William Walker the man who would conquer Nicaragua Part 5 The End

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Eric Gasca, and you're listening to the
Distorted History podcast, and I can't give you many names,
and you're at Blader. Hey, look, I'm Raisling. I'm got

(00:24):
the barah A long struggle for freedom, it really is
a revolution. Welcome back to Distorted History, where this week
we had long last bring the tale of Filibuster William
Walker to a close for a hot minu and their

(00:46):
things seem that they had been going so well for Walker.
He had gone down to Nicaragua, effectively ended their civil war,
gawned himself a position as he commander in chief of
the Nicaraguan Army, and even kind of successfully fought off
an invasion from their powerful neighbor coaster Arica. Then, to
top things off, the American filibuster had been elected the
new president of Nicaragua, although things were maybe not so

(01:09):
need and clean, as the election had some glaring irregularities,
a degree of fraud that resulted in Walker losing a
fair amount of support in Nicaragua. As before this stay
could grab for power, Walker seemed more benevolent and only
there to help the people of Nicaragua. Now though he
was looking like that kind of foreign conquered that some
had long suspected him to be. Now, this sloss of

(01:30):
support following the election wasn't even the beginning of these
kinds of troubles for Walker. Indeed, he had already begun
leaving the support of the Nicaragua elite from both sides
of the old Civil War, as he did not like
the gradual wittowing away of their special status. The elite
then reached out to their neighboring Central American country, seeking
their aid and casting out these American filibusters. These nations

(01:50):
and for the first time in a long time, were
unified in a common cause, with these efforts being funded
by Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the richest men in the
United States, who had his own personal grudge against William Walker,
as the filibuster President had sided with Ferderbilt's rivals and
stripped his Accessory Transit Company of not only their contracts
to operate in Nicaragua, but also their property as well. Meanwhile, Walker,

(02:14):
in his desperate need for allies and additional funds, worse
in his situation in Nicaragua by repealing the abolition of
slavery to court the southern safeholding US States because, as
it turns out, the people of Nicaragua and Central America
in general, were very much not excited about the prospect
of the return of slavery. It's almost like it was
a vile, evil system that had been abolished for a reason.

(02:37):
As result of Walker's actions, while he would see mena
support from the slaveholding South, he also effectively turned most
of the people in Nicaragua against him. All these various
forces aligning against William Walker ultimately led to the Battle
of San Jacinto in September eighteen fifty six, where a
force of Walker's American filibusters clash with a force of
Nicaragua soldiers in the service of those dedicated to overthrow

(03:00):
Walker's role, a battle which saw a group in Nicaraguins
buy themselves for the first time, defeating an all American unit,
a pivotal moment that also resulted in the death of
forty five American filibusters, including Walker's close friend and confident
Byron Cole. The ties that were starting to turn against
William Walker, but he was far from defeated, as he
was still technically president of Nicaragua, he still held the

(03:23):
capital city of Grenada, and he also stole An a fairly
sizable force of American filibusters. Yet, before we go any
further into the sward to cast Walker out of Nicaragua
and Central America altogether, First, like always, I want to
acknowledge my sources for this series, which include Michael Gobat's
Empire by Invitation, William Mocker in Manifest Destiny in Central America,

(03:44):
Frederick Rosengarten's Freebooters Must Die, the Life and Death of
William Moker, the most notorious filibuster of the nineteenth century,
Stephen Dando Collins's Tycoons War, how Cornelius Vardabolt invaded a
country to overthrow America's most famous military adventurer in Robert
imayed Manifest Destinies Underworld, Filibustering in Antebellum America. And like always,

(04:06):
these and any other sources that I use, will be
listed on this podcast, Blue Sky and Koffee pages. Plus
for anyone who doesn't want to be bothered skipping through commercials,
there is always an ad free feed available at Patreon
dot com slash to started History. And with all that
being said, let's begin. In the wig of the Battle
of Sanjacento. Walker had all of his troops pulled back
to Granada. In doing so, they abandoned the strategically important

(04:29):
town of Messiah, a seemingly illogical decision, as Messiah was
not only easily defended, but it also sat within what
was essentially the bread basket that supplied Granada as sanch
It seemed like exactly the kind of place that someone
in Walker's position would want to hold on to. Walker, however,
believed this to be a worthy sacrifice to achieve ultimate
victory in this conflict. As you see the chief filibuster

(04:52):
at a theory on how to handle this sort of
opposition and rebellion. In Walker's opinion, the best way to
deal with a revolutionary movement was by treating it as quote,
a boil, let it come to a head, and then lanced,
letting all the bad matter out at once. A war
against scattered guerrillas is more exhausting than a contest with
an enemy gathered in masses. Walker's plan then, was to

(05:13):
lure all of his scattered foes to a singular place
by offering them this tempting and possible to resist target
on Messiah. As that way they could all be dealt
with at once. Meanwhile, even as Walker was sending these
spines in the motion, he would receive some unexpected aid
in the form of European mercenary Charles Frederick Henningson, having
been born in England to Swedish parents. As a young man,

(05:35):
Hennison had been hailed as a military genius. Indeed, he
would earn the rank of colonel in the Carlist Army
in Spain by the time he was twenty due to
his actions in battle. Over the years, Henderson would also
serve in the Russian Army and would also fight for
the Hungarians and their failed war for independence, a conflict
in which, even though the war had not gone his way,
Henningson had earned even more praise for his tactical genius.

(05:57):
From there, he had gone to the United States, where
he made married a rich widow from Georgia, published as memoirs,
and began designing and producing innovative and superior weapons. This
included the first rifles in the United States that were
capable of firing the new mini balls. Henningson, however, would
leave behind this koshy life when he learned to William
Walker's adventures in Nicaragua and his need for an experienced strategist.

(06:20):
Now this is quite the gift for Walker, as Henningson
not only brought with him, as reported, genius and experience
on the battlefield, but also a number of new state
of the art artillery pieces like mortars and howitzers, not
to mention an ample supply of rifles and ammunition for
Walker's filibuster army. Walker then immediately made Henningson a brigadier
general upon his arrival, and thus by extension, his second

(06:41):
in command, because Rialny was at this point the Filibuster
President very much needed all the help he could get,
as in addition to the setback at the Battle of
San Jacento, in very much seemed like the whole of
Central America was now against him, what with the various
stations of the region, which had long been in conflict
with one another, now seemingly acting to gather harmoniously to
cast out Walker in his Filibusters, a union that was,

(07:04):
if anything, even more inspired following their victory against the
Filibusters in Sanjacento. Indeed, following this victory, the various generals
who had been unsure of how to proceed, were now
united in their determination to press their advantage. So in
addition to the Nicaraguan forces who had been involved in
the fighting at Sanja Cento, now the various soldiers belonging
to the Allied countries and now also departed from Lyon

(07:26):
and were also heading for Walker's stronghold of Grenada. Meanwhile,
Walker's own ranks were effectively decimated as his filibuster army
was beset by diseases like cholera, typhus, yellow fever, and dysentery,
none of which was good. Plus there were also starting
to run low on food as a consequence of their
abandonment of Messaiah, all of which had naturally resulted in

(07:47):
any number of deserters, which further weakened his filibuster army.
This included twenty three men who had recently come from
New Orleans with their own weapons and saddles, men who
subsequently win things started looking bad, turned out law and
started raiding French gold mines, until that is, twenty one
of them were gunned down by legitimist of forces in August. Meanwhile,
the tw hundred German recruits who had recently arrived from

(08:08):
New York within two weeks of their landing in Nicaragua,
most had decided they want to know part of being
a soldier or life in Walker's army, and thus deserted.
By this point. Then, given everything that had happened, Walker
had maybe twelve hundred men who were still fit for duty,
four hundred of whom were needed to guard the all
important transit road in the capital of Granada. This then

(08:29):
left just eight hundred men for an assault on the
town of Messiah, which lay some twenty five miles west
of Granada, as following Walker's decision to abandon the strategically
crucial location, and had since been occupied by twenty three
hundred soldiers belonging to the various Central American countries, a
line against Walker, which where a combin nation of the
men who had taken part in the Battle of Sanjacento
and the forces who had departed from Lyon. Now that

(08:52):
Walker's foes had all gathered in one place, though, he
sent about lansing this proverbial boil to that and in
November eighteen fifty sixty filibuster President and led as eight
hundred men and Hennison's various artillery pieces out of Granada,
marching west until they occupied the high ground on the
east side of Messiah, where faced with adobe barricades that
had been a right that across the roads leading into
town and ex since two howitzers responded by lobbing their

(09:14):
twelve pound shells into Messiah, where they landed and exploded,
causing the Allied troops to scatter in response. As they did,
fifty of Walker's black shirted riflemen charged in a town,
taking advantage of the fear and confusion that had been
caused by their artillery fire. These fifty filibusters, upon meaning
little to no resistance, then paused to take advantage of
the uneaten breakfast that their foes had abandoned, as again,

(09:37):
Granada had been running low on food ever since the
decision to abandon its bread basket. Meanwhile, as Walker's men
were pausing to eat a proper meal for a change,
the Central American Allied forces all pulled back to Messiah's
main plaza, whose entrances were all heavily barricaded. Walker though,
had a trick of a sleeve for just this kind
of situation, as instead of trying to approach the plaza

(09:58):
along the heavily barricaded and defended streets, he instead barred
a tactic that the US Army had employed ten years
earlier in the Mexican American Warmen taking the town of Monterey,
as Walker's filibusters now looked to carve their own path
toward the city center by borrowing holes through houses. Basically,
what would happen was Walker's soldiers would enter one structure
and then start digging from there into another structure that

(10:20):
they would then also dig through, thereby avoiding all the
heavily defended streets and the troops waiting there for them. Meanwhile,
as his men were undertaking this relatively slow and laborious tactic,
Walker had his artillery keep the Allied forces busy. The
thing was, though, as they shifted their attention to the
main plaza, Henningsen's guns were nowhere near as effective. As

