Ben McCulloch and the Frontier Military Tradition (review)

IÓ2CIVIL WAR HISTORY Ben McCulloch and the Frontier Military Tradition. By Thomas W. Cutrer. (Chapel HiII and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. Pp. xiii, 402. $34-95) The fabled military frontier of Texas is beginning to attract a substantial amount of serious scholarship; thus, the legendary images, which for years commanded the field almost by default, are being brought into better focus. Cutrer's fine study does more to sharpen the image than to shatter it. Undergirded by excellent research in a wide range of primary and secondary sources, this biography is well-conceived, thorough, and admirably written. Cutrer's thesis is clearly and consistently presented. The frontier military tradition, based on experience in the field against unconventional enemies rather than formal education, gave McCulloch an invaluable edge. His contributions as a valiant and reliable scout and cavalry officer especially stood out in the Mexican War. Nevertheless, this tradition was fading with the passing of Jacksonian America and the ascendancy of a trained officer corps from West Point. McCulloch repeatedly failed to gain the regular army appointment that his talent and performance merited, despite having excellent and assiduously cultivated political connections. The point is made stronger by the fact that McCulloch recognized the obstacles to his promotion and sought better professional credentials—he made serious studies of military strategy and investments in armament innovations. Cutrer's interpretations are reasonable and balanced if also consistently favorable . The biography features the public dimensions of McCuIIoch's life. For example, it is certainly thorough and perhaps a bit repetitive on McCuIIoch 's administrative problems as a federal marshall but teasingly brief on his romantic interests. Certain aspects of the frontier military tradition—the essence of McCuIIoch's life—might have been more fully explored. His career as a Ranger in the Texas Republic surprisingly receives far less attention than his exploits in the U.S. Army in Mexico or at Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge in the Civil War. Atrocities involving his unit against the citizenry of Mexico, certainly a significant aspect of the Texas frontier tradition, are frankly acknowledged but not given elaboration, even as they related to the legendary status he gained from the Mexican War. Likewise, McCuIIoch's "fearsome" (240) reputation is developed mostly by inference and qualities that emerge from the book as a whole rather than from concentrated passages on character development. These observations largely revolve around matters of emphasis. Cutrer has produced a well-crafted work that makes an important contribution to understanding the frontier military tradition and the early stages of the Civil War in the West. Paul D. Lack McMurry University ...