 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Spanish. (January 2026)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
William Walker | |
|---|---|
 Portraitc. 1855–1860 | |
| President of Nicaragua (unrecognized) | |
| In office July 12, 1856 – May 1, 1857 | |
| Preceded by | Patricio Rivas |
| Succeeded by | Máximo Jerez andTomás Martínez |
| President of Sonora (unrecognized) | |
| In office January 21, 1854 – May 8, 1854 | |
| President of Baja California (unrecognized) | |
| In office November 3, 1853 – January 21, 1854 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 8, 1824 (1824-05-08) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | September 12, 1860(1860-09-12) (aged 36) Trujillo, Colón, Honduras |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Resting place | Old Trujillo Cemetery, Trujillo, Colón, Honduras |
| Party | Democratic (Nicaragua) |
| Alma mater | |
| Signature |  |
William Walker (May 8, 1824 – September 12, 1860) was an American journalist and mercenary. In the era of the expansion of theUnited States, driven by the doctrine ofmanifest destiny, Walker organized unauthorized military expeditions intoMexico andCentral America with the intention of establishingcolonies. Such an enterprise was known at the time as "filibustering".
After settling inCalifornia, motivated by an earlier filibustering project ofGaston de Raousset-Boulbon, Walker attempted in 1853–54 to takeBaja California andSonora. He declared those territories to be an independentRepublic of Sonora, but he was soon driven back to California by the Mexican forces. Walker then went toNicaragua in 1855 as leader of a mercenary army employed by theNicaraguan Democratic Party in its civil war against theLegitimists. He took control of the Nicaraguan government and in July 1856 set himself up as the country's president.[1]
Walker's regime was recognized as the legitimate government of Nicaragua by US PresidentFranklin Pierce, and it initially enjoyed the support of some important sectors within Nicaraguan society.[2] As ruler of Nicaragua, Walker relegalizedslavery, with the goal of creating a new society of dominant white people and subordinate Black and Indigenous laborers. However, he never succeeded in implementing slavery. He also threatened the independence of neighboring Central American republics. Walker antagonized the powerful Wall Street tycoonCornelius Vanderbilt by expropriating Vanderbilt'sAccessory Transit Company, which operated one of the main routes for the transport of passengers going fromNew York City toSan Francisco. TheBritish Empire saw Walker as a threat to its interests in the possible construction of aNicaragua Canal. A military coalition led byCosta Rica defeated Walker and forced him to resign the presidency of Nicaragua on May 1, 1857.[3]
Walker tried to relaunch his filibustering project and sought renewed support from pro-slavery forces in theSouthern United States on the eve of theAmerican Civil War. In 1860, he published a book titledThe War in Nicaragua, which promoted his efforts to conquer Central America in order to expand slavery geographically. That year, he returned to Central America, where the BritishRoyal Navy arrested him and handed him to the government ofHonduras, which executed him.
William Walker was born inNashville, Tennessee, in 1824 to James Walker and his wife Mary Norvell. His father was a Scottish settler.[4] His mother was the daughter ofLipscomb Norvell, anAmerican Revolutionary War officer fromVirginia.[5] One of Walker's maternal uncles wasJohn Norvell, aU.S. Senator fromMichigan and founder ofThe Philadelphia Inquirer.[6]
Walker graduatedsumma cum laude from theUniversity of Nashville at the age of 14.[7] In 1843, at the age of 19, he received amedical degree from theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[7] Walker then continued his medical studies atEdinburgh[8] andHeidelberg. He practiced medicine briefly inPhiladelphia, but soon moved toNew Orleans where he studied law privately.[9] In New Orleans, he developed a romantic attraction for adeaf woman, Helen Martin, and learnedsign language to communicate with her.[10] While the precise nature of their relationship is uncertain, Martin's subsequent death fromyellow fever led Walker to develop "a daring ambition and a reckless disregard of life".[10]
Walker practiced law for a short time, then quit to become co-owner and editor ofThe Daily Crescent newspaper in March 1849.[11] TheCrescent was a liberal, anti-slavery newspaper.[12] In October 1849, Walker attended the Memphis Railroad Convention with fellowCrescent editor J.C. Larue, which explored possible routes for atranscontinental railroad connecting theMississippi Valley to thePacific Ocean. Multiple proposals at the convention argued for a route in Central America, including across Nicaragua.[13] Walker and Larue were accused in November, 1849 of assaulting E.J. Gomez, the owner of a rival newspaper,La Patria, over a claim made in that paper aboutThe Daily Crescent.[14] After selling his stake in the paper, Walker left forSan Francisco in July, 1850.[15]
In San Francisco, Walker worked as editor of theSan Francisco Herald and fought threeduels; he was wounded in two of them. In the early 1850s, many military expeditions that sought to create colonies in Mexico and Central America, calledfilibusters, were developing in San Francisco.[16] Also known as freebooting, this practice was supported by the Southern expansionistsecret society, theKnights of the Golden Circle.[17][18][19]
