Benya+A.+-+Historical+Fiction+Character

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Colonial Life
My name is Samantha Wilder. I am fourteen years old. I am the second youngest of five, three older brothers and a younger sister. My Family and I are aboard the //__Godspeed__//, one of three ships carrying about 50 people to start a new life on new land. My family and I chose to board the //__Godspeed__// for not just adventure but for religious values and debt concerns. My family and I are practicing Lutherans. But in England however we are not allowed to practice this religion. I grew up in England, but I moved to Jamestown in 1608. I was one of the families who were being sent over from England by Captain John Smith to start a new life and also to bring more people to settle onto the land so King James the First couldn’t take over, Some families either came for adventure or religious beliefs. My family and I came over for adventure. Because back in England my family was considered middle classed. We didn’t have too much but we didn’t have to little either. Girls in England had to wear dresses all the time. We also had to wear bonnets, hoop skirts, and corsets and aprons to go on top of it all! I hated it! Can you imagine what it feels like to be stiff every single day? Maybe yes and maybe no. But that’s how I felt everyday. My brothers? Well let’s just say they have it lucky. So we decided to get away from all the easy life stuff and see what’s it like to work for ourselves. Pretty crazy? I like it here in Jamestown. I started my own garden so I am growing corn, tomatoes, green beans, and potatoes. My father and brothers work on the farm. Some of the food they grow is for trade. Whatever we can’t make at home we buy at the store. Things like sugar, flour, and cloth. We also have handfuls of farm animals. We have our own cow, chickens, goats, pigs, and rooster. Our cow provides us with milk, chickens; eggs and meat, goats; milk, Pig’s; meat, and our rooster wake’s us up every morning at sunrise.

Revolution
**Source**: Alavosus, Laura. History Alive. 2005. Palo Alto CA: Teachers Curriculum Institute, 2005. 532. Print. (Hart Pages 94 and 95)

"We had nothing to eat for two or three days previous... But we must now have what Congress said, a sumptuous {lavish} Thanksgiving... It gave each and every man a gill {a few ounces} of rice and a few tablespoons of vinegar! The army was now not only starved but naked. The greatest part were not only shirtless and barefoot, but destine of {without} all other clothing, especially blankets".

The Continental Army at Valley Forge, 1777," Eyewitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2006).


 * Troubles began the previous August when the British fleet unloaded a force of Redcoats at the top of the Chesapeake Bay with the objective of capturing the American capital at Philadelphia.


 * Americans were routed by the British at the Battle of Brandywine, on September 1, leaving Philadelphia undefended.


 * Members of the Continental Congress fled the city: first to Lancaster and then to York where they reestablished the capital. The British entered Philadelphia on September 26.


 * Topic: Valley Forge**

__Historical Character Plot Outline (Valley Forge)__

I. Exposition A. During the time before the American Revolution and the Battle At Valley Forge. So in the year 1717. B. 20 miles south of Philadelphia- Where George Washington’s troops stayed from December of 1717- to June of 1778. II. Rising Action A. Father joined the Continental Army, to help George Washington. III. Climax A. Oldest son is so outraged; he joins the continental army also, to get revenged on the British who shot his father. IV. Falling Action A. Father gets shot during the Battle of Trenton. V. Dénouement A. Oldest son comes home from the war, with stories of what he saw, and how serving in the continental army with George Washington was like. My character gets older, and ends up getting married, keeping her diary passing it on to her kids, and so on.