 At the time, Crane was intermittently employed as a freelance writer, contributing articles to various New York City newspapers.He began writing what would become "The Red Badge of Courage" in June 1893, while living with his older brother Edmund in Lake View, New Jersey.Crane conceived the story from the point of view of a young private who is at first filled with boyish dreams of the glory of war, only to become disillusioned by war's reality.