My Brother Sam is Dead Google Map

Just posted an update Google Map showing and explaining locations relating to My Brother Sam is Dead.

This is the looooooooooong link is anyone what to link to it:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=107420212148602668064.00044a37cf9951628b5a8&ll=41.321976,-73.376741&spn=0.040932,0.090723&z=14

Upcoming Events

TEACHERHOSTEL™ - 2009

The British Invasion of 1777: The Ride of Sybil Ludington™

Date: May 16-17, 2009
Location: Danbury, Ridgefield, Westport
Contact Hours: 15
Cutoff Date: April 16, 2009
Cost: $145

Relive the ride of the teenage girl (Sybil Ludington)who succeeded during a dark and stormy night to rally the militia to assembly at the home of her father after the British burning of Danbury in 1777. Participants will retrace the steps of the invasion from the landing in Westport, to the burning of Danbury, to the ride of Sybil, to the battle at Ridgefield. The story will be told from the English and American perspectives along with the effort to uncover the truth that had been hidden among primary source documents for so long while false statements were copied from one erroneous report to another. Her story will entertain you as it informs you. Includes one book, one map, one T-shirt and curriculum materials.

Saturday (9:00-5:00) Westport and Fairfield
Westport Town Hall
9:00 Welcome and Program Overview: Peter Feinman, IHARE
9:15 The British Are Coming: British Strategy to Reconquer the Colonies: Ray Raymond, USMA and SUNY
10:30 Westport Walking Tour, Susan Gold, Westport Historical Society and Allen Raymond, Westport Municipal Historian

Westport Historical Society
11:30 The British Are Coming: A Reader’s Theater Experience, Hilary Gibson, Education Director, Westport Historical Society
12:30 Lunch
1:30 The British Invasion Bus Tour: Allen Raymond
3:00 The British Are Coming: The Fairfield Experience, Walter Matis, Educator, Fairfield Museum and History Center

Sunday (9:00-5:00)
Danbury Historical Society
9:00 The Burning of Danbury, Brigid Guertin, Danbury Historical Society
11:00 The Ride of Sybil Ludington, Vin Dacquino, author of Sybil Ludington: Call to Arms
12:00 General Tryon Danbury to Ridgefield Self Guided Drive

Ridgefield
12:30 Lunch: Dimitri’s Diner
1:30 Museum in the Streets Walking Tour, Kay Ables, Ridgefield Town Historian
2:30 The Battle of Ridgefield: George Hancock, Keeler Tavern Museum Tour
3:30 Tom Castrovinci, Re-enactor Connecticut 5th
4:00 My Brother Sam Is Dead: Teaching the British Invasion of 1777 - Brent Colley, Redding historic tours

For further information contact IHARE at 914-933-0440 or email us at: info@ihare.org

Using Historical Fiction in the Classroom Teaching Programs

Using Historical Fiction in the Classroom Teaching Programs

This Spring/Summer I will be hosting a number of My Brother Sam is Dead Teaching Programs in Southwestern Connecticut. In these programs I will be providing information about the topics and issues My Brother Sam is Dead explores and how both teachers and students can benefit from its usage in the classroom. CD's containing all my material, maps and photos will be available at these events.

Event #1:

TEACHERHOSTEL™ - 2009
The British Invasion of 1777: The Ride of Sybil Ludington™ Date: May 16-17, 2009
Location: Danbury, Ridgefield, Westport
Cutoff Date for Registration: April 14, 2009
Cost: $145

My portion of the program is at 4PM in Ridgefield's Keeler Tavern Museum:
4:00PM My Brother Sam Is Dead: Teaching the British Invasion of 1777

Event #2:

Putnam Park School Days- May, 2009
My Brother Sam is Dead, Fact vs. Fiction
Date: May 18-21, 2009
Location: Putnam State Park, Redding, CT
Cutoff Date for Registration: April 14, 2009


9:30 AM to 2:00PM My Brother Sam Is Dead: Fact vs. Fiction, learn about the real events that were fictionalized in the novel. This event is for students and teachers. In addition to this presentation we will have camp activities, re-enactors and craftsman on hand all day to educate schools about the park and the time period it was occupied.

Contact Nancy Cowles for information and sign-up.

Event #3:

Putnam Park Filmfest- Summer 2009
See the Film Version of My Brother Sam is Dead at Putnam Park
Date: TBA
Location: Putnam State Park, Redding, CT
Cutoff Date for Registration: TBA


Come watch the film, My Brother Sam is Dead, under the stars at Putnam Park! A very unique opportunity to view this rare film at the very encampment General Putnam's troops were stationed.

