The Sharp End Gaming

The Unexpected Encounter April, 1777 The April dawn blushed red first then pink as the sun rose slowly above the cold and fog-shrouded North river. On the western bank, at Sneden’s landing where the ground sloped gently down to meet the river at the northernmost end of the tall cliffs of the Palisades, the trees were showing the first leaves of spring. In calmer times, small sloops and three-masted schooners would sail the short distance up the North river from New York City to barter and trade with the local farmers here. Now, into the second year of open war, it was quiet and empty, with many of the families who had lived here on the slopes above the river having abandoned their homes, afraid the violence would soon come to them. Standing on the riverbank a young boy from one of the families who had remained behind, fished contentedly, determined to catch the day’s first fish before his older, still sleeping brothers pushed out onto the river to do some fishing of the...

The following is a excerpt from a short story I am writing about Captain Peter Van Ness, a fictional American Revolutionary War hero.  The story is still being drafted so this copy is rough. April 4 th , 1777 HMS Archer  made its way up the North River followed by two smaller sloops, under full sail, silently gliding like ghosts above the moonlit waters.  It was just before midnight and colder than it should be for an early April evening. A slight mist hung over both riverbanks, but in the middle channel all was clear. Aboard Archer , red coated soldiers crowded her quarterdeck, silently standing at attention,while above them her sails flapped in the evening breeze.  Behind Archer the sloops Phoebe and Covington followed closely, also laden with hand-picked troops from the British army in New York.   Favorable winds out of the southwest propelled them silently past the isolated and in many cases, nameless small settlements that crowned the ban...

My next creative push is going to focus on a series of short stories I started researching and writing almost three years ago. The Van Ness Tales are about Captain Peter Van Ness, a fictional soldier in the New York militia, who fights against the British during the early years of the Revolutionary war 1776-8. I've been inspired to pick up this effort again after watching season 1 of TURN on AMC.  If you would like to follow along and learn more about this most interesting period of American history, please like my Facebook page for the "Van Ness Tales." Thanks for your interest! Chris