Gone for Soldiers

In 1847, Winfield Scott lands an American army at Veracruz and begins an inland campaign towards Mexico City. Captain Robert E. Lee serves as an engineer and reconnaissance officer, discovering routes that allow Scott to outflank stronger Mexican positions. Antonio López de Santa Anna attempts to defend the capital while political instability and inadequate resources weaken the Mexican war effort.

The campaign brings together young officers including Ulysses S. Grant, Thomas Jackson, James Longstreet and George Meade, men who will later command opposing armies in the Civil War. Shaara uses Scott and Lee as the central viewpoints for a study of professional soldiering, invasion and the formative experience of a war that expanded the United States at Mexico’s expense.