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This is a listing of characters from the United States of America in Timeline-191.
For the main character index, see here
For the Confederate States, see here
United States of America
In General
The Stars and Stripes throughout most of the series
- Crapsack World: A more downplayed example in comparison to the Confederacy but there are many unpleasant aspects unique to this version of the U.S. It's rivalry with the Confederacy and the British Empire sees the country far more militarized than it was around the same time period form our timeline. Mormons, and later Canadians, are treated as little more than conquered peoples with the occupations of Utah and Canada being enforced via firing squad executions of civilians.
- Much like the Confederacy it was also a mostly de facto one party state run by the militaristic and conservative Democrats. However it's clear in the series the Socialists are a far more politically viable party than their Radical Liberal counterparts in the Confederacy, they are elected in a landslide in the post war presidential election.
- Culture Chop Suey: The loss of the Southern states and it's close alliance with Germany has seen American culture take on a more European flavor in this timeline.
- U.S. soldiers in the Great War wear virtually the same types of the uniforms as their German counterparts do, even developing their own "coal-scuttle" helmet that becomes the new standard U.S. helmet up through the Second Great War. Their very first barrel, resembles the A7V with it's crew of 18 and an armament of a single gun and six machine guns.
- Much like other European nations during this time period, the U.S. has a peacetime draft for military service for all able-bodied men.
- This also even extends to the political left as, like many European nations at the time, socialism has a far more stronger presence and acceptance in American mainstream culture than it did in our timeline. By the start of the series, the Socialist Party has long supplanted the Republicans as the other big two party and goes on to win the Presidency many times in the post-Great War elections.
- Different States of America: In addition to not only being the Divided States of America, there are a few differences to the states that makeup the country.
- North and South Dakota in this timeline are simply just one state of Dakota.
- Following the U.S.'s victory in the Great War, the U.S. carves off northwestern Texas as part of their war demands and names the territory Houston.
- Like with Texas, portions of northern Virginia are carved off from the state and ceded to West Virginia following the U.S.'s victory in the Great War.
- Divided States of America: Mixed with Expanded States of America. The U.S. loses it's southern states following it's defeat in the War of Secession.
- Everyone Has Standards: Many in the U.S., outside of a few exceptions like Flora, hardly cared for how the Confederates treated their black populace. However, just about everyone in the U.S. is shaken to their core when the extent of Confederate Population Reduction programs are revealed to the world. It's actually stated by characters near the end of the series many U.S. states have begun plans to remove racist laws on their books to prevent being compared to the Freedom Party.
- Expanded States of America: Mixed with Divided States of America. The U.S. begins in How Few Remain being only composed of the states that didn't secede during the War of Secessionnote but ends the series having conquered Canada, re-absorbed the Confederate States along with the territory the Confederacy had acquired over the decades (Cuba, Sonora, and Chihuahua).
- Fallen States of America: A downplayed example. The U.S. is still a major power but has to contend with more hostile militarized neighbors in the series than it did in our timeline, in addition to the obvious loss of it's southern states during the War of Secession.
- Hero Worship: For Imperial Germany, in particular during the decades in between the Second Mexican War and Great War. Following their victory in the Great War however, this begins to recede to a more standard military alliance as many in the U.S. feel they're now more able to fend for themselves.
- Misplaced Nationalism: Most in the U.S. have a deep loathing for the Confederacy for it's twin defeats in the War of Secession and Second Mexican War. A revanchist ideology called "Remembrance" dominates American culture for much of the decades in between the 1880s and 1920s. While not as common as "damnyankee" is in the South, many in the U.S. refer to Confederates as "rebs" even though it's decades after the Confederacy's independence was recognized.
- The Socialists usually avert this but share no particular love for the Confederacy, mainly just criticizing what they see as nationalistic jingoism on the part of Democrats. By the time of the Second Great War and the revelations of the Population Reduction program however, even the most dovish Socialist has nothing disdain for the Confederacy.
- Also extends to the British and French for their support and alliance with the Confederacy. The conquest of Canada in the Great War is in part revenge for British involvement in the Second Mexican War and the taking of Northern Maine.
- No Kill like Overkill: In response to Featherston having Clarence Potter denotate a superbomb in Philadelphia, the U.S. drops its first superbomb on Newport News, not because it was a military target but solely on the basis that military intelligence believed that Jake Featherston was located there. Wiping out an entire city just to try and kill one person. Turns out Featherston was across the bay and got to witness Newport's destruction from a relatively safe distance.
- Took a Level in Badass: Following their second defeat at the hands of the Confederacy, the U.S. spends the next three to four decades in between the Second Mexican War and Great War re-organizing it's military and society for the next expected war with the Confederacy. By the time of the Great War, it's successfully fighting a two front against the Confederates and Mexicans in the south and the Canadians and British in the north, along with putting down a Mormon rebellion mid-war. In addition to the naval battles with the British and Japanese in the Pacific.
- Western Terrorists: The punitive treatment of Mormons in Utah and eventually the conquered Canadian provinces pushes many of those who belong to the aforementioned groups into active underground resistance movements. Mormons even develop the tactic of what's called Suicide Bombers in our world note while Canadian resistance cells remain a persistent thorn in the U.S. from the 20s onwards.
White House/Powell House
Abraham Lincoln
The 16th President of the United States who due to the Confederate victory in this timeline was voted out of the White House for the Union's defeat in the Civil War. In his post-war life, he took up the cause of the workers and became a leading figure in American socialism. He helped found the U.S. Socialist Party which would go on to supplant the disgraced Republicans as the other major party in American politics and become a major ideological influence on oppressed Blacks in the Confederacy.
