Download or read book Outlaws of the Lakes written by Edward Butts and published by Thunder Bay Press Michigan. This book was released on 2004 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Since early colonial times, the Great Lakes, the Upper St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain have been smugglers' highways. Smugglers kept commerce alive in Canada in the early nineteenth century, contributed to the British-Canadian victory in the War of 1812, and carried escaped slaves to freedom in Canada in the decades before the American Civil War. They also corrupted government officials, terrorized honest citizens and committed acts of ruthless violence. Some became rich; others died with their boots on. Some were cut down by Coast Guard bullets; more were gunned down by rival bootleggers. All of them were brazen and ingenious and they stopped at nothing. Whether they operated in defiance of unjust laws or out of pure greed, the smugglers and bootleggers carved a legacy of violence and adventure, one that has had a profound impact upon the histories of Canada and the United States."--Back cover.