GENERAL WILLIAM WALKER, KING OF THE FILIBUSTERS

Author -Wotan Jugend

I must say that the Walker name will not say absolutely anything to the younger generation. Their name “William Walker” will not cause pride for his race or for his country. It does not hint to them poetry or adventure. William Walker – the most outstanding of all the American soldiers of fortune, the only one of his compatriots who alone achieved the highest results, but even in order to get into this book, he had to wait in line after adventurers from other countries and youth officers from own. And if this man with a simple name, a name that doesn’t mean anything today, did everything he planned, he would solve the problem of slavery on the continent, establish an empire in Mexico and Central America, and, by the way, would drag us into the war all over Europe. Here is what he would do.

In the days of the gold rush in San Francisco, William Walker was one of the most famous, most colorful and popular “people of the forty-ninth year.” His contemporaries were player Jack Oakhurst, duelist Colonel Starbotl, coach coach Yuba Bill. Bret Garth was one of Walker’s most ardent admirers and made him the hero of his two stories, hiding him under more attractive names. When Walker later arrived in New York, all Broadway from Battery to Madison Square was decorated with flags in his honor. “There were roses, roses around.” The roofs of houses swayed and swayed.

In New Orleans, he appeared in a box at the opera, and the show was interrupted for ten minutes while the audience stood and greeted him.

This happened less than fifty years ago, and the people who the boys imitated Walker of Nicaragua still actively influence the social life of San Francisco and New York.

Walker was born in 1824 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the eldest son of a Scottish banker, a deeply religious man who was involved in a business that was as far from the military profession as possible. The life of few people is confirmed by the fact that generals are born, not become. Birth, family tradition and education indicated that Walker would become a representative of the “learned” profession. At the request of his father, he was to become a priest of the Presbyterian church, and he was taught from this perspective. He himself chose to study medicine, and after graduating from the University of Tennessee, he attended a course in Edinburgh and traveled to Europe for two years, visiting many famous hospitals.

Then, having received good practice as a doctor, he, after a short return to his hometown and an equally short stop in Philadelphia, quit his career and went to New Orleans to study law. Two years later, he was admitted to the New Orleans Bar. Due to the fact that he had few clients, or due to the fact that the lawyer’s bureaucracy was not to his liking, he dropped out of the bar a year later, as he had previously left the church and medicine, and became a journalist for the New Orleans newspaper Cresent. A year later, the restlessness, which rebelled against the power professions, led him to the golden fields of California and in San Francisco. In 1852, he became editor of the Herald San Francisco newspaper and began to live a real life that soon ended in disaster and fame.

By twenty-eight years, nothing, except for his restlessness, did not foretell what awaited him. Nothing indicated that he would be the man for whom thousands of people in all world capitals are ready to give their lives.

Having thrown three different fields, making it clear that he is not attracted to a professional career, Walker showed some special personality traits. But he did not give any hint that under the high forehead of a young doctor and lawyer are hiding plans for creating empires and ambitions, limited only to two great oceans.

Walker’s first gamble is undoubtedly caused by the imitation of one man who was close to his disastrous end to the appearance of Walker in San Francisco. It was de Bulbon with his expedition to Mexico. Count Gaston Raul de Raousse-Bulbon – a young French aristocrat and soldier of fortune, chasseur d’Afrique, duelist, journalist, dreamer who came to California to mine gold. Baron Harden-Hickey, who was born in San Francisco and shot himself dead in Mexico at the age of thirty, was also inspired by the conquests of this gentleman adventurer.

Bulbon was a young man with great ideas. In the rapid growth of California, he saw a threat to Mexico and suggested that the Mexican government create a French colony in the state of Sonora as a buffer between the two republics. Sonora is a Mexican state that directly borders the south of our state of Arizona. Bulbon made a pact with the President of Mexico and in 1852 landed with one hundred and six well-armed Frenchmen in Guaymas in the Gulf of California. The alleged pretext for invading foreign land, for which Bulbon hired his own people on behalf of the president, was to protect foreign workers on the Restaurador mines from attacks by Apache Indians from our Arizona. In fact, the French government was behind Bulbon, and he was trying on a small scale to do what Maximilian later tried to do with the support of the French troops and Louis Napoleon was to establish an empire in Mexico under the French protectorate. Both the filibuster and the emperor were waiting for the same end: the execution by the church wall.

