“Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon, England on April 25, 1599. He was the second son of the ten children of Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward” (Oliver Cromwell Biography, BCW Project internet). Later in his life, when the First English Civil War broke out in 1652, Cromwell became the principal commander in Parliament. Though having no military experience until he was forty, Cromwell was born a military genius. In 1645, the Self-Denying Ordinance, which excluded members of Parliament from military command, was passed. However, an exception was made, in kindness to Cromwell, allowing him to continue to lead his Ironsides, a group of soldiers personally trained by Cromwell himself. “... Now called 'Lord General and Commander in Chief