Where would Joseph Smith have learned about Mesoamerican watchtowers, fortifications and strongholds?

Descriptions of war in the Book of Mormon are surprisingly accurate if we assume the most likely location of Mesoamerica. One example is that of watchtowers, fortifications and strongholds.  

Fortifications are mentioned 24 times in the Book of Mormon such as in Alma 48:8:

Yea, he had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites, and erecting small forts, or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land.

These descriptions are consistent with what we now know about pre-Columbian America, but where would Joseph Smith have learned this? How was he able to correctly describe ancient American watchtowers, fortifications and strongholds?

See:

• John L. Sorenson – Fortifications in the Book of Mormon and in Mesoamerica
• Book of Mormon Central – What Was the Nature of Nephite Fortifications?
• Evidence Central – Book of Mormon Evidence: Watch Towers and Strong Holds

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