Booknotes: The Mexican-American War Experiences of Twelve Civil War Generals

New Arrival:

• The Mexican-American War Experiences of Twelve Civil War Generals edited by Timothy D. Johnson (LSU Press, 2024).

In terms of professional skills honed, lessons learned, friendships (and feuds) fostered, martial reputations burnished (or tainted), and professional careers advanced, the 1846-48 war between the United States and Mexico undoubtedly served as an important developmental stage for many future Civil War generals. Their modern biographies typically include at least one chapter covering the Mexican War years, though it is often the case that the content is primarily descriptive in nature and pretty light on analysis. Expectations are higher for this new academic press-published volume of essays, which is edited by leading Mexican War historian Timothy Johnson (BTW, I heartily recommend his 2007 Mexico City campaign study A Gallant Little Army as well as his earlier Winfield Scott bio). Indeed, one strongly suspects that elements of analysis will be at the forefront of each contribution to The Mexican-American War Experiences of Twelve Civil War Generals.

From the description: "Rather than treat the conflict with a form of historical amnesia, the contributors to this volume argue that the Mexican-American War was a formative experience for the more than three hundred future Civil War generals who served in it as lower-grade officers. The Mexican War was the first combat experience for many of them, a laboratory that equipped a generation of young officers with practical lessons in strategy, tactics, logistics, and interpersonal relationships that they would use later to command forces during the Civil War."

Johnson has assembled a distinguished set of familiar contributors, including a number of major biographers, and the subjects they cover are an assortment of high-ranking generals who all played major roles in the Civil War. At six Union generals [Timothy Smith on Grant, Stephen Engle on Buell, Ethan Rafuse on Hooker, Thomas Cutrer on McClellan, Jennifer Murray on Meade, and Brian Steel Wills on Thomas] and six Confederate generals [Joseph Glatthaar on Lee, Sean Michael Chick on Beauregard, Cecily Zander on Bragg, Christian Keller on Jackson, Craig Symonds on Joe Johnston, and Alexander Mendoza on Longstreet], the opposing sides are accorded equal weight. Looking forward to getting into it.