Defiant Peacemaker Nicholas Trist in the Mexican War by Wallace Ohrt

On February 2, 1848, the war with Mexico ended, and the United States firmly controlled Texas, California, and the Southwest. That it did so was because an idealistic diplomat named Nicholas Trist had negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in defiance of a presidential recall order.

This new biography of the diplomat examines Trist's life in greater detail than ever before, with special attention to his dealings with the major military and political figures of his day.

Nicholas Trist (1800–74) was born into a Virginia family of less than modest means. Despite his humble beginnings, he obtained an education and married the favorite granddaughter of his idol, Thomas Jefferson. He circulated among the best-known historical figures of his day and had a personality that would condescend to presidents, quarrel with military commanders, and hurl insults at the House of Lords.

Traveling with the U.S. Army—and working closely with its colorful generals and the junior officers who later became famous in the Civil War—Trist was uncompromising in his belief that justice could be served only by Mexico's full surrender—including surrender of territory. Ignoring the president's recall command with the full knowledge that his defiance would cost him his career, Trist chose to adhere to his own principles. His stand made him the most controversial figure in America, briefly, but guaranteed his near obscurity in the pantheon of American historical figures.

WALLACE OHRT is the author of two previous books. Retired from Boeing and his own consulting firm in communications, he lives in Seattle.

Number Seventeen:
The Elma Dill Russell Spencer Series
in the West and Southwest

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Defiant Peacemaker
0-89096-778-4 cloth $29.95s

LC 97-35669. 5 1/2x8 1/2. 208 pp. 1 b&w photo. Bib. Index.
American History.

Publication Date: November 1997.

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