Big Fancy Castle: Difference between revisions

* During the early modern era it was common for decentralized power structures similar to the Middle Ages to recreate themselves in [[The Western|frontier areas]]. Someone with a lot of capital to invest in one of the stereotypical enterprises of the time (fur in the American northwest, cattle and caravaning in the southwest, shipping for passengers and tea, etc) could amass the capitalwherewithal to make themselves de facto sovereign, and in places without much law it was practically imperative to do so. Thus many businessmen did have what amounted to private military forces including private fortifications. It is no accident that so many places on maps of America are called "Fort X" and "Fort Y". Some were indeed military outposts, but others were simply fortified business concerns and not by coincidence homes for an owner or his deputy. In other words several [[Cattle Baron|cattle barons]] really were barons and had their own castles. These would not be cutting edge fortification unless commissioned by a truely garagantuan concern the way the East India Company was in India. However they were not generally intended to resist an army with an artillery train. They would be stockades or simple mansions with one or two brass cannon parked outside plus enough small arms to put up a fight. They could however stand siege from Indians, or bandits, or disgruntled settlers, or family rivals.