QUARTERMASTERS OF CONQUEST: The Mexican-American War and the Making of South Texas, 1846-1860

1-248580

Explores the Quartermaster Department's critical but generally unappreciated functions -- its wartime support of three separate armies in the field and its long-term, consequential operations in the decade after the war. Describes how the Army imported Anglo labor to the area north of the Rio Grande. Suggests that this, along with river transportation and supply contractors, ultimately altered the demographics of the region and contributed to the growth of new Texas towns and cities. Combines analysis of wartime logistics with insight into the divergent military and social histories of the lower Rio Grande borderland to demonstrate the lasting influence of the Quartermaster Department on South Texas during the mid-nineteenth century -- and the wartime roots of Anglos' political dominance despite being an ethnic minority in the region. Contains three black and white illustrations, five maps, and two tables.