ESSAY
                                ON THE
                              LITERATURE
                                OF THE
                              MEXICAN WAR

                             W. T. LAWSON,

               Class of ’82, Columbia College, New York.




                                ESSAY.


The annexation of Texas and the consequent war with Mexico resulted
in adding to the United States eight hundred and eighty-six thousand
four hundred and ninety square miles of territory, an area much greater
than all that is comprised in the States lying east of the Mississippi
River, and almost equal to that embraced in the Louisiana purchase of
President Jefferson from Napoleon the First in 1803. The events of the
war which added and confirmed to the Union this magnificent domain have
been obscured by the magnitude of the recent civil war, and they have
become almost as remote in the popular imagination as the romantic
incidents in the campaigns of Cortez in the sixteenth century. But as
the fires of civil strife are almost dead, and peaceful industries
are developing the wonderful resources of our Mexican acquisitions,
new interest is awakened in the circumstances of the conquest and the
brilliant military achievements that attended them. By the enterprise
of our own people millions of gold and silver have been added to the
world’s wealth from the mines and placers of California, Arizona, New
Mexico and Colorado, and the plains of Texas are teeming with countless
herds for the feeding of Europe. A new but peaceful invasion of Mexico
by American capital has been begun, which arouses fresh interest in its
history, its native wealth, and its destiny. A railway under American
management traverses the line of Scott’s march from Vera Cruz to the
capital city, another will soon pass over the fields made immortal by
Taylor and his handful of rough and ready soldiers; engineering skill
proposes to cross the Isthmus of Tehuantepec with an iron highway for
the transportation of ocean vessels from the Bay of Campeche to the
waters of the Pacific Ocean, and a line of railway following the track
of Doniphan’s march will soon reach Chihuahua in its progress to the
City of Mexico, being built with a rapidity almost equal to the speed
of his little army of victorious Missourians who first marked out this
pathway of improvement.

The time has not yet come when the war with Mexico can be treated with
the philosophic dignity of which it is worthy, embellished with the
imagination of poetry, and its events appropriated by the historical
novelist. Certain it is, whether strange or not, that no hand has
been put forth to extract the philosophy of its history, to direct
our opinions of its events and its men, to trace the connections of
its causes and effects, and to draw from its occurrences and results
general lessons of political wisdom. Almost all the histories and
sketches of it were written soon after its close, and may be considered
almost contemporaneous with it, when the authors of the period could
not avail themselves of the mass of material which time has now made
accessible. The party passions of the hour, intensified by the slavery
struggle, so tinged all efforts at the philosophical discussion of
it that its great, enduring, and far-reaching consequences were not
foreseen, much less appreciated, and are only just now beginning to
be felt under the influence of the material development of the vast
regions that were added to the country at its termination. Numerous
books have been written about it, many of which will have some value
to him who shall in the future assume the task of illustrating this
brilliant period of American history, and there is appended to this
essay a list of those volumes which have been examined and seem
worthy of study. So little, however, is the history of this portion
of the nation’s life appreciated that President Porter, of Yale
College, in the list of historical studies in his work upon “Books
and Reading” omits all reference to works upon the Mexican War, and
gives but bare mention to that valuable authority upon the subject,
“Benton’s Thirty Years View,” a work of which William Cullen Bryant
has said: “Its literary execution, the simplicity of its style, and
the unexceptionable taste which tempers all its author’s allusions to
his contemporaries have been the subject of universal admiration.” For
a clear and dispassionate discussion of the causes of the war, for
just judgment of the motives of the actors in it, and the impartial
statements of the facts that are given, Col. Benton’s chapters on
the Mexican War cannot be commended too highly to the student or the
historian. It is worthy of mention that the chapter which contains his
address of welcome to Doniphan and the Missouri Volunteers at St. Louis
on their return from the war is a masterpiece of dignified and graphic
eloquence, worthy of a place as a classic model, and calls to mind the
days when Athens witnessed the most splendid exhibitions of oratory the
world has ever known. Since most of the histories of this war have been
written a valuable addition has been made to the stores of knowledge
on the subject in an admirable translation by Col. Albert E. Ramsey of
a Mexican history of the conflict, which has been published under the
title, “The Other Side.”

