Becoming Part Of The Regiment - 1970 - The Xavier Class Lamented By Antonin Scalia - Part I

But as you know, the tradtion of Xavier as a thoroughly military academy did not survive the antimilitary sentiment of the Vietnam War. I lamented when the school announced that the the Regiment would no longer be compulsory, and I continue to think that was a mistake.

Antonin Scalia (Class of 1953) - Speech to the JROTC Regiment at Xavier High School - May 17. 2011

Scalia At Gettysburg

What ever you might think of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, I have to tell you the guy could give a good speech.  I saw him at the Sesquicentennial of the Gettysburg address in November of 2013, when as part of the ceremonies he swore in sixteen new citzens.  In his speech he mentioned that his father was an immigrant and that his grandmother wanted him to grow up to be President. I thought it odd that he had to mention about the only thing the new citizens would not be eligible for, but nobody seemed to mind.  There was a standing ovation, but, to be fair, it was probably more intended for our new fellow Americans, who had just abjured all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign princes or potentates, than for the Justice.

Scalia Addressing The Regiment

There is another Scalia speech that is even more interesting, to me anyway.  In 2011 he spoke to the JROTC Regiment of Xavier High School - his regiment and mine.  Rather humorously, he led off by recalling his cadet rank - lieutenant colonel, which he took some pride in since his postion in command of the band usually only called for the rank of major.  For whatever it is worth, there was a round of bonus promtions, in my year that caused many seniors to go one rank over what their postion called for and others like me to catch up.

Some Interesting History

One of the things that Scalia alludes to is some history that people now and even back in my day were only dimly aware of.  Referring to the period in the 1890s when particpation in the school's military program became mandatory:

I have no doubt those first Xavier cadets played a small but important role in reinforcing public perception of Catholic loyalty and civic virtue.

Growing up in the metro New York area it was easy to miss that you were living in a Protestant country. Before the 20th century,  Americans fought a war of Independence and something of a redo of that in 1812 and a Civil War of mindblowing magnitude and for centruries contended with the indigenous peoples, but whenever they fought actual foreign countries they were Catholic countries - France, Mexico and Spain.  During the Mexican War, Catholic soldiers for a variety of reasons deserted to the Mexican side and formed the Battalion de San Patricio, still remembered as heroes in Mexico and Ireland.  In the United States not so much.

The special American history books we had in parochial grammar school did not include  much of that history.  We were told about the disproportionate number of Catholics who had died fighting in America's wars and were somehow given the impression that iconic figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln would have been Catholics, if they had just had better educations.

I was more interested in history than most kids and I cound not help but notice that the pre-1776 version of history in our textbooks flew in the face of the common culture, which is something of a Protestant myth. We learned that the Spanish and French, while sometimes mean to the indigenous peoples, were not nealy as mean as the English and that Bloody Mary was much nicer than Good Queen Bess.  Things like the San Patricios and 19th century convent burning were left out.

So the marvelous collaboration between the Society of Jesus and the United States Army in the forming of young Catholic gentlmen that was embodied in the Xavier High School Regiment seemed perfectly consistent.

Joining The Regiment

At least that was the way it looked in September 1966.  The highest rated pop song in 1966 was the Ballad of the Green Berets. By the end of the year, there would be 385,000 American troops in Vietnam. By September enough Americans would have died in Vietnam to fill 10 of the 70 panels on the East Wall of the monument in Washington and I put on my uniform for the first time.

It is very important to note that the school was much more Jesuit than it was military. Operationally, it was probably not that different from St. Peter's Prep, Brooklyn Prep or Fordham Prep.  The big difference from Regis, which Scalia and I both applied to and did not make, was that they were a lot smarter than we were. One of the really magical things about that period was that the most elite high school any of us knew about charged no tuition.