- The Cassandra:
- The prologue of The American Front in a meeting with the British ambassador, Lord Lyons, Lincoln speculates on the possibility that one day the U.S. will find a major European ally of it's own to match the Confederacy's alliance with Britain and France. Lyons brushes that off the idea that any nation could challenge the British Empire as ridiculous. Cut to the Great War some half a century later...
- He also correctly theorizes that the most likely place in North America where a communist revolution could come from would be the oppressed black populace of the Confederacy.
- Chummy Commies: Old Abe became a socialist in his post-war career.
- Historical Domain Character: America's 16th President. Doesn't end up as revered as he does in our timeline, though he fortunately isn't assassinated.
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: The Confederate victory in the Civil War means he doesn't get assassinated in this timeline and goes on to have notable post-war career as a socialist activist.
- The Scape Goat: He takes the vast majority of the blame for the U.S.' defeat in the War of Secession. Even in the Confederacy he's still one of the most loathed/ridiculed figures by Confederates, decades after his death and their independence.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: In How Few Remain, though not afterwards. He's long dead by the time of the Great War.
Theodore Roosevelt
Introduced as a young man in How Few Remain, much of Roosevelt's worldview (along with the rest of his generation) was shaped by the U.S.' twin defeats in the War of Secession and Second Mexican War. He rose to national prominence, along with George Custer, for partaking in one of the U.S.'s only victories in the Second Mexican War which culminated in him becoming the 28th President of the United States, and leading the U.S. into the Great War against the Confederacy.
- Action Politician: Deconstructed a bit, he visits the frontlines in Roanoke and it shows what a monumentally stupid idea it would be for the leader of a nation to be on the frontlines in a modern war when he nearly gets killed by stray gunfire from Confederates. He was fortunately saved by Chester Martin tackling him to the ground.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: His political career is launched off him getting the only notable U.S. victory in the Second Mexican War.
- Big Good: Seen by many in the U.S., save for the socialists, as this during the Great War and after.
- Graceful Loser: He loathes the Socialist Party but he accepts his shocking defeat in the 1920 election to Upton Sinclair and largely stays out of the spotlight until his death.
- Historical Domain Character: America's 26th President. note
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: He still becomes President in this world though elected in his own right rather than ascending through assassination. He's also President from 1913 to 1921 and oversees the U.S.'s entry into the Great War.
- The Rival: To George Custer, stemming from over who should get proper credit for the victory in the Battle of Teton River. Their dislike grew from that and by near the end of the Great War decades later, they nearly come to a fist fight with one another (worth noting he was President at the time and Custer was nearly 80).
- Spiteful Will: Per his wishes, he's buried in Arlington (ceded to the U.S. following it's victory in the Great War), the old home of Robert E. Lee as one final act of disrespect to the Confederacy.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: In How Few Remain, though not afterwards even if he remains a looming figure throughout the Great War trilogy.
- Worthy Opponent: Flora develops some level of respect for him, saying he was one of only three politicians she knew who you could count on to keep their word, even though she's opposed to him on just about every issue.
- Even Jake Featherston, who loathes him deeply, admits another Teddy Roosevelt leading the U.S. would have made a dangerous opponent to him in comparison the U.S. Presidents who followed Roosevelt.
Al Smith
The 32nd President of the United States from the Socialist Party. Smith's Presidency was marked by a policy of attempted peace at home and abroad. He brokered the Richmond Agreement with Confederate President Jake Featherston in the hopes of appeasing the belligerent Confederate. While domestically, he returned Utah and it's Mormon residents to statehood, as it had been before the Second Mexican War some fifty years earlier. With the surprise Confederate invasion of the U.S. in 1941, Smith was able to steer the country through the early dark days of the Second Great War, and was killed in the bombing of Powel House.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He's killed in a Confederate bombing raid on Philadelphia.
- Historical Domain Character: As expected in an Alternate History, a failed Presidential candidate turned successful one in this world.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: For Neville Chamberlain. The British Prime Minister who attempted a policy of appeasement of Adolf Hitler over Czechoslovakia (much like Smith with the plebiscites in Kentucky, Houston, and Sequoyah) in hopes it would prevent a war.
- The Richmond Agreement to mind Joseph Stalin signing the non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. Smith, like Stalin, then finding his country on the receiving end of a surprise military invasion in 1941.
- Our Presidents Are Different: Bit of a President Focus Group given he agreed to the Richmond Agreement knowing the U.S. was tired of the political violence in the border states and would aide him in re-election.
- Becomes President Iron when he flatly rejects Featherston's demands of a U.S. surrender following the Confederacy splitting the U.S. in two when it overruns Ohio. Making it clear, this will be a war to the bitter end.
- Also President Minority as he's the U.S.' first Catholic President.
Charles LaFollette
A Socialist Congressman from Wisconsin turned Vice-President under Al Smith, Charlie LaFollette becomes the 33rd President of the United States following the bomb blast that kills Al Smith. A capable war leader, LaFollette holds the country together throughout WWII, before being voted out after its conclusion.
- Big Good: Shares the role with Irving Morrell following Return Engagement.
- Historical Domain Character: An amalgam of three real-life LaFollettes. Turtledove's character is Charles W. LaFollette from Wisconsin. He shares his first name with the real-life Congressman Charles M. LaFollette of Indiana, and his state of residence with real-life governor Robert LaFollette, Sr. and Senator Robert LaFollette, Jr.
- I Gave My Word: Goes one better and keeps his predecessor, Al Smith's deal with Flora Blackford.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Bit of an American version of Winston Churchill for unexpectedly ascending to his country's leadership during a wartime crisis, giving memorable speeches, and then losing in a surprise defeat in the first post-war election. Amusingly, Churchill does exist in this world and is the leader of the U.K. (one of the U.S.'s enemies) during the war.