Walker gained national attention by dueling withlaw clerk William Hicks Graham on January 12, 1851.[20] Walker criticized Graham and his colleagues in theHerald, which prompted Graham to challenge Walker to a duel.[21] Graham was a notorious gunman; Walker had experience dueling with single-shot pistols, but his duel with Graham was fought withrevolvers.[22] Walker was wounded; Graham was arrested but was quickly released. The duel was recorded inThe Daily Alta California.[22]
Growing up in Tennessee, Walker's family did not own slaves and they did not advocate the institution; in his early period as a journalist he was an abolitionist. However, when he became a filibuster he became convinced that the plantation slave system required export to Latin America in order to survive and that this was an essential civic goal. Historian Dan La Botz suggests that he may have been convinced of this by his friendEdmund Randolph, a lawyer from Virginia.[23]
After a failed attempt to invade the Mexican Province ofSonora from theNew Mexico Territory,[24] In the summer of 1853, Walker traveled toGuaymas in Mexico, seeking a grant from theMexican government to establish a colony. He proposed that his colony would serve as a fortified frontier, protecting U.S. soil fromIndian raids. Mexico refused, and Walker returned to San Francisco determined to obtain his colony regardless of Mexico's position.[25][26] He began recruiting American supporters ofslavery and of theManifest Destiny doctrine, mostly inhabitants of Tennessee andKentucky. Walker's plans then expanded from forming a buffer colony to establishing an independentRepublic of Sonora, which might eventually take its place as a part of the Union (as theRepublic of Texas had done in 1845). He funded his project by "sellingscrips which were redeemable in lands ofSonora".[9]
On October 15, 1853, Walker set out with forty-five men to conquer the Mexican territories ofBaja California Territory andSonora State.[27] He succeeded in capturingLa Paz, the capital of sparsely populatedBaja California, which he declared the capital of a new "Republic of Lower California" (declared November 3, 1853), with himself as president and his former law partner, Henry P. Watkins,[28] as vice president. Walker then put the region under the laws of the American state ofLouisiana, which made slavery legal.[28] Whether Walker at this stage intended to tie his filibustering expedition to the cause of slavery is a matter of dispute.[29]
In his writings about this time, Walker advocated white paternalism, justifying his forays into Mexico on the grounds that Indian, mestizo, and African peoples of Latin America require white dominance to civilize them.[30]
Fearful of attacks by Mexico, Walker moved his headquarters twice over the next three months, first toCabo San Lucas, and then further north toEnsenada to maintain a more secure base of operations. Although he never gained control of Sonora, he pronounced Baja California part of the largerRepublic of Sonora.[9] Lack of supplies, severe aridity of Baja California and strong resistance by the Mexican government quickly forced Walker to retreat.[28]
Back inCalifornia, Walker was indicted by a federalgrand jury for waging an illegal war in violation of theNeutrality Act of 1794. However, in the era of Manifest Destiny, Walker's filibustering project had popular support in thesouthern andwestern U.S. Walker was tried before JudgeI. S. K. Ogier in theUS District Court for the Southern District of California. Although two of Walker's associates had already been convicted of similar charges and Judge Ogier summarized the evidence against Walker for the jury, the jury deliberated for only eight minutes before acquitting Walker.[31][32]
Since there was no inter-oceanic route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at the time, and thetranscontinental railway did not yet exist, a major trade route betweenNew York City and San Francisco ran through southern Nicaragua. Ships from New York entered theSan Juan River from the Atlantic and sailed acrossLake Nicaragua. People and goods were then transported by stagecoach across a narrow strip of land near the city ofRivas, before reaching the Pacific and ships to San Francisco. The commercial exploitation of this route had been granted by Nicaragua to theAccessory Transit Company, controlled by shipping magnateCornelius Vanderbilt.[33]
In 1854, a civil war erupted in Nicaragua between theLegitimist Party (also called the Conservative Party), based in the city ofGranada, and theDemocratic Party (also called the Liberal Party), based inLeón. The Democratic Party sought military support from Walker who, to circumvent U.S. neutrality laws, obtained a contract from Democratic presidentFrancisco Castellón to bring as many as three hundred "colonists" to Nicaragua. Thesemercenaries received the right to bear arms in the service of the Democratic government. Walker sailed from San Francisco on May 3, 1855,[34] with approximately sixty men. Upon landing, the force was reinforced by 110 locals.[35][36] With Walker's expeditionary force was the well-known explorer and journalistCharles Wilkins Webber, as well as Belgian-born adventurerCharles Frederick Henningsen, a veteran of theFirst Carlist War, theHungarian Revolution, and thewar in Circassia.[37] Besides Henningsen, three members of Walker's forces who becameConfederate officers wereBirkett D. Fry,Robert C. Tyler, andChatham Roberdeau Wheat.
