Customer Reviews

Blood and Treasure: Confederate Empire in the Southwest (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series)

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An excellent account of the Southern attempt to sieze and hold the western territories. I enjoyed the book and found it easy to read. It covered the southern viewpoint and history of the attempt to secure Arizonia and New Mexico for the Confederacy. The book has good maps that allow the reader to understand the movement across the wide expanse of the Southwest. Personal accounts give a good view of the individaul Texan's view of the campaign and battles. A forgotten theater which was overshadowed by the fighting elsewhere. Dr. Frazier does a good job of showing the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederate Army of New Mexico. The book added to my understanding of this campaign and I recommend to to anyone interested in this campaign.

Fraizer's book isn't just about the Rebel invasion of the current New Mexico and Arizona at the start of the American Civil War. Instead, Fraizer's approach is to propose, rather successfully, that this invasion was not some wild-eyed scheme or diversion, but a fundamental part of the Confederate, or at least Texan, high level ambitions. Starting from right after the Texas War for Independence, argues Fraizer, Texans had sought to seize the Rio Grande from mouth to source, and after the Gadsden Purchase of 1854 their interest expanded to the mineral rich area of present southern Arizona. And California with it's gold was never far from their thoughts either.

After this background, the book does an excellent job of relating the story of the Rebel early attempts to control the Southwest, first with localized uprisings and escalating to Sibley's invasion in late 1861. He then covers the campaign, the battles and the eventual withdrawal of the Rebel forces. The included maps are well appreciated.

The book is published by Texas A&M University Press and is focused on the Texan and Confederate forces and actions, rather than an equal assessment of both sides. That's no problem since it reflects the author's intent. Fraizer is rather opinionated at times and doesn't mince his words, but he does seem to be evenhanded with his criticisms, eventually finding that much of the blame for the failure of the invasion falls squarely on the Texans, who he notes were often fine warriors but poor soldiers.

Highly recommended for the reader with an interest in military or American Civil War history.

Blood and Treasure chronicles an often overlooked chapter in the American Civil War: the Confederate invasion of the Southwest. Beginning with pre-war filibustering expeditions in Latin America, Frazier ably deconstructs America's antebellum empire-building efforts, an interest that was particularly strong in the South. With the advent of the Civil War, plans were made to secure territory for the Confederacy in the Southwestern desert, with the ultimate goal of controlling the Pacific coast. Oftentimes seemingly minor theatres in a given conflict are dismissed as sideshows, lacking any significant strategic value. However, Confederate control of the Southwest and Pacific coast would have had significant impact on the war in the east. Additionally, by placing these actions within the larger context of empire-builiding, Frazier shows that Americans were ravenous for foreign territory long before 1898.
Frazier details some of Confederate leaders in this fight, namely Henry Hopkins Sibley, and recounts battles like Val Verde (depicted on the book's cover) and Glorieta Pass. It is clear that Frazier has a passion for the region and its history, which enlivens subjects and personalities depicted in the book, like the Gadsen Purchase, that are often dismissed as trivial in most survey histories. As most of the research and publication relating to the Civil War is focused east of the Mississippi, it is helpful to have Frazier's book. Anyone interested in the Civil War or the southwestern United States will learn much from Blood and Treasure.

I purchased this book in hopes that it would be a Confederate centric addition to my collection about the American Civil War in the Southwest. I was not disapointed, as the lack of illustration was made up for by seamless novelization.

It starts with a post-war quote from Captain Teel, the well respected Confederate Artillery Commander of the Sibley Brigade. And then it takes some serious time to delve into what the men were told, what Sibley wanted, and what President Davis wanted. It opens up a discussion on Confederate manifest Destiny, and the process of copying what worked for Winfield Scott during the Mexican-American war.

The book spends a good quarter or third setting up the invasion and discussing the units and personalities involved. It reads like a story, and less like a history lesson. Through the book the author is careful to also tie in events that are occuring "back east" to help readers place what is occuring. He naturally discusses the battles in the campaign overall, and gives detail from the diaries of the soldiers, and some of the general orders.

He spends some quality time discussing the hard decision that Sibley and Green made to evacuate Albuquerque, and their choices on the retreat back to Texas. An entire chapter is deadicated to the disasterous rout back to San Antonio, and no punches are held about the fiasco. Frazier wraps up the book with a great chapter "Echos of Empire" that spends time talking about the Confederate rear guard for the Brigade, and the ultimate failure of Baylor to re-launch the campaign later on.

This book is for more than the historian, but also is great any historical reenactor portraying the Confederate Units from Sibley's Brigade. It is also a good referance for a tabletop wargamer who is assembling a rebel unit from the conflict - this work will give you a better feel of what you are working on.

