It was the opening overture of the Revolutionary War. Boston had ditched its tea, Thomas Jefferson was finishing up the Declaration of Independence, and George Washington had brought the ragtag Continental Army to New York, where a British invasion was expected at any moment.

And if all went as New York’s governor planned, Washington would soon be dead.

That’s according to thriller writer Brad Meltzer, who, with Josh Mensch, has written his first nonfiction book, “The First Conspiracy,”about a little-known plot to assassinate the commander in chief.

“We love in America to tell the story of the American Revolution where we just all held hands together, dreamed of democracy and took on the British,” Meltzer says. “It's a great story. It's not the real story.”