With Castellón's consent, Walkerattacked the Legitimists in Rivas, near the trans-isthmian route. He was driven off, but not without inflicting heavy casualties. In thisFirst Battle of Rivas, a schoolteacher calledEnmanuel Mongalo y Rubio (1834–1872) burned the Filibuster headquarters. On September 3, during theBattle of La Virgen, Walker defeated the Legitimist army.[35] On October 13, he conquered Granada and took effective control of the country. Initially, as commander of the army, Walker ruled Nicaragua through provisional PresidentPatricio Rivas.[38]U.S. PresidentFranklin Pierce recognized Walker's regime as the legitimate government of Nicaragua on May 20, 1856,[39] and on June 3 the Democratic national convention expressed support of the effort to "regenerate" Nicaragua.[40] However, Walker's first ambassadorial appointment, ColonelParker H. French, was refused recognition.[41] On September 22, Walker repealed Nicaraguan laws prohibiting slavery, attempting to gain support from the Southern states.[40]
Walker wanted to create a new type of society organized by race and caste and dominated by white supremacy, with themestizo majority of Nicaragua somehow eliminated. In his own words:
The introduction of negro-slavery into Nicaragua would furnish a supply of constant and reliable labour requisite for the cultivation of tropical products. With the negro-slave as his companion, the white man would become fixed to the soil; and they together would destroy the power of mixed race which is the bane of the country. The pure Indian would readily fall into the new social organisation.[42]
Walker's actions in the region caused concern in neighboring countries and potential U.S. and European investors who feared he would pursue further military conquests in Central America. Walker aimed to use Nicaragua as a base to conquer to the rest of Central America as well as Cuba and the other Caribbean islands.[43]C. K. Garrison andCharles Morgan, subordinates of Vanderbilt's Accessory Transit Company, provided financial and logistical support to the Filibusters in exchange for Walker, as ruler of Nicaragua, seizing the company's property (on the pretext of a charter violation) and turning it over to Garrison and Morgan. Outraged, Vanderbilt dispatched two secret agents to theCosta Rican government with plans to fight Walker. They would help regain control of Vanderbilt's steamboats which had become a logistical lifeline for Walker's army.[44]
Concerned about Walker's intentions in the region, Costa Rican PresidentJuan Rafael Mora Porras rejected his diplomatic overtures and began preparing the country's military for a potential conflict.[45] Walker organized a battalion of four companies, of which one was composed of Germans, a second of Frenchmen, and the other two of Americans, totaling 240 men placed under the command of Colonel Schlessinger to invade Costa Rica in a preemptive action. This advance force was defeated at theBattle of Santa Rosa on March 20, 1856.