In 1852, two years before his death, when the second expedition to Sonora ended, Bulbon wrote to a friend in Paris: “Europeans are concerned about the growth of the United States. And rightly so. While she (that is, France) is divided, while such a strong rival rises above her, America, with the help of commerce, trade, population, geographical location between two oceans, becomes the ruler of the world. In ten years, Europe will not dare to shoot without its permission. When I write these lines, fifty Americans are going to sail to Mexico and they are likely to win. Voila les Etats-Unis. ”

The fifty Americans who, according to Bulbon, threatened Europe, were led by a former doctor, former lawyer, former editor William Walker, twenty-eight years old. Walker tried to conclude the same agreement with the Mexican government as Bulbon did, but failed. Therefore, he sailed without a treaty, saying that the Mexican government requested it or not, but he wants to protect women and children on the border of Mexico and Arizona from bloodthirsty Indians. It should be recalled that when Dr. Jameson made his raid on the Transvaal, he also wanted to protect “women and children” from bloodthirsty boers. Walker himself justified his expedition in a letter to one person: “What Walker saw and heard convinced him that a relatively small number of Americans could hold positions on the border with Sonora and protect families from the Indians. Such actions are acts of mankind, are they sanctioned by the Mexican government or not. The situation in the northern part of Sonora was and still remains (it was written eight years later, in 1860) a disgrace for the civilized people of the continent, and the inhabitants of the United States bear the greatest responsibility for Apache attacks. In fact, northern Sonora is governed by the Indians, not the laws of Mexico, and the tribute of the Indians is collected more regularly than taxes. The very situation of this area is the best excuse for any American who wants to settle here without the consent of Mexico. Although, after the creation of the colony, of course, political changes will occur, they are justified by the fact that any social organization, no matter how it was formed, is preferable to an organization where the individual and family depend on the mercy of savages. ” whether they are sanctioned by the mexican government or not. The situation in the northern part of Sonora was and still remains (it was written eight years later, in 1860) a disgrace for the civilized people of the continent, and the inhabitants of the United States bear the greatest responsibility for Apache attacks. In fact, northern Sonora is governed by the Indians, not the laws of Mexico, and the tribute of the Indians is collected more regularly than taxes. The very situation of this area is the best excuse for any American who wants to settle here without the consent of Mexico. Although, after the creation of the colony, of course, political changes will occur, they are justified by the fact that any social organization, no matter how it was formed, is preferable to an organization where the individual and family depend on the mercy of savages. ” whether they are sanctioned by the mexican government or not. The situation in the northern part of Sonora was and still remains (it was written eight years later, in 1860) a disgrace for the civilized people of the continent, and the inhabitants of the United States bear the greatest responsibility for Apache attacks. In fact, northern Sonora is governed by the Indians, not the laws of Mexico, and the tribute of the Indians is collected more regularly than taxes. The very situation of this area is the best excuse for any American who wants to settle here without the consent of Mexico. Although, after the creation of the colony, of course, political changes will occur, they are justified by the fact that any social organization, no matter how it was formed, is preferable to an organization where the individual and family depend on the mercy of savages. ” The situation in the northern part of Sonora was and still remains (it was written eight years later, in 1860) a disgrace for the civilized people of the continent, and the inhabitants of the United States bear the greatest responsibility for Apache attacks. In fact, northern Sonora is governed by the Indians, not the laws of Mexico, and the tribute of the Indians is collected more regularly than taxes. The very situation of this area is the best excuse for any American who wants to settle here without the consent of Mexico. Although, after the creation of the colony, of course, political changes will occur, they are justified by the fact that any social organization, no matter how it was formed, is preferable to an organization where the individual and family depend on the mercy of savages. ” The situation in the northern part of Sonora was and still remains (it was written eight years later, in 1860) a disgrace for the civilized people of the continent, and the inhabitants of the United States bear the greatest responsibility for Apache attacks. In fact, northern Sonora is governed by the Indians, not the laws of Mexico, and the tribute of the Indians is collected more regularly than taxes. The very situation of this area is the best excuse for any American who wants to settle here without the consent of Mexico. Although, after the creation of the colony, of course, political changes will occur, they are justified by the fact that any social organization, no matter how it was formed, is preferable to an organization where the individual and family depend on the mercy of savages. ” and U.S. residents bear the greatest responsibility for Apache attacks. In fact, northern Sonora is governed by the Indians, not the laws of Mexico, and the tribute of the Indians is collected more regularly than taxes. The very situation of this area is the best excuse for any American who wants to settle here without the consent of Mexico. Although, after the creation of the colony, of course, political changes will occur, they are justified by the fact that any social organization, no matter how it was formed, is preferable to an organization where the individual and family depend on the mercy of savages. ” and U.S. residents bear the greatest responsibility for Apache attacks. In fact, northern Sonora is governed by the Indians, not the laws of Mexico, and the tribute of the Indians is collected more regularly than taxes. The very situation of this area is the best excuse for any American who wants to settle here without the consent of Mexico. Although, after the creation of the colony, of course, political changes will occur, they are justified by the fact that any social organization, no matter how it was formed, is preferable to an organization where the individual and family depend on the mercy of savages. ” who wants to settle here without the consent of Mexico. Although, after the creation of the colony, of course, political changes will occur, they are justified by the fact that any social organization, no matter how it was formed, is preferable to an organization where the individual and family depend on the mercy of savages. ” who wants to settle here without the consent of Mexico. Although, after the creation of the colony, of course, political changes will occur, they are justified by the fact that any social organization, no matter how it was formed, is preferable to an organization where the individual and family depend on the mercy of savages. ”

There were as many bloodthirsty boomers that would threaten women and children during the raid on Jameson, like snakes in Ireland. But during the Walker raid, women and children were indeed threatened by Indians, who, as Walker soon found out, were ruthless and dangerous enemies.

