John Hoopes

Lieutenant Sherman and La Dona of Monterey John Hoopes

It is 1847: the celebrated Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman is a mere lieutenant, serving as adjutant to the military governor of newly-conquered California, foremost prize of the recent Mexican War. For the next three years Sherman will enjoy in an intimate friendship with Angustias de la Guerra, La Doña of Monterey. So even while she and her brothers actively resist the American takeover, La Doña is still the charming ambassadress par excellence of her culture to the conquering Americans. Paramount, however, for Lieutenant Sherman through all these trials and amusements is that he must employ extreme strategies in order to resist his enchantment by La Doña, whose de la Guerra family owns a half million of the finest acres in all California, and whose husband is dying.