For the limited purposes of this essay it will be sufficient to select
for rapid review those volumes which are esteemed the best types of all
that has been written, and present them for consideration.


    THE WAR WITH MEXICO. By R. S. Ripley, Brevet-Major in the
      United States Army, &c. New York. 1849. 2 vols., 8vo.

This seems by all odds the best history of the Mexican War. As a
military history it is almost faultless, and will probably remain
an authority upon the military events of the war for all time. The
author, who was born in Ohio, graduated from the Military Academy in
1843. His regiment, the Second Artillery, was sent to the Rio Grande,
took part in the battles around Monterey in September, 1846, and was
then ordered to report to Gen. Scott. In the reorganization of the
forces he became First Lieutenant of the Second Artillery, March 3,
1847. He took part in the operations which ended in the capitulation
of Vera Cruz and the occupation of that port by the American Army,
(March 9 to 29, 1847,) and for gallant and meritorious conduct in the
battle of Cerro Gordo (April 17 and 18, 1847,) was breveted Captain.
When Gen. Scott began his final movement upon the City of Mexico (Aug.
6, 1847) Ripley was assigned to duty as aide to Gen. Pillow, and was
with that General in the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, and Molino
del Rey, and also in the storming of Chapultepec, and for his gallant
and meritorious conduct was breveted Major (Sept. 13, 1847). He was,
therefore, an actor in most of the scenes which he describes, and held
towards the superior officers of the Army relations which enabled him
to comprehend what was done.

As an aide-de-camp and friend of Gen. Pillow, he naturally sympathized
with that officer in the unseemly dissensions which broke out between
Gen. Scott on the one hand and Gens. Worth and Pillow and other
distinguished officers on the other, and was more or less interested in
the protracted military investigations which followed the war. In this
way he made the military history of the war a careful study, and he
studied not only carefully but intelligently. His military education,
his actual service in the war, his taste for military studies, the
position which he held on Pillow’s staff, and his very decided ability
fitted him peculiarly to be the military historian of the war. In order
to write his history he obtained a protracted leave of absence, and
devoted himself faithfully to his work. That he was prejudiced against
both Gen. Scott and Gen. Taylor, and criticizes both of these eminent
soldiers too severely, and very unjustly, is true, but he tells the
story of the campaign with singular fidelity and in a masterly way.
He understood what was done and has told it in a style worthy of the
great deeds which he narrates. His obstinate temper, his prejudice,
and his contentious spirit are too often apparent, but we pardon them
in reading his luminous account of the many intricate movements of
the troops, and the wonderful battles which were fought in the Valley
of Mexico. However unjust his criticisms, they are always able and
dignified, and compel our respect.

It is not strange that he did not appreciate the romantic performances
of Kearney and Doniphan and Fremont, for he viewed all things as one
fresh from the Military Academy, where are taught the duties of a
soldier, not those of a statesman, and he was still a youth of 26 when
he wrote his history. He could not understand the meaning of Kearney’s
long march across the desert, of Doniphan’s wonderful expedition, or of
Fremont’s daring exploits and strange adventures. He did not see that
statesmen had duties more important than those of the soldier, and that
Doniphan and Kearney and Fremont were adding an empire to the Union,
while Scott and Taylor were covering our armies with undying glory and
securing the possession of the conquests which our little armies were
making in New Mexico and California.

A soldier of distinction, (Stevens,) in reviewing the book, says:
“The work is professedly critical, and much space is devoted to the
discussion of the political and military movements of both Mexico and
the United States. A very thorough exposition has been made of both
campaigns and of battles. The style is decidedly good. His view of the
origin of the war is eminently just and told in sufficient detail.”

