Author: Carter F. Smith

Carter F. Smith, Director of the Masters in Criminal Justice at Middle Tennessee State University, is a retired U.S. Army CID Special Agent. He has a law degree from Southern Illinois University and a doctorate from Northcentral University and has authored numerous works on gangs and organized crime, including Gangs and the Military: Gangsters, Bikers, and Terrorists with Military Training and his forthcoming Pursuing River Pirates: The Hunt for Sam Mason. He is a three-time recipient of the Frederic Milton Thrasher Award and has appeared twice on the History Channel's Gangland.

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Augustin Lacroix and the Insurgency of Saint-Féréol, 1775–1776

Sedition in the Côte-de-Beaupré Historical accounts of the American invasion of Quebec in 1775 often reduce the campaign to movements on a map: Benedict Arnold’s march through the Maine wilderness, Richard Montgomery’s death in the snow of the Lower Town, and the British fleet’s arrival that forced an American retreat.[1] Beneath that high drama lay […]

by Carter F. Smith
Crime and Justice Posted on

Samuel Mason: Revolutionary Turncoat or Opportunistic Pirate?

In the chaotic aftermath of the American Revolution, the boundaries between heroism and villainy were often obscured by economic hardship, social instability, and territorial disputes. One figure who epitomizes this ambiguity is Samuel Mason, a Revolutionary War captain who later became infamous as a river pirate preying on trade along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. […]

by Carter F. Smith