A. C. Pickett's Private Journal of the U.S.-Mexican War

On June 11, 1846, A. C. Pickett was ready to embark from Mobile, Alabama, with other recruits on the greatest adventure of their young lives. The native Alabamian spent the next twelve months recording the scenes before him while the United States fought against Mexico. Well-educated and articulate, Pickett used a reporter's style to write about everything from the condition of crops to church services, local markets, and the people he met. Pickett later settled in northeast Arkansas where he worked as an attorney. During the Civil War, he formed the Jackson Guards (Company G, 1st Ark. Infantry Regiment) and later was active in Reconstruction politics in Arkansas.