The freedom with which he, a mere subaltern, criticizes the conduct
of such veterans as Scott and Taylor, both of them his superior
officers, and one of them the President of the United States and
Commander-in-Chief of the Army, is remarkable.

After commenting on Taylor’s mistakes at Palo Alto and criticizing
severely his movement upon Monterey, he denounces his generalship in
that battle and the armistice which followed. As to Buena Vista, he
evidently thinks that it was won in spite of Taylor, and he says that
the battle was saved once by the brilliant courage and hard fighting
of Davis’s Mississippi regiment, and again by the timely and splendid
execution of Bragg’s battery; that Davis suggested his own movement,
and that Bragg moved without orders in the direction of the plateau,
and both came in at the proper hour, and were both successful――giving
fresh proof of the “supremacy of fortune in war.”

His criticisms of Scott are intensely bitter, and he says that the
first great cause of American success in the operations around the
City of Mexico lay in the bravery and courage of the army, and not in
the ability and skill of the General-in-Chief, who (in our author’s
opinion) gave more attention to politics and his own personal position
than to the operations of the war.

Santa Anna is skillfully and ably portrayed, and appears as the most
remarkable figure on either side. Ripley charges that Scott was
successfully duped by the Mexican from the outset of his movement from
Puebla till the capture of the city.

With all its faults, this book of Ripley’s is the very best history
of the war with Mexico that has been written, and it will probably
always remain the standard military history of the war, as Kinglake’s
is of the Crimean contest, and Napier’s of the Peninsular War――the
two military histories of surpassing excellence. Its author, who is
still alive and in the perfection of his powers, ought to revise it
by the light of subsequent events, and leave it to his country as an
imperishable record of the most glorious war which the Union has ever
fought.


    THE MEXICAN WAR: A History of its Origin, with a detailed
      Account of its Victories, which terminated in the Surrender
      of the Capital, with Official Despatches of the Generals. By
      Edward D. Mansfield, a graduate of the United States Military
      Academy. Illustrated with Maps and Engravings. New York. 1848.
      12mo, 343 pages.

This author was born in Connecticut in 1801. His father afterwards
became the first Professor of Natural Philosophy at West Point, and
there the son graduated in 1819. Declining a commission in the Corps
of Engineers, he resumed his studies at Princeton and graduated there
in 1822. He then practiced law in Connecticut, whence he removed to
Cincinnati, and practiced law there till 1836, when he abandoned law
for literature.

The little volume before us gives a succinct but clear account of
the origin of the war, and of the campaigns under Taylor and Scott,
based chiefly upon the reports of those officers and other official
documents. It must be remembered, however, that this, and indeed,
every other history of the war, was published immediately after the
establishment of peace, and without that knowledge of thousands of
important facts which have since come to light and which is essential
to a correct understanding of the diplomatic, political, and military
history of that period. Therefore, this, like all other histories
of the war written about that time, is necessarily imperfect and
untrustworthy.

The chief defects in Mansfield’s book spring from several facts. 1st.
He was vehemently opposed to the annexation of Texas, and to the
acquisition of territory. 2d. He was a warm partisan of Gen. Scott,
whose biographer he became. 3d. His style was intensely florid, as will
appear from the last paragraph of his book, which we quote. Speaking
of the United States and Mexico, he says: “Egypt and her millions,
with the famed Valley of the Nile, fade before the broad magnificence,
the mighty growth, of those American empires. Even the terrible and
far-seeing eagles of Rome grow dizzy and dim in their sight as they
look down from the summits of history upon these continental nations,
these colossal giants of the modern world. And now this Spaniard and
this Northman meet in battle panoply in this valley of volcanoes,
by the ancient groves of unknown nations, on the lava-covered soil
where nature once poured forth her awe-inspiring flames and the brave
Tlascalan once sung of glory and of greatness. Three centuries since,
these warrior nations had left their homes beyond the wide Atlantic;
two thousand miles from each other they had planted the seats of their
empire; and now, as if time, in the moral world, had completed another
of its grand revolutions, they have met in mortal conflict. Like the
eagle and the vulture, who long had pursued different circles in the
heavens, and long made prey of the weak tenants of the air, their
circles have been enlarged till they cross each other. They shriek!
They fight! The victorious eagle bears the vulture to the earth, and
screams forth through the clouds his triumphant song! Has the bold
bird received no wound? Has no blood tinged the feathers of his wing?
Is there no secret flow of life from the portals of his heart? Will he
continue to look with unblenched eye on the blazing glories of the sun?”


