My Brother Sam Is Dead

Despite Father’s insistence that Tim is forbidden to deliver the letters for Mr. Heron, Tim manages to sneak away. He goes to Mr. Heron’s and tells him that he will run the errand for him. Mr. Heron knows that he is lying about having his father’s permission, but Tim has made up a cover story for what he will tell his father if he is found out. The next day, Tim receives the letters, instructions, and directions, and sets off for Fairfield. Unfortunately, he runs into Betsy Read, who wants to know what he is doing. He evades her questions but then finds out that she is going to see Sam. She has found out where Sam is from Mr. Heron. Tim is very confused. He has thought all along that Mr. Heron is a Tory, but now it sounds like he is working for the Patriots.

When Tim lets slip that he has seen Mr. Heron that morning, Betsy figures out that Tim is carrying letters. She wrestles Tim to the ground and grabs the papers. Betsy runs away, reading the letters, then throws them on the ground. When Tim retrieves the letters, he discovers that the only message on them is this: “If this message is received, we will know that the messenger is reliable” (84). Tim’s excursion is a failure.

The chapter opens in the Fall of 1776. Although the war still seems far away from Redding, there are signs that it is growing closer all the time. Food, cloth, leather, gun powder, and shot are in very short supply in Redding. One letter from Sam glorifies the battle over New York, claiming a victory, but Tim knows that the Patriots were defeated and the British have taken over the city. The second letter they receive from Sam describes the hardships that the troops endure. Tim thinks, “there wasn’t much glory in it a lot of the time, but Sam said that their spirits were high” (87).

Tim’s biggest concern, however, is the trip that Father plans to take to Verplancks Point where he will sell cattle and buy supplies for the coming year. There is no one else to help, so Tim must go with Father, although Father thinks that he is too young. Tim believes that because he can drive the oxen, he has become a man. However, when Father is accosted by cowboys and accused of selling beef to the British, Tim is frightened and does not want his father to talk back to the men. Tim pleads with the cowboys not to kill his father, but the only thing that saves them is the arrival of new horsemen who offer protection.

Tim and Father make it to the Platt house for the night. The Platts are relatives of Tim’s mother. That night, Father and Mr. Platt talk about the attack by the cowboys. Mr. Platt says that although the cowboys call themselves Patriots, they are no more than cattle thieves. He tells Father, “[l]awlessness has run wild, common decency between people has disappeared, every man is armed against his neighbor” (101). Mr. Platt warns Father that they will probably run into problems throughout their trip.

Tim talks to the younger Platts, and they all find it difficult to understand what is going on in the war. Tim says, “[t]he way Sam explains it, it sounds right to be a Rebel. And when Father explains it, it sounds right to be a Loyalist” (103). Tim, however, is growing in understanding. He realizes that neither side is totally right and that Father is simply against war.

In a few days, Tim and Father make it to Verplancks Point, and Father is able to sell the cattle. While Tim thinks that the return journey will be easy since the cattle are gone, he is wrong. Snow starts to fall, and Father must decide whether to take a longer route to be safe from the cowboys or to risk the more dangerous, shorter route because of the difficulty of traveling in heavy snow. Tim realizes that sometimes the only choices are bad ones.