Glossary
Bohea tea
boycott
broadside
cockpit
committee of correspondence
committee of safety
confederation
constitution
continentals
currency
disperse
dragoon
effigy
forge
grapeshot
green
grenadiers
huzzah or huzza
liberty cap
liberty hall
liberty pole
liberty tree
Loyalists
macaroni
martial law
militia
minuteman
necessaries
propaganda
ragtag
read the riot act
redoubt
red tape
regular
scapegoat
Sons of Liberty
state troops
Tories
volley
Whigs
Yankee
Yankee Doodle
bigwig (slang)
a person of real or imagined importance. The term came from the tradition in Europe that the bigger one's wig, the higher the status the person had in society. The origin arose from the practice in England and the colonies where the wigs worn by judges were longer (i.e., bigger) than those worn by lawyers because of the higher status of judges in the court system.
a special kind of Chinese tea that was a favorite in the colonies.
an agreement usually among a particular segment of the population to reduce or stop the use and purchase of certain products or activities.
a single printed sheet of various sizes with words, pictures or both about an event, person or idea made to be posted for the general public to read. (For examples, see Tar'd and Feather'd')
the center of activity and interest. The word is believed to have originated during the 1600s or early 1700s as the place in Westminster Hall, Parliament or the king's Privy Council Chamber where individuals stood while they were rebuked or challenged by members of Parliament or other major officials of the government. The term may have originated centuries earlier to denote the area where two roosters (cocks) fought to the death because the area was at the center of everyone's attention.
any official group appointed by a colony, town or group(s) to spread news to other colonies, towns or group and to propose, coordinate and possibly carry out actions decided on among the colonies to get the king and Parliament to change their ways. The first such group was organized in 1765 in opposition to the Stamp Act.
an organization that planned and organized for war or defense. Its activities included spying, storing munitions and coordinating activities of militias.
a group of sovereign states or communities that unite for one or more specific purposes, yet allow each state or community to act independently on all other purposes.
the fundamental laws and principles by which a group (nation, state, organization, etc.) is governed, often including a description of the basic structure of the government. A constitution is usually a written document. The term is usually capitalized when referring to the Constitution of the United States.
usually referred to soldiers who fought for, were paid and equipped by the Continental Congress and were trained and directed by officers appointed by this same congress. These soldiers were expected to fight anywhere they were ordered to go in the colonies. This word also referred to the paper money printed and circulated by the Continental Congress.
another word for money.
to break up and scatter about rather than stay together.
a member of a cavalry unit, even though not all members of a unit actually owned and rode horses. Those who had no horses or who did not ride their horses during a particular conflict were called dismounted dragoons. Their chief weapons were a sword, a pistol and a small musket. They often served as scouts, raiding parties and patrols to prevent sneak attacks and capture deserters and spies.
a substitute or symbol of someone or something hated, e.g., a stuffed dummy that represents a despised person.
to shape or mold in a slow, deliberate way by force, or the place where something is shaped in this way. An example is forging (i.e., molding) a piece of iron into a definite shape using the hot coals in the forge (i.e., the place where the molding takes place). Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, was a fit name for the place where Washington, with the help of Baron von Steuben, deliberately shaped his untrained men into a highly trained, fighting army during the winter of 1777-78.
a cluster of iron balls, usually one inch in diameter, packed into a canvas bag and loaded into a cannon. When the powder burned and then exploded, the balls sprayed out of the cannon's muzzle with a shotgun-like effect.
a clear, grassy public field or large public lawn where people in a community could have large outdoor public gatherings. It is also known as a town commons.
foot soldiers who threw hand grenades, which were small, round bombs with a fuse invented in 1678. These men were usually selected for their height and strength. They eventually became known as highly effective fighters, especially with the bayonet. The grenade was rarely used after the 1750s, but the name stuck to the elite units in each battalion.
a shout or yell, often done in unison such as a group shouting "Hurrah." This can also be a verb meaning to cheer.
a brimless hat worn as a symbol of the ideas of freedom, independence and liberty which the rebels supported. Similar ones were worn by the French revolutionaries.
any area, usually outside, where colonists assembled to discuss issues, listen to anti-government speeches and stage protests.
a rod like a flag pole from which effigies could be hung and around which people could gather to voice their positions in support of liberty and in opposition to the king, Parliament, royal officials and Loyalists. Sometimes it was the same as a liberty tree.
originally a particular large, dominant elm tree in Boston Commons that, beginning on August 14, 1765, was the center of debate and resistance against acts of Parliament and royal officials and for burning effigies. This tree later became the symbol of the rebels' concerns to protect their liberties, especially those associated with the English Constitution and the assumed natural rights of all men. Other trees were celebrated as such symbols. (See also liberty pole.)
the name given to those in the colonies that sup- ported (i.e., remained loyal to) the king's and Parliament's positions and actions. The Loyalists were also called Tories because their views were much like those of the Tories in England, the major political party in Parliament that supported the views of the king and Parliament.
originally the name for the peculiar, curly shape of one type of Italian pasta, the name was associated with the curls in wigs worn by members of eighteenth-century, English high society who had traveled to Europe and accepted many European styles, tastes and behaviors. The name was also used to refer to people who wore these wigs, who showed a preference for European rather than English styles, or who were ridiculed for trying to act as if they came from a higher social class than they actually did. The term was used to mock what that person stood for as well as the person himself or herself. Thus, the song describing Yankee Doodle sticking a feather in his hat and calling it macaroni was ridiculing the colonists for trying to be something that they were not (upper class) and preferring something other than the styles, tastes and ideas widely accepted among upper-middle and high English society.