However, Walker did not want to conquer the state of Sonora to save women and children. During his expedition, the important issue of slavery was acute. And if the Union was close to the abolition of slavery, then, as it seemed to this statesman of twenty-eight years, the South had to expand its borders and find markets for its slaves in the new territory. With the conquest of Sonora, it was possible to expand the borders of Arizona to Texas. Strategically, the place Walker chose for his goals was perfect. It must be remembered that the source of all his affairs was the dream of an empire where slavery would be recognized. His mother owned slaves. He was born and raised in Tennessee among slaves. His youth and maturity passed in Nashville and New Orleans. He sincerely, fanatically believed in the right to own slaves, just as his father believed in the movement of covenants. It is curious today to read his arguments in defense of slavery. Walker’s appeal to the reader’s philanthropy, to his soul, to his sense of justice, to his fear of God and his faith in the Bible does not abolish slavery, but continues it, which will seem ridiculous to the current generation, like the nonsense of Gilbert or Shaw. But for the young man himself, slavery was a sacred institution, designed to improve humanity, a god given a benefit to a black man and a god given a right to his white master.

The white brothers in the south, guided by apparently less enthusiastic motives, raised money for Walker’s expedition, and in October 1852 he landed with fifty-five associates on Cape San Lucas – the extreme point of Baja California. It must be remembered that Baja California, despite the name, is not part of our California, but was and remains part of Mexico. The fact that Walker finally found himself on enemy land forced him to drop all pretense. Instead of rushing to protect women and children, he sailed a few miles up the coast in La Paz. With his fifty-five associates, he captured the city, sent the governor to prison, and created the republic with him as president. In an appeal, he declared the inhabitants free from Mexican tyranny. Residents did not want to be free, but Walker decided so, and whether they liked it or not, they ended up in an independent republic. A few weeks later Walker annexed the state of Sonora on paper, although he was not there yet and gave the name of the Republic of Sonora to both states.

As soon as the news came to San Francisco, Walker’s friends began to look for his support, and soon adventurers and adventurers of all countries were enrolled in the “emigrants” and sailed to him on the Anita barge.

Two months later, in November 1852, three hundred people joined Walker. It was a gang of desperate bastards, similar to those who robbed the gateway, beat the Chinese, or shot “Mexicans”. When they realized that it was only a young man who commanded them, they made a plan to attack the warehouse where the stock of gunpowder was stored, pick up everything in the camp and move north, robbing the ranch along the way. Walker found out about their plan, betrayed the instigators to a military field court and shot them. With such an undisciplined army, this action required a great deal of courage. It was this quality that was respected by the people who were with him. They realized that their leader could both shoot and punish. Most did not need a leader who was ready to punish, so when Walker asked to raise the hands of those who want to go with him to Sonora, only the first fifty-five people and forty later recruits remained with him. With less than nine hundred people, he began moving to Sonora along the bay across all of Baja California.

From the very beginning, filibusters were accompanied by misfortunes. Mexicans and their allied Indians unexpectedly attacked from the flanks and from behind. Almost daily, the mutilated bodies of people who fell into the hands of the Indians were met. The laggards and deserters were buried in the ground and tortured. Wounded filibusters died from a lack of medicine. The only tools they had to pull out the arrowheads were pliers made from a pair of ramrods. The only food was the cows that they killed along the way. The army went barefoot, the cabinet of ministers wore rags, the president of Sonora shod boots on one foot, and boots on the other.

Unable to continue his journey, Walker returned to San Vincent, where he left the weapons and ammunition of the deserters and a rearguard of eighteen people. He did not see any of them anymore. Twelve people deserted, and the rest of the Mexicans caught their lasso and tortured to death. Walker now had only thirty-five people. Even if reinforcements had come to him from San Francisco, it was impossible to wait for him. He decided by forced march to reach the border with California. Mexican soldiers guarding the roads and Indians hiding from the flanks separated him from a safe place. At San Diego, when only three miles remained to the border, Colonel Melendres, who commanded the Mexican forces, suggested that the surviving expedition members surrender, promising to save the lives of everyone except the leader. But people

Then Melendres asked Major McKinstry, who commanded the US Army military post in San Diego, to order Walker to surrender. Major McKinstry refused. Crossing the border for him meant a violation of neutrality. On Mexican soil, he could neither capture former President Sonora nor help him. But he knew that if the filibusters got to American soil, the Mexicans and Indians would not follow them.

Therefore, he put his squad at the border and, as an impartial referee, was waiting for the outcome of the events. Hidden behind rocks and cacti, through the hot, scorching plain, the filibusters could see the American flag and fluttering colorful cavalry standards. The sight of the flags gave them strength for the last desperate jerk. Melendres also realized that the time had come for a decisive attack. After the attack, Walker, having been defeated, retreated, but left a twelve-man rearguard among the rocks. When Melendres fell into this ambush, twelve shooters knocked out many Mexicans and Indians from their saddles, and they fled in panic. Half an hour later, a small group that set out to found an empire of slave owners, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, crossed the border and surrendered to US troops.

