Bailey+F.+-+Historical+Fiction+Character

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Colonial Life
Hello, I’m Charles Bartslaw, but my two close friends, Pete and Wilma, call me Crusty. According to them, the nickname is based upon my apparent neglect for acceptable hygiene. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with missing a wash or two…ten or twenty. But that’s not the point.

Just to set the matter straight, you should realize that there is another reason for the whole “rotten, flea-bitten Crusty” idea. There are so many better things to be doing than bathing with one’s spare time. Not that I am gifted with spare time to begin with. Why, with only 5 of us children to work on the farm.

The eldest is William. 25 years old, and perfect. He’s always been the leader, the good boy. Best in his class when he used to go to school in England, never disappointed a soul. Cathy is the third child (I’m the second), and she’s one of those lovely people who try very hard at everything. She’s sweet, honest, and awfully pretty. I know of a couple local gents who wouldn’t mind her as a wife. Poor Cathy, though, she has to ruin it all by being so darn clumsy.

After Cathy is Marta, 18, and she would do anything to please. Bossy ole’ Marta just cannot resist the opportunity to show of how much better she is than anyone else. Little Joseph, 10 years old, is my youngest sibling. He’s cute as can be with a mop of sand-colored hair that hangs over his large chestnut eyes, and follows me everywhere. Once when I asked Joe why, he told me that he wanted to grow up and be just like me. Want to rethink that much?

So, there you have it. My diminutive supply of siblings is all in some way wonderful; which means I must be a major disappointment. A scrawny, dirty, 21-year-old nobody who nobody likes. Except maybe my widowed Great Aunt Jesse who’s too old and batty to bother not.

And the grand bunch of us all live with my mother and father, James and Eleanor Bartslaw, on our wee family farm. In Georgia, mind you, where we must be the only Atheists within a hundred mile radius of the one-room farmhouse. Boy, life is rough.

Actually, that’s why my parents decided to come from England in the first place when I was about 4 years old. We are Atheists, see, so there was no way we could be accepted under the Church of England. So we came to the New World guaranteed rights as Englishmen and so on, and decided to settle in Georgia. The real problem was, it was only then that we realized in Georgia those laws applied only the Catholics.

So mom keeps pestering dad to let us move to Pennsylvania. Those Quaker guys will accept anybody, the way I hear it. But for some reason he won’t consent. So, for now, I’m stuck in this heap of dung (literally), until I get my chance to prove something to the world.

Source: History Alive! [Hart] 38, 46, 50, 51

Revolution
RESEARCH Battle of Trenton - The Tide Changes
 * Topic:**

** Source: ** Hart, Diane, and Bert Bower. “History Alive!: The United Sates Through Industrialism.” Palo Alto, California: Teachers’ Curriculum Institute, 2005.

** Quotes: ** · “Late on December 25, 1776, Washington’s army crossed the ice-choked Delaware River in small boats. On the New Jersey shore, Washington gave his men the password for the long night march ahead: ‘Victory or death.’” (Hart 92). · “…Chilled them to the bone… ice and rocks cut through their worn through shoes…” (Hart 92). · “Washington took 868 prisoners without losing a single man” (Hart 92).

** Info: ** · Christmas – Found the Hessians sleeping peacefully after a feast. o Element of surprise. · Snowing freezing cold. · Turn of events:  o Gave hope to the American Colonies. o Thought they now stood a chance of winning the war.

** Source: ** Trenton Chronicle. “Dark Hour for the Rebels.” Dated Christmas week, 1776. Viewed November 16, 2010. < [] >

** Quotes: ** · “George Washington and his beleaguered Continental Army are spending a grim holiday season of the road” (Par. 1). · “…Washington needs to take a gamble” (Par. 7). · “…Needs a victory…to hold his troops together…keep the hopes of revolution…” (Par. 7).

** Info: ** · Times are difficult for the Continental Army. o They need to up their act in order to stand a change against England. · George Washington needs to whip his troops up into shape and get a victory.   o Or else the colonies will lose hope.

** Source: ** Re-Enactment of General George Washington Crossing the Delaware. University of Phoenix. James Flemming. iCue, 2008.

** Quotes: ** · “If George Washington didn’t do the things he did on that night, there probably wouldn’t be a United Sates of America” (James Flemming). · “The life of a soldier was…survival on a day to day basis broken up by an occasional battle” (soldier re-enactor). · “…and the whole revolution revived because we found we could beat the British” (James Flemming).

** Info: ** · We would never have won the Revolutionary war without the victory at Trenton. · Washington had a lot of pressure on him because of their situation. o Took a risk, it worked.

Battle of Trenton Historical Fiction Character Story Plot I. Exposition. A. Time. 1. December 26, 1776. a. The day after Christmas. B. Place. 1. Delaware. 2. Cross the Delaware R. a. Battle is on the New Jersey shore (Hessians).

II. Rising Action. A. Preparing. 1. General George Washington has a plan. B. Setting out on the Delaware R. 1. Freezing Cold. C. Troubling thoughts when rowing across. 1. Feeling nervous. a. What if things should go wrong? b. Want to impress George Washington. D. Lead – In to social impact. 1. Parents. a. Pushed him to fight in the first place. b. Happy he is finally doing something with his life and for cause. c. Believe in the revolution. 2. Siblings. a. William – Proud to have a brother who is representing their country. b. Cathy – Happy for Crusty, though a bit worried for his safety. c. Marta – Happy to have him out of the house because he always tracks mud in the house, which she has to clean up. d. Joe – Doesn’t completely understand, though the idea of a battle excites him. 3. Overall, the immediate family is happy for him. a. Conflicts with Grandpa. b. Tearing the family apart. 4. Grandpa in England. a. Thinks that the Americans are traitors to the nation that always served them. b. Doesn’t understand the colonial viewpoint. c. Did not want to go to war against his family, but thinks that they leave him no choice. d. GB comes before family ties, so they must be broken.

III. Crisis. A. Arrival on the New Jersey shore. B. “Victory or Death.”

IV. Climax. A. Find them sleeping peacefully. 1. Effect of a Christmas feast. 2. Not suspecting an attack. a. Who would attack on a holy day? B. Attack. 1. Chaos. 2. Crusty hangs back, confused. 3. Survives. 4. Then realizes that this is what’s happening and this is his chance to contribute. a. Captures 13/868 men.

V. Falling Action. A. Hears good statistics. B. His family is proud of him. 1. Grandfather resents Crusty.

VI. Denouement. A. Maybe they have hope in this war after all.

Theme Social Parents and siblings in America believe in the Revolution, and are happy to fights for their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Grandfather in England thinks that the colonists are traitors. They are disrespecting the country that always served them and had their best interests at heart. Colonists are foolish to rebel, and leave him no choice but to demolish the uprising government. Great Britain is above family ties.

ENTRY December 26, 1776 Last night we finally tasted victory. I will admit the thought crossed my mind that we were doomed to lose this war; that our soldiers, no matter how brave and how true, did not stand a chance against the wrath of British military. But those presumptions have been shoved to the back of my pitifully miniscule mind for the time being. In the eerie silence that filled the night – black as pitch – we prepared for battle and set out with General George Washington’s daring plan. The Delaware River was all ice and fog and wind that chilled me through to the bone. My cheeks were being nipped at, bitten down by the icy drift and spraying droplets that flew up from the water blowing full on my face. I was having difficulty managing the oars rowing us across to Trenton. The combination of cold and the nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach resulted in sore, obstinate muscles that conflicted with the paroxysmal river. 