    THE WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. Illustrated.
      Embracing Pictorial Drawings of all the Principal Conflicts. By
      Carl Nebel. With a Description of each Battle by George Wilkins
      Kendall. D. Appleton & Co. New York. 1851.

This is a large royal folio volume, with twelve full-page colored
lithographs, speaking of which the author and the artist say that “no
country can claim that its battles have been illustrated in a richer,
more faithful, or more costly style of lithography.”

The author of this book was a native of Vermont, but moved to New
Orleans in 1835, and became widely known as the editor of the
_Picayune_. He was a man of adventurous disposition and decided
ability, and wrote prior to the war several books which acquired great
popularity. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he volunteered to serve
on the staff of Gen. Taylor. He was with that officer throughout his
campaigns, and afterwards accompanied Gen. Scott’s column on its march
to the City of Mexico. He was consequently an eye-witness of the scenes
which he describes. His descriptions are vivid and real, and place
him high in the ranks of war correspondents. His book, though hardly
deserving a place among histories, will always be a rich storehouse
from which historians will gather materials for their more pretentious
and more lasting works. He was a brilliant correspondent, and, strange
to say, a truthful story-teller.

Mr. Nebel’s illustrations are valuable as truthful pictures of the
costumes of the contending armies, and of the scenes which they
illustrate, but, like all battle pictures, they are highly imaginative.


    A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE MEXICAN WAR――ITS CAUSES, CONDUCT AND
      CONSEQUENCES: Comprising an Account of the various Military and
      Naval Operations, from its Commencement to the Treaty of Peace.
      Illustrated and explained by Maps, Plans of Battles, Views and
      Portraits. By Nathan C. Brooks, A. M., Member of the Maryland
      Historical Society, etc. Philadelphia. 1849. 8vo, 558 pages.

This handsome volume is the best general history of the Mexican War,
far better than any of them with the exception of Ripley’s, which is
in some particulars, and especially as a military history, very much
better than Brooks’s and all other histories of this war. Mr. Brooks,
brought to the work qualifications and experience which fitted him
particularly to write charmingly the story of a romantic war. He was
in the prime of a life which had been passed among books; had been a
teacher and journalist; had edited gracefully and learnedly a series
of Greek and Latin classics; was a student, historian, and poet. His
judgment was impartial and his taste refined and highly cultivated. He
was a believer in the manifest destiny of his country, and sympathized
earnestly with those who sought to benefit mankind by enlarging “the
area of freedom.” His heart was with the armies which had marched
towards the “Halls of the Montezumas,” and he studied the reports of
their campaigns, not only eagerly, but faithfully and intelligently――by
the light of a student’s knowledge and the inspiration of a highly
poetic fancy.

Written at a time when but a tithe of the material which now awaits the
historian’s plastic hand was before him; when the great mass of state
papers, memoirs and reminiscences which disclose the truth as to the
negotiations which preceded the annexation of Texas and the initiation
of the war, as well as the events of the conflict itself, were still
unpublished and inaccessible; when absolutely nothing was known to
us of the negotiations of the Mexican Government except through its
correspondence with ours, and when nothing had been ascertained of its
military operations except as disclosed upon the battlefield――it is
not to be wondered that Mr. Brooks’s history is characterized as being
more interesting and attractive than accurate and instructive, since
he neither fully understood the great events which he was narrating
nor foresaw the great consequences which were to flow from them; nor,
moreover, had he learned the lessons which they taught, by which this
generation will profit.

The fault which we find with his book is one common to all histories,
not strictly military, which treat of wars that have just happened;
we refer to its extremely prolix descriptions of battles. The reader,
however, can pass over such parts of these as do not interest him, and
will lose little save the noise and fury of the fights and the lurid
phrases which describe them.

The most felicitous chapters of the book are those which tell the
story of the conquest of New Mexico and California, and of Doniphan’s
romantic expedition. To tell these stories well and truly the historian
needed all his poetic fancy, and all that rich and exuberant diction
with which nature and study had so bountifully endowed him. These
chapters recall the pictured pages of Prescott, and are not unworthy of
the historian of the Conquest.


    PICTORIAL HISTORY OF MEXICO AND THE MEXICAN WAR: Comprising an
      Account of the Ancient Aztec Empire, the Conquest by Cortez,
      Mexico under the Spaniards, the Mexican Revolution, the
      Republic, the Texan War, and the recent War with the United
      States. By John Frost, L.L.D., author of the Pictorial History
      of the World, etc. Embellished with 500 Engravings of W. Croome
      and other distinguished Artists. 8vo. Philadelphia. 1856.

Nearly five hundred pages of this volume are devoted to the Mexican
War. The author, who was born in Maine in 1800, studied at Bowdoin, and
then at Harvard, where he graduated in 1822. He then taught school,
first at Boston and afterwards at Philadelphia, till 1845. After that
time he gave himself up exclusively to the compilation of his many
pictorial histories, all of which achieved great popularity, and
deserved it.

His intention seemed always to be to write readable and saleable books.
To do this he was well fitted by his predilection for historical
composition, and his great experience as a teacher. His style was
natural and simple and perspicuous. The arrangement of his subject was
orderly, and there was in his grouping of facts a picturesqueness which
was somewhat fascinating and always pleasing. He was not a philosopher,
or an erudite historian, nor did he pretend to be either――hence we are
not to look in his works for any profound thoughts, or for any facts
which are not the common property of every one.

He had no prejudices, no enthusiasms, no theories to maintain, no
heroes to exalt and magnify. He wrote to please and to sell――to please
that he might sell. Taking the official reports of battle and the
state papers at Washington, he drew from them an intelligible statement
of the main facts which he intended to narrate, and then, with good
taste and consummate skill, made the dry details interesting and indeed
captivating by weaving among them stories of American prowess, and such
heroic deeds and patriotic daring as were easily found in the letters
of war correspondents and hero-worshipers. He also availed himself
of the multitude of memoirs and books of adventure which flooded the
country immediately after the war, and thus made his book partake of
that patriotic fervor which the splendid achievements of our troops in
Mexico had kindled in the heart of every American. He has thrown into
it the charm that lingers in the wonderful stories of Herodotus. Had he
not done this, his book would have remained unsold on the shelves of
his publishers, and would not have taken its place in every household
by the side of Parson Weem’s veracious chronicles and “The Tales of a
Grandfather.”

It follows from what has been said that Frost’s work on the Mexican
War is not a book for the students of either military or diplomatic
history, nor for those who wish to learn the true history of the war,
or the real truth as to the deeds which were then done, or, as to the
men who did them, what manner of men they were, and what their motives,
nor, lastly, as to the mighty results of the contest. Nevertheless, it
is a good book and well worth a reading by those who want merely an
intelligible and interesting account of the events which it narrates.

