Illusions of Empire: The Civil War and Reconstruction in the U. S.—Mexico Borderlands by William S. Kiser

Abstract

Reviewed by: Illusions of Empire: The Civil War and Reconstruction in the U. S.—Mexico Borderlands by William S. Kiser Robert Wooster Illusions of Empire: The Civil War and Reconstruction in the U. S.—Mexico Borderlands. By William S. Kiser. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022. Pp. 262. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.) In this, his fifth book published since 2011, William S. Kiser continues to burnish his reputation as a prodigious researcher, productive writer, and keen analyst of the mid-nineteenth century southwestern borderlands from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Using an impressive variety of manuscripts, official documents, English- and Spanish-language newspapers, and secondary books and articles, Kiser demonstrates the often-overlooked significance of northern Mexico to the American Civil War and Greater Reconstruction (meaning the imperial struggles for hemispheric dominance as well as the fate of slavery and the former Confederate states). The weight of the evidence is indeed overwhelming: countless Confederate and Union political officials, army officers, diplomats, and [End Page 585] rogue leaders envisioned the northern borderlands of Mexico as a means of furthering their national and personal ambitions, more often than not through such "irregular diplomacy" (7) as fantastical schemes, filibustering, bribes, tariffs, and secret personal deals. By 1864, the occupation of much of the region by Emperor Maximilian I's imperialists only increased the potential stakes, as the French presence promised even more meaningful opportunities for a Confederate resurgence. As Kiser rightly insists, however, "the localized nature of borderlands diplomacy" (28) greatly complicated the dreams of outsiders. State governors Ignacio Pesqueíra (Sonora), Luis Terrazas (Chihuahua), Santiago Vidaurri (Nuevo León), and Albino López (Tamaulipas) stubbornly sought to maintain their local sovereignty while continuing to further their own personal interests as they balanced official and unofficial diplomacy with the external forces. Bandits, smugglers, and non-state regional strongmen such as Patricio Milmo, Juan Cortina, Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, and Victorio also sought to exploit these rivalries through financial machinations and open warfare to further their own causes, which invariably featured a greater emphasis on local rather than national interests. To transform the complex variety of ingredients into a comprehensible narrative, Kiser sensibly organizes his work into five chapters: one on the pre-Civil War diplomacy that had shaped the region; one each on the Mexican northwest (Chihuahua and Sonora) and northeast (Nuevo León and Tamaulipas) before mid-1863; and one for each of these regions following the French intervention. A concluding essay seeks to bring borderlands diplomacy into the present day. Built upon the foundational publications of historian Jerry Thompson along with Kiser's own studies, Illusions of Empire makes the strongest case in print for the importance of Mexican diplomacy to the United States during the Civil War era. Furthermore, it offers important analytical opportunities for Texas historians beyond the southwestern borderlands. Traditional scholars, including this reviewer, have tended to compartmentalize the complicated experiences of the Lone Star State in the mid-nineteenth century into segmented time periods and regions. That research has been invaluable in establishing a basic narrative. But a deeper understanding of the Texas past now requires something of a paradigm shift. Rather than shaping our investigations around unique eras like the antebellum years, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, and approaching our studies from the perspective of separate regions—the South and the Confederacy, the American West, and the southwestern borderlands—we need to begin the more complicated but infinitely more rewarding task of emphasizing, as Kiser suggests, a "more expansive vision" (7) of the interconnectedness of these experiences. [End Page 586] Robert Wooster Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (emeritus) Copyright © 2022 The Texas State Historical Association