William
Walker
By Miss Fanny Juda
Member of the Class in California History
at the University of California
INTRODUCTION:
...How many Californians today realize that this state was the rendevous
par excellence for daring bands of filibusters, who, whether in pursuit
of mere individual wealth and adventure or in furtherance of what seemed
to them an ideal, risked their lives in bold invasions of Hispanic lands?
It is with this story that Miss Juda deals in the present article.... And
since Miss Judas article was written there has come the not unrelated
factor of bills in Congress, proposed respectively by Senator Ashurst of
Arizona and Representative Elston of California, for a negotiated purchase
of that Baja California which American filibusters have so often sought.
This, then, is more than romance. It is the necessary background of a living
vital issue Dr. C.E. Chapman, Assistant Professor of Hispanic
American History, University of California.
William
Walker, the greatest of American filibusters, was another visionary adventurer,
imbued with the desire of founding a colony in Mexico, near the American
border. His aim, however, was to obtain the independence of Sonora and
Baja California for the ultimate annexation to the United States, and for
the extension of slave territory so as to maintain the balance of power
for the South. He, like Raousset, was an unlicensed, would-be conqueror,
burning with a desire for fame and carried away by a firm belief in his
own destiny to rule. As a boy, Walker lived in Tennessee, where he studied
at the University of Nashville, and thus was naturally a strong Southern
sympathizer. Having a desire to study medicine, he went aboard and attended
the universities of Edinburgh, Göttingen, Heidelberg, and Paris. He
was present in Europe during the various revolutions of 1848, and there
is no doubt but that his filibustering schemes were influenced by the revolutionary
doctrines of Massini, Garibaldi, Marx, Feuerbach, and Blanc, which were
being spread broadcast over the continent at that time. Upon his return
to America, he practiced medicine in Philadelphia, but finding this distasteful
to him, he went to New Orleans to study law, and in 1850 came to San Francisco.
After serving as a newspaper man for some time, he moved to Marysville,
where he practised law. He was always a firm slavery advocate, eager for
its retention and its extension. This caused him to look with some apprehension
upon the efforts of the French filibusters, for the slavery party regarded
the American conquest of Mexico as a matter of manifest destiny, to which
French interference would serve as a serious obstacle.
It
was party for this reason that Walker went to Guaymas in the summer of
1853, seeking a grant from Mexico, where he could establish a military
frontier colony, to serve as a bulwark against the Indians. The Mexican
government, always suspicious of American enterprise, refused, and so Walker
returned to San Francisco, bound to carry out the scheme on his own account.
Raoussets plan for a second expedition spurred Walker on to immediate
action. He thereupon opened a recruiting office in San Francisco. Recruits
flocked to join his band, many of whom were from Kentucky and Tennessee,
and were therefore adherents of slavery and the manifest destiny doctrine.
Hundreds of people bought the scrip which he issued and which was to be
redeemable in lands in Sonora. With the funds thus raised, he helped to
finance his expedition. Walker now cast aside all ideas of founding a buffer
colony and stated his intention of forming a republic in Sonora and Lower
California, with the idea that it would eventually apply for admission
into the Union. He chartered the brig Arrow and prepared to set sail
with his followers, when he was arrested by General Hitchcock, military
commander of the United States forces on the Pacific Coast.
The
Federal officials at San Francisco, sympathizing with Walker, caused the
vessel to be released, and General Wool was soon sent out by Jefferson
Davis, Secretary of War, to replace Hitchcock in command. Headquarters
were moved to Benicia, from which place interference with the actions of
the filibusters was almost impossible.
Walker,
meantime, had succeeded in making his escape on another vessel, the Caroline
and with forty-eight followers he left on October 16th for Guaymas. Three
weeks later he reached the Gulf of California, and landed at La Paz, which
was less likely to offer resistance. Here he was reinforced by two hundred
men, and so he took possession of the country and proceeded to set up a
government. Then he proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Lower
California from Mexico, and extended over it the laws of the state of
Louisiana, thus permitting slavery, should anyone care to bring slaves
into the country. Some writers have taken the opportunity here to point
out that Walker really was not a strong slavery advocate, and that the
slavery clause merely was part of the code of laws with which he was most
familiar. But had Walker so desired, he could have omitted the slavery
clause, or could have extended the laws of Alta California, with which
he must have been familiar in order to practice law in Marysville.
