General Lane's Brigade in Central Mexico

In June of 1847, Albert Brackett joined the 4th Indiana Volunteer Regiment and set out for Mexico.  The regiment set off down the Ohio River and thence to the Mississippi.  By the 4th of July, they were camped near New Orleans.  A month later, the regiment had sailed up the Rio Grande to the training camp in Mier, Mexico.  After a month of marching and drilling, the regiment went back down the Rio Grande and embarked for Vera Cruz.  Brigadier General Joseph Lane's brigade departed Vera Cruz on September 19th, not yet aware that Mexico City had been captured 4 days earlier.  As the brigade marched inland, they did not know that Santa Anna intended to attack this relief column, hoping to break the Americans' supply lines and starve the US Army.  At Perote, the brigade met Texas Ranger Captain Samuel Walker who commanded a company of Texas Mounted infantry.  He had already won fame during the early battles of the war under General Zachary Taylor.  Continuing west with the Texas Mounted infantry, General Lane learned of Santa Anna's forces at Huamantla.  He marched his force for battle.  Though there had been guerrilla skirmishes on the roads, this was Albert's first taste of battle.  Though only 18 years-old, he was a Lieutenant and marched his men down the streets while gunfire erupted.  Though the Americans won the battle, Samuel Walker was killed.  The brigade soon arrived at Puebla where they lifted the siege that Santa Anna had waged; the American garrison - hard-pressed for 4 weeks - was relieved and the supply lines secured.  It was the middle of October, and the 4th Indiana would be based at Puebla until April.  After a brief redeployment to Nopalucan, the regiment marched for Vera Cruz.  Standing on the beach with the rest of Company I, he saw that 46 of the original 90 men were gone, almost all of them having died.  By July 16, 1848, Lt. Brackett was back in Indiana and discharged from the military.

This memoir is a fascinating narrative of the war and provides glimpses of the many officers and men with whom he had contact.  In these days, the states would raise companies and regiments that would support the regular army.  Volunteer forces were generally mustered for a limited time.  In the early days of the war, there were 3 month and 6 month volunteers, which dictated when an offensive might be launched.  Taylor was hampered after some of his early victories as his volunteer forces went home.  Colonel Joseph Lane had commanded the 2nd Indiana Volunteer Regiment at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, winning his promotion to general in the aftermath.

The book is as much of a travelogue as a campaign journal.  Brackett offers details about plants, animals, food, culture, architecture, geography, weather, and more.  He records some songs he heard, both English and Spanish.  There are short biographies of officers in his regiment and occasionally details on their lives after the war (his memoir having been written in 1854).  Some of these post-war details go too far, offering lengthy tangents that are narrated by others; it's like he copied and pasted a news story into his book to add some pages.

Certainly not a book for everyone but highly recommended for those interested in the Mexican-American War.