Example research essay topic: Proud To Be An American Brown Bess - 1,971 words

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My Brother Sam is Dead Author: by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier Category: Historical Fiction Summary: It starts out in the 1770 s during the Revolution War and Samuel Meeker or Sam for short just interred the room of the tavern and he chimes in to everybody who is waiting to eat, he comes in saying where beating the Lobster Backs. His father, Eliphalet Meeker but called Life for short, starts arguing with son. After a while they calmed down and change the subject. Finally Tim Meeker or sometimes called Timmy, the narrator and one of the main two characters of the story in the story goes out to the barn to milk the cow Old Pru. Witches are one of his daily chores and ask Sam to join him. While Tim is milking Old Pru hes talking to Sam about how has he been lately and what is he doing back at home.

And Sam tells him truth why he is back at home, and its to get the Brown Bess. Which is the family's gun and Tim swears that he cant tell Mom or Dad. Well in the morning when Sam trys to get the Brown Bess his father catches him and they get big fight whether hes going to fight the British or not and finally his dad throws him out the house. While the Meeker's are at Church, Sam goos back to the Tavern, where his family lives and works and he stills the Brown Bess. Well later on the Rebels or the patriots or now called the Americans. Went threw the town of Redding.

Which is where the Meeker's live. They where going door to door. Taking peoples guns and goods. When they came to the Tavern they where demanding for there gun.

They wouldnt believe that there son stole it and took it with him to the Rebels camp and they wouldnt believe him cause it was Tori territory and that they where threatening to kill Life if they didnt give them there gun. Then Tim ran out the door and he ran to go get Colonel Read. Since he knew that Sam was a Rebel and colonel read was a colonel for the Rebels, but when he got to where he was he saw Sam with the Gun sleeping with it. Then he snatched it and started running back to his house and when he was half way there Sam woken up and was yelling him to stop but he wouldnt stop, but since Sam was older and bigger he caught Tim right as they reach the town of Redding. Then Tim had to explain what had happen and Sam didnt want to go back but he went with Tim just in case. When they got back his dad was all right just beaten up a little bit.

Sam ran out there like a bad out hell and when he was far enough from Tim and his Dad. he looked at them from top of Rock and waved and left. later on the seasons pass by and in the Winter Tim and his Dad have to go down to Verplanks to exchange cattle for money and goods. when they where half way there they run into some Cowboys, (Cattle thieves) and they say there Rebels and notice that Life is trying to sell Beef to the Tori's. so they threaten to kill Life and his son, and also take their goods. well there luck comes in and some Escorts come along and scared off the cowboys and the cowboys very where pissed.

While they get up to Verplanks, which is by Hudson River, Life makes his trades. On there way back Life is very cautious about the Cowboys, but on way there it starts to snow, and it makes it hard for them and it takes them and extra day. next day Life is on the horse and he and Tim leave. about every five minutes or so he goos up and down to check to see if theres cowboys coming. after a while Tim notices that its been a long time since his dad came back so Tim gets to worry. so finally he gets going again and starts thinking what is he going to do if the cowboys come up to him with out an escort or his father with him to protect him.

Finally when hes coming along he sees the Cowboys. he out smarts them by acting like he thinks their escorts and asking questions to throw them off. while the Cowboys are trying to play along and he starts acting like he has no food and ask if they got some and says he needs some goods. then the cowboys get pissed off cause they dont know if the boy is pulling there chain or that he really has no goods. some are thinking its not worth it and some are saying come on lets take this punk well after them all arguing for a long time. they start haring dogs barking and they think its the escorts.

So they leave the boy there. when there finally gone Tim is so happy that he out smarted the cowboys and was thinking Sam would be proud of him. Then he gets back on the wagon and heads home. When he gets home he tells his mother what happen to his father and that hes been kidnapped and probably taken to prison and its down to Susanah and Tim to run the Tavern and do all chores. Later they find out that Life dies from being sick in the prison ships and him and fifty others died from the common Flu. After that the lobster Backs come threw the town of Redding and nobody knows what there doing.