Contact Brent Colley if you are interested in signing-up. We have not set a date for this yet and are open to suggestions.

Teaching with My Brother Sam is Dead

Using Primary Sources to highlight events and issues in the novel.

My Brother Sam is Dead, Chapter 12:

Tim narrating: "He looked thin and tired. There were black circles under his eyes and his uniform was torn in about six places. He'd lost his belt and was wearing a piece of rope around his waist, and his hat wasn't an army hat but just an ordinary fur cap."

The description of Sam is an accurate portrayal of a Patriot soldier in the fall of 1778; Each soldier was supposed to be provided with one uniform for the entire year and thus after twelve months of marching and fighting these uniforms were well worn and raggedy.

In 1778, the troops from Connecticut, did not receive uniforms (nor blankets!) prior to their arrival in Redding.

Petition of the Connecticut Soldiers in the Revolutionary Army, to His Excellency, Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut. Captain Nathaniel Webb's Orderly Book, Camp Reading, Dec. 27, 1778.

"They have may it please your Excellency been promised a Blanket, & other Clothing annually from ye Continent & a Blanket from ye State every year, for each non-commissioned Officer & Soldier, those Promises have not been complied with, so far from it, that although we have not, one half ye Quota of Men this State was to raise, we assure you not less than four hundred are to this Day totally destitute, & no one has received two Blankets according to Contract, nor has more than one half of the Clothing promises ever been received or any compensation made for ye deficiency, that when they have Coats they are without Breeches, & when they are supplied with Shoes, they have neither Stockings nor Shirts, & at this Inclement Season many of our Men are suffering for want of Blankets, Shirts, Breeches, Shoes & Stockings, & some are destitute of Coats & Waistcoats."

Using Primary Sources you can really bring these issues to life for students and spark their interest in finding more examples of what is factual in this and other historical fiction novels.

For example, by exploring the year 1778 you will find it was a pivotal point in the Revolution:

In Congress, 27th May, 1778 : Establishment of the American Army. This new Army was made official in November of 1778...the same month Sam Meeker and his Regiment arrive in Redding. View primary source on this topic: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/bdsdcc:@field(DOCID+@lit(bdsdcc04901))
In addition, France and America Become Allies in 1778. France and America formed an alliance, negotiated by Benjamin Franklin, stating that each would consider the other a "most favored nation" for trade and friendship; France would be obligated to fight for American independence; and America would be obligated to stand by France if war should occur between France and Great Britain. Within four months, France and Great Britain were at war. Spain would join France a year later. http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/alliance.html

These alliances were very important to the success of the Patriots in their fight for independence. The alliances gave the American Army- soldiers, clothing, weapons, ammunition, naval support, etc... A great angle to explore this topic is researching Jean Baptiste Rochambeau's involvement in the war. http://www.americanrevolution.com/JeanBaptisteRochambeau.htm The Library of Congress Rochambeau map collection is amazing: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/rochambeau-maps/ Rochambeau's troops marched from Rhode Island to Eastern New York where they met Washington and his troops...they all then marched to Virginia!! That in itself is amazing when you consider it takes 12+ hours in a car to drive that distance.

Classroom Activities:
View a timeline of events and key developments during the time period My Brother Sam is Dead covers (1775-1779): http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/continental/timelin2.html

Using the Library of Congress you can show students examples from each year of the war. http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/NewNation.html

These Library of Congress documents allow you to highlight key events and key people involved in the Revolution. I would suggest going one step further and exploring local sources (if you live on the East Coast) to bring the war down to a more personal level. Soldiers diaries are a great source, town records recorded in that period are another. If you don't live in an area directly related to the Revolution, I'd suggest reading Joseph Martin Plumb "Yankee Doodle Boy" edited by George F. Scheer.

Also, having just finished 1776 by David McCullough, I'd highly recommend reading it or listening to it. It is a great book that highlights the time period most of My Brother Sam is Dead focuses on. A must read for teachers in my opinion.

Using Historical Fiction in the Classroom

This week while sorting and categorizing my "favorites list" I found a link to an article I had saved years ago that contains a wealth of information about Historical Fiction and how it can help you excite students about history.