- Number Two: Under Al Smith.
- Rousing Speech: Gives a pretty good one near the end of In At The Death, when he declares an end to the USA's own racist policies and an end to the CSA as a nation.
- You Are in Command Now: Forced to take office after Smith is killed.
Politicians and Other Government Officials
Flora Hamburger Blackford
A Socialist activist from New York City's garment district, Flora's life is changed when she decides to run for Congress. As a U.S. Representative, she becomes known as "the conscience of the Congress," and rubs elbows with a number of prominent political figures, including more than one Historical Domain Character. She serves as First Lady of the United States for one term.
- Chummy Commies: Flora is both a Socialist and one of the most moral, likeable characters in the timeline.
- The Conscience: The most morally concious character in the series.
- Iron Lady: Nothing rattles Flora.
- May–December Romance: With Hosea Blackford.
- Nice Girl: Along with Abner Dowling, Flora is one of the few people in the USA to show genuine horror at what the CSA is doing to its black population (prior to the capture of the camps), and she spends much of Settling Accounts trying to bring it to the public's attention.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: She's Eleanor Roosevelt with a dash of Rosa Luxembourg.
- Odd Friendship: With reactionary Democrat Robert Taft, whom she serves with on the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. They disagree on everything but defeating the CSA—and how godawful the camps are—yet maintain a strong mutual respect and working relationship despite that.
- Spotting the Thread: She picks up on the War Department's development of the superbomb when overviewing funds in Congressional budgets going to unspecified government projects.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Begins as this. She never completely loses her idealism, though it's tempered by her increasing real-world (and realpolitik) experience.
- Worthy Opponent: She comes to respect to Teddy Roosevelt despite being opposed to him on just about every conceivable issue. She states later he was one of only three politicians she knew who you could count on them to carry out what they promised.
Franklin Roosevelt
The Secretary of War and later Assistant Secretary of War for both the Hoover and Smith Administrations. He helps oversee the U.S.'s superbomb development project and develops a friendship with Flora upon her discovery of the program.
- Almighty Janitor: When Al Smith gets elected President, Roosevelt goes from Secretary of War to Assistant Secretary of War. While seeming like a demotion, it turns out that it allows him some degree of anonymity to develop top secret U.S. government projects like the superbomb program. All of Flora's interactions with him give the impression he runs the War Department for all intents and purposes despite public appearances.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Has a nameless appearance at Teddy Roosevelt's funeral in The Center Cannot Hold.
- Historical Domain Character: An historical President who, in this timeline, merely serves in the administration.
- Historical In-Joke: Never President in this timeline and two of the Presidencies he serves under are Herbert Hoover and Al Smith. Two of his most notable political opponents from our world.
- His interactions with Flora have this also as Flora is partially based of Roosevelt's Real Life wife, Eleanor Roosevelt.
- Some reckon that if not for his poliomyelitis, Roosevelt might have become President.
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: He never serves as President in this timeline but his tenure over the War Department (1933 - 1937 under Hoover and 1937 - 1945 under Al Smith/Charles LaFollette) lines up with the time of his Presidency from our world. He also doesn't die at the end of the Second Great War unlike his counterpart from our world.
Armed Forces
Notable Military Commanders
George Armstrong Custer
A survivor of the American Civil War, and a hero of the Second Mexican War, Custer goes on to become one of the definitive figures of the Great War as the commanding general of the US 1st Army.
- Assassin Outclassin': Custer is appointed military governor of occupied Canada after WWI. During a pre-retirement farewell tour, the Canadian terrorist Arthur McGregor throws a bomb into his car. Custer, who had long suspected him of terrorism, throws it back just before it explodes.
- Dirty Old Man: Any time Libby is out of the immediate vicinity, Custer will be philandering shamelessly.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Custer is a moron, but his dogmatic insistence on massed attacks actually works perfectly once he has command over a bunch of tanks. Also, his continued belief that Arthur McGregor was a bomber, while based on little actual evidence, was correct.
- Glory Hound: Custer’s ultimate motivation. As long as his name is in the headlines, Custer doesn’t care in the slightest how many men he loses.
- Grenade Hot Potato: Plays this with Arthur McGregor. Wins.
- Henpecked Husband: His Iron Lady wife Libby is the only person (besides maybe Dowling) who can knock sense into Custer and keep him on task.
- Hidden Depths: Beneath all the bluster and his We Have Reserves attitude, he immediately grasps the most effective way to use barrels, and is confident enough to go against his superiors to do it. The success of this tactic is what ultimately breaks the stalemate of trench warfare. He's also shown to be genuinely unflappable under fire, as shown after his headquarters is shelled, as he immediately rallies his men and organizes a response, despite being injured and in his seventies. Dowling muses that, in such moments, he realizes that the man can actually lead.
- Historical Domain Character: Who didn’t die at Little Big Horn this time around.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: In-universe, where Custer's love of charging blindly into the enemy guns is forgotten by historians of both the Second Mexican War and the Great War. Dowling suspects that Custer’s popularity for winning one of the few US victories in the Second Mexican War (against a British Invasion from Canada) is due solely to the fact that he was up against "Chinese" Gordon
, the only British officer more blindly aggressive than Custer. - Idiot Houdini: Custer's not especially bright, but consistently finds himself in the right place at the right time. His side loses the War of Secession, but the blame for that all falls on the US leadership. He spends the Second Mexican War out on the frontier, and so takes no blame for the failures of that war (and lucks into commanding one of the the only real US victories in that war). In World War 1, he loses men in vast numbers, but that's normal for the war, so no one cares, and his only real tactic (massing men and throwing them at the enemy) turns out to work really well with tanks, leading to the first real breakthrough of the war. Somehow, not being a good tactician or a good officer just never seems to catch up with him.
