Customer Reviews

Conquest Of New Mexico & California

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This is a good primary source history of a little known part of US history. I took off 1 point because the writing style is a little off. The first chapter is a yawner, and the California sections are confusing. I'd take another point off for the lack of pictures and maps, but I don't know if this was from the original book or from the Kindle edition. Plan on finding a historical atlas or doing a web search to make the geography make sense.

Historically, It is interesting that a command was given so little to conquer everything from west Texas to the Pacific, and that they suffered so much from the terrain, lack of water, etc. Amazing how many horses and other livestock this mission killed on the way. Interesting how , as in centralamerica, it was the Creole elites that so passionately opposed the Americans--democracy, warts and all, was going to free the people that they held in debt-peonage and religious terror.

His comments on the Indians were interesting. All tribes were definitely not created equal. Another interesting point he made is that the Spanish/Mexican elite did not try to provide security from the predatory tribes, but rather used them to control their own labor force.

While reading this I read Grant's memoirs to get more background on the Mexican War. His account is of the major battles from Texas to the capital. His writing style is good enough that I read the whole volume, which goes to Gettysburg and Vicksburg.

Superb description of the construction of Colonel Cooke's wagon road from Tucson to San Diego while at the head of the Mormon Battalion. Included are surprisingly insightful observations of the people encountered and thoughts about the many Native American ruins encountered a long the way as well as detailed descriptions of the military actions.