President of Lower California, Emperor of Nicaragua,
doctor, lawyer, writer—these were some of the titles claimed by
William Walker, the greatest American filibuster.
In the mid-nineteenth century, adventurers known as filibusters participated
in military actions aimed at obtaining control of Latin American nations
with the intent of annexing them to the United States—an expression
of Manifest Destiny, the idea that the United States was destined to
control the continent. Only 5'2" and weighing 120 pounds, Walker
was a forceful and convincing speaker and a fearless fighter who commanded
the respect of his men in battle.
Born in 1824 in Tennessee, Walker graduated from the University of Nashville
at the age of 14 and by 19 had earned a medical degree. He practiced
medicine in Philadelphia, studied law in New Orleans, and then became
co-owner of a newspaper, the Crescent, where the young poet Walt Whitman
worked. When the paper was sold, Walker moved on to California, where
he worked as a reporter in San Francisco before setting up a law office
in Marysville.
When he was 29, his freebooting nature led him to become the leader of
a group plotting to detach parts of northern Mexico. Recruiting a small
army, he sailed to Baja California and conquered La Paz, declaring himself
president of Lower California. He then decided to extend his little empire
to include Sonora, and renamed it “The Republic of Sonora.”
Marching on to the Colorado River, Walker found himself faced with harsh
conditions and a high desertion rate, forcing him to retreat to California,
where he surrendered to U.S. authorities on charges of violating U.S.
neutrality laws.
One result of this incursion was that Mexico sold a part of Sonora to
the United States—the transaction we call the Gadsden Purchase.
Acquitted of criminal charges, Walker next turned his attention to Central
America. Throughout this region, chaos reigned, as forces known as Democrats
and Legitimists fought each other. The leader of the Democratic faction
in Nicaragua invited Walker to bring an army and join the struggle against
the Legitimists. In 1855, with his army of 58 Americans, later called
by stateside romantics,
“The Immortals,” he landed in Nicaragua. Within a year, leading “The
Immortals” and a native rebel force, he routed the Legitimists
and captured Granada, their capital. His success roused concern in the
other Central American countries, especially Costa Rica, which sent in
a well-armed force to invade Nicaragua. Walker's army repelled the invasion,
but a poorly executed counter attack into Costa Rica failed, and a war
of attrition continued, in which disease killed more soldiers on both
sides than enemy bullets.
Other enemies plagued Walker. Cornelius Vanderbilt, the shipping magnate,
seeking control of the San Juan River-Lake Nicaragua route from the Caribbean
to the Pacific, armed Walker's enemies, while the British navy, attempting
to thwart American influences in the region, regularly harassed efforts
to supply him. In spite of these factors, Walker had himself elected
president of Nicaragua. The United States briefly recognized his government
but never sent him aid. Soon the other countries of Central America formed
an alliance against him, and in mid 1857 he surrendered once again to
a U.S. naval officer and returned to the U.S.
Landing first in New Orleans, he was greeted as a hero. He visited President
Buchanan, then went on to New York, all the time seeking support for
a return to Nicaragua. But support waned as returning soldiers reported
military blunders and poor management.
Nevertheless he succeeded in raising another army, and returned to Nicaragua
in late 1857. Again thwarted by the British navy, he abandoned his third
Latin American invasion.
Still undaunted and seeking support for yet another venture, Walker wrote
a book, The War in Nicaragua. Knowing that his best prospects lay in
the South, he assumed a strong pro-slavery stance. This strategy proved
successful, and in 1860 he once again sailed south. Unable to land in
Nicaragua due to the ever-present British, he landed in Honduras, planning
to march overland, but the British soon captured him and turned him over
to the Hondurans. Six days later, at the age of 36, he was executed by
a firing squad. The Walker saga had ended. This enigmatic man had come
close to altering the history of the continent. Had he been successful,
he might have brought several Central American countries into the United
States as pro-southern states, altering the balance in Congress and postponing
The Civil War.
Today Walker is far better known in Central America than in the United
States. Costa Ricans honor Juan Santamaria, a young drummer boy who became
a national hero by torching a fort in which Walker's army was encamped,
and a national park, Santa Rosa, commemorates the battle where Walker's
soldiers were expelled from Costa Rica.
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