Following the Battle of Bunker Hill in early July of 1775, George Washington takes command of the seventeen thousand men who lay siege to the city of Boston, where General Thomas Gage and his four thousand regular army troops valiantly hold out. Parliament and representatives of Great Britain no longer listen to the complaints and requests of the colonials and decline to negotiate the issues. Like his fellow members of Congress, Washington is committed to an early end of the conflict. Washington determines that, by improving the negotiating position of the American colonists, Great Britain will accede to the demands of Congress. Many in the province of Canada are similarly oppressed and disenfranchised by Parliament. With the approval of Congress, Washington devises a plan to expel the British army from the forts at Montreal and Quebec and align with Canada, making Canada the fourteenth American colony. As the Northern army proceeds up the Hudson Valley to attack Montreal, Washington appoints Colonel Benedict Arnold to lead a secret mission of 1,200 men through the wilderness of Maine to attack the undermanned and vulnerable fortress at Quebec. Dr. Tamanend Maier, now on General Washingtons administrative staff, works with Benedict Arnold to plan the expedition and will accompany him to Quebec. His brother, Dr. Christian Maier, is now in Boston. He remains loyal to his king and serves as a volunteer surgeon in the beleaguered British army. General Gage is informed of the secret expedition to Quebec and sends Christian to Quebec with the information necessary to save the fortress city.