This is a great article that explains what Historical Fiction is and how it can be used in the Classroom. Below I've posted tid-bits that stood out to me, below that is a link to the full article:

The writer of good historical fiction recreates the past with an immediacy neither expository history nor pure fiction can achieve alone. Good historical fiction must not only be good history, but must also be good literature. The historical novelist presents the reader with characters caught up in a conflict and builds his narrative from historical details. As the reader becomes involved with the characters and story line, he begins to absorb the historical data and begins to recognize the many human qualities of the character . Gradually the characters become real to the reader and the reader begins to “root” for this character if he or she is being treated unjustly. The reader might question in his own mind the need for law or government to protect this character’s individual rights.

And, at this moment, the reader is unconsciously using his cognitive ability to sort and group these historical details; he compares them to his own society, and begins to discern the differences in the historical period he is reading about and to compare it to his society today. If the historical novelist accomplishes this kind of reader involvement, he has made some impact on the reader’s conscience. He has made the reader think, consider, discover, and, most important, begin to realize the importance and usefulness of studying history. He has, of course, as his central purpose, also described and explained some significant historical tendency.

The writer of good historical fiction is aware of the various interpretations of the same period of history and, if he is sophisticated about the historiographic view, he will integrate historiography in his novel. James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, authors of My Brother Sam Is Dead, attempt to deal with the histoiographic dimension in this novel. They include the Whig, Progressive, and Imperialist interpretations of the American Revolution within the framework of the novel. The Whig interpretation is that the American Revolution was justified because of the tyranny of George III against the colonists. The Americans were patriots who organized to fight for freedom. This historiographic view is expressed through the character of Sam, the hero of the novel...

When the history teacher brings this kind of fiction into the classroom he is providing the student with another understanding of the past. The historical novel uses imaginative and figurative language to entice students into a historical exploration. The character and drama interact with past events in such a way as to involve the student in a study of the past on an emotional level as well aa a cognitive level. This student involvement is a logical reason why history teachers should be persuaded to use historical fiction.

Once students become immersed in the novel’s setting, character, plot and theme, they become interested and stimulated by the novel’s story. They begin to draw inferences while reading the novel, about geography, governmental organization, religious beliefs, social attitudes manner of dress, types of food, size of towns or cities, modes of transportation, distribution of wealth, social classes, and laws. They begin to absorb the historical details in the novel without even realizing they are being instructed. In contrast, if these same historical facts were presented in a textbook and the teacher asked the students to memorize or know them, it is likely that little information would be retained by many students.

The events become more significant because the students must understand them in order to understand the novel. Students retain the historical information more easily because it has been understood within the context of the plot, character, setting and theme of the novel. Students begin to consider the relevancy of this segment of the past in relation to the society they live in. The students begin to see how a study of the past helps them to understand the present.

The impact of a historical novel on students cannot be minimized. The range of their imagination and understanding can be broadened. If they respond to a good historical novel, they might be motivated to research the novelist’s use of historical data. They begin to discern the novelist’s biases and they might decide to search for historical data to support or contradict the point of view expressed by the author...

Most students like a good story, a story with excitement, adventure and challenge; if a historical novel is well written, it includes these elements and more. The “more” is historical accuracy in detail and theme, the necessary elements of a meaningful historical exploration through fiction. The conflicts of men and women in history become real to the student because these men and women can be presented in their human dimension. They are mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, who are caught up in a particular event. Their defeats and successes evoke an emotional response from readers. This response is the draws students into the world of the past and embues his perspective with an historical dimension. The historical figures emerge as human beings responding to a human condition in the context of history.

The history teacher can devise numerous strategies and techniques for sifting the fact and the fiction. The historical clues may be picked out by students who see textbook history spring to life in historical fiction. Students can become experts or “nitpickers” about the writer’s use of historical data and the exercise can be stimulating for class discussion. Reference sources for checking the accuracy of historical data include encyclopedias, almanacs, biographical dictionaries, dictionaries of history, serious local and national histories, and numerous other readily available sources. Students may check school and town libraries as well as local historical societies and the state library. Primary source materials are often available locally in church records, deeds, wills, probate records in town halls, local cemeteries, local tax lists, federal census, town meeting records, old maps, letters and diaries, sermons, industrial records, local newspapers and elders who have resided in a community for a long time...

Read the Full article which includes Guidelines and Strategies for using Historical Fiction in the Classroom. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/cthistory/81.ch.10.x.html

My Brother Sam is Dead Web Site

As we enter the new year I'm happy to announce I've created a sub-directory site at the History of Redding focused on helping teachers and students better understand the novel, My Brother Sam is Dead. My hope is that more school systems (country-wide) will add it to their curriculums in 2009.