The Xavier tuition at $400 was not insubstantial and then you throw in about $200 for the uniforms and I forget how much for books. They were a real hardship for my mother, but she believed that the "male influence" would be good for me.  My father had died a year before and my brother home after five years of chasing Russian submarines and rescuing astronauts was doing a creditable job, but he would move out before long.  I had formed the notion of going to Xavier from my friend on the block Dave Gallagher, two years ahead of me.  His father, Mr. Gallagher, was very active in the parish and had been my counsellor for the Ad Altare Dei award from the Boy Scouts, which I never quite finished.  Mr. Gallagher had also gone to Xavier.

Start Marching

Freshmen were oriented for a day or two, before school started.  Seniors, who would soon be cadet officers, taught us to stand at atttention and march and about placing brass and gig lines.  Father Dineen, a counsellor type, told us we should realize that those young men were new to authority and should not be too upset by them - a notion lost on my 14 year old mind.

The structure and order of the school was Jesuit and embodied in Father Heavey, the Prefect of Discipline, who struck terror in my heart.  His memory still does. My friend JerrySnee, a year behind me at Xavier, had more exposure to Father Heavey.  Jerry had the peculiar postion of Junior Provost Marsahll, which I won't even try to explain. I told him how even looking back on it, I have trouble, at a gut level, thinking of Father Heavey as just having a job to do.  He indicated that Father Heavey did seem to relish it just a bit too much and that he was a big man who moved very quickly.  The story was that Father Heavey thought more highly of the kids that he had in his office to tune up and was contemptuous of the run of the mill types that he cowed by by his demeanor.

Regardless, the tight structure of the school had a very positive effect in that the teachers who cared to be were quite relaxed and could just coast on the institutional discipline and focus on teaching.

What It Was Like For The Privates

The military as far as freshmen was concered meant wearing the right uniform everyday.  Once a week a couple of cadet officers (all officers were seniors) came into the homeroom to inspect us.  And there was drill. Marching around the armory a few blocks from the school to prepare for a couple of reveiws and parades.  One of the reviews was on Thanksgiving morning as the football team played the big game against Fordham Prep.  It is the oldest high school football rivalry in New York City and having the whole student body out in uniform certainly added to the color.  Although, my friend Tom Burns, when the subject comes up, still bemoans having every family Thanksgiving ruined while he was in high school due to the excessive schlep.

Freshmen were not eligible for promotion.  The deal was that you could pick up two stripes as a sophomore and two more as a junior with the big bonanza of cadet rank coming at the beginning of senior year.  The system changed just a bit as few superior freshmen made PFC.  That rippled upward so that when I was a junior most of the guys I hung with were Sergeants First Class.

The other miltary flavored things were the hall monitors and detention to use more netural terms. Instead of detention we had "jug", a Jesuit high school term derived I read from "jugum" which meant yoke.  At Xavier it took a military turn involving marching around the quadrangle that spearated the two builidings or in inclement weather standing at attention on the seating stairs in the "old gym".  The "old builidng" faced 15th street and the "new building" (which really was pretty new then) faced 16th street as did the church next door, which also served as a parish church.

Hall monitoring was done by "MP"s.  Due to limits in the facilities only half the school could be at lunch or recess at a time.  So it was either Freshmen and Juniors or Sophomores and Seniors, with MPs drawn from the older class and required, I think, to serve one week in three.  Up till my junior year it was an extra random duty assigned to students, as was running jug.  MPs became a special unit when I was a senior, an inherently flawed idea, but more on that later.

Military Memories

At any rate I only have two military memories from my Freshman year.  The one concerns drill.  My memories of drill at the armory are so vague that I cannot even tell you what company I was in or who my company commander or platoon leader were.  I think I was likely in the third or fourth squad of my platoon, possibly due to my height (I was already six feet tall).

What I remember distinctly was an officer who was Asian, pretty uncommon at Xavier, and the seniors who were in the ranks with me who mocked him, in a racist manner.  I remember walking with those seniors and their telling me how the colonel was actually an all right guy and they had gone out with him and even gotten laid (which was a very shocking concept to me).

