SIGNED The Forbidden Ground * Fur Trade * Exploration

Neil Hermon Swanson was born on 30 June, 1896, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Hermon M. and Eda C. Swanson. Both his father and mother, who married around 1893, were Swedish immigrants that had come to America as children in 1873. His father operated a fuel business in St Paul, Minnesota, that sold wood and coal and later managed a fruit orchard in Minnetonka, Minnesota.

After serving as a company commander in United States Infantry during the First World War, Swanson worked as assistant city editor on a Minneapolis newspaper. Later he would rise to become executive editor of the Baltimore Sunpapers (1941-1954).

Swanson is best remembered as the writer of several best selling historical novels. Three of his most popular books, "The First Rebel" (1940), tells the story of a group of colonist that revolted against British rule ten years before the American Revolution, "The Perilous Flight" (1945), remembers major general Sam Smith's 1814 defenses of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore and "Unconquered: A novel of the Pontiac conspiracy " (1948), tells of the uprising of North American Indians in the Great Lakes region, who were upset with British policies after their victory over the French in 1763.

Neil H. Swanson died on 5 February 1983, at Baltimore County General Hospital after a long illness. He was interned at the Baltimore National Cemetery three days later. Neil and his wife Katherine had four children, Neil Jr., Jean, Robert and Margaret.