a state in which all civil laws, rights and liberties are suspended and the military has direct rule.
a group of men who drilled on a regular basis and were considered the community's first line of defense to protect the community as a whole. In most communities, the militia elected its own officers, and the quality of militia varied from community to community. Until late in the Revolutionary War, these men wore civilian clothes to the battlefield. Both the rebel and Tory sides had their own militia forces. It was the militia--not the minutemen--who fought at Lexington, although soon after the opening shots a call went out to the minutemen in the surrounding area to come and help the militias.
an armed man read to fight in a minute's notice before and during the Revolutionary War. Not to be confused with members of colonial militia, minutemen rarely drilled on a regular basis, as required of members of local community militias. Until the battle of Concord, they fought only when needed in conflicts against the Indians near their homes. In some communities the minutemen were part of their community militia but had a different set of responsibilities than those of regular militia.
in colonial times, toilets. For soldiers in charge of the necessaries, their work usually included digging, cleaning and covering up the ditches under the toilets.
any device deliberately used to influence the thoughts and actions of someone in alignment with the views of a particular doctrine or cause.
rowdy, undisciplined. Washington used this term on several occasions to describe the men whom he was ordered to command, beginning with the men surrounding Boston following the Lexington conflict.
in English law, to break up an unruly crowd within one hour after the Riot Act was read publicly. The act stated that those still present would be arrested. Now the phrase means to inform someone to do something immediately or face severe consequences.
a small, enclosed, usually well-protected temporary outpost. It was often situated to easily defend strategic positions, the entry to a particular place or a key trench line. These were usually located within musket shot of the main fortification.
the pinkish-red tape that surrounded nearly all English and French legal documents that were also sealed with wax and stamped with an official government seal. Hence, to read these documents a person had to get through the red tape by breaking the wax seal and sliding off the tape.
a member of an established, standing army. A standing army is also called a regular army.
a person or group who is blamed for some action, condition or mistake even though the person or group may have had nothing or little to do with what happened or did not happen.
any person who opposed selected policies and actions by the English government. In February 1765, the Irish member of Parliament Isaac Barre coined the phrase when he spoke in opposition to the House of Commons passing the Stamp Act or any taxes on the American colonies. The original group calling itself the Sons of Liberty was established as a New York City committee of correspondence in opposition to the Stamp Act. This group became one of the most radical and persistent of the colonial groups opposing English laws. By the end of 1765, Samuel Adams in Boston began using this term to refer to colonists who opposed any acts of Parliament or royal orders aimed at the colonies. Prior to 1776, people in nearly every colony organized themselves into groups calling themselves Sons of Liberty.
soldiers who fought for and were paid by each state after the war began in April 1775. With rare exception, these troops only fought in their home state.
the name given to those in England who strongly supported the views of King George III and Parliament. Eventually the people in the colonies who remained loyal to the king and Parliament were also called Tories. According to the New York Packet, January 18, 1776, the name Tory was first given to Irish robbers or highwaymen who were always plundering and looking for villainous acts to do. If this is true, then the word originally meant those who plunder.
shot from muskets or cannon, usually a number being fired simultaneously or in rapid succession.
the name of one of the two major political parties in England. Many members of this party agreed with a number of ideas held by the protesters in the colonies. Eventually the name Whig was given to people in the colonies who protested against the king and Parliament. According to the New York Packet, January 18, 1776, the name Whig meant sour milk or whey, a name first given to the Presbyterians in Scotland, when they were persecuted by the high church, had to flee their homes and were often forced to drink sour milk in the homes of those poor people who would offer them food and shelter. If this is true, then the word Whig refers to those who challenged the right and absolute authority of the monarch to rule, and hence were often forced to having less of the good things that would come with being loyal to the monarch.
a person from the New England colonies. There are at least three notions as to the origin of this term. One is that it came from the nicknames given to Dutch sailors, Janke (little Jan) or Jan Kees (a generic name such as our present day John Doe), who visited the New England ports in the late 1600s and throughout the 1700s. A second possibility is that the word is adapted from the assumed Indian pronunciation of English, Yengleesh. Yet another story reported in the Virginia Gazette, June 10, 1775, is that the original colonists in New England had little trouble subduing the Indian population in the area except for one tribe, the Yankoos, which signified invincible. According to legend, when the tribe was finally overcome, it allowed the transfer of its name to the conquerors in accordance with tribal custom. Hence, the colonists in the area were called the Yankoos, with this name eventually corrupted over time to Yankees.
a derogatory nickname given by the regulars to reflect the general lawlessness and less-cultured behaviors of the colonists. The origin of the words to the song are unknown, but they are believed to follow the occupation of Boston in 1769 by the regulars. The colonists did not like the words that were sung to the tune of a song heard first in an American comic opera produced in Philadelphia in April 1767. After the siege of Boston in 1775, many colonists took a liking to the song, especially the tune, and sung it as a sort of arrogant challenge to the British army throughout the war. It was heard throughout the day of Cornwallis' surrender. Both sides made up their own words, and no original copy of the first set of words has been found. Most of the verses that survive were recorded years later, but no evidence confirms any one verse as being part of the original song.