Step back to British-held Boston and hear the voices of citizens,
militiamen, and redcoats at a turning of the tide in the American
Revolution, brought to life in Roxane Orgill's deft verse.
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.
So far the war is nothing 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.
Roxane Orgill uses verse to zoom in on the siege of Boston that launched
the war to defeat the British, giving voice to privates and generals,
their wives and city residents. to tell a story that is usually
overlooked in Revolutionary War history. Back matter includes source
notes, a glossary, and a bibliography.