Forts, Ports, Canals and Wars is a collection of articles and papers, and presentations that represent life and living in the Red Hills of North Florida. Among other accounts the book tells how Tallahassee used the many assets of its community to attract settlers after the Civil War, a feat it still accomplishes today. In the 1880s, Tallahassee was described as “one of the loveliest places in all America.” Also included in the book are descriptions of the early development of roads in Leon County and Captain Samuel Heintzelman’s colorful account of Tallahassee during North Florida’s involvement in the second Seminole War.

Dr. Knetsch is an FSU graduate and has published over 200 articles and now, twelve books on Florida history. Recently he has lectured on Florida’s Utopian Communities to an advance class at FSU and also participated in the conference on the Aucilla River in Monticello. For twenty-eight years he served as the historian for the Division of State Lands in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. A regular customer of MFB, Dr. Knetsch is retired in Tally with his wife Linda and their four cats.