Preface and Acknowledgments
A
persistent failing of American second-
ary education is its inability to impart
meaningful national history on to
young minds. Nowhere is this more pro-
nounced than in the realm of military history.
Despite a bewildering variety of publications,
and burgeoning public interest in the topic,
young people usually have to wait until col-
lege to encounter such courses, or head to the
public library and learn on their own. Given
the centrality of warfare to human events, and
the dire necessity of understanding war in
order to avoid it, this is a sorry lapse, indeed.
Moreover, the products available are not al-
ways balanced in their treatment of battles
and foreign military leaders. Books abound
on U.S. personalities, but those touching upon
hostile commanders are either nonexistent or
so sparsely covered that their utility is ex-
tremely limited. All told, this remains a less
than salubrious situation, one scarcely ad-
dressed by the reference materials extant.
America’s Military Adversariesis the first
reference book to discuss leaders that have
opposed the United States by military force—
or other means. It has been specifically de-
signed to address reference deficiencies asso-
ciated with this topic and, in many respects,
closely mirrors the philosophy of my earlier,
award-winning effort, American Military
Leaders(2 vols., ABC-CLIO, 1999). It was con-
ceived with a largely uninformed, high school
to undergraduate audience in mind and is de-
livered in nontechnical narrative prose. The
223 subjects covered represent a wide array
of disciplines within military history and are
rendered in concise, uniform fashion for ease
of use and comprehension. Each essay pro-
vides succinct background information, then
highlights the person’s role or impact within
the overall context of U.S. military history.
This could assume many forms. Present are
generals, admirals, Indian chiefs, warriors,
submarine captains, fighter pilots, and spies.
Branches of service as diverse as Loyalist ir-
regulars to the Waffen-SS are all represented
to underscore the variety of opponents that
American forces have grappled with. But
more than any other consideration, this book
is intended as a starting point for inquiring
minds. Each essay contains extensive biblio-
graphic references containing the latest and
up-to-date scholarship on a given personality,
battle, or campaign. Special effort has been
made to include writings by these same indi-
viduals to facilitate that mind-to-mind contact
so essential to the historical process. Wher-
ever appropriate, entries are cross-referenced
to other relevant biographies. Any name that
appears in boldfacetype means that person
is included in this volume, and separate sec-
tions following most entries list cross-refer-
ences. It thus becomes possible to research
and view a given battle or campaign from dif-
fering perspectives. In the interest of objectiv-
ity—a necessary prerequisite of intellectual
honesty—it takes two sides to tell a story.
Like its forebear, America’s Military Adver-
saries exudes sufficient breadth and depth to
inform, enlighten, and, above all, stimulate re-
search on the lives and events chronicled.
Since its inception as a colony, the United
States has engaged in numerous wars of sur-
vival and expansion. In the course of these con-
flicts, many leaders of the opposing side stand
out as among the best and most talented of
their times. Be they Native American, Euro-
pean, or Asiatic, these personalities usually
mounted stout and memorable resistance. The
victories we achieved over them or, in some in-
stances, the defeats we suffered at their hands
all constitute threads in the tapestry of our na-
tional military experience. However, the exact
number of these belligerent personalities is
large and would fill several volumes. Therefore,
my goal in writing this book was to assemble a
working cross-section of all the significant lead-
ers, as well as a host of lesser-known individu-
als, who have opposed America by force of
arms. This is their story—and ours.ix