Over the holidays, I realized I had so much My Brother Sam is Dead information wedged in between my Redding history pages that it was becoming difficult to navigate the My Brother Sam is Dead pages. The new format should solve that and will allow me to add more information in a more organized fashion.

http://mybrothersamisdead.historyofredding.com

Constructive comments and feedback are welcome.
Brent

Localities in My Brother Sam is Dead

Danbury

Danbury was first settled by colonists in 1685, when eight families moved to the area from the area that is now Norwalk and Stamford. The Danbury area was then called Paquiaqe by the Paquioque Native Americans. One of the first settlers was Samuel Benedict who bought land from the Paquioque natives in 1685 along with his brother James, James Beebe, and Judah Gregory. The settlers originally chose the name Swampfield for their town, but in October 1687, the general court decreed the name Danbury.

During the American Revolution, Danbury was an important military depot. In April 1777, the British under Major General William Tryon burned and looted the city. American General David Wooster was killed in the Ridgebury section as his troop pursued the British on their way out of the city. Joseph Platt Cooke was commander of the 16th militia regiment when the British burned Danbury on April 26 and 27, 1777. His own home, which he had built at 342 Main Street, Danbury in 1770, was partially destroyed by fire. He resigned his position of "colonel" early in 1778. In the summer of 1781 his home served as a meeting place for George Washington and the French military leaders, the Comte de Rochambeau and the Marquis de Lafayette when the French army marched through Danbury, Connecticut.

The central motto on the Seal of the City of Danbury is Restituimus (Latin for "We have restored"), a reference to the destruction caused by the British army.

Also see: www.danburyhistorical.org/DanburyHistory.html

Fairfield

In 1639 soon after the Pequot War, Roger Ludlow, a founder of the colony of Connecticut, led a small group of men and a herd of cattle to a place known to the local Paugausetts as Unquowa. They established a settlement that was named for the acres of salt marsh that bordered the mainland shore across from Long Island.

When the Revolutionary War began, Fairfielders were caught in the crisis as much as if not more than the rest of their neighbors in Connecticut. In a predominantly Tory section of the state, the people of Fairfield were early supporters of the cause for independence (Patriots). Throughout the war, a constant battle was being fought across Long Island Sound as men from British-controlled Long Island raided the coast in whaleboats and privateers. Gold Selleck Silliman, whose home still stands on Jennings Road, was put in charge of the coastal defenses.

In the spring of 1779, Silliman was kidnapped from his home by Tory forces in preparation for a British raid on Fairfield County. His wife watched from their home as, on the morning of July 7, 1779, approximately 2,000 enemy troops landed on Fairfield Beach near Pine Creek Point and proceeded to invade the town. When they left the following evening, the entire town lay in ruins, burned to the ground as punishment for Fairfield's support of the rebel cause. Ten years later, President George Washington noted after traveling through Fairfield, that " the destructive evidences of British cruelty are yet visible both in Norwalk and Fairfield; as there are the chimneys of many burnt houses standing in them yet."

Fairfield recovered slowly from the burning, but soon after the end of the war its houses and public buildings had all been rebuilt.

Also, see: www.fairfieldhistoricalsociety.org/

Horseneck

The parish of Horseneck was located in present day Greenwich, Connecticut. There were once two societies in Greenwich (the parish of Greenwich and the parish of Horseneck) which eventually merged, Horseneck was in the Western section of present day Greenwich. Israel Putnam made Horseneck famous in 1777 with his infamous ride down a steep embankment to avoid capture by the British. Surprised and outnumbered by William Tryon’s British forces, Putnam hastily retreated through a nearby swamp. His line of retreat brought him to the top of a steep cliff where, rather than face capture, Putnam chose to risk the descent. Because the British were disinclined to follow his treacherous path, Putnam, at age 60, made good his escape. This ride was brought to life by sculptress Anna Hyatt Huntington in the form of a bronze statue that today welcomes visitors to Putnam Memorial Park in Redding, Connecticut.

Norfield

Norfield is briefly mentioned in Chapter 8:

" a drover from Norfield had been shot on the Ridgebury Road two days earlier"

Norfield today is a section of Weston, Connecticut. The name originates from "North Fairfield" as the town of Weston was once part of Fairfield and was settled by many second-generation Fairfielders. The Norfield Congregational Church celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2007.

North Salem

Settled in 1731, its original name was Upper Salem. Today North Salem is an equestrian’s paradise; some people say in jest that there are more horses than people. North Salem is bounded on the east by Ridgefield, Connecticut, on the north by Putnam County, on the south by the Town of Lewisboro and on the west by the Town of Somers. North Salem's two principal hamlets are Croton Falls and Purdys.