My interaction with those seniors is indicative perhaps of a flaw in the system that is perhaps not that uncommon.  These guys stood in the ranks with me, because they were, like me, privates.  Their class could not have been very different from mine in regard to the rank compostion of the senior class, which in a particularly inane project I recently analyzed.  In my senior class there were over 220 kids.  The most common rank was first lieutenant. The average rank was a hair below master sergeant.  There were 17 privates - less than 10% of the class.  And those were the seniors along with 28 PFCs who stood in the ranks with the freshmen privates and probably had more influence on them than the cadet officers.  The other thing you need to remember is that the school was in New York City and the kids were not counrty bumpkins, but New Yorkers - bunch of cynical bastards in a goodly percentage, regardless of having been the brightest boys in parochial grammar schools.

Jug

At any rate, my only other freshman military memory is the first time I ever got jug.  It was for being late.  Captain X (the Asian guy) was running jug and he terrified me almost as much as Father Heavey. I think Father Heavey might have showed up too, as it was early in the year. He  had us marching around in the quadrangle.  Father Dineen, the counsellor type, pulled me out and sent me on an errand of some sort.  I was very grateful.

The Faculty

Our teachers were a mixture of Jesuit priests, career lay Catholic high school teachers, young guys who hadn't quite gotten whatever would be the career going and Jesuit scholastics, who were, I think, about half way on their way to becoming Jesuit priests.  Since scholastis, like lay teachers, were addressed as Mister, I'll throw an SJ after their name for clarity.  As Freshmen, we were not exposed to the military science faculty.  There was one active duty officer, the Senior Army Instructor, one or two active duty sergeants and a few retired sergeants.  The latter were the most colorful membersof the faculty with the exception of Father Hareiss, but that is another story entirely.

As fresmen, we did not have military science classes and when not in the gray "summer" uniform wore the schools blue uniform everyday.  Upperclassmen had another uniform issued by the Army that was worn on certain days of the week.  The latter looked enough like an Army uniform that I have this memory of being on the Orange and Black bus one day and having a lady aske me if I was "going back".  I was seventeen.  I could see how it was plausible. Freshmen were part of the Regiment, but not formally enrolled in Junior ROTC therefore not wearing the Army uniform that might cause the uninformed to think they were soldiers - that and them being 14 and all.

The Gold Honor Cord

At any rate, I did well academically.  Our home room teacher in 1-E, Mr. Lux SJ taught us Latin and I got on with him pretty well.  Some kids had a real problem with him. Eddie Kulesza, who lived in Cliffside Park, right next to Fairview, hated the particular day of the week where we did not have Mr. Lux in first period, because it extended the stress through recess.  The mutual fondness that Mr. Lux and I had for one another may have had an unfortunate effect on my future acadmic career but that is a later story.

The "military" implication of my doing well academically was that after the first marking period, the gold cord of first honors became a fixture on my right shoulder.  I have to admit I thought it was kind of cool.

Rumors Of Anti-War

I also don't remember if there was much in the way of anti-war sentiment seeping into my consciousness as 1966 unfolded into 1967,  When I look at a timeline of anti-war activity, the event from the spring of 1967 that I can remember making an impression at the time was Martin Luther King coming out against the war and perhaps there is some of the essence of what made the coming years difficult.

In every conflict, I wanted there to be good guys and bad guys.  I can remember as a kid asking my father and a friend of his how Robert E Lee could be considered a hero.  I don't think the fellows had a really good answer for the budding neo-abolitionist in their midst, but it fed the confusion I experienced when I read in the parochial school history books that the Spanish were the good guys and the English the bad guys and compared that to the TV version of Francis Drake.

In the Civil Rights movement Martin Luther King was the good guys.  I had imbibed a fairly naive unsophisticated anti-racism from my parents and Father McTague, the saint-like curate in our parish that went on to become moderately famous.  So how could Martin Luther King be against the Americans in Vietnam, who were clearly the good guys?  I think at the time I just left it as a confusing detail like Robert E Lee, chief bad guy in the Civil War, somehow being a hero.

It did not take long to get weary of the trouble of dealing with the uniform and it is definitely more fun to watch marching than to, you know, actually march.  So it was clear by the end of Freshman year that I would never be super military, but the unity of values between the Army and the Jesuits remained undisturbed.  And that may well be where to end this part of the story, which will be continued.

