Christopher Gist is a great American hero who has often gone unnoticed. Recognized for giving colonists the first detailed description of the Ohio Country, Gist was a close friend of George Washington, whom he met through their affiliation with the Ohio Company. In 1753, the two went on an arduous trek through the western Pennsylvania wilderness in the dead of winter to deliver a message to the French commander on the upper Allegheny River. Gist had a profound impact on Washington and saved the future president's life on at least two occasions during their mission. Despite Gist's impressive achievements, historians have largely overlooked him. This book extensively details his remarkable accomplishments in frontier exploration and military service.

In the mid-17th century, the Iroquois Confederacy launched a war for control of the burgeoning fur trade industry. These conflicts, known as the Beaver Wars, were among the bloodiest in North American history, and the resulting defeat of the Erie nation led to present-day Ohio's becoming devoid of significant, permanent Indian inhabitants. Only in the first quarter of the 18th century did tribes begin to tentatively resettle the area. This book details the story of the Beaver Wars, the subsequent Indian migrations into present Ohio, the locations and descriptions of documented Indian trails and settlements, the Moravian Indian mission communities in Ohio, and the Indians' forlorn struggles to preserve an Ohio homeland, culminating in their expulsion by Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act in 1830.