(10:40):
you see, the fuses on their shells had been cut
too short, which meant they denonated while still in the air,
thereby doing minimal harm in contrast to explode inclusive to
ground level, where you know these soldiers actually were. Things
then carried on like this for the better part of
the day until Walker's troops, who were borrowing from house
to house, were about to which the ring of houses

(11:01):
surrounding Messia's central plaza structures, which at this point were
filmed with some fourteen hundred troops from Al Salvador and
Nicaragua who opposed Walker's takeover of their country. Yet, just
as his battle was about to reach a new, even
bloodier stage, news reached Walker that one of his foes
was attempting to pull the same trick that had helped
him and the Nicaragua Civil War. Namely, they were looking

(11:22):
to take it evangue of the fact that he had
taken most of the troops with him and thus had
left Granada without sufficient defenses. As you see, while Walker
was focused on massaia A force, Iguadal Mons and some
faragne in Nicowagaan religion Emstas honored the command of one
cornl Zavalla had swung around a begun attack in Granada,
doing so at the insistence of an American scout named Harper. Now,

(11:43):
Harper had initially come to Nicaragua who served in Walker's
filibuster army. However, Walker had recognized Harper as a man
who had a lengthy criminal record in California, and thus
won a known part of him in his army. Harper,
though instead of going home, Optitu instead go to work
for the opposition, as he was motivated by a desire
to make Walker pay man, likely because if he were

(12:04):
to return home, he likely be facing legal problems. These
four hundred plus Legitimmesta troops would then clash with the
roughly one hundred and fifty filibusters that Walker left behind
to guardess capital city. The majority of them were employed
in holding the city central Plaza, just like the Allied
Central American troops were doing in Mesaiah. The resulting fighting
in Granada Haver was not restricted to these respective armed forces. Indeed,

(12:27):
among those killed in this fighting was John Lallas, an
Irish born US citizen who had been living and working
in the city for a long time. In fact, Lallis
had maintained friendly relations with the Legitimistas to the point
that he had previously spoken to Walker on their behalf.
As Sajed Lawalis felt safe and secure, even when Legitimmesta
troops surged into the city, his relationships with them would

(12:49):
do them no good. When a group of these invading
troops seized the businessmen and put him against the wall
of a nearby church, where they shot him to death. Meanwhile,
other Americans in the city also received the exact same thing,
as they two were put against a wall and shot.
This included a Reverend William Ferguson and a Reverend Deech Wheeler.
Given these incidents, it was understandably all hands on deck

(13:10):
to protect the local hospital, which was filled with both
local residents and Americans suffering from yellow fever. Among those
taking up arms to defend the sick were Trong Germans
and a father Rossiter. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, troops
also had to be dispatched to protect the American Embassy,
which had become a favorite target of the enraged troops
of the various Allied Central American countries. Now, Walker, who

(13:31):
again was in the middle of his assault on Messiah,
upon receiving word of this attack on his capital, immediately
dispatched a force of armed rangers to head back to
Granada ahead of the rest of his forces, which would
take Lord to pull out of this fight and make
the journey on foot. The mounted rangers, though, while they
were able to travel much faster than the others, they
would in their haste literally run into a large force

(13:53):
of Allied soldiers on the road, not wanting to get
drawn into a battle with a larger force, especially when
they were looking to help those fighting in Granada. The
Rangers managed to evade this one enemy contingent, only to
run into yet another sizeable enemy force, which they also
managed to avoid, only to run into a third group.
This time, though there weren't so many enemy troops, and
so they just decided to try and fight their way through,

(14:15):
a battle on which they certainly seemed to have the
technological advantage with their sharp, spreech loading rifles weapons. They
were much easier to handle and much easier to reload
at a much faster pace than any other weapon previously
seen in Central America. The problems these weapons utilized paper
cartridges which contained the gunpowder required to fire the weapons.
As such, they needed to be kept dry to be effective,

(14:38):
and the Rangers had not been careful enough in doing so.
As a result, when they attempted to open fire on
the slatest group of enemy soldiers their guns are more accurately,
their damned gunpowder refused to fire. The rangers were then
forced to scatter and or engage in hand to hand
combat just to escape, which most did, but clearly things
were not going the filibuster's way, the time would turn

(14:58):
in Granadavo and walk in the main body of his
troops he had brought to assault Messiah, returned thereby, taking
Colonels of Valla and his men by surprise with their
swift and unexpected arrival. Now, while the majority of the
Allied forces that had attacked Gernada ended up flaying to
link up with those who remained in Messiah, they would
leave behind some two hundred men either dead or captured
during the assault, to the twenty five soldiers that Walker

(15:20):
had lost in the fighting. Walker then had managed to
successfully protect his capital city. However, he had accomplished little
in the way of actually putting an end to the
forces of raiding against him. Meanwhile, in their frenzied rush
to return to Granada, Walker's aid, Lieutenant Colonel F. A.
Lane out of Cuba, had been captured by the Allied
Central American troops, who subsequently proceeded to execute Lane, one

(15:41):
of the men Walker had grown closest to in the
entire country. Walker's response was to order the execution of
Colonel Vadermen and Captain of Yende, two Guatemalan officers who
had been captured during the retaking of Granada, men who
notably prior to this declaration had been treated more like
hottered guests than prisoners of war, as they had regularly rank, feasted,
and danced with the various American officers in Walker's army

(16:03):
ever since their capture. Given these relationships had formed between
these men and Walkers. When the time came in the
two Guatemalan officers were lined up against a wall and
shot to death by firing squad. There was no joy
among the Americans, with one filibuster officer out of Missouri,
Carson Jamison, remarking afterward, quote, in all my life recall
nothing and impressed upon me more vividly than did this

(16:25):
incident the sorrow and bitterness of war. Indeed, it seems
that Jamison was so disillusioned by these executions that he
deserted not long afterward. Still, though even with such losses
and setbacks, Walker was far from defeated, as not only
did he continue to control Granada, but he also continued
to control the transit road, which regularly provided him with

(16:46):
more recruits who continued to arrive in the country regularly
unbeknownst to Walker. Though Cornelius Vanderbilt, as a part of
his continued personal campaign of revenge, had been contacted by
a pair of men when Russell Vana Spencer, a New
Yorker and son of John Canfie Spencer, who had once
served as the U S Secretary of War. More importantly, though,
was the fact that Sylvanus had worked for Vanderbilt's Transit

(17:06):
Company and also owned stock in It, stock whose value
had been destroyed by Walker's actions, and thus he had
a personal hatred for the filibuster, much like Vanderbilt's own
meanwhile company. Spencer was one William Webster, and Englishman who
claimed to be from a good and well connected family,
but who in reality already had a long history of fraud.
Webster and Spencer, though claimed to have a plan that

(17:28):
was sure to take down William Walker once and for all.
As you see, they plan to cut off Walker's access
to the Transit Road and all the supplies and recruits
that it offered. And if you're thinking that sounds pretty obvious,
that's because it was. Indeed, Vanderbilt and the airlines Central
American Countries had both tried to do just that and
had failed to achieve their goal. Webster, though was insistent

(17:48):
that his plan was fool proof. Indeed, he would claim
that the only thing they needed Vanderbilt's help with was
getting Costa Rica involved, as the country that had attempted
to go it alone and taking down Walker had had
so far not been involved in the slatest attempt, as
they were still very much dealing with the adre effects
of their thwarted endeavor, namely the cholera apidemic and the
political unrest that had resulted. Webster then intended to have

(18:12):
Costa Rica sez transit route, much like they had attempted
to do in their previous failed venture. The difference this time, though,
was he wanted to use Spencer's intimate knowledge of the
region and of the San Juan River in particular, as Spencer,
due to his time working for Vanderbilt's transit company, knew
the river and the transit route as well as anyone.
Plus se cheery on top. Webster also claimed that he

(18:33):
had a former British Army officer who had served in India,
making him experienced and leading native troops who would be
perfect to lead the Sex edition. The only thing they
needed from Vanderbilt, then, was to means to provide the
Coasta Rican military with both the money and the guns
necessary to undertake this mission. Now, Vanderbilt was admittedly intrigued
by this plan, but he was also not a fool.

(18:53):
As such, while he would agree to fund the Coasta
Rican military and provide the two men with weapons and ammunition,
would not give Spencer or Webster personally a dime unless
they were actually successful, although he would promise to pay
fifty thousand dollars to both men should they at long
last take down William Walker. Now, as for Costa Rica,
and they were actually quite eager to rejoin the fight

(19:16):
against Walker now that they had Vanderbilt's money backing them up.
As President Moore and not only still very much wanted
to kick William Walker out of Central America, but he
also stole very much wanted to annex the southern portion
of Nicaragua for his country, as that way Costa Rica
would not only control the transit route but also the
planned route for the proposed canal, which was surely going

(19:36):
to be built, as that way all the riches from
the transit would be funneled into Costa Rica. As such,
even before Spencer and Webster could arrive in the region,
President Moore dispatched his military to capture the Highway of Filibusterism,
as the allied Central American countries had taken to calling
Nicaragua's Transit Road. Curiously enough, leading the Costa Rican vanguard
on this expedition was the same Democratico colonel who had

(19:59):
abandoned Walker and his filibusters when they were trying to
capture the city of Rivas in their first real battle
in the country. Now, by early November, the Coasta Ricans
had actually managed to capture a section of the transit Road,
something which Walker could not allow. So after one of
his generals failed to dislaunch these invaders, Walker himself headed
south to personally handle this situation. It was then the

(20:21):
combination of Walker's five hundred men in Henderson's artillery that
would force the coast A Rican soldiers to flee from
the coast before they were surrounded. He defeats so complete
that some in their fight actually threw away their weapons
and knapsacks just so they could run away from their pursuers.
This then looked like another grand victory for William Walker
and his filibusters. Now, wherever the thing was, the more

(20:41):
disciplined Coasta Rican soldiers actually headed to the north and
occupied Rivas, the town that Walker had initially targeted upon
first arriving in Nicaragua for a strategic position along the
Transit Road. For the time being, though, Walker was once
again in control of the Transit Road, and with that done,
he turned his attention back to Messiah and his foes
who had gathered therein the filibuster. President then made a

