'They will fear the stripes, even if they do not revere the bars of our flag'
-Ben Butler

American history is replete with dark irony. In May of 1862, Union general Benjamin F. Butler captured New Orleans from the Confederacy, and became its military governor. Exactly half a century earlier, his father, Captain John Butler, had helped defend New Orleans from the British.

Ben Butler was perhaps one of the most controversial generals of the American Civil War. ...

A reading guide for pre-1911 Sino-Japanese relations, for anyone interested. By no means an exhaustive list, just a collection of books I've come across in my travels.

General History:

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'Burnside may be unfit to command this army; his present plan may be absurd, and failure certain; but his lieutenants have no right to say so to their subordinates'
- Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, artillery chief of the Union First Corps


Ambrose Burnside was twice offered command of the Union Army of the Potomac. A modest man in an Army full of pompous and devious officers, Burnside frankly confessed that he was not up for the challenge. The first time, he flatly refused;...

In October of 1862, Ulysses S Grant found himself the commander of the Union Department of the Tennessee. Two months later, on December 17th, he issued one of the most controversial orders of the War, which was to become - along with the bogus allegations of alcoholism - one of the ugliest stains on the great soldier's career.

'General Order No. 11' was issued to expel 'Jews as a class' from Grant's Department, with the rationale that persons of Jewish faith had been engaging in cotton...

Ambrose Powell Hill (1825 - 1865) was a Virginian and a graduate of West Point. Despite his personal hatred of slavery and his dubious attitude towards secessionism, he followed his mother state into the Confederacy at the start of the American Civil War. Starting as the colonel of the 13th Virginia Regiment, he quickly rose to higher commands, saving the day for the Confederacy with his timely intervention at Antietam.

In May of 1863, Hill was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant...