Anthologies of writings by and about fighting troops are fairly predictable in content: shortcomings of officers (and soldiers), confusion of battle, crudities and amusements in camp, boredom, wounds, and disease. The Mexican War, undertaken with the usual American lack of preparation, proved to be by far the most ambitious military undertaking of the United States before 1860. Accordingly, chaos and suffering were probably more common than usual, even if partly mitigated by the exoticism of Mexico.
Latin Americanists will regret that Smith and Judah have concentrated on gringos and that Mexico remains an exotic fringe. “I can scarcely realize that we are in an enemies [sic] country,” wrote one officer (p. 307), and the reader will often share that feeling. Some day, perhaps, we shall have a two-sided account of the war, if enough Mexican soldiers and officers recorded their unhappy experience. A few of the selections are pertinent to American-Mexican relations: atrocities on the battlefield (in this case, Mexican), the appearance of the inhabitants in the Rio Grande valley, Mexican impressions during Scott’s bombardment of Veracruz, and an American lieutenant’s meditation on the the future of Mexico.
In every respect the book is a handsome production. The selections are well chosen, mostly from obscure sources, and copiously annotated. Contemporary illustrations and both contemporary and modern maps abound.
