My Brother Sam Is Dead by Christopher Collier

First published: 1974

Type of work: Historical fiction

Themes: War, death, coming-of-age, family, and emotions

Time of work: 1776-1779

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: Redding, Connecticut

Principal Characters:

• Tim Meeker, a tavernkeeper’s son, who struggles with ambivalent feelings about the Revolutionary War
• Sam Meeker, his sixteen-year-old brother, who leaves Yale College to join the Continental Army
• Life Meeker, their father, a tavernkeeper with loyalist (Tory) leanings
• Susannah Meeker, their mother, who is fervently opposed to a war that has cost her family so dearly

The Story

Sam Meeker, a sixteen-year-old Yale College student, breathlessly arrives home one evening to announce that he has left school to join the “rebel” troops of the American Revolution. He and his father, Life, immediately begin to argue about the merits of the forthcoming war. Tim Meeker, Sam’s younger brother and the narrator of the story, paints Sam as a romantic, caught up in all the excitement following the “rebel” victories at Lexington and Concord. Life Meeker, on the other hand, is a realist and pragmatist with loyalist leanings. Tim is confused and struggles with his feelings about the war.

Tim watches as the war begins to tear his family apart. Sam steals his father’s gun. As “rebel” troops confront his father demanding that he turn over the gun, Tim runs off to beg Sam one more time to return the weapon. Sam refuses and thus becomes estranged from his own family.

Further turmoil occurs during the annual trip to Verplanks Point. Cattle are driven southwest to this town on the Hudson River and there sold to feed loyalist troops in New York City. The money is used to purchase rum, cloth, pots, pans, and the like for the store and tavern. On the trip down Tim and his father run into cowboys— actually thieves masquerading as rebel partisans. The cattle are saved by the timely arrival of a band of loyalists. Tim’s father is even more concerned about robbery on the return trip. He has Tim drive the oxen-pulled wagon as he rides ahead to scout. One time he does not return. Tim encounters a band of cowboys and, through some quick thinking, fools them into believing that a loyalist escort will soon arrive. He then struggles with the merchandise-laden cart but manages to arrive safely back home. Tim learns later that his father has been captured and sent to a rebel prison ship.

Without Sam or his father, Tim quickly grows and matures as the war becomes an ever-increasing presence in Redding, Connecticut. After the arrival of British troops, Tim sees at first hand the horrors of armed conflict. On the way to get the local doctor, Tim sees the British massacre a small group of rebels, neighbors and friends of Tim and his family. It is just after this event that Tim learns that his father has died on the prison ship.

Sam returns to Redding with a large contingent of Continental troops. While visiting Tim and his mother, Sam is unjustly accused of stealing his family’s own cattle; he is arrested and held in the army stockade. Tim approaches Sam’s commanding general and asks for mercy, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. Sam is sentenced to die. Tim makes one final, abortive attempt at rescuing Sam and is almost killed himself. In the final scene of the book, Tim experiences the ultimate horror of war as he stands and watches his brother die at the hands of a firing squad.

Context

My Brother Sam Is Dead, a Newbery Honor Book, is the best-known collaboration between James Lincoln Collier and his brother Christopher Collier. The strength of any accurate and realistic piece of historical fiction comes from its ability to help readers visualize the sweep of historical events. The title of this book informs the reader of the outcome; it is the events that lead up to Sam’s death that are important. These events allow readers to gain an understanding of and an appreciation for an era that preceded their own and made present-day America possible.

Critics have compared My Brother Sam Is Dead with other noted works of historical fiction set during the Revolutionary War: Esther Forbes’s Johnny Tremain (1943), Patricia Clapp’s I’m Deborah Sampson: A Soldier in the War of the Revolution (1977), and Gail E. Haley’s Jack Jouett’s Ride (1973). All four books introduce and employ some of the era’s leading figures as characters. In My Brother Sam Is Dead, for example, the reader is given a quick glimpse of Benedict Arnold. Yet it is the everyday people who are portrayed as heroes in these works. Johnny Tremain is a silversmith’s apprentice, while Deborah Sampson and Jack Jouett are based on real-life people who contributed to the founding of the United States. It is through the eyes of Tim Meeker, the son of a tavernkeeper, that readers see the ravages of war. The story and events are thus presented on a highly personal level.

While his story is set during the Revolutionary War, Tim Meeker faces and overcomes problems and hardships encountered by children of all eras. It is through works such as My Brother Sam Is Dead that young readers encounter universal truths and discover alternative means to handle their own difficulties. This is a quality present only in enduring works of historical fiction.