Pennsylvania, 1777. Another bird can be seen, but rather than enjoying a meal, this one is dangerously close to becoming one. A Musket cracks!
“Ha ha, Covenwald, you are still a terrible shot! You better get it together before the British soldiers get here, or you starve to death”!
“Next time try to keep yourself quiet, Harry! The soldiers will hear us long before I ever get a shot off”!
It was nearing the end of summer. The two men hunting were boyhood friends who grew up in the Great Valley west of Philadelphia. Their fathers were both dead and the two men’s friendship had survived a brutal feud that had lasted for years.
“You know, our fathers would have been fighting against each other in this war! My father would never have supported this rebellion. He was after all, wearing his tattered red uniform on his deathbed”!
“Yes, and had your father not freed his slaves on his deathbed, our children would also be fighting each other. My father never forgave your father for his peculiar ‘Punishment'”.
“And your father never lived to know the slaves were freed. So strange they died on the same day, 50 years to the day after they arrived in Philadelphia”!
“Pennsylvania will soon free all its slaves, but our Independence from Great Britain must come first.’
“You are right, my friend, and it is rumored that the British Fleet is at sea and headed to Elks Head in Maryland.”
“Yes, there has been a lot of movement with the Continental Army in these parts, and the Militia is on High Alert”!
“If the British do land in Maryland, it is certainly to invade Philadelphia”!
“Yes, and our land is in the way”!