Johnston’s and Mansfield’s field reports provide fascinating profiles of personnel, society, and the material culture of members of the United States’ regular army. Careful witnesses and engaging reporters, the two men recorded an impressive range of observations in their inspection tours, ranging from such practical matters as the physical layout of army posts and the number and condition of horses and oxen in each unit to blunt accounts of the failures of commanders and their units. The reports take special note of army relations with local Hispanos, Anglo settlers, and Indians, and the officers’ accounts are a vivid record of the region and the soldiers on the frontier as the Union prepared for war.
This unique and important study illuminates a vital intersection of the histories of Texas and New Mexico with a United States on the verge of dissolution.
“The Mansfield and Johnston reports are major contributions not only to military history but to all other themes of the ante-bellum history of Texas and New Mexico. The thorough and informed annotations of Jerry Thompson make them immensely more valuable. Once again he has shown himself a superb editor of original documents.”—Robert M. Utley