(21:04):
second attempt to capture the city and crush those who
had gathered there to resist him. However, this time his
advanced forces upon arriving would be met by eight hundred
men who had recently arrived from Guatemala. Now some of
this was seemingly luck, as these men had literally just arrived. However,
it was also because the Allies were very much prepared
and winning for Walker and his filibusters, as they had

(21:25):
a spy within his camp. Walker's men, though, had a
bit of luck on their sight as well, because after
essentially being ambushed by this force of Guatemalans, the only
thing that saved them was the use of Howitzer's at
close range, a desperate and risky move that, while it
managed to save their lives by forcing the Guatemals to
retreat still really didn't do anything to rescue the spirits
of Walker's men and their officers. Indeed, when Walker arrived

(21:47):
on the scene with the bulk of his forces, he
found the members of his advance guard all incredibly drunk
after having sought the solace of the bottle, after fighting
for their lives, all the while facing the prospect of
having to do so yet again and another assault on Messiah. Yet,
despite all this, Walker still carried through with this plan
to attack the following day, and in the process even

(22:08):
managed to rescue one of his men who had been
captured in the previous days fighting and was now facing
a firing squad. This battle, though, seemed to follow must
these same script as Walker's first attempt to retake Messiah,
as the Central American Allies dug in while Walker's filibusters
literally carved their way through the town's buildings in an
attempt to breach their defenses, a battle that would ultimately

(22:28):
come to nothing other than claiming the lives of forty
three Allied soldiers and one hundred of Walker's men, which
is to say that the President Philibuster had once again
failed the destroy or even as lodge as foes from Messiah. Meanwhile,
despite putting a stop to Costa Rica's last attempt to
capture the Transit Road, Nicaragua's southern rivals were far from
doune as in addition to the survivors capturing the important

(22:50):
town at Revas Silvana, Spencer and William Webster, after making
their deal with Cornelius Vanderbilt, had arrived in Central America
looking to follow through on their supposedly full proof plan
to capture the Transit Road and take down William Walker
once and for all. In doing so, we also get
to see a bit more of their scheme, as when
meeting with Costa Rican officials, they requested that in exchange

(23:11):
for their plan to cast at Walker, they be rewarded
with a contract to build the canal, likely seeing the
canal project as a surefireway to make themselves absurdly wealthy. Regardless,
President Mora off Costa Rico was sufficiently intrigued by the
two men to hear them out, if for no other reason,
then they seemed to share the same goal of seizing
control of the Transit Road and ridding the region of

(23:32):
the troublesome filibusters. He then listened as Sylvanas. Spencer presented
a plan where he, using his intimate knowledge of the
transfer road and its connected waterways, would be able to
transport a small contingent of troops behind the filibuster lines
so as to attack them from the rear, a plan
that President Mora apparently liked as he agreed to their proposal,
with the expedition launching before Christmas. Willi Olmaker, meanwhile, unaware

(23:55):
these developments, was busy rushing around in an attempt to
plung the proverbial holes in the dam as. After retreating
from his latest attempt to recatch a messiah, Walker now
led most of his army down to retake Rivas from
the Coasta Ricans so as to keep the all important
transit road open. Yet, even as Walker was undertaking this
mission of revas, the Allied forces on the twenty fourth

(24:15):
of November launched their assault on Walker's stronghold of Grenada,
attacking the city from three different directions. So with Walker
and most of his men out of the city and
unaware of his attack, it was then left to Charles
Frederick Henningson to lead the defense efforts, with the four
hundred and forty men who remained now Hennison was quite
the skilled and accomplished commander, so while he was in

(24:36):
the opposite of a good position, he would still make
a good showing of it, as while he and his
men were effectively trapped in the city center, he was
still able to fight off every attack from the Central
American allies, doing so despite the despondency among his men,
whose spirits were effectively broken by this drastic turn of
events and who then took to drinking heavily. Indeed, according

(24:56):
to some accounts, Henderson had to practically force his soldiers
to f Now. This fighting seemed to have lasted for
at least two days before Walker learned of what was
transpiring back in his capital city, at which point he
ordered Hennison and his men to retreat. They were to
abandon the capitol and instead join him in Revas, which
he had successfully captured just to find This move to
his men by saying was far more important to maintain

(25:18):
control of the transfer road than it was to continued
to hold onto Granada. Yet, while Walker was willing to
abandon his capital city, he was not about to let
his enemies have it, and so he gave Hennigson and
his men another order, destroy Granada as you leave it,
an act of pettiness and spite by Walker, who believed
that the Legitimistas loved the city like one would love

(25:39):
a woman. It was his idea than to punish his foes,
so rather than allow them to hold onto what many
considered to be the most beautiful city in Central America,
he would see it destroyed. Basically, if he could not
have it, then no one could. Meanwhile, some have suggested
that this also may have been an attempt on Walker's
part to try and appeal to his farm were liberal allies,

(26:01):
as the Democraticos of Leon had long had a rivalry
with the Legitimistas and their city of Granada, with both
cities claimed to be the country's true capital. Indeed, when
Walker first arrived during the Nicaraguan Civil War, things had
been going so badly for the Democraticos they had apparently
discussed burning Granada to the ground, with while Walker's from
more allies, Marianna Salazar, having stated that he hoped quote

(26:24):
to see the day when the city of Granada would
be raised to the ground and a tree planted in
the plaza, upon which would be carved the inscription here
stood Granada Yet, regardless of whether this was an act
of pure petulance or maybe an attempt to appease some
old Allies, while women and children were ushered down toward
the docks to board ships who take them away from
the city, Henningson would force us men to fight and

(26:45):
delay the advance of these Central American Allied troops. Then,
as the Filibusters gradually pulled back toward the docks, they
would set fire to the buildings as they went, with
the main thing keeping them from being overrun throughout all
this being Henningson's artillery. Indeed, one point, when Hennison was
offered the chance to surrender and have his and his
men's life saved, the Filibuster general remained defiant as he

(27:06):
pointed to his massed artillery as the reason why he
did not have to listen to such offers. Then, when
the Allies responded by attacking Hennison and his men yet again,
they were cut down by the aforementioned state of the
art artillery. Now, the slow retreat in order to get
all the American civilians and anyone else Laurel to walker
out of Granada via ships on the lake took days,
during which time in addition to sending fire to various structures,

(27:29):
Hennison and his men also set off a store of
gunpowder that they had placed under one of the towers
of the parochial church. The resulting explosion was sanch that
it said that the tower itself was thrown into the
air more or less intact, at which point gravity took
over and it came crashing down onto a massive Allied soldiers,
crushing and killing many in the process. Granada would then

(27:50):
become a scene of nightmares. Now when made the sol
process even worse than just leaving and burning the city
behind them was the fact that the men that Walker
had left behind got exceedingly drunk throughout this time. These
men then took to looting and committing any number of
other atrocities before finally leaving the city. Indeed, it seems
that the drunken state of these soldiers was the main
reason why the evacuation of Granada, which should have only

(28:13):
taken two days, lasted for a solid week, with one
American officer, whin queried about how they had allowed themselves
to get trapped in Granada, reportedly responded, quote, the truth
is we were all drunk. Now it's not entirely clear
what exactly happened during this time, although it is generally
acknowledged that the Filibusters and e colonists, including some of

(28:33):
the women among them, took to looting homes, stores, and
churches for their clothing, jewelry, and various other goods. One officer,
for example, was said to have stolen so much some
aware that he was able to fill two large boxes,
each weighing about three hundred pounds with everything he had taken. Meanwhile,
also during this period of gradual retreat and destruction, the
Filibusters apparently held some kind of mocking religious ceremony in Granada. Now,

(28:57):
according to the Filibusters version of events, a bunch of
officers had dressed in church investments and paraded around before
holding a mock funeral for Granada, as they carried a
casket around with the city's name on it before burying
it in the ground. Now, granted, this is not even
a remotely good luck, but it is better than the
Nicaraguan account that claims that in addition to dressing up
in Catholic vestments, the Filibusters also rip down the image

(29:20):
of Christ on the Cross from a church, which they
then took to a bar to drink with and throw
empty brandy bottles at now, regardless of whether this actually
happened or not, and was the Nicaraguan version of events
that circulated around the Central American press, thereby increasing Walker's
infamy and earning him the title of a modern day
Attila the hun which is not unfair, as even putting

(29:41):
the mock religious ceremony aside, there were, according to multiple
reliable sources, numerous rapes and murders, all committed by the
Filibusters and various other would be colonizers. Ultimately, the fire
that consumed Granada would last for ten days and could
be seen from as far as sixty miles away, as
the sky turned red and a thick alma smoke rose
up over the once grand city. In the end, according

(30:04):
to an observer from the US, out of the about
seventeen hundred houses that had once stood in Granada, only
fifteen remained. It was then, as a result of Walker's orders,
that Granada, a city of some twenty five thousand residents,
a city that was often described as the most beautiful
metropolis in Central America, would be left as what one
British visitor would call a quote heap of ruins, a

(30:26):
description given a film ten years after the destruction wrought
by Walker's filibusters, Such was the lasting impact of what
they did. Indeed, the same visitor would describe the once
beautiful city as a quote dream of desolation, a nightmare,
a horror, unspeakable. One can readily understand, then, one of
the actions of Walker and his men during the siege

(30:47):
all but guaranteed the loss of any nicer Waquan allies
he had left. Indeed, according to one US colonist who
was there at the time, quote, the destruction of Granada
worked deeply to the injury of Walker, the need of
abandoned his cause almost to a man. Now. Walker had
already been losing local support due to his various actions,
from the suspicious election to the repealing of the abolition

(31:07):
of slavery, but the destruction of Granado seemed to be
the final strawl. Walker was supposed to be a builder,
a man who came down there to help and uplift
their country, not destroy it. And yet here he and
his men were committing atrocities on the level of the
Spanish conquisadors. Such was the impact of this moment that
a song titled Bamba Romano would be written in Nicaragua,

