The waterway that runs between Albany and Canada contains the richest cluster of 18th-century military sites in the US. Fort William Henry and Fort Ticonderoga experienced fierce conflict during the French and Indian War, and the Saratoga Battlefield is forever linked to the American Revolution. While military historians have told and retold stories of the area's battles and generals, archeologist David Starbuck turns to the daily lives of soldiers, officers, and camp followers by examining the many objects and artifacts they left behind.

Enhanced by 150 photographs and drawings, Starbuck's interpretation of the journals, huts, pottery, ammunition, and other artifacts found at encampments and forts in the Lake Champlain, Lake George, and Hudson River area vividly re-creates the difficulties of soldiering. Because Starbuck and his crews unearthed many of these discoveries, his excitement drives the narrative and enhances an understanding of how colonial American battles were fought.