Welcome to the website dedicated to preserving the Civil War history & record of the men of the 13th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer infantry. The site was launched June 2, 2008. Since that time over 60 pages of detailed history have been added. These pages include newspaper stories, soldiers letters, diaries, memoirs, photos, and post-war reminiscences.... Content warning for language, racism, and violence.

It cost a recruit $12.50 for the privilege of enlisting in the exclusive 4th Battallion of Rifles, but before considering the fee, the applicant needed to be approved by a vote from members of the Boston Militia group. In spite of the cost there were plenty of applicants & there was no problem filling each company to its full compliment of men. The four rifle companies of the Fourth Battallion, Companies A, B, C, & D, became the nucleus of the 13th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers (...) Many of these men chose to go directly to the seat of war as privates in the 13th rather than wait for a chance at an officer's commission with another organization.(...) "They are a damned insubordinate lot," said brigade commander General John J. Abercrombie when asked what kind of troops they were. Amongst the material gathered here is this outstanding story attributed to (Union) Lieutenant Edward Rollins: Dr. Stringfellow's Slaves

Military contractor Erik Prince started a private WhatsApp group for his close associates that includes a menagerie of right-wing government officials, intelligence operatives, arms traffickers, and journalists. We got their messages. from Off Leash: Inside the Secret, Global, Far-Right Group Chat [The New Republic; ungated] [CW: the quiet part, out loud]

Among the group's hottest topics: • The "Biden Regime," which a consensus of Off Leash participants who weighed in view as an ally of Islamic terrorists and other anti-American forces that needs to be crushed along with them and its partners in the deep state, such as former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, who "deserves to burn in hell," Lara Logan shared with the group chat. • The shortcomings of democracy that invariably resulted from extending the franchise to ordinary citizens, who are easily manipulated by Marxists and populists. "The West is at best a beautiful cemetery," lamented Sven von Storch, whose aristocratic German family fled the country after World War II to Chile, where their son was raised before returning to the land of his ancestors, where he married the granddaughter of the Third Reich's last de facto head of state, who was convicted at Nuremberg. • Israel-Palestine, a problem that Michael Yudelson, Prince's business partner at Unplugged, which markets an allegedly supersecure smartphone, said should be handled by napalming Hamas's tunnel network. "I would burn all those bastards, and have everything above ground, everything left of Gaza, collapse into this fiery hell pit and burn!" he wrote. • The Houthi rebels in Yemen, whom Yoav Goldhorn, who was an Israeli intelligence officer until last year and now works for a Tel Aviv–based security contractor headed by former senior national security veterans, thinks should be "dealt with" as soon as possible to ensure they don't grow from "an inconvenience to a festering mess [that] will eventually require an entire limb to be amputated." • And most of all, Iran, which participants agreed, with a few exceptions, also needed to be wiped out. Saghar Erica Kasraie, a former staffer for Republican Representative Trent Franks when he served on the House Armed Services Committee and whom, according to her LinkedIn profile, she advised on Middle East issues, urged that the Islamic Republic's clerical leaders be targeted by weaponized drones that "take them out like flys ."

A round-up of links inside on the Russia-Ukraine war. Today is day 848 of the invasion.

Russia: Russia wages a scorched-earth war in Ukraine with retrofitted bombs and new airstrips (AP) Fire at drone-hit Russian oil depot rages for second day (Reuters) Putin accuses NATO of creating a security threat for Russia in Asia (Reuters) China: Outgoing NATO chief says China should face consequences for backing Russia's war on Ukraine (CBC) Ukraine peace summit is a 'success', China key to ending war: ambassador to Singapore (South China Morning Post) China lobbying for its alternative peace plan ahead of Ukraine's summit, Reuters reports (Kyiv Independent) EU: EU passes 14th sanctions package in first major move against Russian gas (Kyiv Independent) Romania to send Patriot defense system to Ukraine (Kyiv Independent) EU envoys agree on more Russia sanctions. LNG imports are among the targets. (AP) Japan: Signing of the Accord on Support for Ukraine and Cooperation between the Government of Japan and Ukraine (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan) Japan to finance US$188 million technology transfer to Ukrainian business (MSN) North & South Korea: Russia and North Korea sign mutual defence pact: Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un's agreement raises western alarm about possible Russian help for nuclear programme (Guardian) What's known, and not known, about the partnership agreement signed by Russia and North Korea (AP) Putin says South Korea would be making 'a big mistake' if it supplies arms to Ukraine (Reuters) Ukraine: Russian troops fail to advance as Ukraine garners military, financial aid (Al Jazeera) Ukraine, Russia targeting each other's energy infrastructure (NHK World Japan) Ukraine launches a national sexual assault registry for victims of Russian forces (CTV) USA: US to focus on deepening ties with Vietnam after Putin's Hanoi visit (Reuters) Exclusive: Biden to ban US sales of Kaspersky software over Russia ties, source says (Reuters) White House confirms Ukraine to get priority on air defense missile deliveries (Kyiv Independent; post title is a Biden quote from this article) Aid: Fidelity Charitable list of organizations; UNICEF; Support Sellers in Ukraine

We might now be on the cusp of a similar sea change, with American policymakers, especially Democrats and the broader center-Left, beginning to craft a new industrial policy and seeking to decouple economically from China. This decoupling is accompanied by an ersatz new Cold War with China—reminding us of how an earlier era of more activist liberal government required the Cold War to legitimate and underpin it. Whether such efforts will take hold is, for now, unclear. But understanding what these efforts are designed to overturn requires returning to the pivotal years of America in the 1990s. from What the 1990s Did to America [Public Books]