California Conquered: The Annexation of a Mexican Province, 1846-1850

by Neal Harlow

This book began as a venture to collect official and unofficial documents relating to the interval of American military rule. There proved to be thousands, the writings of Presidents, executive officers, and congressmen, naval and military personnel, governors, settlers, and citizens-routine, familiar, wheedling, seductive, blustering, commanding. As the quantity grew, they seemed eager to be heard. But the documents exhibit the traits of their makers. Containing neither the whole truth nor nothing but the truth, they offer many-sided versions of what people believed or wanted others to accept; they must be taken with a grain of salt. Long, sometimes garbled, and always incomplete, the record requires assessment, a referee to appraise the evidence and form his own imperfect conclusions. And any curious or dissenting reader may, by consulting the numerous cited sources, make his own interpretations. References, whenever possible, have been made to materials in some printed form, leading an inquirer to a vast array of historical evidence.  Everything herein happened, or so the record tells, and if an assumption has been made, it is that men, issues, and events can be interesting in their own right, without exaggeration. "To exaggerate," a knowing urban child recently observed, "means you put in something to make it more exciting" (Los Angeles Times, Dec. 10, 1978).

Genres: History

Paperback

First published August 10, 1982

Reviews

[George Kasnic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to read this book, not the fault of the book. I get on kicks and wanted to read up on California history for some reason lost to the personal mists of my time. Anyhow, I had read another book covering this same event - dig through my goodreads if you are interested in what book - and this book covered the same stuff, so it went to the bedside table and languished as read books needed for book club readings, professional development documents, periodicals.

Anyhow, I got back to it. The first halfish part of the book recounts the military campaigns. Frankly if you had read one account of the military campaigns you have it covered. Low intensity, a few columns, some skirmishes, one "battle" which would not have made the news in larger wars also pretty much a skirmish, and basically maneuvering and posturing.

This book really shines in detailing the organization and governing of the territory after the ejection of Mexican rule - which was never really there anyway in this far flung outpost - and prior to the election of a self-government prior to statehood. This task devolved upon the army and it seems they rose to the occasion in a world where communication took months and leaders had to take decisions upon themselves. This book does a great job of taking us through that, the retention of laws in place from Mexico which did not conflict with the US constitution, which was not really in place yet out here. Then the transition to representative self-government.

We could have learned a lot from this history when trying to rebuild Iraq. Those who refuse to learn history....