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Civil War Leadership and Mexican War Experience. By Kevin Dougherty. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007. Pp. [xiv], 207. $50.00, ISBN 978-1-57806-968-2.)
We have always known, in a general sort of way, that the Mexican War experience must have had some influence on those Civil War leaders who fought in both conflicts. Still, it is good to have that impact spelled out for specific cases. If, as William Wordsworth claimed, "the child is father of the man," then perhaps the subaltem is the teacher of the general. In the volume at hand Kevin Dougherty puts that proposition to the test by examining how the Mexican War experience influenced a baker's dozen each of Union and Confederate commanders.
These lessons were a mixed bag. Some are straightforward: Samuel F. Du Pont's experience in...