General Jo Shelby's March

Die-hard Confederate cavaliers take the fight to Mexico in this boisterous post– Civil War adventure. Historian Arthur (Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair) sings the exploits of Shelby, a wily rebel cavalry commander who rejected the verdict of Appomattox and led his 300-man Iron Brigade into Mexico, then roiling with war between the French-backed emperor, Maximilian, and Benito Juarez's republican army. The Xenophonesque trek mired them in another lost cause. Battling Juarista soldiers and Apache bushwackers, they fought their way to Mexico City only to have Maximilian nervously spurn Shelby's offer to raise an army of 40,000 Americans; they then dispersed to various doomed pursuits, including schemes to bring Southern settlers to colonize Mexico. Heavily reliant on the colorful writings of Shelby's friend John Edwards, Arthur's narrative paints Shelby's band as the last paladins. They are forever protecting decent townsfolk against ruffians, fighting duels on points of honor, and making stands against hopeless odds; they even rescued a beautiful American woman from a bandit's clutches. (The author downplays clashing notes, like a Civil War incident in which Shelby's men massacred dozens of unarmed blacks.) Arthur's account is a bit shallow—and the Confederate romanticism a bit thick— but it makes for a colorful picaresque. 8 pages of b&w photos; map. (Aug. 17)