The story you are about to read is a fictional account of actual events that took place during the fall and winter of 1778 - 1779 in Redding, Connecticut when the troops under the command of General Israel Putnam billeted there during the Revolutionary War. This is not an account of the battles that led to the ultimate victory of the Continental Army, but rather an account of the sacrifices made by the ordinary citizens of a small town where the number of inhabitants more than tripled in size in a matter of weeks, giving Redding one of the largest populations in the entire state in January of 1779! Some of the characters in this account are real and some are fictional, but the historical events and places are as accurate as the authors could portray them.