Realizing
that his position here was not secure, and that he was exposed to easy
attack on the part of the Mexicans, he retired up the peninsula towards
Ensenada, after a skirmish with the Mexicans at La Paz. He made Ensenada
his headquarters, and from here he issued a new proclamation, abolishing
the Republic of Lower California and establishing the Republic of Sonora,
which was to consist of the two states of Lower California and Sonora.
Walker, himself, was to be president, his partner, Watkins, vice-president,
and Emory, secretary of state.
Meantime
the news of Walkers exploits reached San Francisco. The skirmish at La
Paz was regarded as a great victory. The California newspapers and periodicals
greatly applauded him. Judge Lott, writing for the Pioneer, says: The
term filibuster no longer means a pirate ... It means the compassing of
the weak by the strong... The term filibuster is now identical with the
pioneer of progress... If these regions ... do not soon become a portion
of the United States ... some other nation, stronger than Mexico, will
grasp them. Soule, in the Annals of San Francisco, says in commenting
on Walker, America secures the spoils won to her hand, however dishonestly
they may have come. That is only her destiny ... America must round out
her territory by the sea.
The
enterprise soared in popularity. Hundreds of men flocked from the mines
to join the expedition. The flag of the Republic of Sonora was raised on
the corner of Kearny and Sacramento streets. Enlistment offices were opened
and the bonds of the company were openly sold. Indeed, it was worth a mans
popularity at the time to oppose filibusterism. Pedro C. Carrillo, one
of the influential Democrats in the State Legislature, was in great danger
of losing his constituency by introducing a resolution in the Senate, condemning
filibusterism.
While
Walker was waiting in Baja California for recruits, for some unknown reason
his vessel, the Caroline, sailed away with the greater part of his supplies.
Matters became worse, when two hundred recruits arrived from San Francisco,
and since his supplies were already so greatly depleted, he was forced
to send a band of men on towards Todos Santos Bay, on a foraging expedition.
At Guilla, near Santo Tomas, a battle was fought, for the natives did not
care to give up their cattle and provisions in return for scrip in Walkers
company. Walker now began to drill his band in preparation for a march
on Sonora. But discontent had broken out in his party. The new-comers were
disappointed that there was no plunder to be had. Food was insufficient
and coarse. Men began to desert. Four of those deserters he arrested, shot
two of them, and had the other two publicly flogged. This act by no means
made the expedition more popular, and some weeks later it was with a force
of only one hundred men that Walker started for Sonora, and by the time
they reached the Colorado River only thirty-five men remained in the party.
It would take more than this mere handful to hold the country, and so Walker
decided to abandon the project. On May 8, 1854, the party crossed the frontier
near Tia Juana, and surrendered themselves to the United States officers
stationed there. They were granted their parole, and were permitted to
depart for San Francisco. Had Walkers party reached Sonora, and gotten
any kind of a foothold there, so many volunteers would probably have joined
them that there would have been a repetition of the Sam Houston affair,
and Sonora and Lower California would have become territories of the United
States.
Walker
himself said that it was almost impossible to succeed in the venture because
of the enormous difficulties encountered, such as lack of resources, ignorance
concerning the country, the desert which had to be traversed, etc. Of course,
there was no defense for his action. There is no reason why he should be
lionized, as he has been, for his exploits in Baja California. In fact,
he is to be condemned, for it was for no altruistic reason that he went
there. Even though he himself declared that he was going to Sonora to protect
the people from the Apaches, the people of Sonora, were they given a choice
in the matter, would have taken the Apaches in preference to the American
filibusters, whom they so despised and feared.
When
Walker arrived in San Francisco he was tried in the Federal courts for
the violation of United States neutrality laws. He was acquitted, however,
and went back to his law practise until he was once more tempted to venture
forth, this time to Central America. It is due to his exploits here rather
than to the fiasco in Baja California that he became so famous. Walkers
reputation as a leader had gone as far as Nicaragua, where a revolution
was in progress. Here the Granada and the Leonese factions were at war
with each other, both wishing to obtain the upper hand in that country.
