Walker, William

Life Span
to
    Full name
    William Walker
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    South
    Origins
    Slave State
    Family
    James Walker (father), Mary Norvell (mother)
    Education
    University of Pennsylvania
    Other
    Other Education
    University of Nashville, TN
    Occupation
    Military
    Attorney or Judge
    Journalist
    Doctor, Dentist or Nurse
    Other Affiliations
    Other
    Other Affiliation
    Filibuster

    William Walker (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Walker's government in Nicaragua was short-lived. He involved himself in an attempt to take over the Accessory Transit Company…. He chose the losing side in his support of this takeover effort and thus became the target of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt maintained control of the company and then set about obtaining the cooperation of Central American republics to overthrow Walker's regime. … With the specific assistance of Costa Rica, Walker's supply routes to the United States were severed, making his military defeat easy.

    On 1 May 1857 Walker surrendered to U.S. naval authorities off the coast of Nicaragua. Walker's support from the U.S. government as well as some special groups had eroded since he had become the president of Nicaragua. In June 1857 the frigate Wabash arrived at New York with 138 survivors of Walker's party, including thirteen women and five children. These refugees were in wretched condition and bitterly criticized Walker for deserting his followers in their desperate situation. Walker was in New York when their complaints appeared in the newspapers, but he chose not to answer the charges. By November Walker had returned to the United States and was once again plotting to return to Nicaragua. Shortly thereafter Walker attempted to lead another group of men to Nicaragua, but U.S. naval authorities intercepted him and forced his return to the United States. President James Buchanan in an address to Congress during December 1857 struck out against filibusters as being detrimental to U.S. interests.
    Joseph A. Stout,  Jr., "Walker, William," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01068.html.
    Date Event
    William Walker is born in Nashville, Tennessee
    William Walker and 45 followers invade Baja California, in northwestern Mexico
    American filibuster William Walker proclaims himself president of an independent "Republic of Lower California"
    William Walker and his fellow filibusters leave Baja California for Sonora
    William Walker is driven from Mexico and taken into custody by the U.S. military
    American filibuster William Walker departs San Francisco for Central America
    William Walker captures the Nicaraguan capital of Granada
    U.S. recognizes new Nicaraguan government under the influence of William Walker
    William Walker is elected president of Nicaragua
    William Walker's filibuster government in Nicaragua repeals the abolition of slavery in that country
    William Walker and his followers surrender to an American naval squadron and are returned to the United States
    American soldier of fortune William Walker is recaptured by the U.S. Navy
    William Walker and his companions are indicted in New Orleans under the Neutrality Laws
    Nicaragua and Costa Rica appeal to the European powers for protection against filibusters
    Nicaragua adopts a new constitution
    William Walker launches another fillibustering attempt against Nicaragua from New Orleans
    William Walker's latest filibustering attempt ends before it begins with arrest by U.S. Marshals
    William Walker sails from New Orleans for Honduras on his last filibustering expedition
    William Walker and his men capture Trujillo on the Honduran coast
    In Trujillo, William Walker proclaims his support for the Honduran people against their government
    In Honduras, the British Royal Navy orders American filibuster William Walker to leave Trujillo
    In Honduras, American filibuster William Walker surrenders to the British Royal Navy
    American filibuster William Walker is executed in Honduras
    Date Title
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “More Fillibusters [Filibusters],” January 7, 1856
    New York Times, “The Chances for Walker,” March 14, 1857
    New York Times, “Fillibustering Expedition Against Costa Rica,” April 3, 1857
    New York Times, “Gen. Walker’s Letter,” September 23, 1857
    Washington (DC) National Era, "Gen. Walker and the Administration," November 26, 1857
    New York Times, "The Missing Walker," December 14, 1857
    New York Herald, "The Slavery Question in Congress," January 5, 1858
    New York Herald, "Kansas as a Slave State," January 7, 1858
    New York Herald, "The Approaching Conclusion of the Kansas Comedy," January 27, 1858
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Revolution in New Orleans,” June 6, 1858
    New York Times, “General Walker’s New Project,” November 16, 1858
    New York Herald, “Gen. Walker Submitting to a ‘Legal Experiment,’” November 19, 1858
    New York Times, “The President and the Filibusters,” November 23, 1858
    New York Times, “The Fillibusters [Filibusters] Again,” December 9, 1858
    New York Times, “Who is President of Mexico?,” December 22, 1858
    New York Times, “General Walker’s Conversion to Romanism,” February 9, 1859
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Filibusterism and Disunion,” April 1, 1859
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “General Walker Off Again,” May 5, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Caught,” June 27, 1859
    New York Times, “Suspicious,” October 8, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Pirates,” October 10, 1859
    Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Walker vs. Brown,” December 3, 1859
    New York Herald, “The Whereabouts of Walker,” August 19, 1860
    New York Times, “Walker Again,” August 22, 1860
    Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, "What Walker's Success Means," August 29, 1860
    New York Times, “Used Up,” September 12, 1860
    Wiped Out
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “'Gen. Walker',” October 1, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Execution of Walker,” October 9, 1860
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Benz, Stephen. "William Walker and the Discovery of Central America." Secolas Annals 24 (1993): 96-105. view record
    Brown, Charles Harvey. Agents of Manifest Destiny: The Lives and Times of the Filibusters. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980. view record
    Bruns, Roger, and Bryan Kennedy. "El Presidente Gringo: William Walker and the Conquest of Nicaragua." American History Illustrated 23, no. 10 (1989): 14-20, 46-48. view record
    May, Robert E. "Antebellum Americans 'Meet' their Southern Neighbors." Reviews in American History 8, no. 3 (1980): 360-365. view record
    Scroggs, William Oscar. Filibusters and Financiers: The Story of William Walker and His Associates. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1916. view record
    Swan, Jon. "William Walker's Manifest Destiny." MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History 13, no. 4 (2001): 38-47. view record
    Walker, William. The War in Nicaragua. Mobile: S. H. Goetzel & Co., 1860. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Walker, William," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/6793.