Matt Burnett joins the militia when he hears of pending French and Indian attacks upon colonial settlers. He immediately finds himself regarded as a hero and at the same time a spy-suspect, both situations arising from a series of incidents involving the young Major George Washington.

Matt and Chief, his elderly Indian accomplice, begin their adventure by foiling an ambush of Washington. Shortly afterward, Matt is part of the young Washington’s first military command. The colonial militia, augmented by British regulars, sets out to intercept a French and Indian invasion.

Washington is beset by the resentment of regular British officers at being subordinate to a colonist. He is also hampered by the lack of discipline in his militia, and by the nagging doubt about whether one of the colonials in his command is practicing treachery. The climax comes when the young colonel, abandoned by the British and outnumbered by the enemy, decides to erect a primitive defense which history remembers as Fort Necessity