Customer Reviews

Mr. Polk's Army: The American Military Experience in the Mexican War

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Historian Richard Winder's Polk's Army is a closely detailed, meticulously researched, scholarly and engaging presentation of the daily life of American soldiers who fought in the Mexican War, drawn from a vast amalgamation of diaries, journals, and reminiscences. Polk's Army goes further to connect the army to the society from which it was drawn, and portrays a military undertaking that was a unilaterally shared experience for all ranks and walks of American soldiers, despite their differences in background or politics. Illustrated with some black-and-white historical photographs and drawings, Polk's Army is a superb, in-depth reference for anyone with a vested interest in learning more about a war that forever changed the physical shape and political future of the United States of America.

I usually wouldn't comment on my own work but one of the reviewers on Amazon totally missed the point of this work. True, Mr. Polk's Army this is not a book that describes the war's battles. There were plenty of those books out there that already and even more have appeared since I wrote Mr. Polk's Army ten years ago. My book was intended as a description of the American forces that participated in the war. As such it places these men in the context of their time. That was the book's purpose as stated in the preface. It is gratifying to know that Mr. Polk's Army is recognized by historians as a key work in the field of Mexican War Studies.

Richard Bruce Winders


Richard Bruce Winders

Mr. Polk's Army is a detailed sketch of the U.S. Army that was built for and that fought in the U.S.-Mexican War. The author has gone to great effort to explain how the officers, regular army soldiers, and the volunteer soldiers differed as to their dress, habits, and attitudes about the war.

Winders has also included a discussion of the politics that were in play between President Polk and his democratic party, as well as the unfriendly/untrusting relationship polk had with his generals in the field.

This book is excellent if you are looking for something that does not solely focus on strategy and battle outcomes. Winders has created a excellent and unique account of the U.S.-Mexican War.

The US-Mexican war is perhaps one of the most forgotten chapters in American Military History. While numerous books and documentaries have been written or produced about the conflict, the Mexican War escapes our collective popular memory, despite the fact that it is one of the most critical moments in our history. Dr. Winders has made a valuable contribution to the literature of that stuggle, by writing a book that focuses on the US forces engaged in the war. While there are several very good books that cover the battles, the politics, and the other "big-picture" aspects of the Mexican War, Dr. Winders' volume is one of the few books that examines the Army and the men that marched into Mexico. This book should be on the shelf of every military buff and is also a must read for anyone who wishes to examine the Mexican War seriously.

This books is not so much about the war itself but the workings of the army itself. It is as a complete a study on the subject as there is. This is a must read for any student of military of the era.

As one who occasionally participates in living history reenactments, I am always on the lookout for new information that will lead to an increasingly accurate portrayal of a U.S. infantryman during the U.S.-Mexican War period. On multiple occasions, a web search has led me to Google Book excerpts from Richard Bruce Winders' Mr, Polk's Army:.... Ultimately, this 'teasing' had the desired effect and I enthusiastically added the book to my reading list.

First of all, it's crucial to note that this is NOT a blow-by-blow account of the strategies and battles of the war itself. Rather, Winders' writing serves to acquaint us with pertinent details of being American in the 1840s, sharing with us a perspective that casts political ambition, standing armies, and Manifest Destiny in a different light than we so-called modern, enlightened folk may be used to. Like a method actor, I find that comprehending an historical figure's motivations and the environment in which he or she moved leads to a greater understanding of the events. Winders skillfully builds a hierarchy of "whats" and associated "whys" that encourage the reader to walk a mile in 19th Century brogans and draw his or her own conclusions.

I cannot speak too highly of the text's organization: each chapter addresses a different aspect of 1840s America, allowing the reader to approach the overall topic from one of several angles. Obviously, this construct also makes it easy to use the book as a study reference, nevertheless, the structure does not interfere with a cover-to-cover reading. Much of what Winders wrote about the political climate has been addressed before and I don't recall any genuine surprises there. On the other hand, the chapters covering the regular army, the volunteers, military armaments and supplies, and military life were invaluable and their details very much welcomed by this reader.

Arriving at the Epilogue "A Pyrrhic Victory," I found myself double-checking the title page to see if I'd picked up the wrong book. After 200+ pages of story, facts, and investigation, Winders saw fit to present what I will describe as a political science analysis of the War's outcomes. It took me a while to warm up to these five pages and I still consider them a poor substitute for a future second volume, perhaps titled, "Mr. Polk's Legacy," examining the effects of the U.S.-Mexican War through the 1850s and leading to the Civil War.

Notwithstanding the Epilogue, Mr Polks Army:... remains in my top three of U.S.-Mexican War texts.

Richard Bruce Winders is the curator and chief historian at the Alamo, and an expert on Revolutionary and Mexican War-era America/Texas. Primarily a military historian, his subject in Mr. Polk's Army is less the strategy and tactics used by the American army to defeat Mexico, and more a social/cultural history of the life of a typical soldier in the Polk-era US Army. Winders vividly describes the routine, equipment and background of said soldier, and further explains the recruitment and deployment of the Army they were part of. The narrative is not, I repeat not, a battle-by-battle history of the Mexican War. For that, a reader can turn to Eisenhower's So Far From God. Winders' book is an attempt to detail the other side of the conflict, what the soldiers did while not engaged in combat, who they were, where they were from, etc. In this he succeeds admirably. Reading this book is as in-depth a look at life in the US Army in the 1840s as modern readers are likely to get. It probably helps to have some background knowledge of the Mexican War before reading.

This book is good for learning about the infighting and petty disputes between the politicaly appointed and the politicaly appointed but West Point trained officers. Very informative (IF YOU WANT THE NEGATIVE) of the organisation of the Army but no information at all of battles fought with the Mexican Army. Little info about the enlisted soldiers fighting ability or courage. Reading this book makes you wonder how we won this war. The other side must have really been incompetent. This is the most dissappointing book on military history I have ever bought. I really expected more of Teaxas A&M. the largest producer of Military officers outside of the service academies. VERY DISAPPOINTING.