This book details the growth of the European Fur trade in North America and how it drew the Native Americans who lived in the Great Lakes region, notably the Huron, Dakota, Sauk and Fox, Miami and Shawnee tribes into the colonial European Wars. During the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812, these tribes took sides and became important allies of the warring nations. However, slowly the Indians were pushed westward by the encroachment of more settlers. This tension finally culminated in the 1832 Black Hawk's War, which ended with the deportation of many tribes to distant reservations.

With the violent separation between the United States and Britain which began in 1776, the new ‘Americans’ set off to fulfill their manifest destiny and rule their new land from coast to coast. As they pushed westward, they came into conflict with both natives and other European settlers, and began to build fortresses to defend their newly claimed land. This book charts the development and variation of the fortresses of the American Frontier, covering both American defenses and those of the Spanish in the west. It also examines the little-known forts of early Russian settlers on the Pacific coast.