James Jeffrey Roche writes about this expedition in The Roads of War, the most interesting and complete book about Walker: “Many years later, a peon shepherd or a roaming Indian kokupa on a mountain trail will stumble upon a whitening skeleton of an unnamed person whose resting place is not marked by a cross nor barrow. But the Colt, lying next to the bones, speaks of his country and his occupation, and that’s all that remains of the nineteenth-century conquistador. ”

Under the guarantee of General Wood, commander of US forces in the Pacific Ocean, filibusters on a sailboat were sent to San Francisco, where their leader was put on trial and acquitted.

Walker’s first expedition ended in failure, but it gave him enormous experience, since real service is better than all military academies, and for the type of war he waged it was the best preparation. She was not inglorious, and all the surviving comrades of Walker, instead of, as it happens, blaspheming their leader in bars, were ready to fight anyone who doubted the ability or courage of their leader. Later, after five years, many of those same people, even being ten to twenty years older than him, will follow him to his death, and will never dispute his orders or his right to command.

At this time, another revolution occurred in Nicaragua. From the south, Costa Rica supported; from the north, Honduras supplied weapons and people. There were no laws, no government. A dozen political parties, a dozen commanders in chief and not a single strong man.

Walker in the editorial office of the San Francisco Herald swung his finger on the map in search of new territories for conquest and stopped in Nicaragua.

In the confusion of Nicaragua, he saw an opportunity to come to power, and in its tropical beauties, in the laziness and incompetence of its inhabitants – the greater, brighter, more prosperous Sonora. From San Francisco, he could reinforce his army with people and weapons, and from New Orleans, when the time came, he could supply his empire with slaves.

Two parties took part in the war in Nicaragua – the Legitimists and the Democrats. No need to know why they fought. Walker probably didn’t know that. Most likely, they themselves did not know this. But the Democratic leader suggested that Walker conclude an agreement: Walker was supposed to send to Nicaragua three hundred Americans, each of whom was given several hundred acres of land and who were called “colonists subject to military service.” This contract was shown to Walker by the state attorney general and General Wood, who had once saved him from the charge of filibuster. These federal officers saw no reason to discourage Walker. But the rest of San Francisco was less gullible, and the “colonists” who joined Walker were well aware that they were not going to Nicaragua to grow coffee and pick bananas.

In 1855, exactly one year after Walker and thirty-three of his followers surrendered to American troops in San Diego, Walker, with fifty recruits and seven members of the last expedition, sailed from San Francisco on the West crew. After five weeks of tiring storm travel, they landed in Realejo. Here, the Californians were warmly greeted by the interim Democratic chairman.

Walker was appointed Colonel, Achilles Kewen, who fought with Lopez in Cuba, Lieutenant Colonel, and Timothy Crocker, who was with Walker on a sonor expedition, major. The detachment had independent command and was called “La Falange Americana.” Walker’s first order was to defeat an enemy who was on his way to the Caribbean.

A week after the landing, Walker with fifty-seven Americans and one hundred and fifty local soldiers sailed on Vesta to the port of Brito, from where he went to Rivas, a city with seven thousand inhabitants and a garrison of one thousand two hundred people.

The first battle ended in a complete and catastrophic fiasco. Local soldiers fled, and the Americans, after a three-hour defense in several brick huts, attacks by enemies and an attempt to escape in the jungle, surrendered to six hundred legitimate soldiers. The Americans suffered heavy losses, and two people died, on which Walker, mainly hoped: Quen and Crocker. Legitimists laid the bodies of the wounded, who were still alive, and killed on a pile of logs and burned them. After a painful night crossing, Walker arrived on the coast the next day in San Juan and captured the Costa Rican schooner discovered in the port. At this point, although Walker’s people were defeated, wounded, and fleeing, two Americans – “Texan Harry MacLeod and Irishman Peter Burns” – asked for permission to join them.

“The soldier was encouraged,” Walker wrote, “that someone besides them did not consider their business to be lost, and this small replenishment raised their morale and made the squad stronger.”

Sometimes, reading a story, it seems that the first condition for success is a complete lack of a sense of humor and an absolutely serious look at everything that happens. With fifty associates, Walker planned to conquer Nicaragua – a country with a population of two hundred and fifty thousand people, as large as Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut combined. And even seven years later, without a shadow of a smile, he writes that two tramps raised the “morale” of his army. And it is very characteristic that at the moment when he is happy with this addition, he gives the order to shoot two Americans for non-discipline. A weak-willed person could renounce two Americans, who, in fact, were not members of his Phalanx, and claim that he was not responsible for their crimes. But Walker’s success was based on strict discipline. He judged these people and they pleaded guilty. One escaped, and since one might think that Walker facilitated his escape, the second man received no mercy. When you read about how severe Walker’s punishments were, how often he applied the death penalty to his followers, you are surprised that such independent and unaccustomed to restrictions people like his first volunteers recognized his leadership. This can only be explained by Walker’s personal qualities.

