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

~ Martin Dugard (Author)
Key Phrases: canister rounds, Santa Anna, Rio Grande, West Point (more...)

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)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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 )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 472 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books; Reprint edition (December 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803228120
• ISBN-13: 978-0803228122
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #693,598 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars In Need of Training, September 23, 2008

By	Mark R. Brewer "Mark R. Brewer" (Pitman, NJ USA) - 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)

The idea for this book is an excellent one: to examine the individual experiences of Civil War (1861-1865) luminaries in the "training ground" of the Mexican War (1846-1848). Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Martin Dugard's THE LAST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS, I eagerly anticipated reading his latest work.

I was sadly disappointed. THE TRAINING GROUND is not without its good moments, but it has the feel of a book that has been hastily and sometimes carelessly thrown together. According to Mr. Dugard:

1. The U.S. won the War of 1812. (The war was, at best, a draw. We certainly didn't lose it, but we really didn't win it either.)
2. Pickett's Charge was "one of the most famous cavalry charges in the history of warfare." (Pickett's Charge was made exclusively by infantry, supported by artillery. No cavalry participated.)
3. Mary Lincoln "broke up" with Abe in the years before their marriage. (In truth, Abe was the one who got cold feet and broke off their engagement, not the other way around.)
4. Zachary Taylor died on July 9, 1850, "after a celebration dedicating the completion of the Washington Monument." (At Lincoln's inaugural, almost eleven years after Taylor's death, the Washington Monument was still not completed.)
5. Abraham Lincoln "was elected president in 1859." (Lincoln, of course, was elected in 1860.)

Anyone can make a mistake, but so many blatant errors show a lack of knowledge or a lack of respect for the reading audience, or both. Even Dugard's prose has a rushed feel.

One hopes Mr. Dugard learns from his mistakes. His book on Columbus showed great promise, but Dugard fails to live up to it here.

18 of 21 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

32 of 40 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 (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

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.