The very cynical TPM Reader SJ dials in on Prince and 'iconic private contractors' ...

Admittedly, I don't have a PHD in History -- but I like to think I've been interested in it long enough know more than the average American.

When I think of "iconic private contractors" through the course of American history, "Hessians" is the first instance that comes to my mind. Perhaps Mr. Prince forgot about them because of the allusion of the drunken Blackwater contractor to the Hessian performance at the Battle of Trenton? Or - maybe it's the uncomfortable juxtaposition of stories of Hessian atrocities in the Irish rebellion of 1798 with Blackwater's reputation in Iraq?

If I dig deeper into my recollection of books, documentaries, and lectures -- the next instances of 'private military contractors' would probably be instances I wouldn't be too quick to tout…

First would be the Pinkertons - Lincoln's original 'Secret Service' - that morphed into strike-breaking, union infiltrators, culminating in 11 deaths during the Homestead Strike (which subsequently led to the Anti-Pinkerton Act that barred the government from hiring Pinkertons or employees of "similar organizations"… whatever became of that?).

Next, I would probably think of the private security forces that were raised during the building the of the transcontinental rail in response to Native American attacks on the Union Pacific. They certainly protected the progress of the railway… but also nearly wiped out buffalo herds and the Natives who technically still owned the land via treaties with the federal government. Of course, there was no TPMMuckraker in the 1860s -- so we won't even get into the corruption and graft that was rampant during that project.

I can't think of any more prominent examples of military contractors in American history -- but little wonder Mr. Prince failed to cite them (though -- from what I know of the Princes, I suspect he'd just love to proudly compare Blackwater to the late 1800, union skull-cracking iteration of the Pinkerton Agency).