Californio Lancers

It still amazes me that for all the emphasis on ethnicity studies in Civil War scholarship that no one has published any modern unit histories of the Union Indian and Hispanic battalions and regiments that operated in the Trans-Mississippi and Far West theaters. Thankfully, this will change soon. Californio Lancers: The 1st Battalion of Native Cavalry in the Far West, 1863 - 1866 by Tom Prezelski is scheduled for a September release from venerable Arthur H. Clark. I am greatly looking forward to learning more about the men of this battalion and their Civil War service. In the meantime, Wikipedia has a pretty good profile.

But that's not all.  I've mentioned this book before but next month we should see Jerry Thompson's colossal tome A Civil War History of the New Mexico Volunteers and Militia (Univ of NM Press) which will explore the 1st and 2nd New Mexico Volunteer Infantry regiments "along with the history of a third regiment of Mounted Infantry and several companies in a fourth regiment." The price is as daunting as the subject is exciting so I hope UNMP is willing and able to send me a review copy.