the way i got into this book is i was looking at general philip kearney or kearney or kearney, a civil war general for the union who was killed early on in the civil war. i stumbled across to the wrong kearney. it turned out that this kearney, stephen kearney was the uncle of philip kearney and i saw a little tagline in boldface that said "kearny's march". what a wonderful title for a book! it had a ring to it. as they say in college -- as i investigated this march, astounded me what had gone on in 1846, lana 1847 which was the conquest for the theft depending on your point of view of the american west. not too far on the western side of the mississippi river everyone felt there was a great desert and there was something in california that was so far way no one paid much attention to it. until president polk came into office, four objects he said he was going to do. he said i am going to settle this question in the northwest with the british. the british and the americans and something called the oregon territory. it encompassed more than oregon. washington and oregon and montana. it w