For four years during the Civil War, Generals Grant and Lee clashed as bitter enemies in a war that bloodied and scorched the American landscape. Yet in an earlier time, they had worn the same uniform and fought together.
In The Training Ground, acclaimed historian Martin Dugard presents the saga of how, two decades before the Civil War, a group of West Point graduates-including Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and William Tecumseh Sherman-fought together as brothers. Drawing on a range of primary sources and original research, Dugard paints a gripping narrative of the Mexican War, which eventually almost doubled the size of the United States.
The Training Ground vividly takes us into the thick brush of Palo Alto, where a musket ball narrowly misses Grant but kills a soldier standing near him; through the mountains and ravines of Cerro Gordo, as Lee searches frantically for a secret route into the Mexican army's seemingly invincible position; to Monterrey, as future enemies Davis and Grant ride together into battle; down the California coast, where war-hungry Sherman seeks blood and vengeance. And we are there as the young troops mount the final heroic-and deadly-assault on Mexico City. With narrative verve and brilliant research, The Training Ground brings to light a story of brotherhood, sacrifice, and initiation by fire.
Martin Dugard is the New York Times best-selling author of such nonfiction titles as The Last Voyage of Columbus, Farther Than Any Man, Knockdown, Chasing Lance, and Into Africa.
Martin Dugard is the New York Times bestselling author of such nonfiction titles as Chasing Lance, The Last Voyage of Columbus, Farther Than Any Man, Knockdown, and Into Africa. He has written for Esquire, Outside, Sports Illustrated, and GQ. Dugard lives in Orange County, California, with his wife and three sons.
Table of Contents
Author's Note Appomattox Prologue Book One: Line in the Sand One: Corpus Christi Two: Rio Grande Three: Rough and Ready Four: Fields of Fire Five: Call to Battle Six: Fort Texas Seven: Clash Eight: Resaca de la Palma Nine: Brown Bess Ten: Volunteers Eleven: Growing Up Book Two: Taylor's War Twelve: Camargo Thirteen: Star-Spangled Banner Fourteen: Eager for Action Fifteen: First Mississippi Sixteen: The Westerner Seventeen: The Rifles Eighteen: Supply Train Nineteen: Prelude Twenty: Monterrey, Day One Twenty-One: Monterrey, Day Two Twenty-Two: The Mortar Book Three: Politics and War Twenty-Three: Change of Command Twenty-Four: The Perils of Occupation Twenty-Five: Policy and Power Book Four: Scott's War Twenty-Six: Transfers Twenty-Seven: The Artillery Officer Twenty-Eight: One Step Closer Twenty-Nine: California Thirty: Taylor Stands Alone Thirty-One: The Hacienda Thirty-Two: Lobos Island Thirty-Three: Invasion Thirty-Four: National Road Thirty-Five: Twiggs's Dilemma Thirty-Six: Reconnaissance Thirty-Seven: Pressing the Advantage Book Five: The Aztec Club Thirty-Eight: "Nothing Can Stop This Army" Thirty-Nine: Old Glory Forty: Conquest Forty-One: Fourth of July Epilogue Acknowledgments Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Selected Notes and Biographies Selected Bibliography Index
