Sennacherib was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705 BC to his own death in 681 BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynasty, Sennacherib is among the most famous of all Assyrian kings due to the role he plays in the Old Testament of the Bible, which describes his war in the Levant. Other events of his reign which has made him remembered throughout the millennia following his death include his 689 BC destruction of the city Babylon and his construction of the last great Assyrian capital, Nineveh. Although Sennacherib was one of the most powerful and wide-ranging of all the Assyrian kings, he faced considerable difficulty in controlling Babylonia, which formed the southern portion of his empire. Much of Sennacherib's Babylonian troubles stemmed from the Chaldean tribal chief Marduk-apla-iddina II, Babylon's king until he was defeated by Sennacherib's father. Shortly after Sennacherib inherited the throne, Marduk-apla-iddina retook Babylon and allied with the Elamites.

Though Sennacherib retook the south in 700 BC, Marduk-apla-iddina continued to trouble him instigating Assyrian vassals in the Levant to rebel and convincing Sennacherib's vassal king in Babylonia, Bel-ibni, to throw off Sennacherib's rule. After the Babylonians and Elamites captured Sennacherib's eldest son Ashur-nadin-shumi, another noble Sennacherib proclaimed as his vassal king in Babylon, Sennacherib campaigned in both regions subduing Elam; because Babylon, well within his own territory, had been the target of most of his military campaigns and had caused the death of his son, Sennacherib destroyed the city in 689 BC. The Levantine war of 701 BC was made necessary because several Assyrian vassals in the region decided to rebel, either because they were encouraged by Marduk-apla-iddina or because the ill omens associated with the battlefield death of Sennacherib's father. Though the northern Levant was subdued quickly, the states in the southern Levant the Kingdom of Judah under King Hezekiah, did not submit as easily.

The Assyrians thus invaded Palestine, a campaign, recorded not only in Sennacherib's own accounts but in the Second Book of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. Though the biblical narrative has Sennacherib's attack on Jerusalem defeated through divine intervention by an angel destroying the Assyrian army, an outright Assyrian defeat is unlikely as Hezekiah submitted to Sennacherib at the end of the campaign. Sennacherib transferred the capital of the Assyria to Nineveh, where he had spent most of his time as crown prince. In order to transform Nineveh into a capital worthy of his empire, the city was the site of one of the most ambitious building projects in ancient history, he expanded the size of the city, constructed great city walls, numerous temples and a great royal garden. His most famous work in the city is the Southwest Palace, a large palace which Sennacherib himself called the "Palace without Rival". After his eldest son and crown prince Ashur-nadin-shumi was killed by the Elamites, Sennacherib's new heir had been the second eldest surviving son, Arda-Mulissu.

For unknown reasons, Arda-Mulissu was replaced as heir in 684 BC by a younger son, Esarhaddon, a decision Sennacherib maintained despite repeated appeals by Arda-Mulissu to be accepted as heir again. In 681 BC, Arda-Mulissu and another of Sennacherib's sons assaulted and murdered the king, hoping to seize power for themselves. In Babylonia and the Levant, Sennacherib's death was welcomed as divine punishment whilst the reaction in the Assyrian heartland was resentment and horror. Arda-Mulissu's coronation was postponed and in the meantime, Esarhaddon raised an army and seized Nineveh, becoming king as intended by Sennacherib's succession plans. Sennacherib was the son and successor of the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II, who had reigned as king of Assyria from 722 to 705 BC and as king of Babylon from 710 to 705 BC; the identity of Sennacherib's mother is not certain. Though the most popular view has been that Sennacherib was the son of Sargon's wife Ataliya, this is impossible. To be the mother of Sennacherib, Ataliya would have had to be born at the latest around the year 760 BC and lived to about 692 BC, but Ataliya's grave at Kalhu has been recovered and her body indicated that she was at most 35 years old when she died.

It is considered more plausible that Sennacherib's mother was another of Sargon's wives, Ra'īmâ, who in a stele from Assur is referred to as the "mother of Sennacherib". Sargon II claimed that he was the son of the earlier king Tiglath-Pileser III, but this is uncertain as Sargon usurped the throne from Tiglath-Pileser's son Shalmaneser V. Sennacherib was born c. 745 BC. If Sargon II was the son of Tiglath-Pileser III and not a non-dynastic usurper, he would have lived in the royal palace at Kalhu for several years before becoming king. Sennacherib would probably have been born at Kalhu, where he would have grown up and spent most of his youth. Sargon lived in Kalhu until long after becoming king, leaving the city in 710 BC to reside at Babylon and at his new capital, Dur-Sharrukin. By that point Sennacherib, who served as Sargon's crown prince and intended heir to the throne had left the city, living in a residence at Nineveh. Nineveh had been the designated seat of the Assyrian crown prince since the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III.

As crown prince, Sennacherib owned an estate at Tarbisu. Alongside his siblings, Sennacherib would have been educated by the royal educator Hunnî receiving a scribal education, learning some arithmetic and learnin

Thomas Alfred Davies was an American businessman and soldier. He served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In 1866, he was nominated and confirmed for appointment to the grade of brevet major general of volunteers, to rank from July 11, 1865. After the war Davies was a successful realtor as well as an author. Davies was born in 1809 near Black Lake, located in New York, he spent his childhood and early youth in his father's farm and received common education from the local schools. He entered the United States Military Academy on July 1, 1825, graduated on July 1, 1829, ranked twenty-fifth. Future high-ranking Confederates in the class of 1829 were Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, Theophilus H. Holmes. Davies was commissioned in the 1st U. S. Infantry on the Wisconsin frontier and as quartermaster at the Military Academy. In 1831 he resigned his commission to practice civil engineering in New York City, he was a merchant in New York from 1841 to the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.

