Marvin Payne

While cannons roar and rockets ignite American skies, disease ravages the upper Connecticut Valley. Few notice the sufferings of the families . . . Of a single child . . . A remarkable lad named Joseph. Attentions are forced elsewhere on the Chesapeake, which guards the entrance to the infant nation's threatened capital.

 It is the height of the War of 1812. As the beleaguered American forces begin to rally, Britain's military is divided between