- The Mentor: For all his faults, Custer does prove to be a good professional mentor to Abner Dowling, though a lot of it is of the "what not to do" flavor.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Custer's Great War career is patterned on Field Marshal Douglas Haig, in that like Haig, Custer's leadership and tactics cause huge casualties among the men under his command.
- Perilous Old Fool: Custer is more than willing to put up a fight, but the times have passed him by and he is largely out of his depth come the Great War.
- Properly Paranoid: Certainly where Arthur McGregor is concerned.
- Really Gets Around: Even around the Great War, the nearly 80 year old Custer pursues women, who are less than half his age and, even those less than a third of his age.
- The Rival: To Teddy Roosevelt, who he believes is out to steal his glory.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Sort of. He's one of the most celebrated U.S. generals by the start and throughout the series but it's just his ego is so big he seems to think he's comparable to the best generals throughout all human history.
- Spiteful Will: Not to be outdone by his personal rival, Teddy Roosevelt, Custer also states in his will to be buried in Arlington (the old home of Robert E. Lee). Dowling notes with amusement on what Lee would think having to share the grave with the two most responsible for defeating the Confederacy in the Great War.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: In How Few Remain, though not afterwards.
- We Have Reserves: Doesn't give a damn about casualties.
Abner Dowling
Beginning the Great War as General Custer's adjutant, Dowling rises slowly through the ranks, reaching Major-General during the Second Great War. A prudent, rational, and fundamentally practical man, Dowling tries to be the voice of sanity in a world that frequently seems to have misplaced its own.
- Be All My Sins Remembered: Plans to do this in his memoirs.
- Big Fun: Toyed with. Dowling's cynical and sarcastic, but he's also one of the most moral characters in the setting, and is well-liked by most officers who serve under him.
- Boring, but Practical: The story of Dowling's career. He's not a brilliant officer, but he is a good one, rarely succeeding spectacularly, but rarely failing horribly either.
- The Brigadier: His reasonableness is his most salient point as both an officer and a military governor.
- The Consigliere: To Custer and occasionally MacArthur, tempering their egoism with his practicality.
- Deadpan Snarker: Dowling has a sarcastic comment available for ever occasion.
- The Eeyore: Never thinks things are going to go well.
- Everyone Has Standards: Dowling, like most in the U.S., was largely indifferent to how the Confederacy treated it's black populace but upon discovering the true extent of "Population Reduction" when his army came across Camp Determination in West Texas, he was shaken to his core.
- Fat Bastard: Completely averted. Dowling's grossly overweight, and has a very negative view of the world, but is also one of the most genuinely moral characters in the setting.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Doesn't have nearly a high enough opinion of his skills as an officer.
- Honest Advisor: The only one who can talk sense into Custer and to whom Custer will actually listen. He plays the roll to others as well, including MacArthur, and various figures on the General Staff.
- Kicked Up Stairs: He gets promoted to a desk job at the War Department in the early days of the Second Great War as Congress tries to make him a scapegoat for the early crushing defeats caused by the Confederacy's surprise invasion. He rather quickly then gets reassigned to the front as he's clearly too valuable to be left as a desk jockey.
- The Mentor: To Terry DeFrancis and his own aide, Angelo Toricelli.
- Nice Guy: In addition to being an eminently reasonable man, Dowling is one of the series best examples of a moral, decent human being, liberating the Texan camps not for military reasons, but humanitarian ones.
- Only Sane Man: His other forte.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: As both The Brigadier and the military governor of first Utah and then Houston.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: How he initially takes being given command of the 11th Army out in New Mexico, it's size barely being 2 divisions. He's galvanized however when learns of the true extant of The Population Reduction program.
- Retired Badass: As of the end of WWII.
- Reluctant Retiree: Somewhat. He didn't give much of an indication he planned on retiring but following the conclusion of the Second Great War, he's gently pushed into it by his superiors at the War Department to make way for the younger generation.
- The Scape Goat: Congress tries to make him one in the opening days of the Second Great War in the face of the U.S.'s dreadful performance but the War Department provided Dowling with damning evidence that Congress had consistently failed to adequately provide the necessary funding for modern weapons and supplies.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Has had this opinion since the Great War.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: Comes with being the aide to George Custer but all told he's one of the most reasonable and level-headed characters in the entire series. He's also utterly horrified when he learns of the extent of the Confederate Population Reduction program and makes it his personal mission to liberate the ones he comes across.
- Took a Level in Badass: Takes several, subtly. When the series begins, he's basically a babysitter for the past-his-prime-but-too-illustrious-to-drum-out Custer. By the end of the series, he's easily one of the United States' most dangerous and accomplished soldiers (despite always being posted to sideshows and given limited resources).
- Worthy Opponent: Viewed as such by Patton who expresses genuine concern when he discovers Dowling is commanding MacArthur's flank.
Irving Morrell
A career soldier, Irving Morrell begins the Great War as an infantry captain, before becoming the USA's expert on barrels. He plays a major role in the Second Great War, masterminding the offensive that breaks the CSA's back.
- Big Good: Holds this role in the WWII analogue, despite being subordinate to the actual president.
- The Captain: Like his real-life counterpart, served as a captain of infantry in World War I (in his first appearance), and later in a mountain warfare unit before literally writing the book on armored warfare.
- Colonel Badass: For a while.
- Cultured Warrior: In addition to him writing the book that becomes the basis for Barrel Warfare in the Second Great War, at the end of the series he writes the pamphlet Equality that mandates the equal treatment of blacks by whites in spheres of public society to avoid trouble with the U.S. occupying armies. It quickly becomes the standard guiding order throughout the occupied-parts of the former Confederacy.
