Kearny's March

The Epic Creation of the American West, 1846-1847

By: Winston Groom

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

In June 1846, General Stephen Watts Kearny rode out of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with two thousand soldiers, bound for California.

At the time, the nation was hell-bent on expansion: James K. Polk had lately won the presidency by threatening England over the borders in Oregon, while Congress had just voted, in defiance of the Mexican government, to annex Texas. After Mexico declared war on the United States, Kearny’s Army of the West was sent out, carrying orders to occupy Mexican territory. When his expedition ended a year later, the country had doubled in size and now stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific, fulfilling what many saw as the nation’s unique destiny—and at the same time setting the stage for the American Civil War.

Winston Groom recounts the amazing adventure and danger that Kearny and his troops encountered on the trail. Their story intertwines with those of the famous mountain man Kit Carson; Brigham Young and his Mormon followers fleeing persecution and Illinois; and the ill-fated Donner party, trapped in the snow of the Sierra Nevada. Together, they encounter Indians, Mexican armies, political intrigue, dangerous wildlife, gold rushes, and land-grabs. Some returned in glory, others in shackles, and some not at all. But these were the people who helped America fulfill her promise.

Distilling a wealth of letters, journals, and military records, Groom gives us a powerful account that enlivens our understanding of the exciting, if unforgiving, business of country-making.

©2011 Winston Groom (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Groom does it again

I love his histories - he elucidates obscure (to moderns) events with outsized impacts and does it in a very entertaining manner

Great

Great as can be Great writer and narrator historians will enjoy very much as much as we did Forrest Gump

A Complex, Compelling Story Clearly Told

I’ve forgotten how many separate yet interwoven movements westward are chronicled here, from the eponymous march of Stephen Kearny to the Mormons to the doomed Donner Party. But somehow Winston Groom manages to keep them all moving, seemingly simultaneously.

This is an exceptionally well written and read history. For me, perhaps the most surprising (and refreshing) aspect of it was Groom’s attitude toward the Mexican War. Instead of fevered pearl-clutching and scandalized eye-rolling, he reminds us that, while a blatant land-grab on our part, the Mexican government wasn’t doing a great job at keeping their own people safe in the disputed lands, even President Polk had no illusions about those lands being suited for plantation agriculture (they weren’t), and Mexico City had been rattling its saber at us for years previously.

And, as stated above, Grover Gardner does his usual spectacular job in the recording booth. My only regret is that I didn’t have a hard copy of the book so I could consult the maps once in a while.

Question research

I have read a few books by this author and enjoyed them, but knowing a little more about this topic, I discovered some of his writing to be misleading at best, inaccurate at worst. I don't know if his research is bad, or if he has biases that come through his writing, but I am wondering if the other books he has written also have some gross inaccuracies of which I am/was unaware.