Of all these reckless, fearless criminals who despised their allies and proved that one American with a rifle can defeat a dozen Nicaraguans, Walker was the only person who was not addicted to drinking and playing, who did not even swear, who never looked at women, but in monetary matters he was disinterested and scrupulously honest. His followers knew that in battle, he could risk his life for them, just as he could order the execution of any of them to maintain his power.

Treason, cowardice, looting and insulting women, he punished death. But to the wounded, even if they were enemies, he was kind as a sister of mercy, and courage and skill immediately rewarded with support and increased pay. He was not a demagogue. He did not try to win the favor of his people. He had no favorites among the officers of his headquarters. He dined alone and always kept on his own. He spoke little and did not know embarrassment. In the face of injustice, treachery or physical danger, he always remained calm, collected, passionless. But they say that on rare occasions when anger took hold of him, his piercing gray eyes sparkled menacingly, and those who came across him soon saw the barrel of his colt.

By the impression that remains of his actions, of his writings, of the writings of those who fought with him, he was a quiet, student-like young man who fanatically believes in his fate. But in all matters that did not concern himself, he showed a gloomy sense of humor. From the phrases of his people that he wrote down, it is clearly visible that he respected the Bret-Garth style of humor. For example, when he wanted to make a Californian a drummer, he held out: “No, thanks, Colonel. The first thing I’ve always seen on the battlefield is a dead drummer with a perforated drum. ”

Walker completely lacked vanity – a quality so characteristic of a soldier of fortune. In a country where even the captain adorns himself as a field marshal, Walker wore trousers tucked into boots, a civilian blue frock coat and a hat with a single ornament – a red Democrat ribbon. His power was not dependent on gowns or buttons, and he took his saber only when he was going to battle. He was a delicate physique, rather short than medium, tall, smoothly shaven, with deep-set gray eyes. Obviously, his eyes were a noticeable part of his appearance, and for them he received his nickname.

His followers called him the “Gray-eyed Man of Fate,” and under such a nickname he was later known in the USA.

From the very beginning, Walker realized that in order to gain a foothold in Nicaragua he must stay in touch with the new recruits arriving from San Francisco and New York, and for this he needed to control the transport routes from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean. At that time there were three sea routes to the gold mines: on a sailboat around Cape Horn, through the Isthmus of Panama and the shortest, through Nicaragua. By agreement with the Nicaraguan government, passenger transportation through Nicaragua was controlled by Exorisi Transit, whose first president was Cornelius Vanderbilt. His company owned shipping lines both on the Pacific side and on the Atlantic. Passengers who set off for gold mines from New York landed in Greytown on the west bank of Nicaragua and sailed on small ships up the San Juan River to Lake Nicaragua. Here they were met by a large ship and transported to the Gulf of Virginia. From here, they drove twelve miles in carts and mules to the port of San Juan del Sud on the Pacific coast, where they boarded company ships and sailed to San Francisco.

During Walker’s stay in Nicaragua, an average of about two thousand passengers traveled through the country per month.

To take control of this path, immediately after the first defeat, Walker returned to San Juan del Sud, defeated the enemy in a quick skirmish and captured the Virgin Gulf, where passengers traveling from east to west stayed.

Walker’s troops were five times smaller than the enemy’s, but he lost only three local killed and several Americans wounded. Legitimists lost sixty dead and one hundred wounded. This proportion of losses shows how much more effective the Californians’ revolver and rifle fire was. And it was so unusual that when, after many years, I visited the cities captured by the filibusters, I discovered that the accuracy of Walker phalanxes became legendary. Now, thanks to filibusters, if a person from the United States gets into trouble in Central America, then it’s enough for him to show his weapon. No local will wait until it fires.

After the battle near the Gulf of Virginia, Walker received fifty new recruits from California — an urgent replenishment, and since he now had one hundred and twenty Americans, three hundred Nicaraguans led by local general Valle, and two guns, he decided to attack Rivas again. Rivas stands by the lake, north of the Gulf of Virginia. Next is Granada – the center of the Legitimists.

Fearing that Walker would attack Rivas, the legitimate troops hurried from Granada to this city, leaving Granada almost defenseless.

Walker found out from the intercepted letters and decided to hit Granada. At night, on one of the lake steamboats, he walked along the coast and at dawn landed near the city. On the eve of the Legitimists won, and, thanks to luck or the fate of Walker, all of Granada celebrated this event at night. After lots of fun dancing and lots of drunk aguardiente, the townspeople slept in a drunken dream. The garrison was asleep, the sentries were asleep, the whole city was asleep. But when the monastery bells called the people to an early Mass, sharp shots tore the air, which seemed to the Legitimists unusual and frightening. These were not loud explosions of their own muskets and not the smoothbore weapons of the Democrats. The sounds were sharp, fierce, like the clicking of a whip. The sentries, realizing the horror of what was happening, fled from their posts. “Filibusters!” They shouted. Walker and Valle were galloping ahead,

After a short fierce battle in the square, the enemy was completely defeated. As usual, local Democrats immediately began looting. But Walker stuck a saber in the first looter he met and ordered the Americans to arrest everyone else and return the already stolen property. Walker released more than a hundred political prisoners, from which the chains and cores were quickly removed. More than two-thirds of them immediately went under the banner of Walker.