- The Dreaded: One of the few characters to terrify Generals Patton and Nathan Bedford Forrest III. It gets to the point where Jake Featherston sends a sniper out with specific orders to kill Morrell, and Forrest has Clarence Potter predicting US attacks depending on where Morell gets transferred.
- Everyone Has Standards: Morrell doesn't hate blacks but also had bigoted viewpoints as one would expect of someone from his time but the Confederacy's Population Reduction Program horrified him like most in the U.S. and largely doesn't raise a finger when white Confederates complain to him about blacks not acting deferential to whites anymore.
- Four-Star Badass: After reaching the rank of general.
- Handicapped Badass: He's shot in the leg in his introductory chapter, and spends several months in the hospital recovering. Not that he let's a little thing like missing part of his leg stop him from infantry combat in the mountains.
- Hero Killer: Inverted. Morrell's a heroic character who is absolutely dreaded by the villains, and lives up to his reputation, being chiefly responsible for the CSA's defeat in WWII.
- The Mentor: To Michael Pound during the First Great War.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: He's a heroic version of Erwin Rommel. Arguably, since the USA was originally supposed to be a USSR analogue in the timeline, before Turtledove changed his mind, he's an expy of Georgy Zhukov.
- His campaigns in the western portions of the Confederacy in the final books make him one for William Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant also.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: For all the good he does, he's also comfortable with sweeping a street full of Confederate protesters with a machine gun. Somewhat justified, considering this was in the US-created state of Houston (west Texas), where anti-American sentiment was by far the highest, and mobs like the one he ordered destroyed routinely used Featherston Fizzes note against barrelsnote . He's also one of the least racist characters in the setting, and ultimately helps to drive notions of racial equality through the skulls of the conquered Confederate States.
- Rank Up: Starts off the series as a Captain to ending it as the most revered general in America since George Washington.
- The Smart Guy: Pioneers tank tactics, infantry helmets, and racial equality.
- The Strategist: Morrell is the one who first worked out how to use barrels to their full potential, and spends most of The Great War, American Empire, and Settling Accounts trying to drill that proper use into the heads of the rest of the US General Staff.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: From American Front to In At The Death.
- Tank Goodness: He's the USA's greatest expert on "barrels", masterminding most of their effective tactics in WWI and WWII.
- Wrote the Book: Like Rommel, he authored the armored warfare gospel. After the war, writes another book introducing the concept of racial equality to the conquered Confederates.
John Abell
A Union General Staff officer, Abell begins the series as a captain and ends it as a major-general, in a rise that mirrors that of Irving Morrell and Abner Dowling. Cold, nearly emotionless, and a bureaucrat to the core, Abell is involved in almost all US actions, for good or ill.
- Armchair Military: Abell has never seen actual combat, having served on the General Staff for his entire career.
- Badass Bureaucrat: Abell has the personality of an Obstructive Bureaucrat down pat, but more often then not, is helpful to Dowling and Morrell, helping push through a number of plans that ultimately turn out to be war winners.
- Even Evil Has Standards: As in the case of Luther Bliss and Boris Lavochkin, Abell is an unscrupulous SOB, but finds the CSA's Final Solution revolting.
- Foil: Abell's slow yet sure rise through the ranks of the General Staff parallels that of Irving Morrell and Abner Dowling, while his icy personality and lack of commitment to anything beyond winning the war contrasts both of their more humanitarian attitudes.
- Lack of Empathy: For the men he is sending out to die.
- The Nondescript: There is nothing memorable about Abell.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Toyed with. Abell worships red tape and procedure, yet is also willing to bend the rules for capable officers like Dowling and Morrell.
- Pet the Dog: Tries to break the news of Dowling's retirement to him as nicely as possible, and suggests to him that he write his memoirs.
- The Stoic: Abell demonstrates very little emotion; whenever he does, Morrell or Dowling will usually be surprised by it.
- The Strategist: As a General Staff officer, Abell is one of the men planning both wars.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Abell is appalled and furious when a nuclear bomb is snuck into Philadelphia and swears that whoever is responsible will be punished.
- We Have Reserves: Played with. Abell has very little sympathy for the troops he is sending out to die, but unlike Custer or MacArthur is not deliberately wasteful either.
Daniel MacArthur
The youngest division commander in American history, Daniel MacArthur serves under Custer during the Great War, and is a corps and army group commander during the Second Great War. Audacious and daring, he is also impetuous and narcissistic, which hinders his career and his plans.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Chain smokes cigarettes with a cigarette holder.
- Historical Domain Character: He's Douglas MacArthur, with a different first name and a preference for cigarettes over pipes. Given the altered timeline, this is likely justified.
Word of God is that the two characters have the same father but different mothers. - Hot-Blooded: He's just as much as an offensively-minded general as Custer was. Hilariously, he and Custer hated one another.
- Lack of Empathy: For the men under his command.
- Narcissist: Cares only about his own career.
- We Have Reserves: Doesn't care at all about the lives of his men in either war.
Army
Boris Lavochkin
Chester Martin's platoon leader during the final days of the Second Great War, Lieutenant Lavochkin hates the CSA with an unholy passion.
- Antihero: Type V. The only reason Lavochkin is tolerable is because he aims his psychopathy at the Confederacy.
- Axe-Crazy: At least from Chester's perspective. Given his penchant for shooting anyone who even irritates him, this isn't surprising.
- Bad Boss: Is more than willing to shoot any subordinate who disagrees with him. That said, he's not casual with the lives of his men and most of his platoon makes it through the war in one piece.
