War Comes to Willy Freeman vs. History

Author’s Note: This piece is about the historical fiction novel War Comes to Willy Freeman and how it relates to actual events, people, and places of history.

Imagine watching a gruesome, bloody battle in person where you’re Dad and many other men were killed. Think about being taken captive by your own side and treated like a prisoner. This is what the fictional character, Willy Freeman goes through and sees in her adventures in the story War Comes to Willy Freeman by James and Christopher Collier. This historical fiction book had many events that actually happened in history. The Battle at Fort Griswold and the Continental Army’s whaleboat raids really happened in the Revolutionary War era. Some other things in the book were real such as places, characters, and people. But there were also some things in the story that were entirely fictional. The book War Comes to Willy Freeman is spectacularly related to actual history but it has fictional aspects as well.

The very first event that was realistic in the novel was the Battle at Fort Griswold. As written in the story, it was a gruesome fight where Americans were killed for no apparent reason. What happened in the battle was that the American’s were fighting for their freedom and would not give up, although the British forces outnumber them greatly. Since the American’s would not give up, the British slaughtered everyone inside the fort except for the teenage girl, Willy Freeman. It was a terrible sight for her because her Pa, Jordan Freeman, was killed in the battle. Once again, this battle was a legit event in the Revolutionary War.

Following this further, another nonfictional event in War Comes to Willy Freeman is the whaleboat raids on Long Island. In the battle between the Americans and British, there were surprise attacks held by the Americans. These attacks are where members of the continental army, snuck behind enemy lines as the crews of whaleboats and then they attacked the red coats form behind. This appeared in the story when Willy was escaping from the Ivers’ house. She was sailing away on her Pa’s jollyboat when she was picked up by one of the whaleboats because they thought she was a British spy. After convincing them she was not, she made a clever escape and ran off.

Although there are some legit events in the story, there were also some real people and places written in it as well. The actual people in this novel are: Jack Arabus, Captain Ivers, Sam Fraunces, Mr. Goodrich, Mr. Chauncey, and Judge Wadsworth. The places that were true in this story were the Queen’s Head tavern, Fort Griswold, and Canvas Town.

Besides the fact that there are many nonfictional aspects in the historical fiction novel War Comes to Willy Freeman by James and Christopher Collier, there are also some fake ones as well. Willy, Horace, Willy’s Ma, Aunt Betsy, and Cousin Dan were all unreal people. The places/events in the story that were bogus was almost everywhere that Willy was; Her Pa’s jollyboat, her log cabin, and anything involving Wilhelmina Freeman was false.

In conclusion, the book War Comes to Willy Freeman is written really well in accordance to history but also has some fictional attributes as well. This story was a great historical fiction book because the authors made it seem like the sum of the book was legit. I am so glad that I chose this book for Social Studies class because it was an adventurous history book with some mysteries in it as well!