundred muskets tore through the air.
wince
The Union soldiers stood up, catching their breath, running to help the few men who lay on the ground, wincing in pain.
dread
Thomas could see the dread in the eyes of the men gathered around them.
wilt
He felt the men’s hands on him, and he had a strange wilting feeling, as if he was a plant suddenly withering away in the sun.
wither
He felt the men’s hands on him, and he had a strange wilting feeling, as if he was a plant suddenly withering away in the sun.
stride
A tall rebel soldier strode up to him.
sneer
He sneered at Thomas. “Well, look here,” he said, grabbing Thomas roughly by the arm, squeezing so hard Thomas thought his bone would snap.
hustle
A burly man hustled up behind the tall soldier.
bulge
He had a chest like a barrel and muscles that bulged through his tattered gray jacket.
burly
But the burly man grabbed the tall man’s arm and yanked him back hard.
drawl
“Easy, soldier,” he drawled.
buck
“Don’t hurt this one,” he said, patting Thomas on the back, as if he was a prized horse. “A strong buck like this? He’ll fetch us at least a thousand dollars at the slave auction.”
auction
He’d heard about the slave auctions, where they’d be lined up like animals. Buyers would check their teeth and their feet. There was little chance that he and Birdie would be sold to the same owner.
hobble
Even Lester was there, though he was hobbling and in obvious pain.
glint
He stood for a moment, his hand steady, the pistol glinting in the sun.
churning
He turned and hurled the pistol into the churning waters of the nearby stream, which swept it away.
brace
Thomas braced himself for more shots.
billow
But soon there was thundering in the distance, and great clouds of black and white smoke billowing in the sky.
grim
The fighting had ended for the day, and at first, the news about the day’s fighting seemed grim: The Union troops had been badly outnumbered. They had lost thousands of soldiers.
ragged
Some men looked more ragged than Birdie’s doll.
falter
The horses faltered, struggling to get up a rocky stretch of the road.
shard
And a tree right behind them shattered into a million shards of wood.
gleam
There were thousands of them—men in front on horseback, waving gleaming swords.
assume
They had put him on a stretcher carefully, wondering how on earth this boy had gotten himself onto this battlefield, assuming he was a servant to one of the officers.
blistering
The plantation in Mississippi had been a brutal place, where slaves were worked to the bone picking cotton in the blistering sun.
vulture
At first, most of the pictures had appeared in his nightmares: the wagon in flames, the vultures that had circled above the battlefield as he lay wounded, the glowing red eyes of the rebel who shot him.

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