When the American Civil War began in 1861, Davies chose to follow his native state and the Union cause. He was elected colonel of the 16th New York Infantry Regiment on May 15. Davies led a brigade during the First Battle of Bull Run that July, he commanded the 10th Brigade in the defenses of Washington, D. C. until March 7, 1862. On that date Davies was promoted to brigadier general in the Union Army, he was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee in the Western Theater. In April and May 1862 Davies was engaged in the Siege of Corinth as a division commander, he took part in the Second Battle of Corinth on October 3–4, 1862 in division command. Davies was assigned to command the Districts of Columbus, Kentucky, in 1862–63, Missouri, in 1863–64, North Kansas in 1864–65. While in command at Columbus, Davies issued orders that the fortified Union post at Island No. 10 be disarmed with all ammunition destroyed, cannon spiked, gun carriages burned, directives that seemed so nonsensical to the post commander that they had to be repeated several times before they were obeyed.

One military investigator looking into the matter reported to headquarters that Davies' conduct should result in his dismissal from the army "the better for our country, its cause and its treasury." Davies, was not dismissed. On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Davies for appointment to the grade of brevet major general of volunteers, to rank from July 11, 1865, the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866. Davies was mustered out of the Union Army on August 24, 1865. After the war, Davies returned to New York, he made a substantial fortune in the real estate, devoted himself to the philosophic and theological speculation. He published a number of books supporting the divine inspiration of the Bible, rebutting materialistic philosophy, his books on theology were Cosmogony. Davies was an Episcopalian, was one of the oldest and influential members of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York, he published How to Make Money, How to Keep It, revised and reissued by Henry Ford.

Davies died in Ogdensburg, New York, in the fall of 1899, was buried in the family cemetery in nearby Oswegatchie. List of American Civil War generals Eicher, John H.. Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1. Hubbell, John T.. Biographical Dictionary of the Union: Northern Leaders of the Civil War. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-20920-0. Warner, Ezra J.. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7

Sir Jerome Alexander was an English-born barrister and politician who spent much of his career in Ireland and became a substantial Irish landowner. He was a noted benefactor of Trinity College Dublin; as a judge he was so ruthless in securing guilty verdicts in criminal cases, in imposing the death penalty on the guilty party, that for many years after his death the saying "to be Alexandered" was an Irish synonym for being hanged. His precise date of birth is uncertain, but he was stated in 1637 to be several years older than Sir Maurice Eustace, born about 1590, he was born at Gressenhall, the eldest son of Jerome Alexander senior of Thorpland, an employee of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel. Elrington Ball states, he was educated at Aylsham school, at Gonville and Caius College, where he matriculated in 1609. He entered Furnivall's Inn and proceeded to Lincoln's Inn in 1617, was called to the bar in 1623, his legal career in England was destroyed by a finding of professional misconduct against him: unusually, this did not arise from his services to a client.

He was, unlike most barristers litigious on his own behalf, in 1626 the Star Chamber found him guilty of tampering with evidence in one of his own lawsuits. He moved to Ireland, where he began to practice at the Irish Bar, it is unclear if the Benchers of the King's Inn were aware of his criminal record. In 1633 he received a Royal pardon, on condition that he did not return to legal practice in England. In 1644 he published a 100-page pamphlet in defence of his actions, it gives a valuable, if slanted picture of his early life, describes all his misfortunes as being due to the machinations of his enemies. He entered politics, sat in the Irish House of Commons as MP for Lifford in the Parliament of 1634–5 and that of 1639–49, he was a friend and client of the wealthy and influential young nobleman James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, who granted him the impressive dwelling Kilcooly Abbey in County Tipperary. He was befriended by other influential figures in Ireland, including James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh: but his hope of further career advancement was destroyed by the arrival in Ireland of the new Lord Lieutenant, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who despised Alexander and described him with contempt as "a scurvy puritan".

Strafford, who became all-powerful in Ireland, and, well aware that Alexander had been professionally disgraced in England, vetoed his appointment as an extra judge of assize in 1637: the ostensible reason was that only Sir Maurice Eustace, the King's Serjeant was qualified to act as an extra judge, but Strafford's references to Eustace as a "man of integrity" can be read as an attack on Alexander's character. He refused him leave to go to England, when Alexander went anyway he was imprisoned in the Fleet Prison, nor following his release was he able to return to Ireland until after Strafford's downfall. Given the enmity between the two men, it is not surprising that Alexander was active in the impeachment of Strafford in 1641, he returned to Ireland after Strafford's death, but on the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 went back to England. He was an active Royalist, attempted to raise troops to subdue Ireland. For attempting to arrange such an alliance he was imprisoned by Parliament in 1643, on his release he went abroad.

He was in the service of Charles II at the Hague in 1650, was active in raising money for his cause, but he returned to Ireland in 1655. He made his peace with the new regime, acquired an estate in County Westmeath. At the Restoration of Charles II, Alexander claimed to have played a major part in securing the support of the Irish Government for the new regime, he complained at length about the great losses he had suffered during the Interregnum, he was rewarded with a knighthood and a place on the Court of Common Pleas, no doubt though the influence of the Duke of Ormonde, who had the last word on appointments to the Irish Bench at the Restoration, was always loyal to old friends like Alexander. Nonetheless Alexander was plainly dissatisfied at being only second justice of the Court: he claimed that he should have been given the office of Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, quarreled with Sir William Aston, justice of the Court of King's Bench over which of them had precedence. Rumour had it that he challenged Aston to a duel on the issue, but to Alexander's disgust Aston refused the challenge.

He acted as legal adviser to the future King James II on his Irish affairs. He was a stern enforcer of religious conformity: in his will he refers to the Church of England as "the best form of Government in all this world". On the Ulster circuit, to which he was assigned, he became noted for severit