Rebels Character Analysis

Signorile 1
Vincent Signorile
Professor Ciraulo
United States History 1/ HS-201-03
21 October 2016
Women in Rebels
Rebels: A Well-Regulated Militia is a graphic novel written by Brian Wood and Andrea Mutti. Rebels features newly married Seth and Mercy Abbot who each have different duties. Seth’s duty is to go out and fight with the fellow Green Mountain Boys against the British redcoats. The Green Mountain Boys were a small militia, which was founded by Ethan Allen (“Britanica 1”). Mercy’s duty is to stay at home and keep the house tidy, as Seth is gone. Eventually, when Seth returns home from war they have a baby, which Mercy is left to take care for several years without Seth, as Seth had to go back to war. One of the interesting
Her husband was Sam Hull who was fighting in the war. Sara was known as a camp follower, which according to the website Colonial Williamsburg is “women who follow the army” and do so to seek “safety, shelter, food, and work” (“Women’s Service with the Colonial War” 1). Sara was portrayed in the novel as a tough woman who fights for what she wants. An example of this is shown towards the end of Rebels when after her husband Sam dies, she is told she cannot get full military benefits. She was immediately not happy about this and began to question why she did not get her full military benefits. According to Awet Amedechial, Some women “participated in the military side of the war. Many women found themselves in the position of having to defend their homes and families from attacks by the British and Native American troop” (Amedechial 1). This can be compared to Rebels, when before Sam died, Sara took his gun and began to shoot and participate in the war. Amedechial’s perspective is colored by women’s issues today in the sense that in today’s times there are many women soldiers who have the same roles men
According to Debra Kelly, Molly Pitcher could have gotten that nickname from carry pitchers of water to give to the soldiers during war (Kelly 1). Kelly goes on to talk about how the whole Molly Pitcher story is a myth and there is no evidence found of the story. Kelly said as the story went that the name of Molly Pitcher was Mary Ludwig Hays McCarthy. This Molly Pitcher story resembles Sara Hull in many ways, starting with the carrying pitchers of water, which was part of Sara’s job also as a camp follower. According to the Daniel Sivilich and Garry Stone, the Battle of Monmouth was the war that Molly Pitcher was