_________________________________________________________________
Peter J. Reilly CPA hoped to be an historian, but public accounting has been good to him.

From The Halls Of Montezuma To The Jail Of Concord

Originally published on forbes.com August 7, 2011.

I recently mentioned the case of William Ruhaak. Mr. Ruhaak refused to pay his income tax for 2007. He was willing to pay the amount involved either to an organization that worked for peace or to the federal government as long as it was earmarked for non-military purposes. I used the case to spring board a discussion of my friend Tom Cahill, a long time peace activist and one of the founders of Just Detention International. Bait and switch. So sue me. Actually please don't, I'd probably have to give up either blogging or my day job if you did. Some of the responses I received, though, have inspired me to do a fuller discussion of tax resistance as a form of war protest. This post is the foundation of the series. I guess that means I'm promising to write at least one more after this one to make it a series. This one is about the most famous act of American war tax resistance.

The Mexican War 1846-1848 was a triumph of American arms. The Marine Corps in its hymn gives Mexico pride of place among the country's battles that it has fought.

Mexico was provoked by the United States admitting the Republic of Texas to the union. Mexico considered Texas a rebellious province that it would take back someday. Mexico probably should have quit while it was just a little behind. The war added to the United States the territory that would become California, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico. Also most of Arizona and Colorado and pieces of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming. Disputes over territory being a zero sum game, Mexico got a lot smaller. Round numbers Mexico was less than half the size it had been before it started messing with the fundamental rights of its Texan citizens - like the right to own slaves. Regardless, if you view history as something of a board game, the Mexican War was a big win for the United States. This may account for why the tremendous unpopularity of the war in some quarters is not well remembered.

Margaret Fuller, America's first female foreign correspondent wrote from Europe:

Then there is this horrible cancer of slavery and the wicked war that has grown out of it. I listen to the same arguments against the emancipation of Italy that are used against the emancipation of our blacks; the same arguments for the spoilation of Poland, as for the conquest of Mexico. I find the cause of tyranny and wrong everywhere the same and lo! my country! the darkest offender because with the least excuse.

Some of the fighting men were also disenchanted with the cause. Reflecting on his thoughts on the war, as a junior officer, Ulysses Grant, the first American solider to wear four stars, wrote in his memoirs:

Generally the officers of the army were indifferent whether the annexation [of Texas] was consummated or not; but not so all of them. For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.

That's another view of the Mexican War. It was kind of a warm up war for those junior officers who, as generals, would command stupendous forces in West Point's big intramural war less than twenty years later.
In the enlisted ranks a variety of grievances including the anti-Catholic bigotry, that pervaded American culture, influenced a significant number of US soldiers, mostly Irish immigrants, to switch sides. Under the command of John Riley, they formed the Batallón de San Patricio. Their exploits were the subject of a Tom Berenger movie called One Man's Hero, which despite having the same plot as Avatar and Dances With Wolves is still worth watching.

The Mexican War provoked one simple act of tax resistance, that would have far reaching effects. Henry David Thoreau refused to pay his poll tax. He spent the night in jail. His aunt paid the tax on his behalf, an act of kindness that he did not approve, leaving him free the next day to lead a huckleberry expedition. He got something else out of the experience. He wrote a really good book. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience has a great virtue among books of its sort. The sort I mean is books that are tremendously influential such that they will be frequently discussed. The great virtue is that it is short. So unlike Democracy In America or Clauswitz's On War, you can just go read it again anytime you care to discuss it. Here are some high points:

The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.

Can there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?--in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.

How does it become a man to behave toward the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave's government also.

If a thousand [citizens] were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison... the only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor.

The message of the book is complex. Sometimes the focus is on the moral accountability of the individual regardless of the effect and other times on the possibility that passive resistance might effect practical change. Thoreau's refusal to pay tax did not spark a movement immediately and clearly had no appreciable effect on the war then in progress. That is not the end of the story though.

