Against the Grain: Colonel Henry M. Lazelle and the U.S. Army by James Carson (review)

Against the Grain is a comprehensive biography of Col. Henry M. Lazelle, a career military officer who served in numerous positions in the United States Army during the latter part of the nineteenth century. After graduating from West Point near the bottom of his class in 1855, Lazelle was stationed in Texas, and later New Mexico, where he commanded troops in the fight against Apaches warriors. When the Civil War erupted in 1861, he became a prisoner of Texas Confederates, spending a year as a “paroled” prisoner of war. Following a prisoner exchange, Lazelle made his way to Washington, DC, where his superiors assigned him to the Commissary General of Prisoners and charged him with the duty of inspecting military prisons and overseeing prisoner-of-war exchanges. In 1863 he was given command of the Sixteenth New York Voluntary Cavalry Regiment, which was attached to Union forces assigned to guard the nation’s capital from Confederate attacks.

After the war, Lazelle was stationed in the Carolinas as part of the occupation forces assigned to maintain peace and order in the southern states during Reconstruction. In 1870 his regiment was sent west, where the troops under his command fought against the Sioux and Cheyenne. In the decade that followed, Lazelle was part of the Yellowstone Expedition that aided and protected the Northern Pacific Railroad during its construction and led military forces that opened the Black Hills to settlers and prospectors. In 1877 Lazelle was promoted to the rank of major with the First Infantry Regiment stationed at Fort Sully, South Dakota. While attached to this regiment, he led troops against the Sioux in several engagements along the Tongue, Powder, and Little Missouri rivers. Two years later, Lazelle was appointed commander of cadets at West Point. Unfortunately, he became embroiled in a controversy involving an African American cadet, Johnson Chestnut Whittaker. Lazelle’s actions in this incident led ultimately to his dismissal from the officer corps in charge of West Point and his reassignment to Fort Craig, a desolate post in New Mexico. At the end of his career, the aging officer was selected to oversee the publication of the Official Records of the War of Rebellion. However, he became entangled in political dispute concerning the election of Grover Cleveland to the presidency, leading his superiors to reassign him once again to fortifications located on the Texas frontier.

While this study covers in detail the event of Lazelle’s life, it also provides a glimpse into the command structure of the US Army during the nineteenth century. Readers will be fascinated to learn that the successes and failures of army officers were often determined more by the whims of higher-ranking commanders and politicians than by dutiful service, merit, and bravery. Given that Lazelle tended to challenge the authority of his superiors, it is understandable why he failed to rise above the rank of colonel.

Against the Grain is a fascinating account of one man’s service to his country. Despite the fact that Carson is Lazelle’s great-grandson, the author provides a balanced perspective on the troubled military career of his ancestor. This well-researched and well-written book will be of particular interest to students of nineteenth-century military history.