Then later they knock down the door of a Rebels house and take all Rebels that where hiding in there and they take them away. While leaving the town Tim follows them and when they where almost out of the area. they were ambush. by this old farmers house and about six Rebels where in it. They started shooting at all of the British troops, the British retaliate by breading down wall killing all the men and burned down the house. After all of that Sams troop set up an encampment in there area not far from town, while they where there Tim found Sam and they where happy to see each other since its been like two years and they had a get together.

While he visits them he tells them they should butcher the cattle and save the meat before any of the Rebels take it. Even though if anybody gets caught stealing they will be hanged. But still Tim wanted to hold on to them and try to sell them to somebody cause that all they had that could make them money. While Sam was visiting Tim again they notice the cows where making some noises. Ran out the door and Tim got all but the missing cow back into the barn and Sam went chasing after the thief, when he caught up to them they knocked Sam out. They accused Sam was the guilty one and they caught him, after the whole family trying to convince that he didnt do it the court decided that Sam should be shot.

Tim was so mad that he took his bayonet and sharpens it as much as he can and he went after Sam. When he got to the prison area he charged the guarded with the sword and when guard woke up he got his gun up and Tim threw his bayonet over the wall and said " Sam catch! " Then Tim took off running and trying to dodge all the shots that where fired at him. When he was going up the hill he felt a tug in his left shoulder. It was a shot, but he kept on going. When he was far enough he relies Sam wasnt in his cell, it turns out nobody was and they move everybody out of there.

Finally Execution Day came and everybody in the crowd was watching first there where two men who got hundred lashings, then there was man who was hanged. Then Sam was next they put a pillow case over his face the three men hold there guns to him and they where so close that the guns where almost touching. BOOOOM! ! ! The guns went off, but Sam wasnt dead they were so close that the explosion from the guns caught am on fire. He was squirming around and finally another man shot him. He stopped moving and Tim was very mad.

After the war, Tim and his mother moved out town they hated and moved to Pennsylvania. Tim got married and started his own tavern. he got married with children. Susanah would never ever talk or even be nice to any American cause she lost a son and her husband cause of this war. But she was a strong woman.

Settings: It took place during the Revolutionary War from about 1776 to 1778 in Redding Connecticut but there where some parts in New York in other small towns but almost everything happen in Redding. Main Character: Even though the book was named after Sam it all came from his younger brother Tim. It came from Tims point of view and he did all the narrating, and you saw every thing threw his eyes. He was a twelve year old boy and by time book was over he was a fourteen year old young adult.

Who was bright and smart just like his brother but had better matters. He was timid when it came down to scary things in the begging but when he grew older you can see he became braver. For example when he charge the guard trying to kill him so he could rescue Sam. When he was younger he always wanted to do what Sam did but when he became maturer he started to rely that he can think for himself. In the end he is a mature young adult who always did what had to be done with out playing games with his mother just to get out of chores instead he got down and dirty and did what work needed to be done. Evaluation: I though this was a well written book it was very detail and good story writer but the end didnt have a big enough bain.

Like it just made it like a dull ending but all the way up to where Tim goes crazy on the Rebels. He also kind of fueled you which is kinda good when u first read this tittle you think the British killed Sam when it was Rebels. what kinda sucked about it is that they dragged out to the end. which made you know whats going to happen when ending came. thats why it was so dull cause I was on the last page and Sam still hasnt been killed yet so I knew right away what was going to happen. Recommendations: I would recommend this if you want to study the sight affects of the war.

but if your like me and youre proud to be an American, Patriot, or a Rebel then I wouldnt read this it talks about how bad it was for the Rebels to go war for no good reason. When in fact it was cause later we became the greatest country in the whole wide world. Everything about this country is so much better than anything else so thats why IM proud to be an American. Copyrights: 1974 to James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. # of Pages: 211 pages including the Epilogue

Research essay sample on Proud To Be An American Brown Bess