AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Vaqueros in Blue & Gray by Jerry D. Thompson ISBN: 1-880510-72-3 Publisher: State House Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Contributions to the USA and CSA during the Civil War
Comment: The book Vaqueros in Blue and Gray provides an insightfully resource of the contributions made by Hispanics to both the United States of America (USA) and the Confederate States of America (CSA) during the American Civil War. From an Anglo standpoint, I feel that this book better helps Civil War researchers better understand the Civil War and the contributions made by Mexicans and others with surnames like Sanchez, Martinez, and Moreno to both the CSA and USA.

Rating: 5
Summary: An important, unique contribution to Civil War studies.
Comment: This history of Hispanic involvements in the Civil War includes the first comprehensive list compiled over Confederate and Union Hispanic participants who served, providing a history which will particularly appeal to students of Texas state history. Vaqueros in Blue & Gray originally appeared in 1976; this new edition provides a new introduction, foreword, and the list of participants.

Rating: 2
Summary: This book adds little value to Civil War research
Comment: The author focuses on Texas-Mexicans, who enlisted in the Union and Confederate armies. No grand motives were involved. The enlistees joined for a variety of reasons: bonus money, clothing, food, escape from a ruthless peonage system, and because of a paternalistic tradition stemming from their Mexican heritage. Regardless, the Texas-Mexican committment was weak throughout the Civil War. An exception was the Benavides brothers, particularly, Santos, who was the highest ranking Texas-Mexican in either army.

While American-Mexican soldiers served in various state units - Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Vermont, et. al., this book is about the Texas-Mexicans who served along the Rio Grande River, dividing Texas and Mexico. In the course of their service, these confederate soldiers were chiefly involved in border incidents, fighting bandits, chasing rustlers, etc. It's clear Texas officials used Texas-Mexican soldiers not to fight the Union but to protect Texas land and property.

Approximately 2600 Texas-Mexicans served the South and 950 served the Union. The illiteracy rate for Texas-Mexicans was as high as 95% and their lack of English kept them in the lowest ranks throughout the war. Of the 62 men in one confederate regiment, only 3 were born in Texas. Many had been born in Mexico and ranged in age to 50 years. The Texas-Mexicans thought of their army service as a job through which they could send money to their families in Mexico - an early Bracero program.

When pay and morale deteriorated, the Texas-Mexicans deserted the confederate and union armies. They simply rode out of camps carrying clothing, arms, and riding the best horses. The desertion rate was of serious concern. In some units it ran as high as 100%, as Captain Adrian Vidal's "Independent Partisan Union Rangers" deserted in its entirety.

Prejudice against the Texas-Mexicans soldiers was overt and contributed to the desertion rate. One officer's comment is pertinent, "I consider them (Texas-Mexicans) as dishonest, cowardly, and treacherous." His feelings were supported by many Anglos in both armies. In this context, the Texas-Mexicans were given old and outdated arms and scrub horses - those not considered good enough for other army units.

The author knows the framework of his subject. Where he fails is in trying to put the results of his knowledge into a semblance of lucidity. The book is hard to read and doesn't hold a casual reader's interest. There is no explanation of the relationship of the battles described to the overall strategy of the South. Further, there are no maps with which to follow the battles narrated by the author.

Another defect is that there are no accounts of the daily lives of the Texas-Mexican soldiers: how they behaved under fire, what they ate, what they thought, how they spent their leisure time, and so forth. The book is also cluttered with footnote references as if the author believed 271 footnotes bestowed literary merit on 120 pages of text. The index is rudimentary and of limited value to the reader. In the author's defense, he obviously did a lot of research. However, no writer can enlighten a subject when the subject is presented with little form and substance.

The military events in the Civil War numbered 10,455 which doesn't include naval actions or countless other scrapes and clashes that didn't find their way into official records. This book adds nothing to the history of the "Vaquero" and does a disservice to Texas-Mexicans by denigrating their will to survive despite the foolishness foisted on them by the Anglos.

One irony that escapes the author is that the war between the states may have ended slavery in the United States but the Texas-Mexicans who fought in the Civil War continued in peonage well into the 20th century. They lived as they did before the war, clustered in small villages along the muddy waters of the Rio Grande, many in poverty, and many others suppressed economically and politically.

More than 60,000 books, monographs, pamphlets, et. al., have been written about the Civil War in all its aspects. This book adds little value to that vast body of work.