The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 97, July 1993 - April, 1994 Page: 22

Cover: Company E, Dragoons, Fighting, Buena Vista by Sam Chamberlain,
date unknown. Watercolor and pencil, 6 3/8 x 11 3/4 inches. Courtesy
San Jacinto Museum of History.
This illustration is from the forthcoming TSHA publication Sam Cham-
berlain's Mexican War: The San Jacinto Museum of History Paintings. Featur-
ing over 16o paintings reproduced in full color, and with a text by
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian William H. Goetzmann, this book is a
tribute to the talents of U.S. Army private Sam Chamberlain, a writer,
artist, and adventurer who was the most prolific artist of the Mexican
War. In hundreds of lively watercolors, such as this view of Capt. D. H.
Rucker's First Dragoons at the Battle of Buena Vista, Chamberlain pro-
vided up-close views of the battles, marches, atrocities, and tall tales of
this crucial event in the history of the U.S. and Mexico. Based largely on
the 147 watercolors now owned by the San Jacinto Musem of History,
Sam Chamberlain's Mexican War reproduces these historical and artistic
treasures for the first time, and quotes from Chamberlain's ribald origi-
nal manuscript, "My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue." Goetz-
mann's text details the complex career of Chamberlain, a fascinating
and mysterious hero in both the Mexican and Civil wars. Published for
the San Jacinto Museum of History by the TSHA, Sam Chamberlain's Mexi-
can War will be available in the fall of 1993.