The American Revolution Through the Eyes of a Soldier

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

During the Revolutionary War they had no vehicles or advanced technology. War was hand-to-hand combat. Soldiers saw their enemy up close and used muskets, pistols, swords, and cannons. Diseases killed many more soldiers than combat.

Letters, diaries, and pictures give us a closer idea of what the soldiers might have gone through during this war. These are all examples of primary resources. Primary resources are one of the best methods of giving us an inside look at the emotional side of a particular period in time.

Look at this image entitled A View of the South Part of Lexington, 1775.

• What do you see?
• What is the general feeling of the picture?

To learn everything about the American Revolution would take a great amount of time, but in this lesson, you are going to learn about a specific person and his life in the American Revolution. Primary resources are important pieces to help us gain a full picture of historical events.

In today's lesson, you will look through different primary resources to help understand life during the Revolutionary War. First, you will learn about Jeremiah Greenman, a soldier during the Revolutionary War. Through his diary entries, we can start to understand the hardships that the soldiers had to endure in the war.

Before you read his diary, you will learn more about him through secondary resources. A secondary resource is something that was written and made after Jeremiah lived and was not his own first-hand account.

First, read this biography of Jeremiah Greenman.

Jeremiah Greenman was a soldier during the American Revolution who wrote about his experiences in a diary. He was born in 1758 in Rhode Island and grew up in a small town.

When Jeremiah was 18, he decided to join the Continental Army. He believed it was important to fight for America’s freedom from British rule and wanted to help protect his country.

Jeremiah fought in many battles and was even captured during a campaign in Quebec. He spent time as a prisoner of war but never gave up on the cause of independence. He wrote about what life was like for soldiers, which helps us understand their struggles and bravery.

Jeremiah Greenman died in 1828 at the age of 70. His diary is still remembered as a powerful story of what it was like to live and fight during the Revolutionary War.

When you are finished, answer the following questions.

• How old was Jeremiah when he died?
• Why did he decide to go to war?

Now, watch an actor pretend to be Jeremiah in a mock interview.

Contnue in the Got It? section.