(31:28):
which included the line quote from far away came the
Yankees in their fancy dress, overjoyed, yelling Hurrah, Hurrah, it's Granada.
We've destroyed this. Then, instead of all the promised grand
projects was to be Walker's and his men's lasting legacy.
Now it wasn't just the people of Nicaragua who turned
their backs on Walker after this, as his Cuban followers,

(31:49):
including his own bodyguards, also up and left. Following the
destruction of Granada, asked at a number of quote unquote
radical Europeans, the types who had fought and failed revolutions
and who then thought they'd come to Nicaragua to liberate,
spread democracy, and make life better for the people of
the region. They belief that they could no longer hold
onto as Walker, instead of bringing the promise of modernization

(32:11):
and progress through ambitious projects in various reforms, was instead
proven to be the kind of destructive conqueror that critics
had long accused him of being. For many in Central
American then this turn of events revealed the true face
of the United States and its people. With Bolivia's lawry
form and paper, writing that the quote Anglo Saxon American
race seeks to establish its dominance over the entire continent

(32:33):
of the New World, no longer than was the US
this beneficent, idealized state. Instead, they were little more than
thugs and pirates bent on conquest and theft. After destroying Granada,

(33:05):
Walker's men now retreated to the city of Rivas, where
they hunkered down and prepared to hold onto this city
no matter what. As Walker was convinced, likely rightly so,
then holding on to control of the transit road was
the only way to win this war, as without it
and his access to moremnted supplies, he was sure to
be defeated. Meanwhile, the Allied forces that had come from

(33:25):
Assai and had forced his men out of Granada and
very much been malled in that conflict, as even setting
aside all the destruction and various atrocities committed there, Henningson
and his men had held the Allied forces at bay
for a week, inflicting heavy casualties upon them in the process. Yet,
even as Walker for good reason, remained focused on the
Central American Allied forces to the north of his new strongholder, Rivas,

(33:47):
another threat was coming from the south, as on the
third of December, Costa Rica would dispatch a force a
two hundred men to cut off the eastern end of
the transit road, men who were notably armed with modern
mini rifles thanks to shipping magnate for Neelius Vanderbilt. These
two hundred men were then guided by the English mercenary
George County and the American Sylvana Spencer, who knew the
San Juan River and the vers what are ways of

(34:09):
the transfer route Intimately. Meanwhile, this advanced force would be
followed twelve days later by an additional six hundred troops
led by General Jose Mora, President Morris's brother, whose previous
invasion had been undone by cholera epidemic. As such, he
was very much up for another chance to take down
Walker and his filibusters. Now, as he said all, Spencer
and his two hundred men would spend nineteen days marching

(34:32):
up to the head of the San Carlos River, where
they proceeded to chop down trees to build rasts with.
They then use these rafts, who suddently traveled down the
San Carlos to the San Juan River. Were at the
confluence of these two rivers. They left behind eighty men
to build a man in outpost that would allow them
to begin taking control of the transit route. Spencer and
the remaining one hundred and twenty men then pressed on

(34:53):
until they reached the remote outpost of hips Point, a
fortification set up by the filibusters for the express purpose
of guarding the transit route against coast or Reagan attack.
The thing was, the men of hips Point were anticipating
that a Coast of Reagan attack would come from the
Sarah Piggy River to the south. They then never anticipated
that an attack would come from the San Juan River,
which is exactly what Spencer's plan was counting on. Plus,

(35:16):
since the outposts was so remote and nothing ever happened there,
the men of hips Point were not the most attentive
to their duties. Indeed, when Spencer and the Coast of
Reagans arrived on the twenty second of December, they found
no sentries posted on the San Juan side of the outpost,
and the filibuster's rifles all stacked up neatly. The men
of the hips Point outposts were then called completely by
surprise when they were attacked from their rear. Now to

(35:38):
their credit, they reacted quickly and were able to put
up a considerable defense. However, the fact of the matter
was they were outnumbered three to one. Most were then
killed in hand to hand fighting as the coast of
Reagans charged in with fixed bayonets, while the rest were
taken prisoner. With victory thus secured, a contingent of men
would again be left behind to hold onto the hips
point outpost and deepen their grip on this final artery

(36:01):
of the transit route. Meanwhile, Spencer and forty five men
would press on as he continued their secretive progress down
the San Juan River until they reached the San Juan
Bay on the twenty third of December, and most importantly,
Castle Point, the ruins of an old Spanish castle which
now served as a depot for the transit roads river steamers,
four of which were currently dot there when Spencer in

(36:21):
the Coasta Reacans arrived, ships that they now attempted to
seize as their own, actions which caught the attentional World
Navy officer Captain Erskine, who would lead a force of
marines to Castle Point, declaring as he did that he
was there to protect American lives and property. Spencer, however,
was prepared for this eventuality, as he would inform the
British naval officer that they were not there to harm

(36:42):
the captains of the ships or their families. Furthermore, Spencer
had an acepus sleeve, as he produced a letter from
Cornelius Vanderbilt, a letter which authorized Spencer to act on
behalf of the company that had originally owned the vessels
in question, his accessory Transit Company. Upon reading this, the
British captain Optitude bas not wanted to get involved beyond
making sure that the American Spencer and his men had

(37:04):
taken prisoner at hips point were now safely sent on
the next ocean steamer back to the United States. With
that situation resolved, Spencer now took a man of a
river steamer, one that notably he was familiar with from
his days working for the transit company. With this ship,
Spencer then linked up with the main force of Coasta
Ricans led by General Mora, as they now turned their
attention toward the next off on their campaign to gain

(37:26):
control of Nicaragua's transit route. For San Carlos, a fortification
outfitted with forty seven cannons that were capable of destroying
any ship that came within the range. This was a
formidable outpost and one that was critical in controlling traffic
along the transit route. Spencer, though, would be able to
gain control of the fort without bloodshed by having its
own captain order his men to surrender, a feat that

(37:48):
was largely the result of Spencer happening the spot the
lake steamer lava Hen pulled up on the side of
the river so that its crew could harvest some wood.
Struck by inspiration, Walker swiftly captured the vessel, and, after
filling a way with Coasta Reacan soldiers, brought it to
the village located by Fort San Carlos. Now, the arrival
of laver Hen was wholly unremarkable, as a regularly carrying

(38:09):
passengers through the region. It also wasn't out of the
usual for the ship to carry a message for the fort,
So when Captain Krueger, the head man at Fort San Carlos,
received word that laver had had a message for him
from General Walker, Krueger simply headed down to the ship
without question. He was then quite surprised when, instead of
a message, Spencer pressed a gun to his head and

(38:29):
demanded that the captain send a message back up to
the fort, ordering the garrison to surrender immediately. Krueger then
did as he was told, as did his men, who
all filed out of the fort with their hands in
the air. With the capture of Fort San Carlos, the
eastern portion of the Nicaraguan Transit Road was now for
all intents and purposes, controlled by the Coasta Ricans, thereby

(38:49):
effectively cutting Walker and his men off from the Atlantic. Indeed,
a number of recruits and supplies which Walker and his
men could have really used in his new capital city
of Rivas, were now stranded in Greay toown as they
were unable to make the journey west, a problem that
would only be compounded by the fact that now seeing
that the British were against them, as well as when
I group of two hundred and fifty filibuster recruits from

(39:10):
New Orleans attempted to seize a steamer so as to
link up with Walker, the HMS o' rhyan and its
British captain promptly interceded on the side of the Costa Ricans,
thereby forcing the would be filibusters to surrender the steamer,
a move that had likely been made in no small
part because they knew that Cornelius Vanderbilt had aligned himself
against Walker. Meanwhile, what of their successful capture of significant

(39:32):
outposts along the transfer route led General Moore to proclaim
that quote the main artery of filibusterism has been cut
forever the word of Costa Rica has separate it. While
Cornelius Vanderbilt would respond to this news by stating that quote,
present appearances indicate a realization of my hopes that the
company will be speedily restored to their rights, franchises and

(39:53):
property among the isthmus of Nicaragua, with the resumption of
his highly profitable transit business being of an even greater
concern for the commodore, seeing as how his Transatlantic steamship
company had yet to find any real success, and because
his shipping and transit business in the Gulf of Mexico
was currently not making any profit whatsoever due to the
ongoing war between he and his rivals, as both looked

(40:15):
to crush the other by slashing prices. That all being
said to be clear, the fight for the transfer route
was not exactly over yet, as despite everything happening in Nicaragua.
More recruits continued to come from places like New Orleans
and Particular. These were typically Southerners who were likely in
no small part attracted by Walker's repeal of the law
abolishing slavery in the country. Two hundred and fifty Filibusters

(40:38):
would then effectively be trapped in Greytown after arriving in
Nicaragua due to the Coasta Ricans now controlling the eastern
part of the transit route. These men were then determined
to do something about this situation. They then decided that
their only course of action was to regain control the
eastern section of the transfer route so as to open
up this final artery backup for Walker and the Filibusters.

(41:00):
Step on this plan then was to regain control of
the hips Point outpost, which was strategically located along the
important windaways and made up the transit route, a mission
that they would be successful in, albeit with significant losses. Then,
once they had controlled hips Point again, a contingent of
border Ruffians fresh from fighting and bleeding Kansas, under the
command of the self proclaimed Colonel Titus, were selected for

(41:21):
the next date of this mission, as they would be
given the responsibility of capturing Fort Castillo Viejo, another important
outpost along the San Juan River section of the transit route,
and to be clear, Colonel Titus and his men were
absolutely convinced of their own capabilities and were thus confident
that they needed no other help in accomplishing this important task. Now,
as it turns out, the fort in question was actually

(41:44):
fairly lightly defended and likely could have been captured fairly easily. However,
leading the men of Castillo Viejo was Vaindabilt and Spencer's
English mercenary, George Conti, who recognized instantly that not only
was Titus full of himself, but that he was also
lying through his teeth when he claimed to have a
thousand men in a large battery of cannons at his command.
The English mercenary, though, played along with Titus's lives as

(42:06):
he acted like he fulle believed the situation to be hopeless.
In doing so, though, Kanti would claim that for as
much as he desperately wanted to surrender, the fact that
the matter was, he needed permission from his commanding officer,
General Moore to do so, meaning that to do what
they both knew to be necessary, he needed twenty four
hours to send and receive permission to surrender. Titus, in flee,

(42:27):
believing that he had tricked the British mercenary and his
Central American soldiers, agreed to wait Kanty's communications, though had
absolutely nothing to do with requesting permission to surrender. Instead,
he was requesting additional reinforcements to deal with these blowhard Americans.
Sixty additional Coasta Rican soldiers were then dispatched to take
up position to the rear of Titus and his over

(42:47):
confident men, who were thus taken completely by surprize when
instead of accepting a surrender, they were attacked first from
the rear and then from the men in the fort
as George Kunti, as soon as he heard the sounds
of battle, also ordered his men to attack. Soon then,
the Kocky Border Ruffians were sent running, throwing away their weapons,
ammunition and provisions as they did in an attempt to

(43:07):
lighten their load and run faster, with Titus and his
men only escaping thanks to the fortunately times arrival of
a friendly steamboat which carried them away. Still, though even
with this fortuitous rescue, seventy of Titus's men were wounded
or killed in the fighting. In the wake of this
humiliating defeat, the filibusters retreated all the way back to Greytown,

(43:28):
abandoning hips point in the process. The eastern end of
the transurroute was seemingly well and truly sealed off for
Walker and his filibusters at this point, then, leaving only
the way to and from California still open. The thing
was unlike in the American South, where if anything, they
were more into Walker now than ever before, the enthusiasm
for Walker was not what he used to be in California,

(43:49):
as its people, like many residents of non safe holding states,
were now far less interested in getting into bed with
Walker following his apparent pro slavery decree. Meanwhile, for the
many were stranded on Nicaragua's east coast, whose ranks had
swelled to farted strong by this time. After deciding to
give up on their mission to clear the eastern portion
of the transit route, they were now faced with a

(44:10):
decision on how to proceed. One hundred then would decide
to head up to Panama to cross the Isthmus there
so they could then head back down to the west
coast of Nicaragua to link up with Walker that way.
The remaining three hundred, though apparently voted to just go home. However,
the plans of the one hundred intent on joining with
Walker would literally be blown to pieces when one of

(44:30):
the river steamers that were using mysteriously exploded, killing sixty
and injuring another twenty five, a blow so significant that
all plans of joining with Walker were then abandoned. All
this meant had come January eighteen fifty seven, which was
just six months since Walker's grand inauguration. The nine hundred
many had with him in his new capital city of
Rivas were not only all he had with him at

(44:53):
the moment, but all he was realistically going to get.
There would be no more fuds or reinforcements coming to
Swalla's rank and make up for any losses that he suffered. Additionally,
while Walker and as Filibusters now called Revas home, most
of the people who used to do the same had
fled the city as soon as Walker arrived and proclaimed
that this was his new capital, as seemingly none of

(45:13):
the locals wanted to have anything to do with the
Filibusters anymore, which was obviously the wise decision, as any
who remained were mistreated as they were forced to work
as cooks and servants for the Filibusters and slave like conditions,
all the while being regally harassed and stolen from. Now
the inability to gain any more men than he nine
hundred he had with him in Rivas was really bad
news for Walker, as in addition to the five hundred

(45:36):
and sixty coast of Reecans who had come up from
the South, there were also the four thousand troops who
had been involved in the fighting, and Messiah and Grenada, who,
while they had suffered losses in those fights, had since,
unlike Walker's, grown with reinforcements as now Honduras had also
sent troops to aid and casting out the Filibusters. Ultimately,
then some three thousand of these combined forces would surround

(45:57):
and lay siege to Walker's new capital city of Rivas. Meanwhile,
the Allied forces, with Walker and his men penned up
on one location, were also able to capture the western
portis San Mondel Sour, thus completely isolating Walker and those
in Rivas, as they now were also in control of
the Western Entity transit road. Then, as if they needed
any more confirmation of how bad things were, Walker would receive,

(46:19):
where that the Garrison Morgan Line had suspended all ships
sailing to and from Nicaragua due to his failure to
recapture the transit route and by extension, their ships which
had been captured by the Allied forces. Now that all
being said, each time the Central American forces assaulted the
city of Rivas, the Filibusters would manage to fight them off. That, however,
in no way meant that the Americans in Rivas were

(46:41):
having a good time of things, as they were running
low on supplies and cholera was starting to become an issue. Plus,
as if to add insult to injury, these soldiers weren't
even being paid. It's here, then, where we see that
President More of Costa Rica had learned a lesson from
their earlier attempt to invade Nicaragua, as during that failed invasion,
the coast of Reagans had only promised death to any

(47:01):
filibusters they captured, the move which they subsequently realized was
a mistake, as all that accomplished was ensuring that the
filibusters would fight all the harder because surrender only men death.
Realizing their mistake, then the Costa Rican forces printed up
handbills which promised food protection and free passage back to
the United States for any who deserted from markers ranks.

(47:22):
With one of their favorite ways of getting these handbills
in the revas involving the creation of a human sized doll,
which they then stopped full of handbills before sitting at
atop a donkey. They would then cover the doll with
a number of small bombs with long fuses that they
would light before sending the donkey in toward the town,
so that when the donkey neared the filibuster's lines, the
little bombs would go off, thereby causing the handbills to

(47:45):
disperse in all directions. Now, the offer of food and
free passage was becoming a more appealing proposition to the
filibusters with every passing day, as without fresh supplies, these
soldiers were increasingly being forced to rely on hard attack alone,
with some accounts even claiming that the filibusters were eating
dogs and cats just to survive. Meanwhile, they were increasingly

(48:05):
plagued by all manner of vermin as conditions within the
city continued to deteriorate. Many then actively sought to dessert,
since on top of everything else, it's not that they
were funding for their own homes or country. Walker then
to try and stop the wave of desertions order that
anyone caught attempting to desert would be executed without trial,
a move which certainly did nothing to help morale. Then,

(48:27):
come February eighteen fifty seventy, US super Worthy Saint Mary's,
under the command of one Commander Charles Davis, would arrive
at the Pacific port of San Mondel Sour with orders
to protect American lives and property. To this end, Commander
Davis obtained permission from the various warring parties to get
the women and children out of Ravas and out of
Nicaragua altogether. While this was happening, a truce was declared,

(48:50):
during which time the Coasta Ricans continued to try and
convince the filibusters to just give up by offering food, alcohol,
and tobacco to any who surrendered. Between this, in the
worse than conditions in Reavus, even more filibusters deserted. Walker meanwhile,
finally seemed a sense which way things were going, and
thus realized that things might get even worse if he

(49:10):
continued to actively try and stop people from leaving, so
he declared that any who wanted to leave could an offer,
which surprisingly only five accepted. However, that was likely because
so many others had already deserted. Commander Davis meanwhile spoke
with General Mora, telling him that if he agreed to
spare the Americans, he would force Walker to surrender. Now

(49:31):
the chief filibuster was in a desperate situation at this point,
Body still asked for one additional concession, which was for
his remaining Nicaraguan allies to receive the same promise of
protection as his American filibusters. With this promise granted, Walker
than formally surrendered on the first of May eighteen fifty
seven to the US Navy and not the various Central

(49:51):
American allied forces, a situation that obviously did not satisfy
said allied forces, but one that General Moore agreed to
as rad it because he had been warned by Commander
Davis that if he did not accept these terms, the
US proper would invade Central America. Meanwhile, South America and
European country saw the terms of walker surrender as further

(50:12):
proof that the United States was pro filibuster, as they
were making a point of rescuing Walker and his men,
who by all rights should have been left to pay
for their crimes. In all, four hundred and sixty three
men would surrender along with Walker, excepting as they did,
the promise protection until they could be transported out of Nicaragua.
The first to leave, though, would be Walker in sixteen
of his officers, who were swiftly sent to New Orleans. Meanwhile,

(50:35):
the rest of his men would not have such an
easy journey, as instead of swiftly being transported out of
the country and put on a boat bound for America,
Walker's men had to march for two weeks just to
get to Panama, from where they were to be put
on a US frigate, a journey through what was obviously
hostile country as basically everyone in Central America at this
point more or less hated the Filibusters, so they were

(50:57):
regularly harassed and mistreated as he undertook this week's long journey,
with some men notably having to do so in bare
feet as their shoes had long since worn out. This
and left a number of Filibusters feeling betrayed by the
man who they had sacrificed so much for. Indeed, many
would not learn that Walker had surrendered until after he
had departed from the country. Walker's former soldiers then felt

(51:17):
like they had been abandoned and left to their feints,
and a landa was now hostile to them. For as

(51:49):
well as things had gone initially for William Walker in Nicaragua,
pretty much from the moment he sees the presidency, things
had gone wrong, yet, much like he had with his
failed attempt to take over. So nor Walker seemed to
have either learned known lessons from this experience, or alternatively,
he took the wrong lessons from what had happened, as
he was actually eager to make another attempt to gain

(52:09):
control of Nicaragua. After all, his surrender terms had contained
no demands that Walker not returned to Central America. He
was then sent on returning to the land where in
his mind he was the true president who had been
overthrown by jealous, illegitimate usurpers. Now, perhaps a taste of
power had simply gone to his head, or maybe he
had bought into his own propaganda of being a man

(52:31):
of destiny whose holy calling it was to regenerate sensual America.
Regardless Walker's perception of himself being some kind of special
man of destiny was only reinforced by the reception he
received upon returning to New Orleans, as only twenty seven
of the May eighteen fifty seven, the individual who had
essentially become the most haided man in Sensual America and
who had been cast out of Nicaragua, would be met

