Although the title of this work refers to a three-part history, only two volumes were completed. The author had been a lawyer and politician from Philadelphia when he was appointed adjutant general of Wisconsin Territory by President Van Buren in 1839. He moved to Mineral Point and served in several offices in the territorial and state governments. He also served as the first president of the State Historical Society, and prepared this history at the direction of the state legislature.

Volume 1 may have been the first full history of Wisconsin ever published. The footnotes seem to indicate that he derived most of the information from just a small number of sources. The notes within the Table of Contents at the beginning of the volume provide an extremely detailed guide to the volume.

Volume 3 contains documents on about 30 topics, including 100 pages of the “Jesuit Relations”, over 100 pages on the Black Hawk War, several documents about ancient earth works, and various other subjects.