is that a lot of the reports are written by the field commander to their superiors reporting their own actions. It seems almost like a conflict of interest. Makes you wonder just how accurate these reports are. Some of the reports I've read go something like:

"We of 50 suprised the enemy of 200 in an open field where you can see for any direction for miles and we performed billiantly and after vigorously attacking them, we had one man slightly wounded but killed 100 of them and even though we didn't find any bodies it must been so because we captured John's cousin and he said it was true so we paroled him."

It is obvious that some of the commanders embellished the information to make themselves look good and/or to further their own military promotions.

Oh, and by the way, William, I love your books. Very well written, detailed, yet without being to dry and tying you down or making you wade through too much.