Thomas Cresap’s life serves as a primer on Colonial American history. In addition to being at the forefront of the contentious border conflicts between the colonies of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, he played a part in the French and Indian War, Pontiac’s Rebellion, and the American Revolution as an officer in the Maryland militia. Cresap was an active member of the Lower House of the Maryland Assembly, the Committee of Observation, the Sons of Liberty, and the Ohio Company of Virginia. Few individuals did more, over such a long period of time, to further America’s westward expansion into the Ohio Valley than Thomas Cresap, and his personal relationships with many of the most influential men of his time helped shape the frontier. Despite all his positive contributions, Cresap was not always held in high regard by everyone. In Pennsylvania he was considered a quarrelsome and lawless ruffian known as the “Maryland Monster,” and many in the British army discounted Cresap as a “Rattlesnake Colonel.” However, settlers in Western Maryland regarded Cresap as a folk hero, and the Six Nations of the Iroquois affectionately called him “Big Spoon” for his generosity. In reality, Cresap was many things, including a frontiersman, soldier, trailblazer, ferryman, land speculator, trader, surveyor, politician, patriot, husband, and father. Drawn from Colonial land records, legislative proceedings, journals, and personal correspondence, Rattlesnake Colonel chronicles Thomas Cresap’s controversial life and narrates the complicated political and military conflicts of eighteenth-century Colonial America in a comprehensive yet understandable way.

During the Seven Years' War, Sir John St. Clair served as Deputy Quartermaster General with British General Edward Braddock's disastrous campaign to capture Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio in 1755. St. Clair had great responsibilities during the campaign and was the first Deputy Quartermaster General in North America's history. History has laid a litany of blame at Braddock's feet: he was old, slow, logistically naive, a martinet poorly versed in tactics, uninterested in his soldiers' welfare and unwilling to cooperate with the colonists. Based on a new transcription of St. Clair's correspondence, this comprehensive study of Braddock's logistics offers a radical reinterpretation of the general and his campaign. The author also presents an examination of St. Clair's role as quartermaster during Brigadier General John Forbes' subsequent and successful campaign against Fort Duquesne in 1758.

Enrique Osario and his friends sought only justice when they went after the notorious Antonio Valdar, but tales of their bravery rang out across the West, making these humble men the stuff of legend… Enrique hears that his grandfather is working at a plantation outside Hermosillo, a thriving town in Sonora, Mexico. In Hermosillo,Enrique finds that Arriquibar Sosa, who runs the town with an iron fist, has taken his grandfather prisoner. And when he refuses to become one of Sosa’s thugs, Enrique is taken prisoner as well. Good thing he never travels alone… Enrique’s riding partner, Sereno, sends word to their old friend Pang Lo, who immediately contacts Chas Dutton. And when the old crew gathers in Sonora, freeing their friend is only the first order of business. Taking down the Sosa regime is next. But finding Enrique’s grandfather may be the biggest challenge of all…