E n g L i s h jenni Currie Santamaria

he Early United States
CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT
I. PRE-READING
A.
Background information
Reenactment is a popular hobby all over the United States. In a reenactment, 
people dress in costumes from a particular time period and act out a historical 
event, often a battle. The Civil War (1861–1865) is the most popular era, but 
there are also many reenactments of the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), when 
the American colonies broke free of British rule. This newspaper article is about 
a reenactment that takes place every year in South Carolina.
B.
Words to know before you read
Match the words to their definitions.
_____ 1. 
musket 
a. a guard
_____ 2. 
backcountry 
b. a long gun that shot lead balls
_____ 3. 
militia 
c. a ight
_____ 4. 
trounce 
d. an army of regular citizens (not trained 
soldiers)
_____ 5. 
battle 
e. an area far from the city
_____ 6. 
skirmish 
f. defeat
_____ 7. 
sentry 
g. a small battle
C.
Reading strategy
Scan this story for names and numbers. Then answer the questions.
1.
Where did the event take place? ___________
2.
What day? ___________
3.
What time? ___________

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Better Reading English
II. READ
Read the text. Mark the words you don’t know, but don’t stop reading to look 
them up.
Battle of Huck’s Defeat hasn’t lost authenticity
Annual Brattonsville reenactment is riveting for spectators
by Kathy Haight [e-mail]
Posted: Sunday, July 10, 2011
The sound of musket ire in a York County ield Saturday took visitors back to 
1780—when the tide of the American Revolution began turning toward the 
Patriots.
At the Brattonsville historic site, 18 men dressed as a backcountry militia 
trounced the Redcoats in the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Huck’s 
Defeat.
“The British thought they had won the war when they captured 
Charleston,” said historian Michael Scoggins of York County’s Culture & 
Heritage Museums. “It was here in the backcountry that they found out 
different.”
The skirmish was part of a weekend of events at Historic Brattonsville, a 
collection of homes, farm buildings and gardens about 35 miles southwest of 
Charlotte. The re-enactment of another battle is scheduled for 2 p.m. today.
As Saturday’s action got under way, shots rang out from the woods near a 
house surrounded by British soldiers. A sentry in a red wool vest and canvas 
leggings fell dead in a ield near the house, while several hundred visitors 
wearing shorts and T-shirts looked on. Soon the ield was full of 18th-century 
smoke and muskets being recorded digitally by 21st-century cameras.
“It feels like I’m going back in time,” said Dennis Marcone, 46, of Charlotte, 
who got hooked on history because that’s the subject his father taught. He likes 
watching re-enactments because they immerse him in the past as if he was 
really there.
Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/07/10/2442705/battle-of-hucks-
defeat-hasnt-lost.html#ixzz1SZPZUMBK
III. COMPREHENSION CHECK
Write the answer to the questions.
1.
What is the name of the battle?
2.
What is Historic Brattonsville?
3.
How many men were dressed as American militia?

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The Early United States
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4.
What was the British guard wearing?
5.
What does “immerse him in the past” mean?
IV. VOCABULARY BUILDING
A.
Idioms and two-word verbs