Dr. Ricardo Herrera is a visiting professor in the Department of National Security and Strategy, US Army War College. He specializes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American military history. He previously served as a professor of military history at the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), US Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for over ten years. Before joining SAMS, he spent six years teaching, leading, and designing staff rides at the Combat Studies Institute, US Army Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth. From 2002-2006, he was assistant professor of history at Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, and director of honors from 2005-06 (tenured). Previously, he was assistant professor of history and chair of the department of history and geography at Texas Lutheran University. Herrera has received several research fellowships, and in 2020 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
His most recent book, Feeding Washington’s Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2022), studies the largest operations undertaken by the Continental and British armies in the winter of 1778.
Episode Transcript: Hispanic Heritage Month – Ricardo Herrera
Stephanie Crider (Host)
(Prerecorded Hispanic Heritage Month intro) The US Army War College celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th. This year, to observe the occasion, the US Army War College Press recorded a series of interviews showcasing war college leadership, faculty, staff, and students. Listen in to hear their insights, anecdotes, and more.
The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the podcast guests and are not necessarily those of the Department of the Army, the US Army War College, or any other agency of the US government.
This episode’s guest is Dr. Ricardo Herrera, a visiting professor in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the US Army War College. He specializes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American military history. He previously served as a professor of military history at the School of Advanced Military Studies at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Herrera has received several research fellowships, and, in 2020, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His most recent book, Feeding Washington’s Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778, studies the largest operations undertaken by the continental and British armies in the winter of 1778.
Host
Thank you for being part of the war college press Hispanic Heritage Month series. How does your heritage impact your work?
(Herrera)
Thanks for having me here, Stephanie. I appreciate it. I’m a historian, and having some personal knowledge as to where my family’s origins lie—and it’s an incomplete story; I’m still looking when I have time—it helps remind me of my family’s belonging, its place in the much larger story of the United States.
One of the earlier branches of my family, the Belosolas, left the Basque country in Spain around 1725. They entered what is today northern Mexico and southern Arizona. And they served—many of them—as frontier cavalry officers in presidial units. Others were involved in the early Spanish entrances into California in the eighteenth century. And there are other branches of the family as well, and I’m still doing a bit of genealogical research on that. But knowing that gives me a certain mental place, as it were, in where I and my family fit in the much larger story of this country.
And so when—if I’m gonna fast-forward—when the United States, frankly, ginned up the war with Mexico in 1846 and the border shifted in 1848 with the Mexican cession, the United States got my family. It got another portion of it in 1854 with the Gadsden Purchase. So my family became American in many ways because of American imperialism, and it’s a complicated story, as all history should be.
Host
Thank you. Can you tell us about your biggest professional accomplishment to date?
(Herrera)
Oh, gosh. Recently, I published my second book with University of North Carolina Press, Feeding Washington’s Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778, and, so far, it has been doing really well in terms of sales, but, also, the number of engagements that I’ve been invited to address, either in person, Zoom, or podcast. I’ve been really thrilled by the reception. I have to add, though, coming here and joining the faculty at the Army war college: This has been a wonderful experience. The culture is friendly. It’s welcoming. I’m in a great department: DNSS (the Department of National Security and Strategy). I can’t speak highly enough for my initial impression of the war college and the people here.
Host
I love hearing that.
(Herrera)
It’s all true, it’s all true. Nobody’s paying me to say this, but if anybody wants to . . .
Host
Oh, my goodness. Would you be willing to share with us, like, a pivotal moment in your life and how it changed you or your life for the better?
(Herrera)
I think becoming a historian, I blame—and, you know, big air quotation marks on that—I blame my paternal grandmother, Aurora Biodosola Herrera (Herrera, which is much easier to say). She was born in Douglas, Arizona, when Arizona was still a territory, on the border with Mexico. And her Basque family had been there and in California for a long time. But one day—I think it must have been in 1968, ‘69, I’m guessing—she made an offhanded comment (I was about seven or eight), saying, “They stole it from us.” Very adamant about that. And I wondered, “Nana, who are ‘they’? Who’s ‘us’?” And whether she realized it or not—and I certainly didn’t realize it at that time—she helped plant the seed for my becoming a historian. I’d been interested in history as a child, but she helped plant the seed for much more serious development of my part.
