You are a young writer who specializes in historical fiction.  HistOracle, an on-line journal of "uncommon history," has offered a large sum of money for the best short story or dramatic dialogue based on an interesting person or event from the Colonial period of American history.  "Not so hard,"  you think.  Those were very interesting times, and you've read several novels and nonfiction works set in Colonial America.  But there is a further instruction that makes this assignment somewhat difficult:  you may not write about a specific person or event that has already been depicted in a work of historical fiction.  This troubles you.  So many books have been written.  Is there anything left worth writing about?

          You skim through leaning stacks of history books, journals, and old newspapers, searching for someone or something overlooked or neglected (yet interesting enough to write about).  You scour your files for anything that stands out.  Finally, late one dark and stormy night, a small, age stained newspaper clipping falls from a notebook you kept when you were a student.  It is dated, "Sunday, January 7, 1979," and it was cut from the Lawrence, Massachusetts SUNDAY EAGLE-TRIBUNE.  "By who?" you ungrammatically wonder.  The clipping contains a picture of an old charcoal sketch.  The caption beneath it states that the sketch depicts "Hannah Dustin, nurse Neff and Leonardson boy doing the grisley (sic) deed."  Sounds...interesting.  This might be exactly what you're looking for!

          Not much, yet.  All you have is the information contained in the mysterious newspaper clipping.  At this point, you have more questions than answers.  What could this "grisly deed" be that the three committed?  Was it a criminal act?  Did the three join in an Indian raiding party and murder people from their own settlement?  The setting in the drawing appears to be Colonial America, given the dress of the figures and the Native American teepees, but you can't be sure yet.  Your curiosity leads you to collect several bits of additional information, each new discovery increasing your hope that this is the topic you were meant to find and write about.  First, you visit Massachusetts, the source of the newspaper clipping, and wander about.  After several days of fruitless searching on your own by foot, you casually ask an over-freindly fast-food restaurant busboy if he knows anything about "Hannah Dustin, doer of grisley (sic) deeds."   He directs you to Haverhill, and a statue.

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      The story is becoming clearer.  Hannah Dustin was a colonial heroine, not a colonial criminal.  You fear now that it is extremely unlikely that such a compelling true story has never been used as the basis for a work of historical fiction.   While at the monument, you encounter the phrase "Lady of the Tomahawk."  You diligently trace this phrase to a narrative poem written by Robert P. Tristram Coffin. 

 Hannah was a lady,
   She had a feather-bed,
 And she'd worked Jonah and the whale
   Upon the linen spread,
 She did her honest household part
 To give our land a godly start.

 Red Injuns broke the china
   Her use had never flawed,
 They ripped her goose-tick up with knives
   And shook the down abroad.
 They took her up the Merrimac
 With only one shirt to her back.

 Hannah Dustin pondered
   On her cupboard’s wrongs,
 Hannah Dustin duly mastered
   The red-hot Injun songs.
 She lay beside her brand new mates
 Remembering the Derby plates.

 She got the chief to show her
   How he aimed his blow
 And cut the white man’s crop of hair
   And left the brains to show.
 The Lord had made her quick to learn
 The way to carve or chop or churn.

 The moon was on the hilltop,
   Sleep was on the waves,
 Hannah took the tomahawk
   And scalped all twenty braves.
 She left her master last of all,
 And at the ears she shaved his poll.

 Homeward down the river
   She paddled her canoe.
 She went to her old cellar-place
   To see what she could do.
 She found some bits of plates that matched,
 What plates she could she went and patched.

 She built her chimney higher
   Than it had been before,
 She hung her twenty sable scalps
   Above her modest door.
 She sat a-plucking new gray geese
 For new mattresses in peace.

          Now you know Hannah Dustin has been the subject for a narrative poem.  Does this end your search?  Poetry, you learn from your editor at the publisher, does not count.  They're looking for a short   Relieved, you frantically check annotated bibliographies, quiz librarians and history professors, and conduct comprehensive web searches to make sure the powerful, incredible-but-true story of Hannah Dustin has not been written yet.  Amazingly, it hasn't.  It's your story to tell.

• 1.  Read the introduction. If you worked your way through the introduction of this Webquest, you've already taken the first step toward completing it.  If you haven't read the introduction, go back and do so before proceeding further.

• 2.  Reread the captions and the poem.  At this point, you've collected scattered bits of information regarding the heroic acts of Hannah Dustin: "grisly deed," "tomahawk," "statue," "capture, captivity, and escape," "Derby plates," "Merrimac," "scalped all twenty braves," among others.  You still don't have the whole picture. Remember that your final task is to write a short story or dramatic dialogue based on this story!  Also, as a writer of historical fiction, you are very suspicious of historical poetry.  Can the "facts" it relates be relied on to be true, or has the poet been "creative" with history.  Go back and check your facts, rereading the captions from the clipping and statue as well as the poem.

• 3.  Develop questions and begin an I-Chart. You did this before, remember?  After you read the newspaper clipping, you "had more questions than answers."  Then you allowed your questions to guide your investigation.  Think about the people and events described in the clipping, the statue caption, and the poem.  Write down at least five questions you have about the exploits of Hannah Dustin and write them in the "guiding questions" boxes along the top row of an inquiry chart.  If you get stuck, ask:  who? what? where? when? why? or how?

• 4.  Research internet sites and complete your I-Chart. Visit the three sites listed in the resources section under "The Story of Hannah Dustin" resource links.  As you read, attempt to answer the guiding questions in your inquiry chart.  If you have time, you may visit some of the other resource links.

• 5.  Evaluate the poem.  Compare and contrast the poem's version of the story to the historical accounts in the nonfiction texts you read.  One difference to consider is the motivation for Hannah's desire for revenge.  In the poem, her "Derby china" is destroyed, and she never forgets it.  In the historical accounts, the Indians destroy something much more precious.  Why did the poet make this change?  Overall, do you consider the poem "Lady of the Tomahawk" good history or bad history?  Explain your answer, using reasons and examples from your research.

• 6.  Complete a story map.  Fill out a story map to prepare you for the written task.  You may need to return to resource links to ensure you have accurate information, especially regarding the sequence of major events and the names of important people and places.

• 7.  Dramatic dialogue or short story? As a writer of historical fiction, decide how you want to tell the story.  Would the story work as a drama?  Could it be told successfully using only action and speech?  Or would it work better as a short story, which allows the writer to choose from various points of view?  Are there parts of the story you would leave out?  Is there anything you would add to the story?

• 8.  Select now and proceed:           dramatic dialogue       short story

• developed connections between American history and literature
• responded to written directions and conducted guided internet research
• read and responded to a variety of nonfiction material
• written a dramatic dialogue or short story that models the elements of historical fiction