This is the first in a series.

Two hundred fifty years ago, the summer of 1775 saw a period of calm as men began to choose sides following the bloodshed at Lexington, Concord and Bunker’s Hill. In Philadelphia, the illegal Second Continental Congress was meeting, with a cloud of doom hanging over it.

In the last two months Congress had virtually taken over the running of the 13 colonies. It had created an army and appointed George Washington to command.