Peekskill

New Amsterdam resident Jan Peeck made the first recorded contact with the native tribal people of this area, then identified as Sachoes. The date is not certain, (possibly early 1640's) but agreements and merchant transactions took place, formalized into the Ryck's Patent deed of 1684. Peeck's Kil (Kil meaning 'stream' in the Dutch language) became the recognized name for this locale.

By the time of the American Revolution, the tiny community was an important manufacturing center with a variety of mills along its several creeks and streams. These industrial activities attracted the Continental Army in establishing its headquarters here in 1776.

The mills of Peek's Creek provided gunpowder, leather, planks, and flour. Slaughterhouses were an important part of the food supply. The river docks allowed transport of supply items and soldiers to the several other fort garrisons placed along the Hudson to prevent British naval passage between Albany and New York City. Officers at Peekskill generally supervised placing the first iron link chain between Bear Mountain and Anthony's Nose in the spring of 1777.

Though Peekskill's terrain and mills were beneficial to the Patriot cause, they also made tempting targets for British raids. The most damaging attack took place in early spring of 1777 when an invasion force of a dozen vessels led by a warship and supported by infantry overwhelmed the American defenders. Another British operation in October 1777 led to further destruction of industrial apparatus. As a result, the Hudson Valley command for the Continental Army moved from Peekskill to West Point where it stayed for the remainder of the war.

Mel Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York in 1956 (In 1968, his family moved to Australia); In the film The Patriot (2000) Mr. Gibson portrays Benjamin Martin, a peaceful farmer, driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.

Redding

Please view http://www.historyofredding.com/my-brother-sam-is-dead_setting.htm for information on Redding, Connecticut.

Ridgefield

As early as 1697 Norwalk residents began to become interested in the land to the north of their community. Norwalk residents were informed that: "The upland was considerably good and sufficient for thirty families, and as for meadow land it surpasses both in quantity as well as in quality what is common to be found in larger plantations…and there were more than sixty miles of streams that could serve future mills.” In September 1708, John Copp and two others from Norwalk representing the first 26 settlers of the new community to be named “Ridgfield” (later changed to “Ridgefield”) paid the Indians (Chief Catoonah of the Ramapo tribe) £100 sterling for what was called “the first purchase” of which there were to be seven more. The purchase having been made, the General Assembly in session at Hartford in May 1709 appointed Major Peter Burr of Fairfield, John Copp of Norwalk, and Josiah Starr of Danbury, to serve as a committee to make a survey of the tract of land and to lay it out for a town plot, and to make return to the General Assembly at New Haven the following October. This was done, and a grant was made by the General Assembly in session at New Haven on October 13, 1709.

The most notable 18th Century event was the Battle of Ridgefield (on April 27, 1777). This Revolutionary War skirmish involved a small colonial militia force (the Connecticut Continentals), led by, among others, General David Wooster, who died in the engagement, and Benedict Arnold, whose horse was shot from under him. The battle was a tactical victory for the British but a strategic one for the Colonials since the British never again attempted a landing by ship to attack inland colonial strongholds during the war. Today, the dead from both sides are buried together in a small cemetery in town "...foes in arms, brothers in death..."

The Keeler Tavern Museum, features a British cannonball still lodged in the side of the building. There are many other landmarks from the Revolutionary War in the town, most along Main Street.

Also see: www.ridgefieldhistoricalsociety.org/ and jackfsanders.tripod.com/ and www.keelertavernmuseum.org/

Ridgebury

Ridgebury is between Danbury and Ridgefield. It was here that General David Wooster was mortally wounded.

Verplancks

Verplanck is a hamlet located in the town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York; just south of Peekskill. It is less than a mile in total area, 11.54% water.

Verplanck's Point was a defended position of the Continental Troops during the war, the British assaulted the forts of Stony Point and Verplanck's Point in 1779. Between Verplanck's Point and Stony Point was King's Ferry, the most heavily used crossing on the Hudson River.

On August 31, 1782, an Amphibious assault was conducted by Continental troops moving the army from New Windsor to Verplanck's Point as rehearsal for an assault on Manhattan.

"Washington's Hill" marks the site of one of the nation's most splendid military reviews, where Washington and Rochambeau staged a welcome to the French and American armies in 1782.

Locals proudly to call themselves "Pointers". Verplanck is the home of a replica of the ship the Half Moon, with which Henry Hudson explored the Hudson River.