Now he could dictate peace to enemies on his own terms, but the fatal blunder of Parker G. French, a lieutenant in Walker’s army, delayed peace for several weeks and led to unnecessary repression. French, without orders, made an unsuccessful attack on San Carlos on the eastern shore of the lake, and the Legitimists in response killed several civilians in the Gulf and fired on the ship. Although the Legitimists justified themselves by the fact that Walker used the lake steamers, they could not help but know who was going to them now – Walker people or neutral passengers. Since Walker could not punish the real culprits, he blamed their actions on their Foreign Minister, who, after the capture of Granada, was among the captives. Walker tried and shot “the victim of a new interpretation of the principles of constitutional government.” This action of Walker stretched to the limit the concept of responsibility and immediately led to a meeting between the generals of the two political parties. Thus, four months after the arrival of Walker and his followers in Nicaragua, hostilities were discontinued, and the party for which the Americans fought came to power. Walker became the commander in chief of an army of one thousand two hundred men and received a salary of six thousand dollars a year. A person named Rivas was appointed interim president. Walker became the commander in chief of an army of one thousand two hundred men and received a salary of six thousand dollars a year. A person named Rivas was appointed interim president. Walker became the commander in chief of an army of one thousand two hundred men and received a salary of six thousand dollars a year. A person named Rivas was appointed interim president.

This break in the war came to Walker very opportunely. He made it possible to recruit recruits and better organize his people to achieve the goals for which Walker came to Nicaragua. Now under his command there was a significant army, one of the most effective in all military history. The organization he commanded was also not like the Phalanx of fifty-eight adventurers sent to Rivas, as the Falstaff followers were to the regiment recruited by Colonel Roosevelt. Now, instead of unruly Californian prospectors who did not obey the law, his army consisted of veterans of the Mexican War, young southerners by birth and spirit, and soldiers of fortune from all the great armies of Europe.

Among those who participated in the outbreak of the Civil War, and then served as the Egyptian Khedive, there were several Walker officers, and many years after his death there was not a single war where the people trained by Walker in the Nicaraguan jungle distinguished themselves. The Englishman, General Charles Frederick Henningsen wrote in his memoirs that, although he had participated in several of the greatest battles of the Civil War, he would have put a thousand men Walker against five thousand soldiers of the Confederation or Union. And the general knew what he was talking about. Before joining Walker, he served with Don Carlos in Spain, with Kossuth in Hungary, as well as in Bulgaria.

He commanded a regiment at Walker and wrote about his people: “I often saw them coming with one broken or bandaged hand, and fired with the other hand. Those whose wounds were incurable shot themselves. Such people do not return to everyday life, and I think that I will never see such people again. All military science collapsed when they attacked the gun battery with revolvers in their hands. ”

Another graduate of Walker’s army was Captain Fred Townsend Ward, a native of Salem, Massachusetts, who, after Walker’s death, organized and led the victorious army that crushed the Taiping uprising, and performed many glorious feats attributed to the Chinese Gordon. Today in Shanghai there are two temples built in memory of this filibuster.

Joaquin Miller – a poet, a gold digger, a soldier who recently lived in a hotel in Saratoga Springs, was one of the young Californians who were with Walker, and then retained the name of his beloved commander in his poems. A. Jamison, now living in Guthrie, Oklahoma, was captain of Walker. When the war started again, less than four months had passed before these people made Walker the president of Nicaragua.

For four months he was president by all indications, except for the title. He was recognized and feared. In February 1856, he, and not Rivas, declared war on the neighboring republic of Costa Rica. This war continued with varying success for three months, until the Costa Ricans were driven out of the country.

In June of that year, Rivas announced the presidential election and his nomination from the Democrats. Other Democratic contenders were Salazar and Ferrer. Legitimists, realizing that the country was actually ruled by their former enemy, put forward Walker. Walker was elected by overwhelming majority, receiving 15835 votes against 867 votes for Rivas. Salazar received 2087, Ferrer – 4447.

Now Walker was both the de facto and legitimate ruler of the country, and never in its history has this country been governed so fairly, so wisely, as well as under Walker. But in his successes the neighboring republics saw a threat to their independence. The flag of filibusters with a five-pointed blood-red star and the motto “Five or nothing” frightened the other four Central American republics. Its meaning was too obvious and too unpleasant. Costa Rica in the south, Guatemala, Salvador and Honduras in the north, along with Nicaraguan opposition, immediately declared war on a foreign usurper. Walker was opposed by 21,000 allies. The number of his troops was constantly fluctuating. In the presidential election, the backbone of his army was superbly trained, experienced soldiers of 2,000. Later, the number increased to 3500, and most likely never exceeded this level. Personnel lists and hospital lists show that while he ruled in Nicaragua, under his banners were a total of 10,000 people. At the same time, 5,000 people died from an enemy bullet or from a fever.