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Inverted. Lavochkin is the brutal psycho who terrifies the troops, while Chester Martin, his platoon sergeant, is the peacekeeper.
- Ensign Newbie: Subverted. Lavochkin is new to Chester's platoon, but is not new to commanding troops, having had a command before getting injured.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Seems genuinely disgusted by the CSA's Final Solution, and uses it to justify killing as many Confederates as possible, as they all knew it was happening and did nothing to stop it.
- Eyes Never Lie: When Lavochkin first appears, Gordon marvels about how mean his pale eyes look. It doesn't take long for Lavochkin to validate this impression.
- Moral Sociopathy: Very much so. Lavochkin feels no remorse over the individuals he has killed and will kill anyone who annoys him, yet can still look at an act like the "population reduction" and regard it as not only morally wrong, but deserving of punishment.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Fully believes that the CSA has it coming.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: His outfit is called "Lavochkin's Looters" for a reason.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Possibly. We don't know where Lavochkin was before he was assigned to Chester Martin's platoon, but it is heavily implied to have been somewhere unpleasant, and that action there made him the man he is today.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Types I & II (emphasis on II).
- The Sociopath: Lavochkin is a psychopath, pure and simple, kept in line only by his desire for promotion.
- Token Evil Teammate: For Chester's unit.
Gordon McSweeney
A fundamentalist Presbyterian with an intense hatred of the Confederacy, McSweeney serves with distinction throughout the Great War. Both his men and his enemies are terrified of him.
- Antihero: Type IV, being a terrifying man, but with some redeeming qualities.
- Blood Knight: While he often insists that he's only doing his duty, he clearly takes intense satisfaction in destroying those who he considers enemies of righteousness. He finally admits moments before his death, that he doesn't know what to do after the war, because nothing would feel "more than lukewarm" afterward.
- Brutal Honesty: McSweeney is unfailingly honest about both himself and those around him.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Clearly insane. Shockingly good at his job.
- The Captain: By partway through Breakthroughs.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Hated and feared by the men.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Finds slavery and Confederate racial attitudes disgusting.
- Field Promotion: It's repeatedly mentioned that a lot of men are promoted entirely by virtue of surviving long enough. McSweeney is a special case, though, going from Private to Captain over the course of The Great War, despite being universally disliked. Every time he performs another act of insane heroism, his commanders shake their heads and admit that they basically have to give him another promotion now.
- Fire-Forged Friends: He and Paul Mantarkis don't ever become "friends" per se, but they certainly develop a lot of respect for one another, despite their personal and religious differences, and McSweeney seems genuinely saddened by Paul's death.
- The Fundamentalist: A fundamentalist Presbyterian who believes that all but a few elect shall burn in hell. He also has absolutely no fear of death, because he's convinced that he won't die unless it's God's will, and he's perfectly content if it is.
- Mercy Kill: Of Ben Carlton
- One-Man Army: Over the course of the novels, he singlehandedly destroys an enemy tank, a concrete machine-gun bunker, and a gunboat, in addition to wading through a whole lot of battles with shocking disregard for his own safety.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: McSweeney believes the CSA is evil, and wholeheartedly believes that that he is God’s instrument sending evil men to Hell.
- Pet the Dog: His Mercy Kill of Ben Carlton, and the conversation leading up to it. Also his genuine remorse when Paul Mantarkis dies, and his willingness to try and share his sense of joy at Christmas.
- Pyromaniac: Selects a flamethrower as his weapon because he enjoys burning those whom he feels deserve God's punishment.
- Religious Bruiser: McSweeney is a big, heavily muscled man who looks like he's been carved our of stone, and fights like an entire battalion. He's also obsessively religious.
- Sergeant Rock: For a while, before his promotions to lieutenant and eventually captain.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Type I & II mix. He enjoys killing Confederates, and is totally convinced that they have it coming.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: Following the death of Paul Mantarkis in Walk in Hell and lasting through Breakthroughs.
Paul Mantarkis
A private of Greek descent, Paul has to put up with a lot of abuse due to his Orthodox religion and darker skin tone.
- Camp Cook: Though not officially assigned as a cook, Paul was one in civilian life. He becomes popular with his unit when he shows off his ability to doctor the normally despised efforts of the actual cook with traditional Greek spices. He usually keeps a stash of spices with his kit.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Killed in a nothing skirmish in Baja California
- Fire-Forged Friends: He and Gordon McSweeney never really become friends per se, but they certainly develop a strong mutual respect due to their shared experiences.
- Sergeant Rock: Becomes one through a series of battlefield promotions and an ability to think on his feet under pressure.
Chester Martin
A US construction worker and non-commissioned officer who serves during both wars, while acting as a union organizer in between.
- Action Survivor: Makes it through two world wars with only mild injuries.
- Call to Adventure: Is eventually unable to stomach what's happening to his country (the main thrust of the initial Confederate attack goes through his home state of Ohio) in the Second Great War and rejoins the army despite the strenuous protests of his wife .
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Inverted. He's Sergeant Smooth to Lieutenant Lavochkin's psychopathic Captain Rough.
- Chummy Commies: After the Great War, he acts as the Socialist proletariat POV character in the United States, working as a union organizer. He's portrayed entirely sympathetically, and treated as a man who is just trying to get the best possible deal for his fellow workers.
- The Everyman: Far more so than most of the other protagonists, though as the series progresses he does pick up a lot more personality.
- A Father to His Men: Tries to be.
- Happily Married: To Rita.
- Old Soldier: By the time of Settling Accounts when he's into his fifties.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: From Great War all the way through Settling Accounts.
- Unfriendly Fire: Gives some serious thought to getting rid of Lieutenant Lavochkin, before deciding it is too dangerous to attempt.
