Battle of Ball's Bluff is an account of the small raid on a suspected Confederate camp near Leesburg, Virginia, on 20 October 1861, which turned into a Union military disaster. Ted Ballard has crafted an engaging story, relying principally on contemporary after-action reports and on the sworn testimony of participants called before the congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War investigating the Union defeats at First Bull Run and Ball's Bluff. Although not in a class with Antietam and Gettysburg or other great Civil War clashes with respect to size or consequences, the Battle of...

The Battle of Antietam was a crucial turning point in the American Civil War. This staff ride guide examines the Maryland Campaign and Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history. On 17 September 1862, the Army of the Potomac met the Army of Northern Virginia on the rolling farmlands around Sharpsburg, Maryland. While General Lee sought to bring the war to the North and "liberate" Maryland, General McClellan, having gained important intelligence, would endeavor to defeat Lee and reverse the momentum of several Union losses. Ted Ballard has once again crafted a definitive battle...

World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind. However, the half century that now separates us from that conflict has exacted its toll on our collective knowledge. While World War II continues to absorb the interest of military scholars and historians, as well as its veterans, a generation of Americans has grown to maturity largely unaware of the political, social, and military implications of a war that, more than any other, united us as a people with a common purpose. Highly relevant today, World War II has much to teach us, not only about the...