Dugard surveys Mexican War history from the biographical angle - following the trajectory of the new class of professional soldiers graduated from West Point Military Academy through their early careers on frontier outposts and their first battle action as comrades in the disputed Tex-Mexican regions.

Dugard shows a deft touch in tracing the parabola forward 15 years to the Civil War when many of these great leaders, once great friends and brothers in blood, would face each other on opposite sides of the battle lines. By drawing the connections between these best-known leaders (primarily Grant and Sherman and Lee and Davis, as indicated in the subtitle) in the Mexican War, Dugard shows that he has learned the difficult principle of historical writing that sometimes the unsaid word conveys more than unneeded ones. Readers, better-educated on the leaders and battles of the Civil War, will draw the pictures of irony and poignancy in their own minds, and Dugard's book is better (and shorter) for it.

While Dugard traces some of the background and history of the Mexican War to set the stage and move the interactions between the principles forward, this is not an intended or exhaustive history of the Mexican War and its battles. It is an eminently readable account of how these men's careers were shaped and deflected by the Mexican War, and how those experiences prepared them for the epic conflict yet to come.

One thing that really jumps out is how personal the bonds of loyalty and national patriotism were at this early stage of American history. The now-familiar Stars and Stripes of the American flag was newly adopted, and the Mexican Conflict was the first fought under its red, white, and blue colors. In addition, the difference in standing, objectives, and accoutrement between the very small cadre of professional soldiers and the much larger corps of short-term, poorly-trained, and independently-led volunteers is a key component of the fighting and outcome of the Mexican War. In one of the more powerful passages of the book worthy of quoting at length, Dugard tells of the triumphant return home of Jefferson Davis after leading the volunteer Mississippi Rifles through the war:

"But Davis and the First did not step off those steamships in the garish red and white uniforms that once made them so easily visible. The State of Mississippi had sent a new outfit to the unit that was more in keeping with the national spirit. The new uniforms had reached them at the mouth of the Rio Grande. When the First Mississippi walked down the gangplank and back onto Mississippi soil, they now wore blue uniforms, just like their regular army brethren. And so, on that day, after a lively barbecue that included thirteen rounds of toasting, the military career of Jefferson Davis came to an end--in blue."

The mantle of united national power and patriotism, Lincoln's great accomplished objective of the Civil War (still undiminished in light of 145 years of history), blinds our backward-looking eye to the regional loyalty and feeling that pervaded those still-early years of the Republic. The personal bonds of loyalty, blood and friendship forged in the Mexican War overcame the regional disputes, political battles, logistical problems, and numerical disparity on those distant Mexican battlefields.

Dugard does a very good job of telling those stories of blood and loyalty.

Well written, easily understood exposition on a relatively unknown chapter of American History. I particularly enjoyed this glimpse into some of the formative experiences of so many of the men who would play major roles in the Civil War.

I was very disappointed with The Training Ground. It is a good read but you can't trust it. There are numerious factual errors. On page 160, Mr. Dugard states "He (Abraham Lincoln)was born in Kentucky and lived there until moving to Illinois at the age of 22." Maybe Mr. Dugard considers the 14 years that the Lincoln family spent in Indiana as just passing through? The Lincolns moved to Illinois when Abe was 21 and they had lived in Spencer County Indiana since he was 7.
When I started the book, I hoped to learn more about men that I knew mostly from the Civil War. The farther I got into it, the more I felt a need to double check Dugard's statements

A history book that you cannot put down. Dugard impeccably details the landscape of war and the tremendous strength, loyalty, leadership and courage of young men faced with insurmountable circumstances. The writing is fluid, informative, and rich. One of the many strengths of The Training Ground is the manner in which the chaos and brutality of war is contrasted with individuals and how their lives are forever affected. I've heard the term "page anxiety" used with history books. There is none to be found here. I found this book bold, informative and told from a perspective lacking in its genre. An exellent, excellent read.

Did you know that George Pickett would become "something of a cult figure for graduating fifty-ninth in a class of fifty-nine and then later led one of the most famous cavalry charges in the history of modern warfare"? On page six, this book imparts the astounding historical fact that Pickett's Charge was mounted. 145 years, millions of words, hundreds of book, thousands of prints and paintings but Martin Dugard found the truth. However, there is no footnote proving that Pickett's Division road to battle on July 3, 1863. Without that little detail, I will continue to think they were an infantry division and the men walked both ways.
The dust jacket says Dugard is a "bestselling author of non-fiction", while that may be true, he is not a historian. The book has multiple direct quotes and no footnotes to support them. At the end of the book is a section entitled "Selected Notes and Biographies" that is designed to make the book appear to be a serious history.
The book is readable but neither a history of the War with Mexico nor a history of the men involved. This is a series of stories, strung together about men who would be generals in another war. At best, it is a readable introduction. At worst, it is full of errors, misquotes and misstatements.