Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, William Walker, physician, lawyer and journalist dreamed of power and glory. He sought his fortunes in the mid-19th century by establishing himself as a journalist in San Francisco, hoping to build a career by writing about the Gold Rush in California.
Walker first gained notoriety after publishing an unflattering account of one William Hicks Graham who challenged him to a duel. Although Graham was an experienced gunfighter and expert shooter, Walker accepted the invitation and ended up being severely wounded after being shot several times in the legs. Walker’s bullets never even scratched Graham and the duel was ended when, lying on the ground and unable to get up, Walked accepted defeat.
But William Wallker believed he was destined for bigger things. After rounding up a band of about 40 men who he recruited by selling promissory notes redeemable in Sonoran land titles after the invasion, he led an expedition to conquer the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora. After marching, without any resistance, across the border they stopped at the top of the peninsula, built a fortress, and Walker declared himself President of the newly-independent Republic of Lower California. He had big plans of making his fledgling territory a buffer zone to prevent the Indigenous people of Mexico from invading and starting wars against the U.S.A. Out of fear of attacks on the fort, the invaders moved to another location and changed their new country’s name to the Republic of Sonora. The Mexican government did not like this too much so they captured Walker and his soldiers and sent them back to California where Walker was tried, convicted, and later acquitted for violating the Neutrality Act of 1794.
Then he came up with an even better idea. William Walker again rounded up a gang of naive adventurers and planned an invasion of Nicaragua. He intended to set up an English-speaking slave plantation state there with him as its leader. So they sailed down the Mosquito Coast and went inland where they launched an attack on the village of Rival. They settled in and again built a fortress. This made the government of Costa Rica suspicious of his intentions so they invaded Nicaragua and defeated his tiny army. Walker got revenge by dumping all the corpses into the drinking wells thereby poisoning the water tables which later resulted in the deaths of thousands of people in the surrounding area.
Once again, the overconfident Walker moved on to the small city of Grenada and set up another fortress and declared himself to be ruler. Amidst challenges from the people who were already there, he set up a fraudulent election which ultimately came out in his favor and he continued to consider himself the sovereign dictator of Nicaragua. After three years of rule, the government of Honduras became suspicious; in league with Costa Rica and Belize, the Honduran government built a coalition army that included fighters from El Salvador and Guatemala as well. They easily defeated Walker’s troops and deported him back to his home country.
Not knowing when to quit, the hapless William Walker sailed to an island off the coast of Honduras with the intention of launching another attack on Nicaragua. This time British officials from Belize arrested him. He was sent to Honduras where he was executed by firing squad in 1860.
No comments:
Post a Comment