Surrounded by Dangers of All Kinds: The Mexican War Letters of Lieutenant Theodore Laidley

Lieutenant Theodore Laidley, a West Point graduate whose army career spanned forty years until his retirement as a colonel in 1882, was a young officer during the Mexican War. Like so many of his fellow soldiers he wrote long letters home describing new and unusual sights and events. His letters home to his father in Virginia begin on August 23, 1845 (from Watervliet Arsenal, New York) and end on May 13, 1848 (from Mexico City). They reveal the horrors of the battlefield, his low opinion of volunteer soldiers, the jealousy over promotions within the officer corps, and continued concerns over his own physical and spiritual health.

About the author

James M. McCaffrey is an associate professor of history at the University of Houston-Downtown. His previous books include "This Band of Heroes: Granbury's "Texas" Brigade, C.S.A.; Army of Manifest Destiny: The American Soldier in the Mexican War, 1846"-"1848"; with John F. Kinney, "Wake Island Pilot: "A" World War II Memoir."

Product details

• Authors: Theodore Laidley
• Assisted by: James M. McCaffrey (Editor)
• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.11.1997
• EAN: 9781574410341
• ISBN: 978-1-57441-034-1
• No. of pages: 185
• Dimensions: 161 mm x 237 mm x 21 mm
• Weight: 526 g
• Series: War and the Southwest; War & the Southwest
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > History