In light of the Russian presence in the Aleutian archipelago and their claim that the present-day Northwest Coast was part of 'New Russia,' the Spanish established a presidio and mission at San Diego in an attempt to protect their interests in establishing control of California. Saunt then turns his attention to San Diego. Compounding this, each ship that set out from Siberia for Alaska during the second half of the 18th century - approximately 80 of them - devastated the Aleut people with violence and disease. In one instance, as Saunt notes, 'He reportedly practiced a cruel experiment: arranging the Aleuts in a line, he fired at the first to discover how many people the bullet would pass through.' Relations between the Russians and Aleuts quickly devolved into a brutal exchange of retribution. After the Aleuts attacked and killed dozens of Russian hunters who were trapping and trading fur within their territory, Captain Ivan Solov'ev exacted horrific revenge on hundreds, perhaps thousands of Aleuts. The first of Saunt's eight chapters is set against the violent backdrop of Russian/Aleut encounters in Alaska.

George Washington himself was among those hungry for such lands. North Carolina and Virginia nullified that deed, however, but did leave Henderson with 200,000 acres for his 'trouble and expense.' A prohibition against western settlement was among the principal reasons colonists such as Henderson revolted.

He envisioned establishing a 14th colony west of the mountains. Defiantly, Richard Henderson of North Carolina negotiated with three Cherokee leaders and acquired the deed to an enormous 22 million-acre tract that covered most of present-day Kentucky and part of Tennessee.

Claudio saunt