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Narrative of the Texan Sante Fé Expedition: Comprising a Description of a Tour Through Texas, and Across the Great Southwestern Prairies, the Camanche ... Want of Food, Losses From Hostile...; v.2
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436 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1844
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
June 8, 2025
Review for both volumes:
An extensive and detailed account, maybe too much detail sometimes creating a work of 800 pages overall.
It is an interesting description of the Mexico of 1840s, showing its wide diversity from small poor villages to vibrant cities from barbaric military officers to the kind and professional ones. However I cannot miss the opportunity to mention the bad and questionable.
While I agree that the treatment given to the prisoners was harsh and sometimes criminal (i.e. extrajudicial executions) Kendall is absolutely oblivious to the fact that he was part of an invading force to conquer New Mexico and that the New Mexicans clearly didn’t want to be part of Texas. I read the edition from 1844 but in a posterior edition published in 1847 in London, the editor agrees with this by saying:
It is strange that he has a lot of opinions about his New Mexican captors but he makes no mention of Texan President Mirabeau Lamar, the one who sent a hopeless expedition into hostile territory because he had a “well-founded belief”, a mistake that many of the expeditioners paid with their lives. Kendall is also kind of bratty, he brags about how the Texan troops could easily defeat a bigger force of Mexican troops but then he seems indignant that the New Mexicans used deception to capture the Texans, if the Texan were such great warriors would not be common sense to use deception to capture them? “All warfare is based on deception”
Kendall also brags about how he and his fellows could have escaped multiple times, if that is true then why they didn’t? well because they were isolated in a foreign country so their escape would have been futile, and that is the reason their Mexican captors didn’t bother with a heavy guard.
Kendall claims he wanted to enter Mexico from the North, however it is strange that he wanted to do this from Texas (an state that was in open war with Mexico) instead of arriving to Veracruz like a normal and honest traveler would do.
Having said that, Kendall account is still an interesting and valuable work for those interested in 19th century Mexico. I am curious about his other work The War between the United States and Mexico illustrated, a work he did with the well-known Carl Nebel.
An extensive and detailed account, maybe too much detail sometimes creating a work of 800 pages overall.
It is an interesting description of the Mexico of 1840s, showing its wide diversity from small poor villages to vibrant cities from barbaric military officers to the kind and professional ones. However I cannot miss the opportunity to mention the bad and questionable.
While I agree that the treatment given to the prisoners was harsh and sometimes criminal (i.e. extrajudicial executions) Kendall is absolutely oblivious to the fact that he was part of an invading force to conquer New Mexico and that the New Mexicans clearly didn’t want to be part of Texas. I read the edition from 1844 but in a posterior edition published in 1847 in London, the editor agrees with this by saying:
“With respect to the objects of the expedition, and the special pleading by which the author attempts to justify such an armed visitation of a neighboring territory, we must leave our readers to form their own opinions. We confess that to ourselves, it appears in the light of a respectable piece of buccaneering ; and with all commiseration for the gallant Texan band, we cannot (except in the case of some gratuitous pieces of cruelty from one or two blood-thirsty leaders) participate in the indignation so natural to one of the sufferers.”
It is strange that he has a lot of opinions about his New Mexican captors but he makes no mention of Texan President Mirabeau Lamar, the one who sent a hopeless expedition into hostile territory because he had a “well-founded belief”, a mistake that many of the expeditioners paid with their lives. Kendall is also kind of bratty, he brags about how the Texan troops could easily defeat a bigger force of Mexican troops but then he seems indignant that the New Mexicans used deception to capture the Texans, if the Texan were such great warriors would not be common sense to use deception to capture them? “All warfare is based on deception”
Kendall also brags about how he and his fellows could have escaped multiple times, if that is true then why they didn’t? well because they were isolated in a foreign country so their escape would have been futile, and that is the reason their Mexican captors didn’t bother with a heavy guard.
Kendall claims he wanted to enter Mexico from the North, however it is strange that he wanted to do this from Texas (an state that was in open war with Mexico) instead of arriving to Veracruz like a normal and honest traveler would do.
Having said that, Kendall account is still an interesting and valuable work for those interested in 19th century Mexico. I am curious about his other work The War between the United States and Mexico illustrated, a work he did with the well-known Carl Nebel.
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