I’m Carter F. Smith, and if Sam Mason had crossed into the present century, I might’ve been tasked with hunting him down.
I serve as an Associate Professor and Director of the Master’s in Criminal Justice program at Middle Tennessee State University, following almost two decades as a special agent in the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. My career took me from the backroads of rural America to federal investigations overseas—but the lawless frontiers of early America have captured my curiosity.
Since 2006, I’ve been writing, researching, and teaching about organized crime, criminal investigations, and the evolution of law on the edge of civilization. My first deep dive into the world of Sam Mason—From Patriot to Pirate: The Outlaw Life of Sam Mason—uncovers how a Revolutionary War veteran became one of the most feared pirates of the Mississippi Valley. By my estimate, Mason was the nation’s first known military-trained gang leader.
I’ve also authored or co-authored books, including Gangs & the Military, Gangs & Organized Crime, and Private Security Today, exploring how training, ideology, and opportunity shape both lawful and unlawful actors. In my nonfiction work, I examine modern criminal groups—but Mason’s story pulled me back into the dusty archives of river towns, military records, and court transcripts, where justice was swift, jails were leaky, and no two judges ruled the same.
My second book, The Trial of Sam Mason: Frontier Pirate Justice, presents the original 1803 transcripts from his prosecution in the Spanish-American borderlands. Painstakingly annotated, it sheds light on a fluid legal system—one where borders moved faster than verdicts, and outlaws sometimes dictated the law. I wrapped the trial in an intriguing storyline to give you the full picture of Sam’s life.
In recent years, I’ve published on historical criminology in journals like ACJS Today, Victims & Offenders, Small Wars Journal, Journal of Gang Research, and The Journal of the American Revolution. My work traces connections between 18th-century piracy, organized insurgency, and present-day transnational crime. I’ve consulted for national media, appeared twice on the History Channel’s Gangland, and delivered lectures on everything from outlaw motorcycle gangs to sovereign citizens who think they’re above the law.
I’m particularly drawn to the messy middle ground between honor and outlawry. Men like Sam Mason didn’t fall—they drifted, one mile further downriver at a time.
“It is not that river pirates despise the law—they simply believe it doesn’t apply to them.”
— Carter Smith
Check out my other publications.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Carter%20F.%20Smith/author/B00WF1QE52
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=43LWyu4AAAAJ
https://mtsu.academia.edu/CarterSmith