This story is based on Major General John Sullivan and his Continental Army soldiers during their expedition of 1779 into the lake region of central and western New York. This campaign was against the Iroquois towns that had taken arms against the American revolutionaries. It describes how the Continentals marched, fought, made paths and bridges, enjoyed themselves amid their toils, told stories around the camp-fire, and drew out from the friendly Oneidas the myths and lore of the Iroquois.