Virginia's Colonial Soldiers

by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck

1988 · Genealogical Publishing Com

American military history began with the establishment of the Virginia colonial militia in the seventeenth century. Although ill-trained, it was the colony's only defense against Indian attacks and invasion by hostile powers. The records left are fragmentary and scattered, and it has always been hard to locate them and make them accessible. With the publication of this work that problem is now behind us. From research based on county court minutes and orders, bounty land applications and warrants, records of courts martial, county militia rosters, Hening's Statutes at Large, the Draper manuscripts, and manuscripts in the Public Record Office in London, we now have an authoritative register of Virginia's colonial soldiers. And it is not merely a dry catalogue of names and dates, for included are the military's "size" rolls which routinely give the soldier's place of birth, age, residence, occupation, and physical description. And sometimes this was made even more informative when the enlisting officer recorded his impressions of the soldier!

The Art of Military Deception

by Mark Lloyd

2003 · Pen and Sword

This in-depth analysis of military deception examines tactics employed across centuries and continents, from ancient times to WWII. The art of military deception is as old as warfare itself. It has been a vital part of virtually every successful campaign ever recorded, and yet has been largely overlooked in the annals of military history. In The Art of Military Deception, Mark Lloyd corrects this oversight with a wide-ranging analysis of strategies and tactics through the ages. Lloyd treats this much-neglected aspect of warfare thematically rather than chronologically covering such topics as disinformation campaigns, lies on the home front, and psychological warfare. He draws on a wide range of examples to show the elaborate techniques which have been employed in the struggle to outwit the enemy. Particularly fascinating is his analysis of the fatal error of self-deception.