The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington

by Brad Meltzer

It’s not just Washington’s appearance that makes him stand out, though. The Congress is full of highly educated talkers who use ornate, flowery language. Washington never went to college. He speaks simply or, more often, he listens. As the other delegates compete to talk as much as possible, Washington exerts a gravity and power by withholding opinions. He has, as John Adams later puts it, the “gift of silence.” But when he does speak, the words have conviction.

With their team of hired men, Knox and his brother embark on an epic journey in the middle of winter hauling the cannons and mortars, first via boat over Lake Champlain, then via ox-drawn sleds through blizzards and across tundra, and finally over a series of mountain ridges in several feet of snow. In all, Knox’s team hauled roughly 120,000 pounds of artillery (to put it in perspective, that’s about thirty modern full-size sedans) through mostly untamed wilderness over three hundred miles in the dead of winter, an eight-week journey the likes of which has never been undertaken before or since.

In fact, the young soldiers’ sneering attitude toward the workers in the Holy Ground hides a deeper tragedy. Most of the women are poor, desperate, and vulnerable. The economic depression of the early 1770s has left many people destitute, and the city provides almost nothing in the way of social services. Women of all ages are forced to survive any way they can. Some of the workers in the Holy Ground are single mothers, trying desperately to provide for their children. Every night they contend with intoxicated sailors, soldiers, and criminals. It’s a brutal existence, and the risk of violence is constant.

Washington’s enduring reputation as a great military leader is not based on his technical skill as a tactician. He would win a few impressive battles, but overall he lost more than he won. What made him great—at least in the particular circumstances of the Revolutionary War—was his sheer staying power, his total devotion to his army, his relentless sense of duty, and a stubborn refusal to ever give up.