"It is the summer of 1775. The British occupy Boston and its busy harbor, holding residents captive and keeping a strong military foothold. The threat of smallpox looms, and the town is cut off, even from food supplies. Following the battles of Lexington and Concord, Congress unanimously elects George Washington commander in chief of the American armed forces, and he is sent to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to transform the ragtag collection of volunteer militiamen into America's first army. The war has so far been little more than a series of intermittent skirmishes, but Washington is in constant fear of attack--until he takes the offensive with results that surprise everyone, the British most of all"--Jacket flap.