We do not have enough books on the American Civil War in the far west. The battles of Val Verde, Glorieta Pass and Peralta are not familiar names to most of us. We cannot name the commanders or detail the fighting. That has always been the case and I do not think it will be changing soon. Finding Donald S. Frazier has been a major event for me. First, I am a sucker for small campaign and small battle books. Second, I want to learn more about the issues, fighting and personalities involved with the war in the southwest. Lastly, I always like finding a good readable author of Civil War History. Mr. Frazier is a professor of history and the author of a number of articles on the history of the southwest. His books are well researched, correctly footnoted, informative and easy to read.
"Blood & Treasure" is a campaign study of the 1862 Confederate attempt to conquer what is now New Mexico & Arizona. The United States had stripped the area, leaving things open to a CSA incursion and Indian raids. This is a detailed study of the development of the plans, the campaign and the aftermath. Throughout, the author maintains the right level of detail and readability. We never are bogged down in mind numbing details but we do not lose sight of the people involved. Small campaigns and battle turn on people. The author never loses sight of this and keeps several individual's experiences in the forefront.
This excellent campaign study covers internal politics, relationships between the Whites and Mexicans and problems of equipping and supplying armies over long distances. The battles presented in "real time" and detailed. We understand the issues and easily grasp the tactical situations. Maps are sufficient but not generous. This book won The Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá Award-- for an outstanding publication by an individual from the Historical Society of New Mexico.

I found this book to be an exciting and revealing look into the western campaign of the Civial War. Dr. Frazier is an incredible story teller as well as a thorough researcher. A must read for anyone interested in the role of the western Confederacy.

Ever since its independence from Mexico in 1836, Texas, along with the rest of the South, had visions of Empire, of westward and southern expansion. These dreams were all part of America's Manifest Destiny. But Texas' specific ambitions were thwarted by the Mexicans to the south, the Comanche to the west and the lack of capital. Simply put, Texas was an evolving, poor country, constantly at war with its neighbors. It was broke.

With the Mexican War the United States saw the completion of its, as opposed to Texas', Manifest Destiny and directly controlled the western lands originally coveted by Texas. Still, after Statehood, Texas claimed the Rio Grande River as not only their southern border but their western border as well. This meant that half of New Mexico, including the population and trading centers, i.e., the much more developed New Mexico capital bases of Santa Fe and Albuquerque were, according to Texas' view, part of the original portion of the country wrested from Mexico in 1836.

These dreams of Texas Empire were no joke. No less than 3 overland military campaigns, all ending disastrously, were launched between 1836 and 1846. An independent republic for 10 years, Texas only acceded to Statehood if the United States would take over defense of the Texas' frontier, something Texas was no longer economically able to provide, and assume the external debt Texas had incurred while an independent republic, a sum they did not possess the wherewithal to repay. The US agreed but the quid quo pro was that in exchange for this very serious financial support by US citizens, Texas would yield their New Mexican claims. Now that New Mexico, Arizona and California were part of the United States, Texas rescinded its claims. But instead of dying, as the tensions leading up to the Civil War grew, Texas' dream of empire, having much more of a southern or Mexico focus, was increasingly renewed. Just prior to the Civil War Sam Houston was purported to be attempting to arrange the financing for yet another Mexican invasion, supposedly sanctioned by the United States.

Blood and Treasure is the story of the reincarnation of Texas' imperial dreams. After Texas joins the Confederacy, early in 1861 Jefferson Davis authorized a military invasion of the American Southwest. This is the story of that ill fated expedition. Undermanned and, as was typical of Texas' previous invasions, under financed, the invasion is as much defeated by the desert as it is by Union forces.

The actual history of this campaign within this book's pages is good. Its interpretation however, is horribly flawed. In typical Texan braggadocio fashion, the author contends that if the South had supported this all-Texas effort, it could have put the entire Pacific Coast under the Confederacy's control. That this invasion only had a few hundred men and California alone had a few hundred thousand is ignored. Mathematics aside, the author also contends the Texans won the battle of Glorieta Pass, the final battle in the campaign. If so, why was the campaign's next step a sorrowful, humiliating, hundreds of mile retreat back to San Antonio, one in which almost all of the participants died of exposure and thirst.

As mentioned above, the military campaign history within this book is accurate. The hype and revisionist interpretation, however, is meaningless Texas tub-thumping. If you are looking for a work that covers the events contained herein and more, I suggest The Civil War in the American West by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. It is a richly detailed work that pulls the complex whole together without the insertion of Texas flag waving myth.

This book is a must for Yankee Historian

Fantastic book about the southern struggle to build an empire!All northern history teachers should read this book.I am a U.S.History teacher who wrote a story about my greatgrandfather who was in prison in Texas during the Civil War and DFrazier contacted me for info,thus I have now read his book and it is superb!