Describing battles with allies is long and boring. They were all alike: long, silent night crossings, a surprise attack at dawn, a battle to take a strategic position — either barracks, or the cathedral in the square, hand-to-hand combat on barricades and near huts. The outcomes of these battles were different, but everything turned out so that if there were no external interference, each Republic of Central America would be in turn under the control of a five-pointed star.

In Costa Rica, there is a statue depicting a republic in the form of a young woman with a kneeling Walker standing at her feet. One night, some truly American would put dynamite at the foot of the statue and move away. On their own, neither Costa Rica nor the other Central American republics could have expelled Walker from their land. His downfall was due to his own people and his own actions.

When Walker became president, he learned that Exorisi Transit did not agree to the terms offered by the Nicaraguan government. His efforts to maintain these conditions led to a break. Exorisi Transit agreed to pay Nicaragua ten thousand dollars annually and ten percent of net profit. But the company, whose story the American diplomat Squire described as “the shameful success of deception and fraud,” manipulated his books so that it turned out that she did not get any profit at all. Not believing this, Walker sent a commission to New York to investigate. The commission discovered a forgery and demanded the return of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. When the company refused to pay, Walker seized her steamers on account of the debt, marinas and warehouses and entered into a new contract with two company managers – Morgan and Harrison, who worked in San Francisco against Vanderbilt. Although he was in his own right, he did a deadly mistake by doing this. He made Vanderbilt his enemy and remained without contact with the United States. Enraged by the insolence of the filibuster president, Vanderbilt closed his steamboat line. Walker was left without people and ammunition, as on a desert island. He captured Vanderbilt’s boats on the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, but they could only be used for local traffic. Walker was left without people and ammunition, as on a desert island. He captured Vanderbilt’s boats on the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, but they could only be used for local traffic. Walker was left without people and ammunition, as on a desert island. He captured Vanderbilt’s boats on the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, but they could only be used for local traffic.

He found himself in the position of the person holding the central span of the bridge when the spans on the right and left are destroyed.

Vanderbilt did not stop at closing the line; he continued the war in Central America, supporting the Costa Ricans with money and people. From Washington, Secretary of State Marcy fought with Walker, who became Vanderbilt’s faithful weapon.

Spencer, Webster, and the other Lucky Soldiers hired by Vanderbilt blocked the Caribbean coast, and the St. Marys warship, under the command of Captain Davis, was sent to San Juan on the Atlantic coast. Captain Davis was instructed to help the Allies expel Walker from Nicaragua. Walker said that these orders were given by Marcy Vanderbilt, and Marcy passed them to his friend, Commodore Mervyn, who already brought them to Davis. Davis said that he acts solely in the interests of humanity and wants to save Walker. Walker, whose troops had thinned out of enemy fire, fever and desertion, took refuge in Rivas, which was besieged by the allied armies. There was not a piece of bread in the city. People ate feed for horses and mules. There was no salt. The hospital was crowded with wounded and feverish.

Captain Davis, in the name of philanthropy, demanded that Walker surrender to the United States. Walker said he would not give up, but when the time came to run, he would do it on his little schooner Granada, which made up his entire fleet, and, as a free man, would go wherever he liked. Davis then told Walker that the army that Walker had sent to recapture Greattown was defeated by the Janissaries of Vanderbilt; that the steamboats from San Francisco that brought replenishment to Walker were also removed from the line, and that, finally, he has a “constant and conscious intention” to capture Granada. He completed the last paragraph. Granada was Walker’s last transport. He hoped to make a sortie, board a ship and flee the country. But without a ship, without the ability to continue to withstand the siege of the allies, he could only surrender to the US troops.

When he appeared in New York, he was greeted as they later met Kossuth, and in our days, Admiral Dewey. The city was decorated with flags, banquets, celebrations, public gatherings were held everywhere in his honor. Walker was restrained about these manifestations of joy and announced at every opportunity that he wanted to return to the country of which he was president and from which he was forcibly expelled. In Washington, where he came to make his statements, he did not receive much support. His protest against Captain Davis was sent to Congress, where he safely stalled.

In a month, Walker organized an expedition to return to Nicaragua, and since he had repealed the ban on slavery in the new constitution of this country, he found enough money and new recruits from slave owners in the South to leave the United States immediately. With a detachment of one hundred and fifty people, he sailed from San Francisco and landed in San del Norte on the Caribbean coast. While he was setting up a camp on the banks of the San Juan River, one of his officers climbed up the river with fifty people and, capturing the city of Castillo Vejio and four steamers of the Exorisi Transit company, almost captured all the messages. At that moment, the frigate “Wabash” and Hiram Polding appeared on the scene, who landed an army of three hundred and fifty sailors with howitzers and turned the frigate’s cannons at the camp of the President of Nicaragua. Captain Angel, who introduced Walker to the terms of delivery, told him: “General, I’m sorry to see you here. A man like you should command more worthy people. ” Walker gloomily replied: “If I had at least a third of the number that you have, I would show you which of us commands more worthy people.”

For the third time in his life, Walker surrendered to the armed forces of his own country.

