Page content
Reset text sizeResize text larger

Teacher Community

Teacher Community website

Browse the Teacher Gazette archives at our new Teacher Community website.

Membership is free. Join today!

Equipping a Continental Soldier

Introduction

On the surface, it defies logic to think that an army of citizen soldiers could successfully win American independence from Great Britain, the eighteenth-century world’s most powerful empire. The “minutemen” of Massachusetts were the first American resistance to British forces. Those militiamen came from all walks of life—farmers, tradesmen, merchants, and some slaves and free blacks. Though most of them were young, from the lower or middling classes, and complete novices in the art of war, they fought with a common sense of purpose—to win the rights and liberties they believed were theirs as Englishmen.

In this lesson, students learn how the United States formed its first army and established the tradition of the citizen soldier. Then, working in small groups, they “equip” a Continental soldier by answering a series of challenge questions.

Materials

Strategy

Slide Presentation
You may either present the A Common Soldier in the American Revolution QuickTime Presentation on a computer projector or introduce the information yourself. Before beginning the lesson:

  1. If your computer does not have QuickTime Player software, download and install the free QuickTime Player.
  2. Download the A Common Soldier in the American Revolution QuickTime Presentation (file size: 1.2 MB) to your computer. Connect your computer to an LCD projector or a television screen in the classroom.
  3. Give each student a copy of the A Common Soldier in the American Revolution Graphic Organizer and explain how they will complete the form while viewing the presentation.
  4. Show students the A Common Soldier in the American Revolution QuickTime Presentation. Pause each slide for as long as necessary and share the related information from the A Common Soldier in the American Revolution—Teacher Notes.
  5. If desired, you may review students’ graphic organizers for accuracy and completion. Have students keep their graphic organizers for use in Activity Two.

Activity One: Analyzing the Primary Source

  1. Divide the class into pairs. Give each pair of students a copy of the Primary Source Analysis Worksheet.
  2. Display a transparency of the Primary Source of the Month: Continental Army Enlistment Form,
    June 1776     for the class.
  3. Have students discuss and complete the questions on their analysis worksheets.
  4. Hold a summary discussion using the following questions:
    • How long did the enlistment form require recruits to serve in the army?
    • What equipment were the recruits expected to supply?
    • What were the recruits required to do while in the army?
    • If you had lived during the American Revolution, would you sign such a document? Why or why not?
    • What, if anything, would you add or change to the document if you were in charge of recruiting for the Continental Army?

Activity Two: Equipping a Continental Soldier
In this activity, students use information from the QuickTime presentation to “equip” a Continental Army soldier. You may choose whether you want students to have access to their completed graphic organizers or answer the questions from memory.

  1. Divide the class into teams of 3 or 4 students.
  2. Give each group a set of the Equipping a Common Soldier Challenge Cards or, if preferable, read the cards aloud for the class. Have a copy of the Equipping a Common Soldier Challenge Cards—Teacher Answer Key with you.
  3. Explain to students that the objective of the activity is to answer the questions posed in the Equipping a Common Soldier Challenge Cards to properly outfit a Continental Army soldier for duty. Each correctly answered question provides a different piece of equipment as indicated on the card.
You or the students should keep a track of how well each group equips the soldier. The activity can be made competitive by having groups take turns answering the questions, with the first group to fully equip the soldier winning. Another option is to have the groups take turns answering questions until all of the soldiers are equipped. An element of urgency can be added to the activity by having students answer each question within a set period of time (five to ten seconds, for example).

Lesson Extension
Have students research the equipment used by modern infantry soldiers. What similarities and differences do they see between eighteenth- and twenty-first-century soldiers and their equipment?


This lesson was written by Greg Timmons, freelance writer and education consultant, Missoula, Montana.



Footer