Notes Concerning the Author
Robert Selph Henry (1889-1970) was born at Clifton, Tennessee to Robert Allison Henry and wife Jemima Emily. Soon afterward the Henry’s moved to Nashville. He graduated from Vanderbilt in 1911 and did post graduate work at Queens College in Cambridge, England. He was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1911 and practiced law in Nashville from 1915 to 1921. For the next 13 years he was assistant to the president of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad. In 1934 he left the railroad industry to study and write history, about which he was passionate, especially history concerning the southern States and their people.
Henry’s first notable book was The Story of the Confederacy published in 1937 and is among the Society’s Recommended Reading List. For many years that work was considered to be the definitive history of the rise of the Confederate States of America and the War Between the States. The book on the War Against Mexico was published in 1950. He wrote many other books as well.
Abstract
The Society considers Henry’s work to be a good narrative, with awareness of the importance of the Mexican War experience to leaders on both sides in the War between the States, which began 13 years after the treaty by which Mexico gave up its claim to the vast land west of Texas, all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Availability of this Book
Used books and reprints are available for purchase at modest prices. Consider Amazon and other outlets. Da Capo Press published a reprint paperback in 1969, consisting of 424 pages.
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