Upon arrival in the United States, Walker, keeping his word given to Paulding, immediately appeared in Washington as a prisoner of war. But, although Paulding reported on Walker’s actions, President Buchanan did not confirm Paulding’s authority, and in his message to Congress stated that this officer made a big mistake and set a dangerous precedent.

Walker demanded that the US government indemnify him for losses and ensure that he and his officers were transported directly to the camp from which he was taken. As Walker had foreseen, this demand was not taken seriously, and with an army of one hundred people, among whom were many of his old associates, he again sailed from New Orleans. To prevent his return, American and British warships stood on each side of the isthmus, so Walker, desiring to reach Nicaragua by land, stopped in Honduras. In the war against Walker, the Hondurans were as frantic in attacks as the Costa Ricans. When, after the landing, Walker discovered that his former enemies were immersed in the revolution, he declared that he was on the side of the weakest and occupied the seaport of Trujillo. Soon after, the British ship Ikarus, and its commander, anchored in the harbor Captain Salmon remarked to Walker that the British government had its share of the proceeds of this port and that he intended to occupy the city to protect the interests of his government. Walker replied that he had made Trujillo a free port and that the UK statements were no longer valid.

The British officer said that if Walker and his people surrender to him, they would be sent to the United States as prisoners, and if they did not surrender, then he would bombard the city. At this time, General Alvarez and his seven hundred Hondurans surrounded Trujillo from land and prepared to attack. Against such forces that surrounded him both from the sea and from land, Walker was powerless and decided to flee. That same night, with seventy people, he left the city and moved towards Nicaragua. “Ikarus”, taking Alvarez on board, set off in pursuit. Salmon found President Nicaragua in an Indian fishing village and sent a boat ashore demanding to surrender. Leaving Trujillo, Walker was forced to throw ammunition, except thirty rounds per person, and all food except two barrels of rusks. On the coast of the continent there is no place more unhealthy than Honduras, and when the Englishman came to a fishing village, he saw that Walker’s people lay in palm huts, covered in fever, not having the strength to fight the British sailors with whom they did not even quarrel. Walker asked Salmon if he had asked him to surrender to the British troops or Honduran, and Salmon twice “clearly and definitely” assured that His Majesty’s troops. After such words, Walker and his people laid down their arms and boarded the Ikarus. But upon arrival in Trujillo, despite their protests and the demand of the British court, Salmon handed over the captives to the Honduran general. How now the descendants of Salmon justify his act, I do not know. and Salmon twice “explicitly and definitely” assured that His Majesty’s troops. After such words, Walker and his people laid down their arms and boarded the Ikarus. But upon arrival in Trujillo, despite their protests and the demand of the British court, Salmon handed over the captives to the Honduran general. How now the descendants of Salmon justify his act, I do not know. and Salmon twice “explicitly and definitely” assured that His Majesty’s troops. After such words, Walker and his people laid down their arms and boarded the Ikarus. But upon arrival in Trujillo, despite their protests and the demand of the British court, Salmon handed over the captives to the Honduran general. How now the descendants of Salmon justify his act, I do not know.

Maybe they shy away from this topic, and we will never hear a version of Salmon, which is perhaps unfair. But the fact remains: he transferred his white brothers to the mercy of the semi-Indians, semi-blacks, savages who were not allies of Great Britain and whose contention was not important for Britain. And Salmon did so, knowing that there could be only one outcome. If he did not know, then his stupidity equals his heartlessness. Salmon wanted to use his influence to petition the leader and his loyal follower, Colonel Rudler of the famous Phalanx, if Walker asks for it as an American citizen. But Walker, respecting the country for which he fought and whose inhabitants voted for him, refused to save his life in the name of the country in which he was born and which insulted and rejected him.

Even on the verge of death, thrown on a strip of land among bright corals and fetid swamps, surrounded only by enemies, he remained faithful to his ideals.

At thirty-seven, life is so enjoyable, much else seems possible, and if Walker’s life had been spared, he would have seen greater conquests, the new Nicaraguan Canal, the railway network, a huge squadron of merchant ships and himself the emperor of Central America. But a young man with golden galloons could provide this service only if Walker turned to him as an American. It was not enough for him that Walker was a man. Walker did not like this condition.

“The President of Nicaragua,” he said, “is a citizen of Nicaragua.”

At dawn, he was taken to a sandy beach, and when the priest raised the cross, he turned to his executioners, simply and seriously: “I am dying like a Catholic. I was wrong that I went to war at the invitation of the inhabitants of Roatan. I apologize to you. I humbly accept my punishment. I would like to think that my death will be good for society. ”

Three soldiers fired at him from a distance of twenty feet, but although each shot hit the target, Walker survived. Therefore, the sergeant leaned over and finished off a man with a pistol who could make him a resident of the slave empire.

If Walker had lived another four years and applied his abilities on the sidelines of the Civil War, I think he would have taken a place among America’s greatest military commanders.

And just because people of his own era destroyed Walker, there is no reason why we should be silent about this brilliant American, the greatest of all filibusters.