Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

When your friends cannot understand how reading a history book could possibly be interesting, this is what you give them. Don't even let them complain that it's about war. Marvelously written as if it was a riveting novel, The Training Ground gives a count-by-count rehash of the battles of the Mexican-American war along with excellent insights into the main "characters". Dougard uses short chapters to keep the book moving while sparing no detail in the glory and the greusomeness of war- even the descriptions of operations on injured soldiers are captivating. Yes, as a read, it's that good.

For those acquainted with the Civil War, it's even better- personal stories of Grant, Davis, Longstreet, Lee, and more pique the curiosity as they were all fighting for and with each other, proving themselves to themselves and others, totally unknowing of what was to come fifteen years later. Anyone who likes the Civil War must read this because that conflict is totally and completely unimaginable had the leaders and soldiers not experienced the Mexican "training ground". What a different country this would be today; all of these men were in a "military lull" that they expected to never end, but this war prepared them for the fight of a lifetime in the future.

[A note I must mention- this book was not about Lincoln, but two things as printed were incorrect. 1) He was elected President in 1860, not 1859; 2) He lived in Indiana between his youth in Kentucky and adulthood in Illinois, as opposed to moving straight from KY to IL. I don't know how these things were not corrected before publishing, but they do not take away anything.]

While a most enjoyable read, I must agree with other reviewers that this book fails, but for yet more reasons. It fails because it is not true to its own stated purpose. Early in the book, Mr. Dugard states that he is fascinated with the potential young people have and how that potential manifests through the course of their lives. He also says that the book is not meant to be a history of the Mexican War, but rather an analysis of the young graduates of West Point who went on to prosecute that war and later face each other on opposite sides in the War Between the States. The book accomplishes neither of these goals.

Mr. Dugard starts by telling of the early lives of the great figures of mid-19th century America who graduated from West Point, particularly Lee, Grant, Meade and Davis. Notice I did not say Sherman, a big name given short shrift despite the subtitle. Much of the material seems to come from the memoirs of these men, and the long quotes are the book's highlights. The book then moves to the conflict over Texas, Polk's agenda and the outbreak of the Mexican War. As usual, there are subtle politically correct condemnations of the motivations and prejudices associated with these events that ring from the words chosen; this demonstrates a lack of historical perspective. Nineteenth century Americans were motivated by completely different assumptions and world views from ours today; current moral yardsticks are useless. The author also injects needless schmaltz such as descriptions of gentle breezes blowing across this and that or emotions felt by anonymous soldiers. Popular histories are often filled with these unsubstantiated musings and they never add to the narrative. Then the book turns into just what Mr. Dugard said it was not - a history of the Mexican War. No it is a history of the Mexican War alright, blow by blow and chronological, detailing logistics, losses in men and horses, troop movements and geography. And except for the fact checking it does a darn good job of telling of that war, but that was not the books stated purpose.

But the biggest problem is in the failure of theme, the lack of analysis of the potential these men had and how the Mexican War affected their conduct of the War Between the States and their future. But for a short epilog, the book ends abruptly with the end of the Mexican War. Yet many opportunities for analysis present themselves. For example, it seems reasonable that Grant's brilliant tactical move down the Mississippi to affect a surprise attack on Vicksburg's rear was influenced by his observation of Scott's round-end tactics used twice in the battle for Mexico City. After the discussion of Lincoln's pacifism while in the House of Representatives in 1847, there follows no analysis of the irony of that pacifism 14 years later when Lincoln provoked the attack on Fort Sumter. Mr. Dugard explores none of the questions he raises. There is no discussion of "potential" and the result of that potential anywhere in the book.

I must agree with other reviewers that the lack of rigor in getting facts both large and small right seriously comprises the book. A history book like a scientific paper hangs on all its facts or none. Mr. Dugard is a professional writer, not an academic. He is evidently not accustomed to rigor. Perhaps he should stick to writing of sports where he is not a journeyman. That said, he is a good writer, not poetic, not imaginative, not challenging but a good, solid pleasant writer. So but for the irritations (Lincoln elected in 1859? Young master Dugard must have skipped civics class that day) this is an enjoyable read.

Lastly, I must respond to Mr. Brewer's review and defend Mr. Dugard on one point. The U.S. won every major engagement of the Mexican War and most of the skirmishes. The U.S. got all of its territorial demands in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. That may not be victory by 20th century standards (total subjugation of a population), but it certainly was by mid 19th century standards.

I listened to "The Training Ground" on CD, and it's been very entertaining. I would give it five stars but for some very glaring errors. Three that stand out are his statements that Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg was with cavalry (it was an infantry charge), that Abraham Lincoln came to Illinois at age 22 directly from Kentucky (he lived in Indiana from 1816 to 1830), and that dysentery at a US Army camp on the Rio Grande was caused by soldiers urinating in the river (it's spread by defecation). One wonders how accurate Dugard is with less verifiable historical facts.

Mr. Dugard's book is quite readable. Unfortunately the errors and omissions make it untrustworthy at best. So much of the book is copied directly from Grant's Memoirs that you'd do better to simply read the source material. One suspects that he did not use footnotes because they would too readily make this point. To compound the issue, after writing a near hagiography of Grant he 3 times lists Mark Twain as Grant's editor rather than as his publisher.

Aside from the errors mentioned in the previous reviews, on page 361, the author describes James Longstreet as a Virginian. He was born in South Carolina. It's a small point, but Lee did have a preference for fellow Virginians as his lieutenants and Longstreet was an exception. I enjoyed the book and recommended it to friends but factual errors in a history book are not a good selling point.

I received this book just as promised. It is a great read and I am enjoying it very much. Contains nice bios of the men mentioned in the title.

I bought the audio cds for The Training Ground and I have enjoyed it very much.

I enjoy Civil War history and I was fascinated with how The Training Ground brought the later movers and shakers of the Civil War to life by showing how they developed during the Mexican American War. The Training Ground is not an overall account of the Mexican American War; it is instead a series of biographies tied together to show how the war progressed from the perspecitves of key individuals. The history is told in a way that really captures the listener and the narration is very well done.

I enjoyed the Training Ground so much that I sent the set of Audio Cds to my father to listen to so he could enjoy it. He later said that it was the most interesting set of historical CDs he had listened to and he exclusiverly listens to historical CDs when driving.

I highly recomend The Training Ground in the Audio CD format.