ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

OVER THE YEARS THAT THIS book has come together, many people have provided sincerely appreciated help and advice. I want to thank Clyde Prestowitz Jr., President of the Economic Strategy Institute, Washington, D.C., for advice on the U.S. economy in the 1850s and 1860s. Also, Chris Morrison of the Historical Office of the U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C., provided invaluable information on the U.S. State Department and its workings in the mid-nineteenth century. My gratitude also goes to Dr. Erika Cox, Pathology Department, Launceston General Hospital, in Tasmania, Australia, for advice on contagious diseases common to Central America. And Marco A. Argotte, formerly of Chile, now of Sydney, Australia, for translation assistance.

For their enthusiastic assistance with my on-the-ground research in Nicaragua, I thank Juan Carlos Mendosa of Managua, Nicaragua, and Major John Seldomridge (U.S. Army, retired) of Elisabethtown, Kentucky. And for path-finding help on the Vanderbilt trail on Staten Island, the intrepid Robert and Alison Simko of Lower Manhattan.

I especially want to thank Bob Pigeon, Executive Editor with Da Capo Press, who has supported my ambitions for this book for a number of years, as I molded it into the tale it has become, and his efficient assistant, Ashley St. Thomas. My New York literary agent, Richard Curtis, the general of my campaigns in American, Roman, British, Australian, and French historical territory, has never doubted the importance of this book; without both his belief and his knowledgeable guidance, it would never have seen the light of day.

And, as always, my thanks go to my wonderful wife, Louise. She has marched at my side every step of the way on this book, in museums, libraries, and archives and on battle sites in the United States, Central America, and elsewhere, then encouraged, assisted, and advised me as I worked through the drafts. What a lonely, boring life it would be without my “Dona Louise.”