John Langellier – författare

Intended to replace the proliferation of different small arms fielded by US forces during the American Civil War, the “Trapdoor Springfield” was designed in 1865–66 by Erskine S. Allin.Using metallic cartridges, it could be loaded in a single action, increasing the number of shots per minute as much as fivefold. The new weapon quickly proved its worth in two separate incidents in August 1867: small groups of US soldiers and civilians armed with the trapdoor repulsed numerically superior Native American contingents. A simple and cost-effective weapon, it was used, along with its variants in every US conflict in the three decades after the Civil War, especially on the American frontier.Drawing upon first-hand accounts from US soldiers, their Native American opponents, and users such as buffalo hunters, this is the story of the “Trapdoor Springfield”, one of the defining weapons of the Indian Wars.

A Union supporter once said, "What is a man's life worth if our glorious union is to be shattered by traitors?"President Lincoln's volunteers and conscripted soldiers expanded the permanent Union army to include 1,700 regiments of foot soldiers during the course of the war. Those who became part of "Mr. Lincoln's Army" came from various social and economic conditions, and they documented their day-to-day life in diaries, letters and memoirs.Drawing on these narratives, contemporary photographs, and meticulous archival research, this book provides a vivid account of the common Union infantryman from recruitment and training to his experiences on the battlefield.

A highly illustrated, compact volume on a significant win for the Confederacy."There never was such a campaign, not even by Napoleon," wrote Confederate General Pender of the Second Manassas campaign in which the gray-bearded Virginian, Robert E Lee, came as close as he ever would to exterminating his Northern enemies.In so doing, Lee established himself as the South's pre-eminent military commander and the Army of Northern Virginia as it's most powerful weapon. The fighting in northern Virginia left Union General John Pope's career in tatters and proved the South was a power to be reckoned with.This book's powerful account demonstrates that during that fateful summer of 1862 Lee's soldiers were fighting for anything but a lost cause.

This volume reveals the little-known story of the 90-year presence of American forces in China until the fall of Peking in 1941.Included is coverage of the first operations on the Pearl River in 1856 as well as US involvement in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. As China entered a chaotic period in her history, known as the years of the “Warlords”, American marines also participated in numerous small-scale amphibious landings.Finally, during the later Sino-Japanese War and early into World War II, US volunteers of the “Flying Tigers” became renowned for their combat missions in support of Chinese Nationalist forces, and their aerial duels are also recounted by the author John P. Langellier, who has spent several years researching the subject in the US and China.Discover the history of these various actions and the different services involved, recreated in color artwork and illustrated with rare, previously unpublished photographs.