The most important strategic defeat of Walker came during theCampaign of 1856–57 when the Costa Rican army, led by Porras, GeneralJosé Joaquín Mora Porras (the president's brother), and GeneralJosé María Cañas (1809–1860), defeated the Filibusters in Rivas on April 11, 1856 (theSecond Battle of Rivas).[46] It was in this battle that the soldier and drummerJuan Santamaría sacrificed himself by setting the Filibuster stronghold on fire. In parallel with Enmanuel Mongalo y Rubio in Nicaragua, Santamaría would become Costa Rica's national hero. Walker deliberately contaminated the water wells of Rivas with corpses. Later, acholera epidemic spread to the Costa Rican troops and the civilian population of Rivas. Within a few months nearly 10,000 civilians had died, almost ten percent of the population of Costa Rica.[47]
.svg)
From the north, PresidentJosé Santos Guardiola sent Honduran troops under the leadership of the Xatruch brothers, who joined Salvadoran troops to fight Walker.[citation needed]Florencio Xatruch led his troops against Walker and the filibusters in la Puebla, Rivas. Later, because of the opposition of other Central American armies, José Joaquín Mora Porras was made Commandant General-in-Chief of the Allied Armies of Central America in theThird Battle of Rivas (April 1857).[48]
During this civil war, Honduras and El Salvador recognized Xatruch as brigade and division general. On June 12, 1857, after Walker surrendered, Xatruch made a triumphant entrance toComayagua, which was then the capital of Honduras. Both the nickname by which Hondurans are known today,Catracho, and the more infamous nickname for Salvadorans, "Salvatrucho", are derived from Xatruch's figure and successful campaign as leader of the allied armies of Central America, as the troops of El Salvador and Honduras were national heroes, fighting side by side as Central American brothers against William Walker's troops.[49]
As the general and his soldiers returned from battle, some Nicaraguans affectionately yelled out"¡Vienen los xatruches!" ("Here come Xatruch's boys!") However, Nicaraguans had trouble pronouncing the general'sCatalan name, so they altered the phrase to "los catruches" and ultimately to "los catrachos".[50]
A key role was played by the Costa Rican Army in unifying the other Central American armies to fight against Filibusters. The "Campaign of the Transit" (1857) is the name given by Costa Rican historians to the groups of several battles fought by the Costa Rican Army, supervised by Colonel Salvador Mora, and led by Colonel Blanco and Colonel Salazar at the San Juan River. By establishing control of this bi-national river at its border with Nicaragua, Costa Rica prevented military reinforcements from reaching Walker and his Filibuster troops via the Caribbean Sea. Also, Costa Rican diplomacy neutralized U.S. official support for Walker by taking advantage of the dispute between the magnateCornelius Vanderbilt and William Walker.[51]
Walker took up residence in Granada and set himself up as President of Nicaragua, after conducting a fraudulent election. He was inaugurated on July 12, 1856, and soon launched an Americanization program, reinstating slavery, declaring English an official language, and reorganizing currency and fiscal policy to encourage emigration from the United States.[53] Realizing that his position was becoming precarious, he sought support from theSoutherners in the U.S. by recasting his campaign as a fight to spread the institution of black slavery, which was the basis of the Southern agrarian economy. With this in mind, Walker revoked Nicaragua's emancipation edict of 1821.[54] This move increased Walker's popularity among Southern whites and attracted the attention ofPierre Soulé, an influentialNew Orleans politician, who campaigned to raise support for Walker's war. Nevertheless, Walker's army was weakened by massive defections and an epidemic of cholera and was finally defeated by the Central American coalition led by Costa Rican PresidentJuan Rafael Mora Porras (1814–1860).
On October 12, 1856, Guatemalan ColonelJosé Víctor Zavala crossed the square of the city to the house where Walker's soldiers took shelter. Under heavy fire, he reached the enemy's flag and carried it back with him, shouting to his men that the Filibuster bullets did not kill.[52]
On December 14, 1856, as Granada was surrounded by 4,000 troops from Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, along with independent Nicaraguan allies,Charles Frederick Henningsen, one of Walker's generals, ordered his men to set the city ablaze before escaping and fighting their way to Lake Nicaragua. When retreating from Granada, the oldest Spanish colonial city in Nicaragua, he left a detachment with orders to level it in order to instill, as he put it, "a salutary dread of American justice". It took them over two weeks to smash, burn and flatten the city; all that remained were inscriptions on the ruins that read"Aqui Fue Granada" ("Here was Granada").[55]
On May 1, 1857, Walker surrendered to CommanderCharles Henry Davis of the United States Navy under the pressure of Costa Rica and the Central American armies and was repatriated. Upon disembarking in New York City, he was greeted as a hero, but he alienated public opinion when he blamed his defeat on the U.S. Navy. Within six months, he set off on another expedition, but he was arrested by the U.S. NavyHome Squadron under the command of CommodoreHiram Paulding and once again returned to the U.S. amid considerable public controversy over the legality of the navy's actions.[56]
After writing an account of his Central American campaign (published in 1860 asWar in Nicaragua), Walker once again returned to the region. British colonists inRoatán,Bay Islands, fearing that the Honduran government would move to assert its control over them, approached Walker with an offer to help him in establishing an independent, English-speaking administration over the islands. Walker disembarked in the port city ofTrujillo but was arrested byRoyal Navy officerNowell Salmon. Britain, which maintained control over nearbyBritish Honduras and theMosquito Coast and planned on constructing an inter-oceanic canal through Central America, regarded Walker as a threat to its own affairs in the region.[57]
Salmon sailed to Trujillo and handed Walker over to the Honduran government along with his chief of staff,A. F. Rudler. Both men were tried by a Honduran military court on charges of piracy and "filibusterism". In his defense, Walker argued that "piracy" involved robbery at sea and that "filibusterism" was not a recognized legal term.[58] Rudler was sentenced to four years of hard labor in Honduran mines, but Walker was sentenced to be executed by firing squad, which was carried out near the site of the present-day hospital, on September 12, 1860.[59] William Walker was 36 years old. He is buried in the "Old Cemetery",Trujillo, Honduras.
