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Glossary
This glossary can assist you in understanding the military terms and ranks mentioned in the biographies. We have also defined other important vocabulary words found thoughout the biographies.
Captain: a rank in the military and maritime service, and the highest-ranking company officer.
Colonel: colonel was traditionally the commanding officer of a regiment or brigade.
Company: in military service, the smallest body of troops that functions as a complete administrative and tactical unit.
Continental Army: The first regular U.S. fighting force, the Continental Army, was organized by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1775. It comprised the 22,000 militia troops then besieging Boston and an additional 5,000 militiamen in New York.
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Corporal: an officer in the army or marines with a rank below sergeant
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Deacon: (from Greek diakonos, “helper”), a member of the lowest rank of the threefold Christian ministry (below the presbyter-priest and bishop) or, in various Protestant churches, a lay official, usually ordained, who shares in the ministry and sometimes in the governance of a congregation.
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Dropsy: is edema, in medicine, an abnormal accumulation of watery fluid in the intercellular spaces of connective tissue.
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England: part of the United Kingdom
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Ensign: junior officer, generally the lowest commissioned rank in military services where such a rank exists.
Fifer: a person who plays the fife.
Fife: small transverse (side-blown) flute with six finger holes and a narrow cylindrical bore that produces a high pitch and shrill tone.
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Freemason: the teachings and practices of the fraternal (men-only) order of Free and Accepted Masons, the largest worldwide secret society— an oath-bound society
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Lieutenant: company grade officer, the lowest rank of commissioned officer in most amies of the world.
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Militia: military organization of citizens with limited military training
Minutemen: in U.S. history, an American Revolution militiaman who agreed to be ready for military duty “at a minute’s warning.”
Patriot: a soldier who served in the revolutionary war
Private: in most armies, the lowest grade of enlisted personnel.
Regiment: in most armies, a body of troops headed by a colonel and organized for tactical control into companies, battalions, or squadrons.
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Spotted Fever: Bacterium Neisseria meningitidis, which causes meningococcal meningitis in humans, who are the only natural hosts in which it causes disease.
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Vessel: a big ship that is used for moving equipment or fighting of enemies
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War: big battle between countries
Yeoman: is a military rank in the navy
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