How Did Service in Mexico Influence Later Performance?

In recognition of the importance of the Mexican-American War in military education, Prof. Johnson (Lipscomb University) has collected essays on the wartime service of a dozen generals in Blue or Gray – Grant, Hooker, Buell, McClellan, Meade, Thomas, Lee, Beauregard, Bragg, Jackson, Joe Johnston, and Longstreet – to see how their experiences in 1846-1848 affected their actions during the Civil War.

Each of the essays is by a noted scholar of the Civil War, such as Timothy B. Smith, Ethan S. Rafuse, Joseph E. Glathaar, and Craig L. Symonds. These papers help reveal the different ways in which their Mexican service seems have influenced the actions of these men during 1861-1865.

So, for example, we see how U.S. Grant’s war in Mexico as quartermaster of the 4th Infantry helped him grasp the logistical issues underpinning success in war, and how Joseph Hooker’s time on the staff of the contentious Gideon Pillow seems to have helped shape his own rather contentious command style. Perhaps the best of these outstanding papers is that on Robert E. Lee’s service on Scott’s staff titled “Learning from the Best and Worst of Winfield Scott’s Example.”

A volume in the LSU series “Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War,” this is essential reading for those with an interest in military leadership during that conflict.

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Note: The Mexican-American War Experiences of Twelve Civil War Generals is also available in e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium

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