(52:53):
by cheering crowds who literally picked Walker up on their
shoulders and carried him off the boat like he was
some kind of returning here. So many, in fact, would
continue to gather around Walker's hotel that about an hour
after he arrived, he found oblige to step out onto
the balcony of his room to give a short speech
so as to satisfy the adoring throng. And this wasn't
just a one time thing either, as a few days later,

(53:15):
twenty thousand people would gather before a platform fstoon with
US flags and the flag of Nicaragua, from where Walker
would addressed the crowd for two hours, during which time
he made his intentions of returning to Central America quite clear.
In doing so, he made a point of telling those
gathered there just who was responsible for his downfall, and
you can be sure that he did not point the

(53:36):
finger blame at himself instead. Much like he blamed interference
in the US government for his failure in Sonora, Walker
now blamed Secretary of State Marcy, the British government cornearly
as Vanderbilt, and of all people, northern abolitionists for his failure,
with all them honestly being understandable to a degree, with
the exception of the last one, as until just recently

(53:56):
abolitionists had been someone Walker's strongest supporters. Now it's unclear
if Walker just fully lost a plot at this point
with commons like that, or if he was just playing
to the pro slavery crowd, But of course we're more
than happy to blame Northern abolitions for anything that had
gone wrong either way. Walker was very much now asking
for assistance, specifically from the southern Neua States, to aid

(54:18):
him in Americanizing Central America. As he proclaimed, quote, I
call upon you all, by the glorious recollections of the
past and the brand anticipation of the future, to assist
in carrying out and perfecting the Americanization of Central America,
a plea which was met with great applause. Indeed, a
reporter from the New Orleans Sunday Times would declare that
they had never seen such enthusiasm from the people of

(54:40):
their city. Now, this wild reception for the man who
had been ignominiously defeated and cast out of Central America
was not just limited to New Orleans either, as Walker
now essentially went on tour, traveling to Memphis, Louisville, and Cincinnati,
where he was met by enthusiastic crowds at every stop. Indeed,
even New York was not immune to these strange worship
of this bizarre little filibuster failure, as when attending a

(55:03):
play in Wallack's Theater on the seventy the June, along
with Charles Frederick Henningson, who had served Walker so capably
in Nicaragua, and Henningson's wife, the crowd cheered so loudly
and vociously for the filibuster while the orchestra played Hell
Columbia that Walker was forced to give a little speech
just to quiet them down and ask the crowd to
actually pay attention to the play they had supposedly come

(55:24):
to see. William Walker would even get to meet President
Buchanan himself in June, during which time Walker continued to
play fast and loose with the truth while also seeking
to blame everyone else but himself for his failure. As
now we claim that we're not for Commander Davis, he
would have been able to defeat the vast array of
forces that had been assembled against him. It is then,

(55:44):
due to this highly questionable relationship with the truth, that
I have my doubts about Walker's later claims that during
this meeting, President Buchanan actively encouraged him to make another
attempt to conquer Nicaragua. Granted, Buchanan was very much pro expansion,
which likely explains why this meeting happened in the first place,
and because he likely just wanted to benefit off the
good press of meeting with the highly popular filibuster. Still,

(56:07):
though the fact remains at Buchanan had shown no inclination
to aid Walker during his dark days in Nicaragua. Meanwhile,
Walker's popularity in the North, which was already teetering on
a nice edge thanks to his wishy washy supports sach
opposition to spreading slavery, now took a sun turn for
the worse when a frigate carrying some one hundred and
thirty nine of these survivors from the Siga Rivas arrived

(56:28):
in New York City, as this combination of filibusters and
one so colonists, including thirteen women and five children, had
been left in a pitiable, near skeletal state due to
the extended period of starvation they had been subjected to
during the Siegar rivas. Seemingly, then, not a single one
of the one hundred and thirty nine, when speaking with
the press, had a single positive word to say about
William Walker, who they again felt had abandon them to

(56:50):
their fates in Central America while he got first class
transportation back to the US. One sergeant, for example, would
declare that, quote General Walker is a His men were
brave and faithful to him, but he always exposed them unnecessarily.
He became tyrannical, and at last he deserted his fellows
without taking a single step which might help them in
their distress or alleviate their sufferings. While a twenty one

(57:14):
year old who had their armshot off would describe Walker
as a quote tyrant and deserve to be hanged. Accounts
and statements which the Northern press were all too happy
to publish since these were new and exciting revelations and
because Walker, since returning, had pretty much ignored them for
his part, Walker made no attempts to dispute the accounts
of these individuals. Instead, he opted to leave New York

(57:36):
and the North altogether to return to the more welcoming
confines of places like Nashville, Charleston, and Mobile. Now Southerners
couldn't exactly ignore the accounts of these survivors or Walker's
nick or Rogwan debacle. There were simply too many people,
all presenting the same basic story of how completely Walker
had failed and then abandoned them. Pro slavery Southerner so
continued to embrace Walker simply because of the hope he

(57:58):
presented for these spread and preservation of their peculiar institution,
a hope that was especially fragile now seeing as how
Bleeding Kansas was coming to an end and it appeared
that they were going to be on the losing side
of things. It was and these increasingly desperate pro slavery
times that Walker looked to for assistance when setting up
a new secret organization. So STU finance yd another filibustering expedition,

(58:20):
a group that he would call the Central American League.
Now Walker would have no trouble recruiting men to join
this mission, as thanks to his apparent willingness to now
help the spread of slavery, Many a young Southerner, was
eager to sign up to join the ranks of Walker's
latest filibuster. Army money, however, was a bit harder to
come by, especially since by eighteen fifty seven the US

(58:41):
was suffering through one of its frequent economic depressions. Still,
Walker and his allies would manage to raise enough money
to purchase a steamship in New Orleans called the Fashion,
in addition to a number of weapons and other military
supplies for his campaign to reclaim his rightful place as
the president of Nicaragua. The federal government, though despite Walker's
claims that he happened in urge to return to Central America,

(59:01):
were once again not exactly excited by the prospect of
someone like William Walker and his followers violating their various
treaties and neutrality laws, and in doing so, damaging the
country standing on the international stage. As a result, US
marshals bled the departure of Walker and his filibusters from
New Orleans. That being said Walker in two hundred and
seventy men who had volunteered to join him, a number

(59:22):
which included six men who had taken part in his
original Nicaraguan expedition would still manage to settle for Mobile
Bay on the fourteenth November eighteen fifty seven, at which
point President Buchanan, and a strange move for a man who,
according to Walker, had encouraged him to undertake this mission,
ordered the Saratoga, a naval ship, to intercept the Fashion.
Yet despite this, Defashioned Mood arrive in Nicaragua after nine

(59:45):
days at sea, arriving at the mouth of the Colorado River,
a few miles south of Greytown. As it was here
where a company of recruits under the command of the
experienced Frank Anderson were dispatched with orders from Walker to
capture some Accessory Transit Company steamers on the nearby san
Ja River and then New zem to capture Fort Castillo.
From here, the Fashion would then make its way up

(01:00:05):
to Greytown, where they found the Saratoga waiting for them. Now,
the Saratoga was fully intental, preventing Walker and his men
from stepping foot in Nicaragua. However, heavy rain squalls prevented
the Saratoga from doing his job, as the weather successfully
obscured the filibusters, landing Walker and two hundred of his
men then soon made camp as he witted news from
Frank Anderson and his men. The Filibusters would wait there

(01:00:27):
for twelve days in the pelting rain until at last
they received the exciting news and Anderson had not only
successfully captured three river steamers and a lake steamer, but
he had also captured Fort Castillo, and he had done
so without losing a single man. All Walker and his
men along the shoreline had to do then was wait
for one of the captured ships to arrive so they
could be carried up river to continue the work of

(01:00:48):
recapturing the transit road, and from there restore Walker to
his proper place as the President of Nicaragua. The Saratoga, though,
was still winning offshore, and would then send several small
boats off river to blog off San Juan and prevent
Walker's men from heading upstream. Meanwhile, the Saratoga would not
only soon be joined by the frigate, the Wabash and
its fifty cannons, but also by another US warship, the Fulton,

(01:01:11):
and an additional two British warships, all of whom notably
had no interest in letting Walker and his men have
free reign in Nicaragua. With his backup, the Saratoga now
moved close to the shore so as to position itself
to fire a broadside with its cannons at point blank
range only filibuster camp face. With this overwhelming firepower, Walker
was ordered to surrender immediately so that he and his

(01:01:32):
men could be taken prisoner by the United States. Walker
then was left with no other choice but to surrender
and order Anderson and his men to abandon the outposts
that they had so easily captured. Which is all to
say that despite the initial wild success of Anderson and
his men along the San Juan River, Walker's second invasion
of Nicaragua and it almost as soon as it had begun.

