Woods Runner

This chapter is preceded by “American Spirit,” which explains that the American soldiers had high morale due to being on “home soil” despite their smaller numbers and “inferior equipment” (65).

Samuel is recovered enough to eat more solid food and walk instead of being pulled on a litter. He’s weak and slow, so he stays at the end of the line with the ox, whom he occasionally relies on for momentum. He thanks Coop for keeping him alive, and they discuss Coop’s goal of joining the American forces. Samuel expresses his bafflement at the reason for all of this violence; Coop blames the violence on the nature of the redcoats and says the Indians are “doing it because they was hired to do it” (71). Samuel laments the long delay in his pursuit of his parents and realizes he has to move faster.

The informational passage, “The Hessians,” which precedes this Chapter introduces mercenary soldiers from Germany. They behave brutally and savagely and are widely considered “little more than beasts” (73).

Three days after leaving Coop’s men behind, Samuel comes across a thriving farm. He is surprised to see it still standing and unharmed. He reasons that this must mean the owners are friendly with the redcoats and, thus justified, starts to steal a chicken. Samuel is interrupted by a little girl, Annie, who tells him to take the mean red one; Annie’s father, Caleb Clark, invites Samuel into the house for supper. Caleb tells Samuel that Samuel’s mother and father were among the prisoners in a group that came by recently. Caleb overheard one of the officers saying he’d spared Samuel’s father’s life because he had a chessboard and the officer missed having someone to play chess with.

They have a lovely meal, and the Clarks press more food upon Samuel for his journey. Very shortly after his departure, Samuel sees a troop of Hessians marching towards the Clark farm. He follows and sees them senselessly slaughter the Clark parents and shoot at Annie when she flees towards the woods. Samuel is deeply upset by the pointless and arbitrary violence, but he knows he must find Annie.

“War Orphans” opens this chapter. It explains the effects of trauma on the children whose parents were killed during the war.

Samuel finds Annie in the woods, and they start to travel together. Traumatized, Annie refuses to be more than four feet away from Samuel for their first three days together; she holds onto his clothing and doesn’t speak. Samuel worries that they don’t have shoes for her; he worries that she doesn’t eat for those first three days; he worries for the horrors she’s seen and how “her whole world had been absolutely destroyed” (91). As they go, Samuel provides them with food and keeps them away from anyone they see, staying in the woods as much as possible. He despairs of the world they’re growing closer to and wonders how he’s going to rescue his parents, alone with nothing but a rifle and a knife.