The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848 [Hardcover]

Martin Dugard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2008

Few historical figures are as inextricably linked as Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. But less than two decades before they faced each other as enemies at Appomattox, they had been brothers--both West Point graduates, both wearing blue, and both fighting in the same cadre in the Mexican War. They were not alone: Sherman, Davis, Jackson-nearly all of the Civil War's greatest soldiers had been forged in the heat of Vera Cruz and Monterrey.
The Mexican War has faded from our national memory, but it was a struggle of enormous significance: the first U.S. war waged on foreign soil; and it nearly doubled our nation. At this fascinating juncture of American history, a group of young men came together to fight as friends, only years later to fight as enemies. This is their story. Full of dramatic battles, daring rescues, secret missions, soaring triumphs and tragic losses, THE TRAINING GROUND is history at its finest.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dugard (The Last Voyage of Columbus) offers a fast-paced, colloquially written account of the Mexican War of 1848, constructed around the experiences of the U.S. Army's corps of junior officers. Shaped by the common experience of West Point and tempered by battle, these comrades in arms (including Lee, Grant, Davis and Sherman) matured into the leading generals and statesmen on both sides of the Civil War. Dugard introduces others as well, from Union artilleryman Henry Hunt to Confederate icon Stonewall Jackson, who also learned their craft fighting the Mexicans. At the war's end, commanding general Winfield Scott saluted West Point's graduates as the key to America's victory over Mexico. The image of a band of brothers transformed into enemies by conscience and politics is a familiar trope of the Civil War, but Dugard's spirited narrative animates a group of men whose force of character, professional skill and ability to think outside conventional limits revitalized the sclerotic army. Readers will conclude this book with reinforced awareness of why the Civil War was so long and so bitterly fought: because, as Dugard shows, the contending armies were shaped and led by a remarkably capable—and experienced—body of officers. (May)
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Review

“Canny in its depictions of intriguing, powerful personalities and Machiavellian politics, meticulous in its textured battlefield and logistical descriptions, The Training Ground has the fast-paced feel of a good historical novel, but it’s all well-researched fact.”—American History

(American History )

“Action-packed and peopled by intriguing characters.”—Kirkus Reviews

(Kirkus )

“Dugard’s spirited narrative animates a group of men whose force of character, professional skill and ability to think outside conventional limits revitalized the sclerotic army.”—Publishers Weekly

(Publishers Weekly )

"The Training Ground is an interesting, often insightful account of the experiences of U.S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman and Jefferson Davis during the Mexican War. . . . Worth a read for anyone interested in the Civil War and the development of senior military leadership."—A. A. Nofi, NYMAS Review

(A. A. Nofi NYMAS Review )

"This book gives an interesting sidelight on the Mexican War and a foretaste of the American Civil War."—Stan Moore, Denver Westerners Roundup

(Stan Moore Denver Westerners Roundup ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; First Edition edition (May 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316166251
• ISBN-13: 978-0316166256
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #945,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Martin Dugard specializes in chronicling the drive of great men to realize their potential. His new book, To Be A Runner, completes that arc. This inspiring and informational series of essays is written from the viewpoint of Dugard's forty years as a distance runner. For the past six years he has also put that knowledge to good use by spending his afternoons as the head cross-country and track coach at JSerra High School in San Juan Capistrano, California. His teams have qualified for the California State Championships four years in a row, and his girls team won the state title in 2010.

Dugard's previous books include The Murder of King Tut (co-written with bestselling author James Patterson), which saw Dugard travel to Egypt to unravel the centuries-old mystery of who murdered Tutankhamen, Egypt 's legendary boy king; The Training Ground (Little, Brown, 2008), the riveting saga of America's great Civil War generals during the Mexican War, when they were scared young lieutenants first learning the ways of war; The Last Voyage of Columbus (Little, Brown; 2005), Chasing Lance (Little, Brown; 2005), Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone (Doubleday, 2003), Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook (Pocket Books, 2001), Knockdown (Pocket Books, 1999), and Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth (McGraw-Hill, 1998).

He has also co-written three books with Mark Burnett, creator of Survivor and The Apprentice.

In addition, Dugard recently wrote and produced Warrior, a coming-of-age film based around the sport of lacrosse. Warrior stars Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene (of Twilight fame) and will be in theaters May 2011.

It's also worth noting that History Channel's recent summer hit, Expedition Africa, is based on Dugard's Into Africa. He served as the show's historical consultant and designed the route the explorers would follow across Tanzania.

An adventurer himself, Dugard regularly immerses himself in his research to understand characters and their motivations better. To better understand Columbus he traveled through Spain , the Caribbean, Central America, and sailed from Genoa to Spain aboard a tall ship in the manner of the great navigator. He followed Henry Morton Stanley's path across Tanzania while researching Into Africa (managing to get thrown into an African prison in the process), and swam in the tiger shark-infested waters of Hawaii 's Kealakekua Bay to recreate Captain James Cook's death for Farther Than Any Man.

On the more personal side of adventure, Dugard competed in the Raid Gauloises endurance race three times, ran with the bulls in Pamplona on two occasions, and flew around the world at twice the speed of sound aboard an Air France Concorde. The time of 31 hours and 28 minutes set a world record for global circumnavigation. Dugard's magazine writing has appeared in Esquire, Outside, Sports Illustrated, and GQ, among others.

Martin Dugard lives in Orange County, California, with his wife and three sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good read - bad history, June 27, 2008

By 

J. Carl "Feel the History" (Evansville, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Hardcover)

I was very disappointed with The Training Ground. It is a good read but you can't trust it. There are numerious factual errors. On page 160, Mr. Dugard states "He (Abraham Lincoln)was born in Kentucky and lived there until moving to Illinois at the age of 22." Maybe Mr. Dugard considers the 14 years that the Lincoln family spent in Indiana as just passing through? The Lincolns moved to Illinois when Abe was 21 and they had lived in Spencer County Indiana since he was 7.
When I started the book, I hoped to learn more about men that I knew mostly from the Civil War. The farther I got into it, the more I felt a need to double check Dugard's statements

41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly done for a history, May 30, 2008

By 

James W. Durney (Tampa Bay area) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Hardcover)

Did you know that George Pickett would become "something of a cult figure for graduating fifty-ninth in a class of fifty-nine and then later led one of the most famous cavalry charges in the history of modern warfare"? On page six, this book imparts the astounding historical fact that Pickett's Charge was mounted. 145 years, millions of words, hundreds of book, thousands of prints and paintings but Martin Dugard found the truth. However, there is no footnote proving that Pickett's Division road to battle on July 3, 1863. Without that little detail, I will continue to think they were an infantry division and the men walked both ways.
The dust jacket says Dugard is a "bestselling author of non-fiction", while that may be true, he is not a historian. The book has multiple direct quotes and no footnotes to support them. At the end of the book is a section entitled "Selected Notes and Biographies" that is designed to make the book appear to be a serious history.
The book is readable but neither a history of the War with Mexico nor a history of the men involved. This is a series of stories, strung together about men who would be generals in another war. At best, it is a readable introduction. At worst, it is full of errors, misquotes and misstatements.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Credibility?, March 3, 2009

By 

P. Chumbley (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (Hardcover)

Along with the other customer reviewers, I too was startled to learn that Pickett led a cavalry charge. I was also surprised to learn that George Washington had descendants; that a percussion cap was waterproof and rifles using them did not need to use the paper and ball cartridges; and that Abraham Lincoln was shot several days after the Civil War ended--as opposed to after Lee surrendered. The problem is that these glaring mistakes call into question everything else in the book. Bottom line is, the scholarship was poor and the editor that allowed those mistakes should be fired.