General Order 11

Law student Eric Muller is remembering the anniversary of Grant's orders expelling Jews from his department. Blogger Ed Cone says the effect of the order on his own East Tennessee family was to turn over the family store to "Union partisans". (Assume that means "Republican Party members.")

Brooks Simpson has suggested that this outburst was influenced by Grant's father's commercial experiences but no one other than he has spilled much ink on a subject so damaging to a hero's reputation.

Among the roadblocks threatening beloved storylines, this has always been a big one, larger even than Ewing's depopulation of Western Missouri. Where did the order come from? What did it mean? It takes a lot of very powerful literary equipment to push past an obstruction of this size to allow readers smooth, worry-free reading enjoyment.

Our lack of interest in General Order 11 is a tribute to the exceptionally straight roads built by Centennial historians.