CHAPTER XIII

WILLIAM WALKER, FILIBUSTER

W

ILLIAM WALKER was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on the eighth of May, 1824. He was the eldest son of a Scotch banker, and was destined by his parents for the church; but although he essayed three professions before reaching his twenty-fifth year, the ministry seems never to have appealed to him as a desirable or suitable career. The University of Tennessee, from which he graduated in 1838, afforded him the elements of a sound education, which a course of medical lectures in Edinburgh and two years' travel on the continent of Europe were intended to complete; but a brief professional experience in Philadelphia and Nashville caused him to abandon medicine. He then went to New Orleans, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. His new pursuit seems to have attracted him as little as the practice of medicine, for he soon forsook it for the fascinations of journalism. In 1849 his restless spirit drove him westward, and the following year he reached California and became editor of the San Francisco

Herald. A short imprisonment for contempt of court, a duel without serious results, and a brief return to the practice of law marked the next two years and led him to the threshold of his adventurous military career, which ended in death but rendered his name. historic. Urged by his "destiny," as he called it, he visited Sonora at the time when De Boulbon's first expedition was approaching its unfortunate conclusion. Thenceforth his dreams were of martial glory, of empires wrested from nerveless Spanish-American hands, of a new home for slavery, in which he fervently believed.

In planning his career of conquest, it was perhaps natural that his thoughts should turn first to Sonora, from which De Boulbon had just been driven. Unlike the latter, he was unable to negotiate any contract that could be construed as an excuse for interfering in Mexican affairs, and the United States Government was actively hostile to filibustering projects; but notwithstanding obstacles that would have daunted most men, he boldly undertook the conquest of the western States of Mexico. Funds were supplied, somewhat sparingly, by rich slaveholders interested in extending their sphere of influence, and a sufficient number of adventurers were attracted by the promise of five hundred acres of land

and four dollars daily pay for each man. A brig was chartered, arms and ammunition were procured, and all was ready for a start, when, in July, 1853, the United States marshal seized the vessel. Three months later a more successful attempt was made, and forty-five "emigrants," including Walker and Emory, sailed for La Paz. Reaching their destination after a brief stop at Cape San Lucas, they captured the town on November third. Three days afterwards a vessel bearing a new Mexican Governor arrived, and was promptly seized. An election was then held, resulting in the choice of Walker as President, and ten minor offices were filled by the appointment of as many adventurers. A declaration of independence was issued; Sonora, which had not yet been invaded, was solemnly annexed, and its name was bestowed upon the new Republic.

Meanwhile, recruiting had been actively carried on in San Francisco, and on the seventh of December between two and three hundred filibusters sailed to join their chief. Their arrival at Walker's camp meant no great accession to his strength, however, for the new-comers proved a mutinous lot, most of whom subsequently deserted. The discovery of a plot, to blow up the magazine and decamp during the ensuing confusion with such booty as could be secured, resulted in the trial of a dozen conspirators and

the execution of two of them. The troops were then mustered and permitted to choose between submitting to salutary discipline and leaving the camp. The original party and a few of the new arrivals proved faithful; the remainder were disarmed and allowed to go.

A little army of less than a hundred adventurers now set forth into the wilderness to invade and subjugate the State of Sonora. Hostile Indians hovered about their flanks, disease and desertion assailed their dwindling columns; but not until their force was reduced to less than fifty men did they reluctantly turn back. The Mexicans, emboldened by their retreat, hung about, picking off stragglers but avoiding open combat. Where the trail passed through a narrow valley between commanding hills, Indians appeared ahead and on the flank, and opened a harassing fire. His Excellency, the President of Sonora, a boot on one foot, a shoe upon the other, resorted to strategy. Leaving a dozen men concealed in the bushes, he fell back toward the entrance to the gorge, which had already been occupied by the enemy. Deceived by apparent retreat, the Indians who had disputed his passage pursued him, riding straight into his skilfully planted ambush. A dozen rifles emptied as many saddles, and the filibusters met with no further resistance from their amazed and cowed foes. Thirty-five tattered, footsore

adventurers reached San Vincente, where a garrison of eighteen men had been left, only to find that twelve had deserted, while the other six had fallen victims to a Mexican attack. That the conquest of Sonora had failed could not be concealed, and the handful of would-be conquerors were compelled to turn their faces toward the Californian frontier. A sharp skirmish dispersed the opposing natives, and on the eighth of May, 1854, thirty-four gaunt survivors of the army of Sonora marched across the line and surrendered to the United States authorities. The trial of their leader for breaking the neutrality laws ended in acquittal, and he resumed his journalistic labors in San Francisco. But while his expedition had ended in failure, he had achieved a military reputation which enabled him to procure both recruits and funds for the invasion and conquest of Nicaragua.

In October of the year which witnessed the downfall of the Republic of Sonora, an American named Byron Cole, an agent of Walker's, appeared in Nicaragua and made a contract with Castellon to supply his government with three hundred American "colonists," who, in return for a liberal grant of land, were to perform military service. The Democratic army was hard pressed by Servile forces, and the prospect of aid from a formidable corps of American riflemen was exceedingly welcome.