(01:01:53):
That being said, Walker had inadvertently aided the new Nicaragua
government that had replaced his as President. Mora Costa Rica
had been so alarmed with the ease of the filibusters
that started recapturing the transit road that he made an
agreement with the new Nicaragua government where they would jointly
protect the transit route, with Costa Rica officially agreeing to
give up their claims to southern Nicaragua as a part

(01:02:14):
of this deal. Mean while Commodore Paulding of the Oabas,
who had taken over the situation off the coast of Nicaragua,
now had Walker brought to his cabin, where he told
the filibuster quote, you and your men are a disgrease
to the United States. You have dishonored your country. You
are no better than pirates and murderers, which Walker had
no response to. Regardless, less than a month after departing

(01:02:37):
from Mobile, Walker and his men were returned to the US,
and which point Walker, like a petulant child, had his
trade for Washington to protesting navy's interference with his activities
in Nicaragua. The South then predictably rallied to his cause
as they held gatherings to praise Walker and condemned the Navy,
with some insisting that Walker and his men should be
returned to Nicaragua at once being my home. President James Buchanan,

(01:02:59):
the men who would in just a few years time
sit back and watch as the country to send it
into civil war, would now play politician in this matter
as he criticized both Commodore Palding and William Walker, while
Congress would set aside all other business to actually debate
this issue for several days. Pauding then would be temporarily
relieved from command for his actions in Nicaragua. However, that's

(01:03:21):
not to say that Walker necessarily won the day, as
in addition to Buchanan officially repudiating Filibuster, the chief filibuster
himself would also be put on trial in June eighteen
fifty eight for violating the US's neutrality laws. The case
hover would be tried in New Orleans, and as such
Walker was acquitted ass The Southern population was very much
in supporter Walker's right to attempt to take over any

(01:03:44):
foreign country in the name of spreading their peculiar institution.
In fact, Walker's popularity was such in the region that
the filibuster actually went so far as to request another
trial so that he might be fully acquitted. As the
original jury had ended with ten votes for acquittal and
two for guilty. The federal government, though recognizing that they
had no help of securing a conviction, opted to instead

(01:04:05):
drop all the charges. Walker then looked to capitalize off
of his popularity in the South by undertaking a lecture
tour of Southern cities, doing so not so much for
his own profit but so that he could use that
money to fund yet another filibuster expedition to Nicaragua. It was,
and with the runaway success of these speaking engagements and
just the general level support that he had from white

(01:04:26):
pro slavery Southerners, that Walker was soon able to dispatch
a group of one hundred and fifty que unquote colonizers
to Central America on the sailing vessel the Suzanne. Leading
These men were too experienced filibusters, and Walker was familiar
with Frank Anderson, who had led the effort to recapture
the San Juan River during his last attempt to retake Nicaragua,
and see W. Dumbleday, who had fought alongside Walker back

(01:04:48):
during his first expedition during their time participating in the
Nicaraguin Civil War. Their experience, however, did not help them
much when only sixteenth of December eighteen fifty eight, the
Susan ran aground on Glover Reef, although what at the
time was British Hondors but which today is Belize. The
now stranded filibusters would then be rescued by British warship,
which then brought them back to Mobile where they had

(01:05:10):
departed from with the slateest setback. Over the course of
the following year, Marker was paid by a mobile publishing
company to write a book about his time in Nicaragua.
William Marker's The War in Nicaragua would go on to
become a best seller in the US. In the book,
Marker would describe in great detail the natural beauty of
Nicaragua the political situation in the region, while also recounting

(01:05:32):
the events of his military campaigns. The book would also
notably include some heavy headed racist and pro savery propaganda.
For example, Walker would describe Africa as quote, for more
than five thousand years, a mere way from the waters
of the world, fulfilling no part in its destinies and
aiding in no meta the progress of general civilization. It
was and only with the discovery of the New World

(01:05:54):
that quote, the European found the African a useful auxiliary
in subduing the New than to the uses and purposes
of civilization. Therefore, Walker, the man who, according to all accounts,
had been against the spread of slavery, now argue that
bringing slavery to Nicaragua would be a good and natural thing,
because quote, in Nicaragua, the Negro seems to be in

(01:06:15):
his natural climate. The Blacks who have gone thither from
Jamaica are healthy, strong, and capable of severe labor. Now
this might reflect his actual changing views, or it might
simply once again be the result of the fact that
Walker only had one audience left who would be willing
to back his efforts, and so he might have fully
been playing to them at this point, as the book
very much included a definitive call to action with the

(01:06:38):
declaration of quote, if the South wishes to get her
institutions into Tropical America, she must do so before treaties
are made to embarrass her action and hamper her energies. Therefore,
according to Walker, quote, the hearts of Southern youth answer
to the call of honor, and strong arms and steady
eyes are winning to carry forward the policy which is
now the dictative duty as well as of interest. Walker's

(01:07:01):
attention then clearly remained focus on Nicaragua and Central America
in general. However, during this time there would be no
more attempts made until that is, the summer of eighteen sixty,
intentions in the US were an all time high due
to the looming presidential election later that year, an election
that would see Abraham Lincoln sweep the victory on the
back of the support of Northern States, while Southern states

(01:07:24):
one by one seceded from the Union out of fear
of what Lincoln might do to their peculiar institution. It
wasn't on the eve of these momentous events that Walker
would make it another attempt to invade Central America, not
because of any of these looming issues in the US,
mind you, but because he wouldn't long last be given
an excuse to do so thanks to a British community
residing on the Caribbean island of Rutan, which says in

(01:07:47):
the Bay of Fondorras. As you see, England was making
preparations to hand over the island to Hondoras in exchange
for various commercial concessions. The thing was, while the English
government was happy to make this deal, the British colonists,
resigning all the island, were less enthused by the s
turn of events. They then planned to resist his takeover
by Honduras and thereby set up their own government. So

(01:08:08):
anticipating a fight, they reached out to the infamous and
occasionally successful filibuster William Walker, suggesting, as they did that
if he helped them gain independence, they would then be
able to aid him in regaining control of Nicaragua. Now,
Walker would be quite intrigued by the potential of this plan,
and indeed quickly looked to move beyond the relatively small
goals of liberating the island of ruitan As. In addition

(01:08:31):
to helping the e colonist, he further wrote to partner
with Trinidad Cabanas, an axe Honduran Democratico president who was
eager to regain the office and who was currently conducting
a guerrilla war against Walker's old foe turned president sent
to US Guardiola, the Butcher of Hondoras. Marker then planned
to lead INET another filibuster army into Central America, with
the goal this time of first taking over Honduras and

(01:08:53):
returning Cabanas to power, after which time he would then
attempt to conquer both Nicaragua and Costa Rica, with the
old to mcgold being to create a safe federation in
Central America, with Walker himself as the dictator. The first step, though,
involved Walker scouting Ruatan and the surrounding region, at which
point he returned to the US, where in June eighteen sixteen,
mobile Alabama He, along with one hundred and thirty recruits,

(01:09:16):
boarded one of two vessels, with the other being primarily tesked,
with carrying the various supplies that they would need for
this campaign. The problem was, before Walker's vessels could reach Ruatan,
British authorities would intercept the ship carrying their supplies and
would then seize all the weapons on board. With it
now being obvious that the Brits were on to them
and their plans, the other vessel, carrying Walker in as

(01:09:36):
would be filibusters, fled to the nearby and at the
time uninhabited island of Cosamel, where they would wait for
three weeks, all the while being pelted by heavy rains
as they waited for supplies that would never come. It
was during this time then that Walker came to the
conclusion that he had no hope of actually capturing the
island of Ruatan as long as a British warship was
waiting in its harbor and British soldiers were actively guarding

(01:09:58):
the island. Given this situation, then Walker decided that rather
than facety British, he would be better served trying to
aid Trinidaka Bonison taking over Oliphon doors, with the first
step in this plan involved in the capture of the
old stone fort that guarded the port of Trujillo, that
had originally been built by Cortez and his conquisadors centuries earlier.
To do so, Walker looked to his own past, to

(01:10:19):
a time when things actually went right, like, for example,
the time when he captured the city of Granada and
ended the Nicaraguan Civil War. Walker and his men, then,
under the cover of darkness, approached the shore near the
port of Trujillo, hoping, as they did, to arrive in
secret light they did prior to the victory that had
led to the height of Walker's power and accomplishments to
that end. When ninety one American filibusters under the Commander

(01:10:43):
William Walker and Colonel Thomas Henry, only nine of the
fifth of August eighteen sixty landed on the Ondooran shoreline,
they would proceed off the coast toward the Spanish fort
as silently as possible, so as to maintain the element
of surprise. The problem was, prior to their landing, some
local fishermen had spotted the American and, recognizing that no
good could come from this and moved swiftly to alert

(01:11:04):
these soldiers defending the old ford which protected the town.
The defenders were then waiting for Walker and his men,
so that when the first rays of dawn illuminated their approach,
the hondorned defenders responded by immediately opening fire upon the filibusters.
This brought their advance to a halt, but Colonel Henry
had a plan to regain the advantage, a plan that
involved asking for six volunteers to draw the attention and

(01:11:25):
more importantly, the gun fire of the defenders, which would
then allow the others in opening to rush the fortress.
And so as these six volunteers exposed themselves and the
Hondorned defenders turned their fall attention to them, the rest
of Walker's men charged forward, successfully making an over the
walls of the fortification before the defenders could reload their muskets.
Overwhelmed by the staring tactic and the rapid fiery warbers

(01:11:48):
the Americans were carrying, an offender was not cut down
immediately basically ran for their lives, and so with that,
Walker and as Filibusters captured the old Spanish fortress and
by extension, the poor town of True Heath, a victory,
which would be eagerly reported on by American newspapers, as
were only all too happy to report on the daring
activities of William Wooker, who they proclaimed was well on

(01:12:10):
his way to conquering Central America once again. The thing was, though,
despite the positive coverage and the reality of how successful
this initial venture was, the fact remained that Walker's supplies
had been seized by the British and he had not
been resupplied since, meaning that for all the Filimbuster's efforts
to fortify their position, the reality was they were very
much at risk of being starved out. Walker, then, desperate

(01:12:33):
for aid, would dispatch Colonel Thomas Henry, a veteran of
the Mexican American War, with orders to try and link
up with Trinidad Obama's Henry's mission, however, would not be successful,
but what was even worse, upon returning before he even
reported to Walker, Henry got drunk, which was especially bad
news as the colonel was known to have a violent
temper and a history of getting into duels when drunk.

(01:12:56):
This pattern then repeated when the drunken Colonel Henry clashed
with a young Philip Suster, lieutenant who responded to his
provocations by shooting Henry, with the bullet not only shattering
the colonel's jawbone, but also tearing away the lower part
of his face. Henry, though, would linger for two whole weeks,
suffering in agony the entire time as gangrene took hold,
until finally Walker reportedly left a full bottle of morphine

(01:13:19):
at Henry's bedside before departing and leaving the suffering man
to mix it with some lemonade, which he drank and
went to sleep for the last time. Now. While all
this was playing out, Walker unintentionally compounded his problems by
declaring that Truhio was now a free port, meaning that
no customs duties had to be paid therein a move
that Walker had done in an effort to deprive the

(01:13:39):
government off Ho Doris of these funds. The thing that
Walker didn't know, though, was the fact that Druhio's custom
revenues did not actually go to the government of Honduras,
but were meant for the British to pay off an
old debt, which meant that it was really bad news
when some three thousand dollars that had already been collected
and set aside mysteriously disappeared during Walker's occupation, an issue

(01:13:59):
that became quite pressing when the British warship the Icarus
arrived in port As. Upon learning of this situation, Captain
Norvell Salmon would send word to the fort demanding the
Walkernist men laid down their arms and returned the money
that had disappeared from the custom house, with the promise
of if they did this and abandoned the old Spanish fort,
the British would protect the filibusters and transport them back home.

