Alexander William Doniphan was one of the most significant and popular figures in Missouri from the 1830s through the 1870s. He excelled as an orator above all but was also an extremely successful attorney (he defended 188 clients on murder charges with most being found innocent and none receiving the death penalty), military leader, politician and businessman and an influential educator and farmer. Doniphan's most famous exploit, the conquest of New Mexico and Chihuahua and the creation of a law code to govern the first area, was chronicalled several times in the 19th century but this is the first full biography to be published about this important man. I have studied most of the available primary and secondary sources on Doniphan and find this biography to be both balanced and complete. Anyone who is interested in Mormon, Missouri or Western History should find this book worth reading.

Dr. Joseph Dawson's new book is an outstanding study of perhaps the most grueling and longest campaign in American military history. Following in-hand with Dr. Roger Lanius' superb recent biography of the Mexican War's quintessential citizen-soldier, Alexander William Doniphan, colonel of the 1st Missouri Mounted Volunteer Regiment, this is a regimental history well-done and well-told. Dawson's strong military back-ground, meticulous research, and smooth and vibrant writing style brings color and passion to a great military venture. The reader is carried away in the struggle, the dust and grime of the march, but it never loses the focus of the winds of Manifest Destiny and the tidal-wave of national expansion. Glory and gore fill the pages as Doniphan, the most unlikely hero of the war, leads his rag-tag, motley command of Missourians hundreds of miles deep into Mexican territory, winning two major battles on the way. His ability to paint the difficulty and drudgery of the march, the courage and sacrifice of the men, and the unfolding national events in Washington and Mexico City are all woven into the fabric of splendid prose. The only area that may be considered a shortcoming is the last chapter that spends so much time and ink on the sectional crisis over slavery. Here, the flow loses some focus from the previously straight and direct narrative of the war and Doniphan's march. Joseph Dawson succeeded is telling the story of a great but little known military operation that is rivaled only by Alexander and Napoleon's feats.

"Doniphan's Epic March" explores the experience of the 1st Missouri Volunteers in the Mexican-American War. A volunteer unit formed in June 1846, just after the declaration of war against Mexico, the 1st Missouri formed an integral part of the Army of West led by Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny. Under the command of Alexander William Doniphan-an able young Missouri lawyer, militiaman, and politician-the 1st Missouri performed admirably in the conquest of New Mexico and northern Mexico in 1846-1847. He led it on an epic march of 3,600 miles throughout the Southwest, commanding it to victory over two larger Mexican forces at El Brazito and Sacramento. Joseph G. Dawson III, on the faculty at Texas A&M University, tells this story with enthusiasm and pungency.

The significance of Dawson's work rests on his analysis of the role of citizen soldiers in the wars of America, using Doniphan as a case study, both in the context of combat operations and in military governance of captured territory. In many respects Doniphan was a Cincinnatus at the plough, answering the call of his people to defeat perceived enemies. As such he was like many other Americans both before and since. Dawson explores this issue in relation to the nineteenth century American military establishment, an establishment that gave Doniphan, and indeed all other non-career officers, grudging respect at best. In a rare episode, the Army even invited Doniphan to address the cadets at West Point in the aftermath of the war. Dawson concludes that such citizen soldiers as Doniphan have been an important source of strength for the United States throughout its history. Yet they have received scant attention and even less analysis by military historians.

Dawson also uses Doniphan to evaluate the role of the military in governing conquered foreign provinces. This was something that the United States did not have to deal with before the Mexican-American War. But the acquisition of New Mexico and California by invasion of the Army of the West raised important questions about the status of the peoples residing there and the form of government to be established. Doniphan's legal background made him an ideal advisor to Kearny as he dealt with these questions in relation to New Mexico. With the mission of bringing New Mexico into the United States, Doniphan counseled Kearny to swear its residents to allegiance to the conquering nation and to establish a civilian government as expeditiously as possible. Kearny did just that, and Doniphan wrote both an oath of allegiance used throughout the territory and a law code that served well the now U.S.-controlled territory of New Mexico. This approach, championed by Doniphan, set a precedent that has continued.

"Doniphan's Epic March" is a good book. It is solidly researched and well written. Most important, it offers broad conclusions about the role of volunteer officers in American military history.