Showing results for "Mexican American War"
Mexican-American War 170th: “Incessantly By Day, But With Alacrity, Our Troops Piled the Pick and Shovel”
Shortly after reveille on April 7, 1846, American soldiers with shovels and pickaxes began construction of a permanent installation on the north side of the contested Rio Grande. Brig. Gen. Zachary Taylor, commanding the force sent the previous month from the Nueces River, commanded his troops to rotate out in shifts, leading to a near […]
Read more...Introducing the 170th Anniversary of the Mexican-American War
With the end of the Civil War’s Sesquicentennial, the focus of Civil War scholarship has turned to the tumultuous years of Reconstruction. But 2016 also marks the 170th Anniversary of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), a war almost entirely overshadowed by the 1860s, and yet whose own ramifications added a mortal blow to sectional strife. Starting […]
Read more...Robert E. Lee: Prisoner of War?
ECW welcomes back guest author Katy Berman Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee got his first taste of disunion when he returned to San Antonio, Texas on a February afternoon in 1861. To his distaste, he was confronted by newly minted Texas Confederates who demanded to know what side he was on. The old flag was […]
Read more...Cap-Haïtien: Lincoln’s Forgotten Forward Operating Naval Base
During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln’s navy shifted from a small force undertaking global patrols to show the flag to one of the world’s largest naval forces with a dual goal of enforcing a blockade of Confederate ports and supporting military operations along that coastline and the continent’s inland waters. Through this shift Lincoln’s warships […]
Read more...The Second Mexican War That Never Was
ECW welcomes back guest author Aaron Stoyack Already embroiled in unprecedented bloodshed and division, interference from foreign powers amplified the concerns of Civil War belligerents. Potential conflict with the French empire in Mexico threatened to render the Union war effort untenable, result in Confederate independence, and humiliate the ideals of republicanism on the world stage. […]
Read more...Book Review: The Civil War Soldier and the Press
The Civil War Soldier and the Press. Edited by Katrina J. Quinn and David B. Sachsman. New York: Routledge, 2023. 272 pp, softcover, $35.96; hardcover, $128.00. Reviewed by Tim Talbott The so-called “common soldier” of the Civil War continues to intrigue enthusiasts and inspire scholars of the conflict. The long-time subject of books written by […]
Read more...Book Review: Agents of Empire: The First Oregon Cavalry and the Opening of the Interior Pacific Northwest during the Civil War
Agents of Empire: The First Oregon Cavalry and the Opening of the Interior Pacific Northwest during the Civil War. By James Robbins Jewell. University of Nebraska Press, 2023. 326 pp. Hardcover, $45.00. Reviewed by Patrick Kelly-Fischer If you mention Oregon’s Civil War, most people will assume you are referring to the intense football rivalry between […]
Read more...Civil War Medicine: Andrew Henderson, John Pope, and a Challenging Medical Decision at Sea
Civil War era warships were cramped with little privacy with sailors still sleeping in hammocks instead of beds. Officers generally had better living conditions, with the tradeoff of separation from the enlisted crew in status, activity, and expectations. Though they may have a cabin to call their own, officers generally felt more isolated. After all, […]
Read more...