(01:14:21):
Realizing just how much trouble he was in, Walker played
for a time as he asked for additional details from
the British captain, all the while playing stupid about the
money in question. This resulted in an exchange of messages
between the fort and the British warship, a process which
took hours until night fell and which point Walker in
sixty five filibusters fled the city to look for Cabanas

(01:14:41):
and his rebel forces. The thing was, he Honduran military
had long been aware that Walker's filibusters had captured Ruhio,
and thus had infantry stationed nearby to keep an eye
on them, and ensure they didn't get into any more
trouble this infantry than spotted Walker and his men as
they fled from the city and naturally set off in pursuit,
eventually catching up them at Donnelly following day. When the

(01:15:02):
Americans paused for a quick rest and something to eat,
the Honduran soldiers and open fire on the unsuspecting filibusters,
killing one and wounding another twenty or so, including Walker himself, who,
despite being struck in the cheek, was still able to
order his men to return fire. Now, the American filibusters
would manage to fight off this attack, but in the
coming days, Walker and his men would be repeatedly harassed

(01:15:24):
as they struggled forth to an unforgiving terrain, until at
long last they reached Rio Negro, where they found a
military camp belonging to Kabbanas and his rebel forces. There was, however,
just one problem. The camp was completely abandoned. Now at
this point only thirty one filibusters remained, and most of
them were wounded. This included William Walker, who was also

(01:15:45):
at this point sick with a fever. Unable to go
much further in left with little other choice, then the
filibusters decided to take advantage of this already somewhat fortified
position to make a stand. Yet in the middle of
the resulting battle with the Honduran military, Walker would fun
a pair of boats coming up, the Rio Negro, boats
which carried Captain Salmon of the Icarus and forty of

(01:16:05):
his men, who were themselves looking for Walker and his filibusters.
Seeing this, Walker would order his men to stop firing,
as he seemed to see an opportunity here, as Salmon
upont arriving, would once again demand that Walker in is
remaining filibusters surrender with Walker agreed to do so after
confirming that he would be surreunding to the British, specifically,
as he likely realized that he and his men's lives

(01:16:27):
would be forfeit if they were captured by any of
the Central American governments. While captured by the British would
simply mean a return to the United States, Walker then
likely suspected that this would end just like all of
his previous adventures, Namely, he would be sent back to
the US, where at most he'd get a sip on
the rest, but more than likely not as even if
the federal government tried to charge him for yet another

(01:16:49):
violation of the Neutrality Act, the people would simply exonerate him.
Walker then wasn't for quite the surprise when, once on
board the British warship, Captain Solomon announced that while the
investment joy only the American filibusters were to be held
captive and protected by the British flag until they were
returned to the US. Walker and one of his men,
Anthony Rugler, were to be handed over to the Honduran

(01:17:10):
authorities in Tuhio, a move that seems to be the
result to win voting the Icarus and being asked to
formally declare his name, Walker announced that he was William Walker,
the President of Nicaragua, at which point Rothera, despite previously
declaring himself as an American, stepped forward and also declared
himself to be Nicaraguan. The British sen while resigned to

(01:17:30):
protect American citizens due to the relationship between their two countries,
were likely no longer bound by those same rules in
the case of these two men, who of their own accord,
had proclaimed themselves to being Nicaraguan. The Bridge Men were
likely more than happy to rind themselves with the troublesome
filibusters as see Nicaraguan government would definitely have no problem
with Walker at long last facing Central American justice, Walker

(01:17:54):
and rather than upon being returned to Truhio, would be
in prison in a paracels in the very same forth
they had concered and subsequently abandoned. Walker then was quickly
tried and sentenced to death, with his own foey Butcher
von Torres turned president formally approving all these proceedings. As
for brother, who in nowhere near the infamya Walker, he
would be sentenced to four years of imprisonment, a sentence

(01:18:16):
that would ultimately be commuted, at which point he was
sent back to the US, meaning he would be no
worse soft than the other sixty eight survivors of Walker's
latest scheme who had been captured by the British and
two returned to the United States. As for Walker, he
would ask to see a Catholic priest before his execution,
doing so because it was likely all that was available,
and because he himself had actually converted to Catholicism during

(01:18:38):
his last stay in the US. Walker then, after conferring
with the priest and confirming that his men would not
be sharing his fate, declared that he was now prepared
to die. It was then at eight in the morning
on the twelfth of September eighteen sixty that thirty six
year old William Walker, in the company of a pair
of priests, was led to a ruined wall about a
quarter of a mile outside of Truhillo. Walker was said

(01:19:00):
to be calm as he spoke with the priest and
ignored the various cheers and cheers that his impending demise
brought forth from the crowd. Walker then, after being given
his last right, stood rigid, his face impassive as he
awaited his end. Two squads of soldiers would then open fire,
and when his body dropped, an officer from their ranks
would walk forward to fire his pistol into Walker's headed

(01:19:20):
point blank range to ensure that he was indeed dead,
a bloody brutal scene which was met by cheers from
the crowd, who were excited that the troublesome filibuster was
at long last dead. Walker's remains would then be buried
in a simple, ruffuned coffin in a cemetery outside of
Truhillo with full Catholic rights, while his sword would serve
as a president to the government of Nicaragua in an

(01:19:42):
acknowledgment of their suffering the most due to his actions
back in the US. Other than a denied request to
have his remain sent in Nashville, few seemingly took note
of Walker's end, with the New York Tribune, for example,
simply dismissing Walker as being insane. Indeed, the country had
bigger concerns at this point, while with their own looming
Civil War to worry about the fate of a rogue filibuster. Meanwhile,

(01:20:05):
multiple of Walker's followers would participate in the upcoming war,
with more than a few fighting on the Confederate side,
with Charles Frederick Henningson in particular going on to become
a Confederate brigadier general, while another of his men would
become a colonel who led a brigade of men during
Pickett's charge at Gettysburg. A number of others, though, would
fight for the Union, including Charles Dumbalday, who would become

(01:20:26):
a brigadier general in the Union Cavalry. Cornelius Vanderbilt meanwhile,
would work out ideal with the now defeated Morgan and Garrison,
ending his personal war against them, a deal which involved
in exchange of shimps and an agreement to surrender any
claim to the Nicer Rockman transit route and the proposed
canal in exchange for Vanderbilt no longer competing against their
shipping business in the Gulf of Mexico. Yet, while Vanderbilt

(01:20:49):
regained his Nicer Rockman Transit charter, he would not make
use of it beyond ensuring that no others could operate
that particular transit route as a steady partner with the
US Mail Line to create a new company that nobilized
the eastern end of the route to and from Panama. Meanwhile,
Vanderbilt's already enormous fortune would only grow during the Civil
War as he profited off of that conflict. Yet he

(01:21:10):
wasn't done there, as following the war, his wealth only
increased even further as he invested heavily in the expanding
railroad industry, with their success eventually making him the richest
man in America. As for the phenomenon of filibustering, that
more or less seemed to end with William Walker, with
this seemingly being the result of a combination of industrialization
and the end of slavery, which both seemed to put

(01:21:31):
an end to the all consuming luss for expansion among
the general public at least. Meanwhile, Walker's conquest of Nicaragua
and the United states subsequent recognition of the resulting government
had done serious damage to America's standing on the world stage. Yet,
for as much as Europe was outraged by the conduct
of the Americans, they were far from alone in the reaction,
as prior to Walker, the attitude among a fair amount

(01:21:53):
of the people Central America had been fairly positive. When
he came to the United States, Walker's subsequent arrival rise
of power, though, had instilled a fear in Nicaragua's neighbors
that they would be next to fall victims to the
filibuster menace, a reality which created an anti US attitude
in Latin America that hadn't really been there previously. As
now the residents of the region began connecting US expansion

(01:22:16):
with a quote exterminating impulse, as increasingly recognized that America
wasn't so much looking to spread liberty and democracy for all,
but only for white Anglo Saxons. Meanwhile, Walker's invasions also
helped to cement the Terman idea of Latin America as
a way to describe Central and South America, as the
whole region increasingly felt like it was under thread of

(01:22:37):
American expansionism at the hands of its most dangerous agency filibusters,
with the spread and actions of other filibusters, in addition
to William Walker increasingly worrying the people of Latin America
who feared that, if left unchecked, they would suffer these
same fantasy, Native American tribes in the US now granted,
the CIA, the larger American government, and various American corporations

(01:22:59):
would all play havoc with Latin America in the subsequent
decades up into the present day, which all obviously have
done nothing to improve the general perception of the United
States or her people. However, the reality is all that
was just adding onto the feelings that were first engendered
by William Mauker. That then is, as much as anything else,

(01:23:19):
the lasting legacy of this odd, strange little man who
became obsessed with the idea of conquering and ruling another country.
As for us come back next time. As I turned
my attention to another notorious product of America, the Ku
Klux Klan and its lasting impact on the country. Yet,
like always so that particular tale will have to remain
a story for another time. Thank you for listening to

(01:23:45):
Distorted History. If you would like to help out, please
rate and review the podcasts and tell your friends if
you think they'll be interested. If you would like ad
for in early episodes, I set up such a feed
over at patreon dot com slash Distorted History by paying
ten bucks a month if you will gain access to
the special ad free feed available on Spotify or likely
through your podcast app as long as it uses an

(01:24:07):
RSS feed. I will continue to post sources on koffee
and Twitter, though, as it's just a convenient place to
go to access that information. Regardless, once again, thank you
for listening and until next time.

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