And while I spend most of my time working on the eighteenth century—I’m primarily a historian of the American War for Independence (US War of Independence)—I do quite a bit in the nineteenth century. And, in fact, my next book project I’m working on is related to the Mexican War (Mexican-American War). And this is what she was talking about: the Mexican War. I was amazed—I still am—at the level of resentment or anger that she had regarding the outcome of this war. And she’s an American citizen. Her family had been American citizens for a long time, but it still resonated with her. So I’m thanking her for helping get me started on the road to where I am.
Host
I love that. I think you alluded to this just a few minutes ago: What are you working on now that you’re really excited about?
(Herrera)
I did indeed. I’m editing a collection of letters from a soldier who served on the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, today’s 3rd Calvary (Regiment). His name was Edward Ashley Bowen Phelps. He’s got quite the moniker. He enlisted in October of 1846, when the regiment was just being raised. Initially, it was for service in the West to patrol the immigrant trails out to Oregon. But with the declaration of war against Mexico, the regiment got a new mission. It was going to participate in the invasion at Veracruz in 1847.
So, my man Phelps—I’ve been working with him since I was a graduate student in 1997—when I first read his letters at the New York Public Library, I promised myself that someday, I was going to edit them for publication. Here it is: someday, finally! I’ve transcribed the collection. Now I’m annotating them, writing a microhistory of his family, and so much more. Trying to tell the bigger story of Phelps and where he was from, what he did, and who he was; what made the guy the guy. But Phelps was an incredibly bright private. He quoted by memory (William) Shakespeare, (Lord) Byron, poets from the Knickerbocker Club.
Host
My goodness.
(Herrera)
(Ralph Waldo) Emerson. He writes about French reformers of the age. I think he’s very much a transcendentalist. So an incredibly bright guy, but he’s rather aimless. Well, he believes that his life will eventually take him to the West, and he’s right. You know, so after landing at Veracruz, fighting his way up to Mexico City, returning to the US, he gets discharged from the Army. He reenlists a few months later in an artillery company; sails around Cape Horn; lands in Oregon Territory; would go to Fort Vancouver to the Vancouver Barracks; and he will end up getting discharged from the Army, I believe, in 1853.
He becomes a laborer. He has no other aspirations than to be a . . . literally, a common man. But just a fantastic guy. He’s buried in an unmarked grave in Kelso, Washington, somewhere in this graveyard, which is kind of a neat bookend to the grandfather after whom he’s named: Ashley Bowen. Bowen, his maternal grandfather, is buried in an unmarked grave in Massachusetts overlooking the church that his grandfather had been a member of and in which Phelps was baptized when he was born. So there’s really a nice symmetry there, if you will. And so, it’s been a labor of love, and I can’t wait to see it come out. So I turn in the manuscript in June of 2023, and then I move on to the next project!
Host
How long does it take once you turn in the manuscript? Would it be maybe 2024 when it sees daylight?
(Herrera)
Yeah, I think it’ll come out in 2024. I try to be as careful as possible in my editing so that there are as few mistakes for the copy editor to catch as possible. Then comes the indexing, so I would estimate perhaps sometime in the winter of 2024.
Host
That’s really exciting. So, before we go, tell us where our listeners can find out more about you and read some of your works.
(Herrera)
Sure. If you Google me and look up my name, Rick Herrera, on academia.edu, you can find me there. I’m on Amazon, where both my books are listed. Those are probably the best two places. Google Scholar, if you want. But those are probably the best ones.
Host
Wonderful. This was a real treat. Thank you for your time.
(Herrera)
Thanks so much. Take care.
The US Army War College celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th. This year, to observe the occasion, the US Army War College Press recorded a series of interviews showcasing War College leadership, faculty, staff, and students. Listen in to hear their insights, anecdotes, and more. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the podcast guests and are not necessarily those of the Department of the Army, US Army War College, or any other agency of the US Government.