The Marine Corps Hymn would be more edifying if the "Peak of Surabachi" replaced "Halls of Montezuma". It would also coordinate with the most iconic image of the Corps, add an additional rhyme and give a better appreciation for how global their service has been . That's probably not going to happen any time soon. Marines don't get to choose their country's battles, they just get to fight them. Margaret Fuller is remembered today, but not nearly as well as she should be. There were some great events for her 200th birthday in 2010, but I recently met a young woman who had never heard of her. This would not have been that disturbing if the young woman had not been a college senior majoring in woman's studies. Ulysses Grant suffered in reputation due to poor choice in advisors while president and the virtual deification of the man who surrendered to him at Appomattox. The San Patricios are remembered as heroes - in Mexico and Ireland - in the United States, not so much. That little book of Thoreau's did some travelling though.

It went to South Africa, where Mohandas Gandhi would use its principles before bringing them to India:

Thoreau was a great writer, philosopher, poet, and withal a most practical man, that is, he taught nothing he was not prepared to practice in himself. He was one of the greatest and most moral men America has produced. At the time of the abolition of slavery movement, he wrote his famous essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience". He went to gaol for the sake of his principles and suffering humanity. His essay has, therefore, been sanctified by suffering. Moreover, it is written for all time. Its incisive logic is unanswerable.

And then it found its way back to the United States, where Martin Luther King wrote:

During my student days I read Henry David Thoreau's essay On Civil Disobedience for the first time. Here, in this courageous New Englander's refusal to pay his taxes and his choice of jail rather than support a war that would spread slavery's territory into Mexico, I made my first contact with the theory of nonviolent resistance. Fascinated by the idea of refusing to cooperate with an evil system, I was so deeply moved that I reread the work several times

Mr. Ruhaak's argument has no technical merit. The seventh circuit has told him he needed to show cause as to why he should not be sanctioned for putting forth a frivolous argument. I have to say that as a tax professional, I'm 100% with the court on that one. Despite that and even though I believe our military is now mainly concerned with convincing people it is an extremely bad idea to organize passenger jets crashing into our office buildings, I'm not going to knock Mr. Ruhaak. And now I'm committed to talking a bit about what his fellow war tax resisters are up to. Stay tuned.

Saint Patrick's Day In May

 Originally published on Passive Activities and Other Oxymorons on May 17, 2010.

This is a true story that happened last week. I've changed the names and locations to keep the people involved annonymous though.


My friend James was in Jacksonvillie FL the other night. He was attending a business reception of some sort. It was one of those events where everybody stands around and talks with one another with a brief interlude of some persons of greater or lesser dignitariness patting one another on the back. You need four hands when you are at these events what with limited places to put things down while eating, drinking, shaking hands and exchanging business cards. The last being more or less than the point of attending such events.

Anyway James is less than gifted as a mingler but his job requires him to attend such events from time to time. Not unusually for him he got confused on the way there and ended up parking a goodly distance from the event. After walking a couple of blocks he decided to leave his car where it was since he finds walking less stressful than driving. Whether some greater force was involved in his decision is left for the reader to decide. If there is one.


The event was noisier than most and due to fatigue (from a very early flight not from the walk which was actually invigorating) his mingling was below par even for him. On the other hand they had shrimp and really tender roast beef on small pieces of bread. After the remarks, he circled the crowd a few more times. Deciding he could call it a night he headed back to his rental car.


Halfway back to his car he met Sammy. Sammy was a scrawny looking white guy in his mid 40's with a really impressive set of tattoos who asked James for some money. James has a policy of not giving money to pan handlers but there is nothing hostile about it. Not having any further agenda for the night he perked up and asked Sammy if he was hungry. This is James method for distinguishing professional pan handlers from people that he might be able to help out a little. Sammy indicated that he was quite hungry. He was banned from the nearby convenience store so James took his order and went in and bought him a sub and a Coke.

Before chowing down Sammy asked if he could borrow Jim's phone to call his aunt in Chicago. He had to leave her a message. James would have preferred to take Sammy to a restaurant, but there was none nearby so they just stood on the sidewalk and chatted.


Sammy had been having a hard time. He was having a hard time finding any work. He was living by the railroad track and had been recently beaten up pretty badly. As the story developed it became quite clear that Sammy would be a lot better off if he could be with his aunt.


