The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington

by Brad Meltzer

If what’s in the letter is true, the implications are almost unfathomable: George Washington, murdered in 1776, in the first year of the Revolutionary War—murdered before the Declaration of Independence is even signed—before the United States of America even exists. The quill comes to a stop. The letter, now finished, is sealed. The writer will send it by mail to Hartford, Connecticut.

It all started on that day when the officers of the Continental army marched through the city, right under his nose, led by their Commander, George Washington. Though the Patriots may think they’re rid of their Governor, they couldn’t be more wrong. Tryon isn’t going anywhere. In fact, he’ll soon have a brand new plan—a plan designed to change the course of history.

George Washington, a man raised in the planting classes in Virginia, has lived in proximity to slavery his whole life. In 1759, at the age of twenty-seven, when he took the hand of the wealthy young widow, Martha Custis, in marriage, he gained ownership of her late husband’s land and property, including a total of eighty-five slaves. Over the next sixteen years, as Washington accumulated more wealth and land, he acquired several dozen more slaves.

Remarkably, the Continental army remains the most integrated fighting force in American history until the Vietnam War.

Trust no one. At least, that’s what George Washington begins to think as he tries to protect intelligence and conceal information from the British army and its spies. If nothing else, the Benjamin

It’s around this time, and soon after this realization, that Tryon, in the dark underbelly of his ship, begins to formulate a plan. For this plan to succeed, the Governor will need to marshal all his resources, all his spies, and all his men. It’s a complex scheme and a deadly one. Everything about it must be secret. It’s a plot against the Continental army. Against the army, and against the army’s leader. It’s a plot against George Washington.