Distilling a wealth of letters, journals, and military records, Groom gives us a powerful account that enlivens our understanding of the exciting, if unforgiving, business of country-making.From the Hardcover edition. But these were the people who helped America fulfill her promise. Some returned in glory, others in shackles, and some not at all. Together, they encounter wild Indians, Mexican armies, political intrigue, dangerous wildlife, gold rushes, and land-grabs. Their story intertwines with those of the famous mountain man Kit Carson Brigham Young and his Mormon followers fleeing persecution and Illinois and the ill-fated Donner party, trapped in the snow of the Sierra Nevada. Winston Groom recounts the amazing adventure and danger that Kearny and his troops encountered on the trail. When his expedition ended a year later, the country had doubled in size and now stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific, fulfilling what many saw as the nation's unique destiny-and at the same time setting the stage for the American Civil War. After Mexico declared war on the United States, Kearny's Army of the West was sent out, carrying orders to occupy Mexican territory. Polk had lately won the presidency by threatening England over the borders in Oregon, while Congress had just voted, in defiance of the Mexican government, to annex Texas.

At the time, the nation was hell-bent on expansion: James K. Kearny's March: The Epic Creation of the American West, 1846-1847 by Winston Groom. In June 1846, General Stephen Watts Kearny rode out of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with two thousand soldiers, bound for California.

Kearny's March by Winston Groom