Sometimes its just real clear what needs to be done. So James drove Sammy to the Greyhound station and bought him a non-refundable ticket to Chicago. He watched him get on the bus and then phoned the aunt to let her know he was on the way.


He was worried about Sammy spending 20 plus hours in transit with no money so he gave a few bucks to go with the tooth brush, mouth wash and snacks that he bought him for the ride. The next day he was worried that the money might have been a bad idea because Sammy confessed while waiting for the bus that he would have drank the price of a bus ticket if James had given it to him rather than buying a ticket for him. The ride to Chicago involved a couple of bus changes. So James called the aunt one more time and ended up talking to Sammy who is very grateful to be off the street.


James is still processing the experience. He wants to cultivate a spirit of detached generosity. On the other hand he wants to share his joy in the whole experience. It is just possible that he saved Sammy's life. He is hoping Sammy doesn't screw up again, but - I don't know.


So what does this have to do with St Patrick's Day. This year I started San Patricios Against Hunger, because I think that Americans of Irish descent should remember that they are quite likely descended from famine refugees and should celebrate by making donations to hunger fighting charities. The approach James takes towards panhandlers is an extension of the principal. The point is not to just stop enabling alcohol abuse, but to substitute a positive life affirming act.



We'll see what happens in June.

Listen Pete Reilly Has Come Unstuck in Time

Originally published on Passive Activities and Other Oxymorons on March 8, 2010

It started when I was trying to figure why I found Avatar so upsetting. It happens that I have no central vision in my left eye. Besides making it difficult to parallel park and hammer nails the lack of natural depth perception made the visual effects somewhat less stunning. Also the colors and odd creatures are not quite as amazing to those of us who have labored long in Azeroth leveling our own avatars. So I paid a little more attention to the plot.

Talk about heavy handed. Bad military. Bad businessman. Mercenary very very double plus ungood - bad bad. Nice scientists. Wonderful wonderful indigenous peoples - especially female ones. Dances With Wolves meets Apocalypse Now.

I realized that what was bothering me was the Mexican War. My friend Jonathan and I are working on a film that will focus on Margaret Fuller. All my reading is focusing on the project now. It happens that I'm in New York with her reading her articles in Greeley's paper, the New York Tribune. (I keep wanting to call it the Herald, because I fondly remember the Herald Tribune. My father would bring it home from work and we would read Art Buchwald.). (I’m not literally in New York now you understand. That’s where Margaret is. Or rather was in 1844 – 1846.)


The Mexican War was her generation’s Vietnam. Only it didn’t last as long. And there wasn’t a draft. And what was probably the worst part for her generation was that the United States won that war. It wasn’t just proto-hippy Henry David Thoreau and his ilk that were against the war -


"Generally the officers of the army were indifferent whether the annexation [of Texas] was consummated or not; but not so all of them. For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory."


Although he quit the Army in 1854, possibly under questionable circumstances, the above officer, known to have a serious drinking problem, had no cause to complain about his career. He was the first US Army officer to be awarded a fourth star and he went on from there to be president.


To compound my problem with all this, when I was watching Avalon I happened to be in Arizona. And I didn’t have my passport with me. So an alternate ending to the Mexican War might have put in tough circumstances.



By some quirky coincidence I finally stumbled on a movie that I had long wanted to see. One Man’s Hero. One Man’s Hero is about the San Patricios. The San Patricios were a battalion in the Mexican Army that contained numerous deserters from the US Army, most of whom were Irish. There were a mixture of motives including shabby treatment of Catholics by the US Army. I was extremely distressed to find that One Man’s Hero had exactly the same plot as Avatar – except for the wonderful indigenous people losing the war. There was the same romantic triangle and – spoiler alert – after surviving his fifty lashes and being branded with a D the hero manages to hook up with the woman who saved his life and embodied Mexico for him.



Nonetheless it is comforting that if I really do slip into that alternate reality where Arizona is still part of Mexico it will be peopled by an alliance of Irish Catholics and Unitarian abolitionists and I'll feel right at home.