A civil war is an intrastate war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The objective of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change the existing government policies.
Civil War Slang Words
Following are common slang terms related to Civil war along with their explanation:
- Antebellum: A term often used to describe the United States of America before the outbreak of the Civil War.
- Armory: A place where weapons and other military supplies are manufactured.
- Arsenal: A place where weapons and other military supplies are stored.
- Artillery: Cannon or other large caliber firearms; a branch of the army armed with cannon.
- Barbette: Raised platform or mound allowing an artillery piece to be fired over a fortification’s walls without exposing the gun crew to enemy fire.
- Barrel: The long metal tube on a gun through which a projectile is fired.
- Battery: The basic unit of soldiers in an artillery regiment; similar to a company in an infantry regiment.
- Border States: The states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri. Although these states did not officially join the Confederacy, many of their citizens supported the South.
- Breach: A large gap or “hole” in a fortification’s walls or embankments caused by artillery or mines, exposing the inside of the fortification to assault.
- Caliber: The distance around the inside of a gun barrel measured in thousands of an inch. Bullets are labeled by what caliber gun they fit.
- Campaign: A series of military operations that form a distinct phase of the War
- Cash Crop: A crop such as tobacco or cotton which was grown to be sold for cash –not grown for food like corn or wheat.
- Canteen: Round container used to carry water; made of wood or tin and carried over the shoulder by a strap
- To rush towards the enemy.
- Demonstration: A military movement which is used to draw the enemy’s attention, distracting the enemy so that an attack can be made in another location.
- Drill: To practice marching, military formations and the steps in firing and handling one’s weapon.
- Dropsy: Nineteenth-century term for the condition known today as edema.
- Dysentery: Intestinal disease causing severe diarrhea. Dysentery was a leading cause of deaths by disease.
- Federal: Loyal to the government of the United States. Also known as Union, Yankee, or Northern.
- Feint: To pretend to attack in one direction while the real attack is directed somewhere else.
- Garrison: A group of soldiers stationed at a military post.
- Goober Pea: A common Southern term for “peanut”.
- Graybacks: A slang term for lice, or occasionally an offensive “Yankee” slang term for Confederate soldiers.
- Insult: A sudden, open, unconcealed attack upon a fortified position with the intent of capturing it before its defenders could mount an effective defense.
- Interior Lines: A military strategy which holds that the fastest, most efficient maneuvers, transportation and communication are conducted within an enclosed geographic area as opposed to outside the geographic area.
- Ironclad: A ship protected by iron armor.
- Juggernaut: An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path.
- Litter: A stretcher which was carried by two people and used to transport wounded soldiers.
- Long Roll: A long, continuous drum call which commanded a regiment to assemble.
- Mason-Dixon Line: A boundary surveyed in the 1760s that ran between Pennsylvania to the North and Delaware, Maryland and (West) Virginia to the South.
- Massacre: The cruel killing of a number of helpless or unresisting people.
- Magazine: A fortified location where powder or supplies were stored
- Musket: A smoothbore firearm fired from the shoulder.
- Muster: To formally enroll in the army or to call roll.
- Muzzle-Loading: Muzzle-loading muskets or rifle muskets had to be loaded from the end by putting the gunpowder and the bullet or ball down the barrel.
- Offensive: Actively attacking someone.
- Ordnance: The term used for military supplies, such as weaponry and ammunition.
- Picket: Soldiers posted on guard ahead of a main force.
- Parott Gun: A rifled artillery piece with a reinforcing band at the rear, or breech.
- Private: The lowest rank in the army.
- Quaker Guns: Large logs painted to look like cannons; used to fool the enemy into thinking a position was stronger than it really was.
- Quartermaster: The officer who was responsible for supplying clothing, supplies and food for the troops.
- Rampart: A large earthen mound used to shield the inside of a fortified position from artillery fire and infantry assault.
- Ramrod: Long, cylindrical metal rod used to push the cartridge down the barrel of a musket in preparation for firing.
- Ratify: To formally approve or sanction.
- Rebel: Loyal to the Confederate States.
- Reconstruction: A term used to describe the time in American history directly after the Civil War during which the South was “reconstructed” by the North after its loss in the war.
- Recruits: The term used to describe new soldiers.
- Salt Pork: Salt pork is a pork product similar to bacon that is made by curing pork bellies in salt.
- Sap Roller: A very large, bullet resistant gabion which was used to protect soldiers from enemy fire as they constructed trenches.
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