John Hawthorne

General John Hawthorne was a general of the Alliance Military and the commanding officer of the Forward Command outpost in the southern Barrens. He was the one behind the sacking of Camp Taurajo, earning him the title of "Butcher of Taurajo" by the Horde due to the civilian casualties that occurred despite Hawthorne leaving a gap in order for them to escape. He also ordered Wildhammer mercenaries to firebomb the village after it was sacked.

Following the events of Taurajo, a death warrant had been placed on his head, and after a breach of intelligence he was ambushed and assassinated while en route to Fort Triumph. Interestingly, one of his subordinates, Ambassador Gaines, was made aware of the warrant early on and precautions were not taken during his trek to Triumph, presumably meaning that Hawthorne was not informed.

Despite being an honourable man who spared civilians and would rather have seen the war end, his death was used a pretext to continue battle, which is the opposite of what he would have wished.