- Working-Class Hero: As a steelworker, construction worker, and union activist during the interwar period.
- Worthy Opponent: How Henry T. Casson, the construction magnate who employs his union views him. For his part, Chester also has a fair amount of respect for Casson, who once he decides he needs to offer the workers a fair deal, comes to an agreement with him in about a half an hour.
Navy
Sam Carsten
A sailor with the US Navy, Sam serves out both wars, steadily working his way up through the ranks from Gunner’s Mate on a battleship to command of a destroyer.
- The Captain: Technically he never passes the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, and he spends most of the Second Great War as a Lieutenant Junior Grade, but he's certainly the captain aboard his ship, and is addressed as such.
- The Good Captain: Of USS Josephus Daniels.
- Commanding Coolness: Promoted to Lieutenant-Commander at the end of the last book as a reward for thirty-five years of service.
- The Chains of Commanding: After a chief tells him that his XO picked a prize crew from men who had humiliated the XO during a "crossing the line" ceremony, Sam confronts his Number Two. The exec admits he did it deliberately, then requests a transfer which Sam grants. Afterwards, he realizes he'll also have to transfer the chief who told him because a chief who thinks he has the captain's ear and can hang an officer out to dry is a very dangerous thing to have on board.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Develops a melanoma in his last appearance.
- A Father to His Men: Plays this role to the men aboard the Josephus Daniels.
- Father Neptune: By the time the Second Great War rolls around, Sam has seen it all and done it all.
- Limited Advancement Opportunities: Because he spent so much of his life as an enlisted man, by the time he gets a commission he's already far older than most junior officers. After he receives his promotion to Lieutenant Commander, he muses privately that this is probably the last promotion he will ever see.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: As commanding officer of the Josephus Daniels. He's tough but fair, easily approachable, and liked by most of his officers and the men, who appreciate his experience as a former-enlisted "mustang."
- Running Gag: Hardly a paragraph goes by in Sam’s POV without a mention of his extremely fair skin than sunburns in moonlight, or that he constantly smears zinc oxide sunscreen in a futile attempt to protect himself. This unfortunately foreshadows his skin cancer.
- The Smart Guy: The reason he keeps getting promoted. Sam is uneducated, but is usually the smartest guy in any room he's in, which leads to his being noticed by the upper brass. More than once it's remarked that if he had a proper education and an Annapolis ring he'd probably already be "upper brass".
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: Lasts throughout the entire series, from "American Front" to "In At The Death".
- Up Through the Ranks: Sam starts out as just an ordinary seaman, "climbs up the hawse hole" to become an officer, and ends In At The Death a Lieutenant-Commander with his own ship.
George Enos Jr.
The son of George and Sylvia Enos, who followed in his father's footsteps as a fisherman, before joining the US Navy at the outbreak of the Second Great War, as an enlisted sailor.
- Generation Xerox: He's pretty much a copy of the role his father played in the books set during the first Great War: a New England fisherman who joins the U.S. Navy when the war brakes out. Unlike his father though, he survives the conflict.
- Working-Class Hero: Like his father, he is from a long line of New England fishermen.
Air Force
Jonathan Moss
Fighter pilot in the First Great War who finishes law school after the war is over, going on to a successful practice in 'occupation law' in US-occupied Canada (i.e., he loses less often than others in the same field, which is universally regarded as a rigged game). Returns to action in the Second Great War after a family tragedy, then switches hats back to law after the war and participates in war crimes tribunals.
- Ace Pilot: The only aviator POV character, and a pretty good one too.
- The Alleged Car: His prized luxury touring car becomes one over the course of the Business Crisis, due to the manufacturer going out of business and the expense and scarcity of replacement parts.
- Amoral Attorney: Averted. Sets up shop as an occupation lawyer in Canada after World War I ends, and fights hard for his Canadian clients (in the face of a heavily biased judiciary; even wins occasionally), and charges them fair rates and accepts payment in kind. This is in sharp contrast to most of his colleagues, who either accept that they have no real chance of winning and don't try, or actively gouge their Canadian clients for substandard service. Moss goes on to defend Jefferson Pinkard, and recognizes him for the monster he is, but still works hard to present the best possible defense (which is to say, not much), mostly out of regard for the law rather than for his client. And, given the reputation he built in Canada, he can actually do this without others assuming he is an Amoral Attorney.
- Blood Knight: Becomes one when his family is killed.
- Colonel Badass: Promoted to lieutenant colonel during the Second Great War and subsequently trains on the Screaming Eagle, the USA's new 'turbo' (jet) fighter.
- Courtroom Episode: Naturally, as the only lawyer in the series, he gets a few.
- Dogged Nice Guy: With regard to Laura Secord. Succeeds.
- Good Lawyers, Good Clients: Although his practice consists of arguing civil and probate claims made against the US occupation government (and thus doesn't involve innocence or guilt) Jonathan firmly believes in the validity of his clients' claims.
- Great Escape: Makes one from a Confederate POW camp (Andersonville, to be exact) in the Second Great War.
- Happily Married: At least until Mary McGregor's package arrives.
- Old Soldier: In his fifties during the Second Great War, old for a regular soldier (much less a fighter pilot) but able to keep up with men half his age not only in the air but on the ground.
- La Résistance: Along with another POW, hooks up with a group of black Marxists after escaping from Confederate custody.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Describes the early phases of his relationship with Laura.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Until his Break the Cutie moment when a certain package arrives at home.
- You Killed My Family: His motivation for climbing back into the cockpit full-time.
Civillians
George Enos
A fisherman with the Boston fishing fleet who enlists in the Navy during the First Great War after being temporarily interned by the Confederates while out fishing, both to get payback and to avoid being caught up in the draft.
