The Most Promising Young Officer: A Life of Ranald Slidell MacKenzie

Pierce's comprehensively researched academic biography rescues its subject from unmerited obscurity. Ranald Mackenzie, born in New York, the son of a naval commander, rose to fame as one of the Union's most competent young cavalry officers, but achieved his greatest successes in the Plains Indian Wars. In his 16 years as a commander on the frontier, his victories helped decide campaigns against the Cheyenne and Comanche tribes. Best known for his ``hot pursuit'' raids into Mexico chasing bandits, Mackenzie was more than just a daring warrior. His empathy for former enemies helped keep the Kiowa, Comanche and Ute from resuming the warpath in the face of extreme provocation. His death in 1889 at 43, probably from syphilis, deprived the Army of one of its few brigadier generals who approached brilliance in the post-Civil War years. Pierce teaches history at Tarleton State University in Texas. Illustrated. (Apr.)