Book recommendation: Kearny’s March (the Mexican-American War in the north; the Mormon Migration; the Donner-Reed Party)

Veterans Day reading idea: Kearny’s March: The Epic Creation of the American West, 1846-1847 by Winston Groom (2011).

The book is nominally centered on Stephen W. Kearny‘s efforts to conquer New Mexico (a larger territory than today’s state) and California during the Mexican-American War, which ended with Mexico losing 55% of her territory while the U.S. grew by at least 20%. Many of the challenges for the soldiers were logistical and, therefore, the author is able to weave in stories regarding similar overland treks that happened around the same time. These include the ill-starred Donner-Reed Party, whose route was subsequently made much easier by the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and then Interstate 80, and the Mormon Migration (that was back before governors would say “hate has no home here” and, therefore, the Mormons were targets of quite a bit of hate in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois).

It’s a great window into the sacrifices that men were willing to make for our military. Pay was low. Food often ran short. Death from accidents or disease was common. The U.S. Army didn’t hesitate to attack Mexican forces that were triple their strength, despite the fact that both sides had similar technology. Battles were decided by personal skill and courage and leadership quality.

(The book was written in 2011 and, therefore, the author doesn’t make any attempt to feature potential members of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community either in the military or civilian expeditions. The author was in the U.S. infantry during the Vietnam War.)

Some gratitude today especially to those who served in the U.S. military between 1800 and 1860.

Loosely related, a Rollei 6008 6×6 film photo from my Sierra collection. It’s Yosemite, of course, and that’s south of the Donner Pass and today’s I-80, but it is reasonably representative of the challenge that the pioneers had in trying to get through the Sierra Nevada. It’s essentially a wall of granite.