The Granada faction was, for the time being, victorious, and so the defeated
Leonese, bound to gain supremacy, sought the aid of Walker. Seizing this
chance to bring himself once more into the limelight, he enlisted some
sixty men, who were eager to follow him to Nicaragua, and with them he
set sail, May 3, 1855. Although the United States Marshal had tried to
prevent his departure, still the sympathies of the Federal officials were
with him. Before sailing, Walker had met General Wool, military commander
on the Pacific Coast, who had special powers from the President to suppress
all filibustering expeditions. Walker told him about his plans, whereupon
the general not only declared that he would not interfere, but also wished
him success.
Some
weeks later, Walker landed at San Juan del Sur, and almost immediately
began to assert his authority. With the aid of sixty recruits, who had
arrived from California under Parker H. French, and the Leonese troops,
he soon succeeded in routing the opposite faction at the battle of Rivas.
For his victories here, he was given the title of generalissimo, and soon
after he declared himself president of Nicaragua. News of his success reached
the United States, and the slavery advocates began a recruiting propaganda.
Public meetings were held in some of the large Southern cities, money was
raised, and even Tammany Hall voiced its approval of the enterprise. With
the power now centered in his hands, Walker began to manage things to suit
himself. He revoked the franchise by which the Vanderbilt Steamship Company
sent passengers across Nicaragua, on their from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Coasts, or visa versa, and gave the right of transit, with a twenty-five
years permit, to Edmond Randolf. He then issued a proclamation reversing
the anti-slavery laws which had existed in Nicaragua for the last thirty-two
years. Because of this act, and others of a similar nature, revolts began
to break out, fostered by Commodore Vanderbilt, who owned the steamship
company. Costa Rica declared war against him. Finally, in May, 1857, he
was forced to surrender and to leave Nicaragua, where he had remained two
years.
The
last two expeditions of Walker were not connected with California, except
that many of his old followers of the previous enterprises joined him on
his second Nicaragua campaign, and on his fatal trip to Honduras. His third
undertaking, known as the second Nicaragua expedition, was organized at
Mobile, Alabama. Going to Nicaragua, he landed at Punta Arenas in November,
1857. Upon his arrival he declared himself commander of the Nicaraguan
army and began the war. But he was not allowed to proceed far, for Commodore
Pauling of the United States squadron in the Caribbean, hearing of the
expedition, landed in Nicaragua, forced him to surrender, and brought him
back to the United States. President Buchanan even went so far, in his
presidential message, as to condemn Walker as a filibuster. Walker was
tried for violation of neutrality, but as usual the case was dismissed.
Not satisfied to retire to private life, he organized another expedition
in New Orleans and set sail for Central America. He landed near Truxillo,
in Honduras, hoping to make his way eventually to Nicaragua. His men began
to desert him, and being in a precarious position, he surrendered himself
to the captain of a British naval vessel off the coast. The captain, instead
of protecting Walker, as he had promised, handed him over to the authorities
of Honduras. He was tried by court-martial, and shot September 12, 1860.
Although
Walker was very much in earnest, and thrust himself heart and soul into
these projects, he was bound to fail. He lacked too many of the essential
qualities of leadership to be successful in his undertakings. He did not
understand human nature, and above all he was neither a statesman nor a
diplomat. Despite his firm believe that his destiny sent him out to conquer,
still he failed because he could not measure up to the task. The one lasting
result of his exploits was to bring upon the people of the United States
a distrust and suspicion which Central America possesses to the present
day [1919]. With his death, the glory of filibustering passed away, and
from 1860 on, filibusterism was more or less sporadic, and entirely devoid
of the romance of the previous decade. It failed on the whole to attract
attention, and when the press did comment upon it, it was only to condemn
it as un-American and unworthy of the ideals of Americans.
Excerpted from:
California Filibusters: A History of their
Expeditions into Hispanic America,
by Fanny Juda
In:
The Grizzly Bear
Official organ of the Native Sons and Native Daughters of the Golden
West
Vol. XXI., No. 4; Whole No. 142 : February 1919
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