It would hardly be fair to dismiss the book without referring to the
500 engravings wherewith it is “embellished from designs of W. Croome
and other distinguished artists” whose invaluable services Mr. Frost
gratefully acknowledges. They are simply wonderful. We open, by hazard,
at page 458. Before us is a picture of Fremont in his famous ride
from Los Angeles “to Monterey and back; a journey of more than 800
miles, performed in eight days, including two days’ detention and all
stoppages.” This is more than 130 miles in a day. Look at the splendid
charger whose flowing mane and mud-tossed tail and flying form brings
to mind the magic horses of the “Arabian Nights”! See how he skims
over the plains, disdaining to touch the earth with his hoofs! And see
how erect the rider sits upon his flying steed, riding night and day
through the trackless plains, _en grande tenue_, not a speck of dirt on
his gold-embroidered, epauletted coat of blue; not a trace of the soil
upon his immaculate trousers; not a sign of fatigue upon the earnest
face which the three-cornered hat protects from sun and storm; nor any
weariness in the stalwart arm, whose gloved hand carries a naked sword,
holding it in strict conformity to Army regulations! Look and wonder!
Certainly, this is further beyond our criticism than are the glowing
canvases whereon Horace Vernet has immortalized the fields of French
glory.

The literature of the war, as has been before remarked, is devoid of
any novels of distinguished merit, and has not been rich in poetic
inspiration. But during the period of hostilities, and amidst the
political excitement that followed, James Russell Lowell began in a
leading Boston paper a series of political satires on the war, in the
Yankee dialect, purporting to be written by Hosea Biglow. These satires
were afterwards collected in a volume with Lowell’s works, and are
known as the “Biglow Papers.” Their wit and vigor are admirable. The
character of Parson Wilbur, to whom is attributed the introduction,
notes and index, is a comic creation full of delight. The whole is
a rare repository of fun, and Hosea is the embodiment of the native
humor and homely mother wit of the Yankee race. It is one of the most
ingenious and well sustained _jeux d’esprit_ in existence. It is
perhaps not too much to say that it is the best burlesque poem that
has appeared since Samuel Butler, in the first part of “Hudibras,”
ridiculed the austerities of the Puritan leaders of the seventeenth
century with his shining and merciless wit.

By far the most brilliant poetic production of the period is the
elegiac ode, by Theodore O’Hara, a poet, soldier and editor, of
Kentucky. It is entitled the “Bivouac of the Dead,” and had its origin
in the occasion of the interment, at Frankfort, in 1847, of the gallant
soldiers who fell in battle. It is noted for its rare beauty of style,
its genuine pathos, its descriptive ideality, its heroic vigor, and its
patriotic fervor. Genuine appreciation and candid criticism will place
it with Wolfe’s “Burial of Sir John Moore” and Collins’s “How Sleep the
Brave,” among the classic lyric gems of the language. Its lines are
used for inscriptions upon the tombs of heroes all over the land, and
one of its immortal stanzas adorns the National Cemetery at Arlington
Heights. It goes to the heart of every true soldier, and is likely
to remain enshrined there forever. Mention must also be made of the
admiration which lingers about the pensive beauty, the pathetic grace,
and the vivid picture of Whittier’s “Angels of Buena Vista.”

The excitement in the public mind occasioned by the war caused many
remarkable discussions, and the pulpit of New England, with its usual
disposition to intermeddle in political affairs, was not tardy in
presenting its opinions. The most distinguished preacher of the time,
Theodore Parker, in words of burning eloquence denounced all wars, and
the injustice of this one, and with elaborate figures estimated its
cost and expenses at two hundred millions of dollars, and, weighing
this sum against the value of our acquisition, pronounced the war
profitless, and asked, contemptuously, “What have we got to show for
all this money?”

In the light of the present hour, the mere beginning that has been
made in the development of the acquired regions will afford a partial
answer to illustrate the lack of historic prescience that blinded
the perceptions of the time. The growth of these new countries seems
to point to a period, not far distant, when they shall contain a
population as great as that which inhabits the Cis-Mississippi States.

The new apportionment bill which has just been enacted gives to the
States already erected in this region almost as many Representatives in
Congress as all New England, and another decade will show that it has
passed far in advance in wealth and population. California, Arizona,
New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah from their mines alone have added more
than two thousand millions of dollars to the world’s wealth, and are
now yielding more than one-third of the annual product of gold and
silver in the entire world. Two Pacific railways, the greatest feats
of modern engineering, traversing the regions that were said to be
“occupied with broken mountains and dreary wilds,” and “fit only for
the restless hunter and wandering trapper,” have revolutionized the
commerce of the world. England seeks Australia and New Zealand through
the Golden Gate, and the productions of China and Japan flow to our
magnificent harbors of the Pacific and cross the American continent on
their way to supply the demands of Europe.