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Played With; George survived when his gunboat was destroyed by the Confederates only because he had gone ashore to visit a whorehouse. However, this visit was a one-time event for him. He never actually goes through with the deed (being distracted by the attack on his ship) and his loyalties are firmly with his wife (to whom he eventually confesses).
- Father Neptune: A civilian variant.
- Parents as People: Insofar as his job allows him to be.
- Working-Class Hero: From a long line of New England fishermen.
Sylvia Enos
Wife (later widow) of George Enos, she's a factory worker during the Great War and after, and raises their two children. She avenges her husband's death by shooting Roger Kimball, captain of the sub that sank George's ship after the Great War was over, becomes a minor celebrity, and "writes" a popular memoir describing her actions, with "Ernie" (this universe's Ernest Hemingway) as her co-author. She becomes involved with "Ernie," despite being aware that he's given to violent mood swings. He accidentally shoots and kills her during a particularly bad one.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: The sense of danger she feels around Ernie is a big part of the attraction.
- Parents as People: Balances raising her children with trying to support them, while trying to make some sort of life for herself.
Nellie Semproch Jacobs
A coffeehouse owner in Washington, D.C. When Washington is occupied by the Confederacy during the Great War, she becomes a spy, passing on what she learns from hearing the casual conversations of her Confederate-soldier customers. As a young woman, she was a prostitute, a fact of which she is deeply ashamed.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Has an early appearance in How Few Remain as a little girl that Alfred Von Schlieffen almost tramples with his horse.
- Does Not Like Men: Hardcore. The fact that she agrees to marry Hal Jacobs after the Great War is, above all else, a testament to how consummate a gentleman he is.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: Nellie's is one of the most mundane and pointless deaths in the entire series.
- Enemy Mine / Summon Bigger Fish: Invokes this with a group of Confederate officers to deal with Bill Reach's harassment.
- Old Shame: In-universe; it's a major part of her characterization. Bill Reach, her handler, threatens to spill the beans on her previous life in order to keep her in line (and possibly restart their relationship—which she wants no part of).
- Never Mess with Granny: Finally gets sick of Bill Reach and takes the opportunity to stab him to death during an artillery barrage. She's also personally decorated by Teddy Roosevelt for heroism with regard to her espionage activities. Intimidates the hell out of her future son-in-law, who manages to grudgingly earn her trust.
- Parents as People: She loves her daughter Edna, but is an absolutely suffocating parent, out of fear that her daughter will make the same youthful mistakes that she did.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: Though, her character flaws make her not a particularly likeable one. Her marriage to Hal Jacobs however lightens her up a bit over the years.
Luther Bliss
The head of the Kentucky State Police during the Union occupation, Bliss is a mean-spirited SOB who doesn't bother trying to hide his dislike of blacks, Confederate sympathizers, and human beings in general. He frequently comes into conflict with Cincinnatus Driver and Lucullus Wood, and later acts as a Union spy during the Second Great War.
- Antihero: Type IV or V.
- The Dreaded: Knowing that Bliss is back in Kentucky practically gives
Clarence Potter and Nathan Bedford Forrest III a heart attack. This is not an atypical reaction. Even more justified in Potter's case, since they are essentially mirror images of one another, and probably the two most dangerous single individuals on the continent during World War II. - Enemy Mine: With Cincinnatus Driver and Lucullus Wood during the Second Great War, using them both against the CSA.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Bliss is likely the most vicious-minded character to serve with the US throughout the entire series. Even he finds the CSA's Final Solution too much.
- Evil Old Folks: By the time of Settling Accounts Bliss is a very old man, but just as cruel as ever. He himself invokes the trope when describing his grandmother as "an evil woman".
- Hates Everyone Equally: Cincinnatus and Lucullus come to the conclusion that this is how Bliss operates. He kills Reds and Confederate diehards with brutal impartiality, and when Cincinnatus tells Lucullus that Bliss hates black folks, Lucullus retorts "he hates everybody."
- Knight Templar: Even though he born in the Confederacy, Bliss is a fervent supporter of the U.S.
- Mirror Character: To Clarence Potter, both are respectively feared intelligence operatives for their respective nations and the only things they seem to believe in are loyalties to their countries and nothing else. In addition both were born in the Confederacy but Bliss become an ardent supporter of the U.S. while Potter remains loyal to the Confederacy to the bitter end.
- Misanthrope Supreme: If there's anybody that Bliss doesn't hate, we don't get to meet them or hear about them.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: He's clearly inspired by J. Edgar Hoover, a paranoid McCarthyist and racist, who turned the FBI into a counterintelligence agency answerable only to him. Similarly, Bliss uses to the Kentucky State Police to help enforce the Union's occupation of Kentucky, though his morality and methods are both questionable in the extreme. His initials L and B may also be an allusion to Lavrentiy Beria, the infamous head of the Soviet Secret Police under Josef Stalin.
- Pet the Dog: Seems genuinely regretful when informing Cincinnatus that he couldn't get Lucullus out of Covington before the genocide.
- Police Brutality: Kept Cincinnatus in secret custody for years in the 1920s.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Classifying Bliss as hero or villain is hard, given that he's a Token Evil Teammate to the USA. Either way, he's unashamedly racist, runs US-occupied Kentucky through police brutality, and hates just about everybody on the face of the earth.
- The Quisling: From a Confederate perspective.
- Secret Police: Under Bliss the Kentucky State Police becomes a secret police force, detaining anybody they want to without any real legality, and frequently abusing prisoners in order to extract information.
- The Spymaster: For the USA.
- Token Evil Teammate: The most openly evil character to serve with the USA.
