94 Fortunately, common sense prevailed: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 174.

95 After an extended journey: Ibid., 178.

96 The race was won: Pryor, Reading the Man, 122.

96 It may be true: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 185.

98 He took care to praise: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 102.

98 “I receive poor encouragement”: Ibid., 103.

99 “He seemed to be weighted down”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 188.

99 Mary and the children: Ibid., 191.

101 “appointed as a member”: Ibid., 194.

101 “horror at the sight of pen”: Ibid.

101 It was neither interesting nor demanding: Ibid., 197.

101 “adventuresome young man”: Ibid., 196.

101 In a piece of surgery: Ibid.

101 “We must endeavor to assist her”: Coulling, The Lee Girls, 13.

101 In any event, Lee was the most admirable: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 196.

102 required a “tight rein”: Ibid.

CHAPTER 4 The Perfect Warrior—Mexico, 1846–1848

104 “Generally, the officers”: Christopher Conway and Gustavo Pellon, The U.S.-Mexican War: Binational Reader (Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett, 2010), 153.

104 “The Southern rebellion”: Joan Waugh, U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 203.

104 “better satisfied”: Robert E. Lee to Mary Lee, May 12, 1846, Debutts-Ely Papers, Library of Congress; Elizabeth Pryor, Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Papers (New York: Viking, 2007), 158.

104 The “Texans”: Wikipedia, “Mexican-American War,” 3.

105 Provocation was not long in coming: Ibid., 14, n12.

106 “the Sharpening of Swords”: Pryor, Reading the Man, 158.

106 “If he were left at Fort Hamilton”: Douglas Southall Freeman, Robert E. Lee: A Biography (New York: Scribner, 1934), Vol. 1, 202.

107 “I reached here last night”: Robert E. Lee to Mary Lee, September 21, 1846, Debutts-Ely Letters, Library of Congress.

108 He was accompanied by his “faithful”: Robert E. Lee Jr., Recollections and Letters of Robert E. Lee (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1924), 5.

108 Connally took care: Ibid.; Reverend J. William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert E. Lee: Soldier and Man (New York: Neale, 1906), 50.

110 This was cautious, but unnecessary: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 208; Wikipedia, “Mexican-American War,” 8.

110 To Wool’s dismay: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 211.

113 Worth was a fiery hero: Ibid., 53.

117 “the largest amphibious invasion yet attempted”: John Eisenhower, So Far from God: The U.S. War in Mexico, 1846–1848 (New York: Anchor, 1990), 255.

117 His incredibly detailed plans: Ibid., 253–54.

117 They were “the first specially built”: K. Jack Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines: U.S. Naval Operations in the Mexican War 1846–1848 (Annapolis, Md.: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1969), 66.

120 Dust clouds in the distance: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 214.

120 Lee picked “the son”: Ibid., 215.

120 Lee’s cavalry escort: Ibid.

120 “on a hill not far away”: Ibid.

121 “This Mexican was the most delighted”: Ibid., 216.

121 Lee had ridden: Ibid.

121 The incident apparently: Ibid.

122 Although Scott couched his demand: Winfield Scott, Memoirs of Lieut.-General Scott, LL.D. Written by Himself (New York: Sheldon, 1864), Vol. 2, 403.

122 A second problem was that Scott: Ibid., 402.

122 “a great disappointment”: Ibid.

122 “I had now”: Ibid., 403.

123 For the moment: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 219.

124 From the sea Tampico: Ibid., 220.

124 Scott had been informed: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 413.

125 Lee was one of the few: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 221.

125 “a gently curving strip”: Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 77.

125 The landing was scheduled: Ibid., 78.

126 Lee witnessed the landing: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 419.

126 “were considered . . . to be among the strongest”: Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 83.

126 The wall around: Ibid.

127 As “Scott’s protégé”: Allan Peskin, Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2003), 155, 156.

127 “a lurid glare”: Ibid., 157.

128 “but hidden from its view”: Ibid.

128 Lee built the battery: Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 92.

128 Lee found the sailors: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 230.

129 “unconscious of personal danger”: Ibid., 231.

129 “No matter where I turned”: Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee (New York: Appleton, 1913), 36–37; Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 231.

129 The hellish exchange: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 158.

129 On March 25 the city’s: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 427; Eisenhower, So Far from God, 264.

129 Mexico’s “principal port”: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 428.

130 “It was awful”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 231.

130 As Lee looked: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 159.

130 Of these, the better road: Ibid., 162.

130 This road crossed: Ibid.

131 In Washington, President Polk: Ibid., 174.

131 Worth’s behavior: Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Fifty Years in Camp and Field (New York: Putnam, 1909), 130.

132 Two days out of Vera Cruz: Justin H. Smith, The War with Mexico (St. Petersburg, Fla.: Red and Black, 2011), 47; Peskin, Winfield Scott, 162.

132 The troops applauded: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 432.

133 “that indefatigable engineer”: Smith, The War with Mexico, 50.

134 “The right of the Mexican line”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 239.

134 One of Twiggs’s engineers: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 163.

134 there were Mexican troops: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 239.

135 More soldiers came and went: Ibid., 240.

135 “He did not reach”: Ibid., 241.

136 Worth was still sulking: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 149.

136 The spirit of the senior officers: Ibid.

136 It was a grueling: Smith, The War with Mexico, 51.

136 The intention had been: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 242–43.

136 “You infernal scoundrel”: Ibid., 243.

137 “Charge them to hell”: Ibid.

137 Twiggs had sacrificed: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 148.

138 “Her plaintive tone”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, 291.

138 The only part of Scott’s plan: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 167.

138 Over 1,000 Mexican soldiers: Ibid.; Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol.