A Fighter from Way Back: The Mexican War Diary of Lt. Daniel Harvey Hill, 4th Artillery, USA

A welcome addition to the eyewitness sources available to researchers and scholars of the U.S.-Mexican War

Born in July 1821, Daniel Harvey Hill grew up in “genteel poverty” on a large plantation in York District, South Carolina. He entered West Point and graduated in the middle of the renowned Class of 1842. Following garrison duty as a junior lieutenant with the First and Third Artilleries, Hill joined the Fourth Artillery at Fortress Monroe in January 1846. Six months later he was en route to Mexico.

Published here for the first time, Hill’s diary vividly recounts the Mexican War experiences of this proud young officer. He was observant and opinionated, recording details about soldiers, officers, logistics, units, the health of the army, and the progress of the campaign.

NATHANIEL CHEAIRS HUGHES JR., retired preparatory school headmaster, has written or edited more than a dozen books on the Civil War, including a biography of Mexican-American War general Gideon J. Pillow.

TIMOTHY JOHNSON, professor of history at Lipscomb University, is the author of a biography of Winfield Scott.