The daring trader : Jacob Smith in the Michigan Territory, 1802-1825 / Kim Crawford.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

A fur trader in the Michigan Territory and confidant of both the U.S. government and local Indian tribes, Jacob Smith could have stepped out of a James Fenimore Cooper novel. Controversial, mysterious, and bold during his lifetime, in death Smith has not, until now, received the attention he deserves as a pivotal figure in Michigan's American period and the War of 1812. This is the exciting and unlikely story of a man at the frontier's edge, whose missions during both war and peace laid the groundwork for Michigan to accommodate settlers and farmers moving west. The book investigates Smith's many pursuits, including his role as an advisor to the Indians, from whom the federal government would gradually gain millions of acres of land, due in large part to Smith's work as an agent of influence. Crawford paints a colorful portrait of a complicated man during a dynamic period of change in Michigan's history.

Witness to Murder : Saginaw, 1802 -- The Saginaw Trail -- Trouble in Detroit -- War Clouds -- War in the Michigan Territory -- The Arrest of Jacob Smith -- I Pray You Inform Me ... : The Character of Jacob Smith -- Abduction to Saginaw -- The Return of the Boyer Children -- Jacob Smith versus Louis Campau, 1815 -- Peace -- Conclude a Treaty for the Country upon the Saginac Bay -- The Treaty Councils Begin -- He Was Smart as Steel -- Mounting Trouble, Mounting Debt -- U.S. vs. Jacob Smith -- He Was Dissipated and Bad in His Habits -- It Is the Last Stir of the Dying Wind -- No One Was More Anxious to Secure Advantage Than Smith -- The White Man Takes Away What He Bought of the Indians.

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