An Officer of the Old Guard: Lewis Stephenson Craig, 1807–1852 by William Harris Bragg (review)

Prominent antebellum U.S. Army leaders and commanders often left paper collections or memoirs readily digested and reexamined by historians and scholars, making new material on the antebellum U.S. Army fruitful for further exploration. Such is the case with William Harris Bragg's study of Lewis Stephenson Craig, which brings Craig's letters, journals, and a heretofore untouched family archive to the forefront. The result is a rich personal portrait of a Virginia gentleman and military officer, who had been denied his plantation by unscrupulous older siblings and guardians and was given an officer's commission when lengthy court battles cost him his inheritance. Abandoning hopes of a place among the Virginia gentry, Craig sought martial glory, gaining a commission as an officer in the Second Dragoons, which he led into the fray in the battle of the Loxahatchee River during the Second Seminole War. Having demonstrated his martial abilities at a time when non–West Point graduates faced prospects of resignation, Craig received a transfer to the Third Infantry regiment. While serving on the southwestern frontier, he not only met and married Elizabeth Church but also continued to distinguish himself before being ordered to accompany the Third Infantry to the U.S.-Mexican border in anticipation of war.

At this point, Bragg's narrative assumes a new form, a deft balance of historical contextualization with excerpts from Craig's journal of his service in the Mexican War. Bragg's efforts are workmanlike as he lets the officer speak: the reader follows Craig in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, shares in his promotion to captain, and marches into the battle of Monterrey, where the Third Infantry distinguished itself in seizing the city. Craig continues as the dominant narrator, describing his path into the enemy works at the battle of Cerro Gordo and thence down the National Road into central Mexico. Craig's wartime journal concluded with General Winfield Scott's capture of Mexico City and Craig's brevet promotions to major for gallantry in the battle of Monterrey and to lieutenant colonel for his efforts at Contreras and Churubusco.

After the war, Craig received an appointment to the Joint United States and Mexico Boundary Commission, functioning as the military escort to those charting the boundary between the two nations. The author's narrative continues to balance Craig's extant journal (it is missing the October 26–November 16, 1851, period) with additional historical context tracing the surveying team's progress. Departing from San Antonio and proceeding to El Paso, Craig chronicled the challenges faced by the infantry company under his command, such as Native attacks and actions by U.S. Army deserters. This latter threat brought an ignominious end to Craig's career, as he was murdered while attempting to apprehend a deserter on June 5, 1852.

Bragg is at his best when discussing Craig's experience, effectively describing the social and cultural context of life in the Old South and how a young man looked to military service as an alternative to plantation life. Bragg's deeper understanding of the antebellum U.S. Army is less nuanced. While he repeatedly speaks of military professionalism and national service, Bragg's treatment of those notions with respect to officers' possessing a recognized body of military expertise, their shared responsibilities regarding commitment and national service, and the larger corporate nature of officership is cursory at best, particularly considering Craig's uniqueness in receiving a commission direct from civilian life and otherwise lacking the shared West Point traditions that defined the army officer corps before the Mexican War. These shortcomings notwithstanding, Bragg is to be credited for making the life of Lewis Stephenson Craig available to future scholars of the antebellum U.S. Army.