Senor Herp said Interesting anecdote about the war, though. I was aware of the involvement of Prussian mercenaries and drill instructors, but not the Blue Book, or the use of militia as an unwilling anvil. Very interesting!
There's lots of interesting stuff from that period of time, actually; from the birth of the U.S.A. to the mid/late 1800's. Some random trivia you may not know: an American known as William Walker invaded Nicaragua no less than five times and the Baja Strip once (and was hailed as a hero after his invasion of Baja by citizens of New Orleans) and was acquitted for his crimes each time by the U.S. courts... until people in the region decided NOT to ship him back to the U.S. and try him themselves, at which point he was executed. Also, the guy who invented Kellogg's corn flakes also comes from this time period; he was a doctor who believed a diet of corn flakes and yogurt enemas was best for your health. Yes, yogurt enemas. He wanted people to shove yogurt up their butts.
Also, the second and third presidents of the United States, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died on the same day.
...History is interesting, yo.
EDIT: Oh, and the tidbit about the militia being used as an anvil? That was just one battle. But I posted that to accentuate the fact that militia have historically been undependable in a pitched melee, including the U.S. militia in the 1700's.