William Walker convinced many Southerners of the desirability of creating a slave-holding empire in tropical Latin America. In 1861, when U.S. SenatorJohn J. Crittenden proposed that the36°30' parallel north be declared as a line of demarcation between free and slave territories, some Republicans denounced such an arrangement, with New York congressmanRoscoe Conkling saying that it "would amount to a perpetual covenant of war against every people, tribe, and State owning a foot of land between here andTierra del Fuego".[60][61]
Before the end of theAmerican Civil War, Walker's memory enjoyed great popularity in the southern and western United States, where he was known as "General Walker"[62] and as the "gray-eyed man of destiny".[7] Northerners, on the other hand, generally regarded him as apirate. Despite his intelligence and personal charm, Walker consistently proved to be a poor military and political leader.[citation needed] Unlike men of similar ambition, such asCecil Rhodes, Walker's grandiose scheming ultimately failed.
In Central American countries, the successful military campaign of 1856–1857 against William Walker became a source of national pride and identity,[63] and it was later promoted by local historians and politicians as substitute for the war of independence that Central America had not experienced. April 11 is a Costa Rican national holiday in memory of Walker's defeat atRivas.Juan Santamaría, who played a key role in that battle, is honored as one of two Costa Rican national heroes, the other one beingJuan Rafael Mora himself. Themain airport serving San José (inAlajuela) is named in Santamaría's honor.
To this day, Central America's shared history is remembered and celebrated as a source of unity among the nations of Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.[citation needed]
Walker's campaigns in Lower California and Nicaragua are the subject of a historical novel byAlfred Neumann, published in German asDer Pakt (1949), and translated in English asStrange Conquest (a previous UK edition was published asLook Upon This Man).[64]Walker's campaign in Nicaragua has inspired two films, both of which take considerable liberties with his story:Burn! (1969) directed byGillo Pontecorvo, starringMarlon Brando, andWalker (1987) directed byAlex Cox, starringEd Harris. Walker's name is used for the main character inBurn!, though the character is not meant to represent the historical William Walker and is portrayed as British.[65] On the other hand, Alex Cox'sWalker incorporates into its surrealist narrative many of the signposts of William Walker's life and exploits, including his original excursions into northern Mexico to his trial and acquittal on breaking the neutrality act to the triumph of his assault on Nicaragua and his execution.[66]
In Part Five, Chapter 48, ofGone with the Wind,Margaret Mitchell cites William Walker, "and how he died against a wall in Truxillo", as a topic of conversation betweenRhett Butler and his filibustering acquaintances, while Rhett andScarlett O'Hara are on honeymoon inNew Orleans.[67]
A poem written by Nicaraguan Catholic priest and minister of culture from 1979 to 1987 during the Sandinista periodErnesto Cardenal,Con Walker En Nicaragua, translated asWith Walker in Nicaragua,[68] gives a historical treatment of the affair from the Nicaraguan perspective.
The villain of theNantucket series, by science fiction writerS. M. Stirling, is an American Coast Guard officer named William Walker who is transported back in time from 1998 to 1250 BCE. Walker leads a filibuster force toMycenaean Greece and initiates a version of theTrojan War with firearms.[citation needed]
John Neal's 1859 novelTrue Womanhood includes a character who travels from the US to Nicaragua to participate in Walker's campaign there.[69] This may be based on his son James or his friend's son,Appleton Oaksmith, both of whom made similar trips.[70]
Richard Harding Davis (1906),Real Soldiers of Fortune, "General William Walker, the King of the Filibusters" (Chapter 5).