The archæological discoveries in these regions disclose a prehistoric
occupancy by a race that founded great cities and built palaces and
temples, and who shall say, that, under the dominion of the Anglo
Saxon, the glories of their antiquity may not be surpassed? Who shall
say what mighty results shall flow from the contest which began when
Gen. Taylor crossed the Nueces in the march to the Rio Grande?




                   LIST OF BOOKS ON THE MEXICAN WAR.


BRACKETT, A. G.

    “Gen. Lane’s Brigade in Central Mexico.” 1 vol., 12mo. Cincinnati.
        1854.


BROOKS, N. C.

    “History of the Mexican War.” 8vo. Baltimore. 1849.


CARLETON, J. H.

    “Battle of Buena Vista.” 16mo. New York. 1848.


CUTTS, J. M.

    “Conquest of California and New Mexico.” 12mo. Philadelphia. 1847.


EDWARDS, F. S.

    “Campaign in New Mexico.” 12mo. Philadelphia. 1847.


FROST, J.

    “Pictorial History of Mexico and the Mexican War.” 8vo. Philadelphia.
        1856.


GIDDINGS, Major.

    “Campaign of Northern Mexico.” 12mo. New York. 1853.


HENRY, W. S.

    “Campaign Sketches of War with Mexico.” 12mo. New York. 1847.


HUGHES, J. T.

    “Doniphan’s Expedition.” 12mo. Cincinnati. 1848.


JAY, W.

    “Causes and Consequences of the Mexican War.” 12mo. Boston. 1849.


KENDALL, G. W.

    “Narrative of the Texan Santa Fé Expedition.” 2 vols., 12mo. New
        York. 1847.


KENDALL, G. W.

    “The War between the United States and Mexico.” Royal folio.


LIVERMORE, N.

    “War with Mexico Reviewed.” 12mo. Boston. 1850. New York. 1851.


MANSFIELD, E. D.

    “Life and Services of Gen. Winfield Scott.” 12mo. New York. 1852.


MEYER, BRANTZ.

    “Mexico.” 2 vols., 8mo. Hartford. 1853.


RAMSEY, A. C.

    “The Other Side.” 12mo. New York. 1852.


REYNOLDS, J. G.

    “Marine Corps in Mexico.” 8vo. New York. 1853.


RICHARDSON, W. H.

    “Journal of a Soldier in Mexico.” 12mo. Baltimore. 1848.


RICHARDSON, W. H.

    “Journal with Col. Doniphan.” 12mo. Baltimore. 1848.


RIPLEY, R. S.

    “War with Mexico.” 2 vols. 8vo. New York. 1849.


SCRIBNER, B. F.

    “A Campaign in Mexico.” 8vo. Philadelphia. 1850.


SEMMES, R.

    “Service During the War.” 8vo. Cincinnati. 1851.


SEMMES, R.

    “Campaign in Mexico.” 12mo. Cincinnati. 1852.


STEVENS, J. J.

    “Campaigns on the Rio Grande and in Mexico.” 8vo. New York. 1851.


SIMPSON, JAS. H.

    “Journal of a Military Reconnoissance.” 8vo. Philadelphia. 1852.


THORPE, T. B.

    “Our Army on the Rio Grande.” 12mo. Philadelphia. 1846.


THORPE, T. B.

    “Our Army at Monterey.” 12mo. Philadelphia. 1848.


WILLARD, E.

    “Last Leaves of American History.” 12mo. New York. 1849.


WOODWARD, ASHBEL.

    “Life of General N. Lyon.” Hartford. 1862.


                   *       *       *       *       *


 Transcriber’s Notes:

 ――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).

 ――Printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently
   corrected.

 ――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.