William Walker’s Dark Destiny Newly settled in Costa Rica, diverged. Whereas I had been lured by for his zealously anti-slavery views. visions of sunshine and hammocks, Walk- Though no abolitionist fi rebrand like a recent alumnus investigates the er tried to take over large swaths of Cen- Whitman, Walker at the time wrote legacy of “filibuster” William Walker tral America to create his own personal against the expansion of slavery in the slave republics. For a time, he succeeded. growing United States. M1843—largely forgotten in the Walker was the central antagonist in In 1850, Walker moved to San Francisco, US but still perhaps the most Costa Rica’s national history and mythol- whose population had ballooned following hated man in Central America. ogy. Probably Nicaragua’s too. El Salva- the discovery of gold nearby in 1848. After dor, Guatemala, and Honduras all helped obtaining an editorial position at the San By Myles Karp to vanquish him. Here in Costa Rica, the Francisco Daily Herald, he made the en- repulsion of the would-be invader and forcement of law and order in the rela- usurper was largely what fi rst forged the tively lawless young city his journalistic young republic’s sense of national iden- crusade. But despite his righteous tirades, tity and unity. Though the past century Walker seems to have gotten caught up in and a half have largely eff aced Walker the city’s culture of violence. He appar- from the historical imagination of the ently fought three duels, one of which United States, Central Americans have ended with a bullet in his leg. few months ago, I found myself not forgotten the misdeeds of the so- While it was primarily the material browsing in a novelty store in Ala- called “Grey-eyed Man of Destiny.” promise of gold that drew prospectors to A juela, Costa Rica, about an hour California, this mid-19th century west- from where I live. Among garments Walker was born in Nashville, Tennes- ward expansion also had strong ideo- displaying more familiar Costa Rican see, on May 8, 1824, a descendent of Lip- logical underpinnings. During the 1845 iconography—sloth on a surfboard, sloth scomb Norvell, a lieutenant in the Con- debates over the annexation of Texas, with sunglasses, sloth trapped inside a tinental Army. Academically precocious, journalist and politician John O’Sullivan glass of a tropical beverage—was a T- he graduated from the University of wrote in the Democratic Review that it shirt bearing the proclamation: “William Nashville at age 14. After some time at was “our manifest destiny to overspread Walker was a punk ass bitch.” the universities of Edinburgh and Hei- the continent allotted by Providence for I had moved to Costa Rica in January delberg, he obtained a medical degree the free development of our yearly mul- 2017 after a bout of restlessness and was from Penn in 1843, by then all of 19. tiplying billions.” The concept of manifest trying—awkwardly—to learn the lan- Walker practiced medicine in Phila- destiny, though not universally endorsed, guage, the customs, and the history; I still delphia and law in New Orleans for brief became a rallying cry for the expansion am. I had never heard of Walker, but I stints, before coming into control of a into and annexation of territories near soon learned that—like me—he was a New Orleans newspaper called the Dai- the country’s growing borders. visitor to Central America from the US ly Crescent as editor and co-owner. At Politically, manifest destiny featured who had graduated from Penn and tried one point, his co-editor was a pre-fame prominently in the platform of the Dem- his hand at a few jobs before getting hit Walt Whitman—who was fi red, as he had ocratic Party. President James K. Polk, a with wanderlust. From there, our paths been from other journalistic positions, Democrat, fervently pursued expansion 60 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Mar|Apr 2019 ILLUSTRATION BY JONATHAN BARTLETT Mar|Apr 2019 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 61 during his tenure from 1845 to 1849, wrest- mitment more to his own aspirations of Back in California, he was charged with ing 600,000 square miles of land from power than to any patriotic ideology. violating neutrality laws, which forbade Mexico in the Mexican-American War. Though slight in appearance and of American military expeditions to allied During his time in California, Walker gentle aff ect, Walker inspired fear and nations. Representing himself in court, became a strong advocate of the mani- loyalty in his men. According to the Walker deployed his substantial cha- fest destiny ideology, and he eventually writer J.C. Jamison, who fought for risma and rhetorical charms to obtain shifted his journalistic focus from local Walker in Nicaragua: an acquittal after eight minutes of jury crime to American expansionism. His “He was a man of small stature, his deliberation. He was a popular hero in writings were especially concerned with height being about fi ve feet fi ve inches, California, as well as throughout the Latin America; he advocated for the an- and his weight close to 130 pounds. His sympathetic American South and West. nexation of Cuba and US involvement in body, however, was strong, and his vital Walker settled into another newspaper Nicaragua, which in addition to a ter- energy surprisingly great. The expression position, but it was not long before he em- ritorial boon also promised to be a prof- of his countenance was frank and open, barked upon his next fi libustering journey. itable business opportunity, given the and heightened by the absence of beard Nicaragua was in the throes of a civil war country’s role as a prominent shipping of any kind. His aggressive and deter- between the Legitimist and Democratic byway in the time before the Transcon- mined character was plainly indicated by parties, based respectively in Granada and tinental Railroad and the Panama Canal. his aquiline nose, while his eyes, from León. The Democrats sought mercenary Though Polk embraced manifest destiny, which came his sobriquet, ‘Grey-eyed Man help and contacted Walker. Eager to ex- the US presidents who followed him— of Destiny,’ were keen in their scrutiny and ploit the nation whose shipping route Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, both almost hypnotic in their power. A woman’s could prove immensely valuable to himself of the Whig Party—proved less enthusias- voice was scarcely softer than Walker’s … and to the United States, Walker agreed; tic. With federal support lacking, zealous But with all his placidity of voice and de- this time, however, he made sure to cir- expansionists often took matters into their meanor, men leaped eagerly into the very cumvent neutrality laws by obtaining a own hands, traveling to nearby lands with cannon’s mouth to obey his commands.” contract to bring “colonists” to Nicaragua. ideological compatriots or mercenaries On May 3, 1855, Walker and 57 follow- and small arsenals to claim territory for By the time of this fi rst fi libustering ers left San Francisco by boat. Shortly the United States. These guerilla expan- mission, Walker had long abandoned after arriving, and reinforced with local sionists came to be known as fi libusters, his mildly anti-slavery views and instead Democratic troops, they attacked the from an arcane Dutch word for pirates. championed the institution’s expansion Legitimist stronghold of Rivas. They lost Walker was not the fi rst fi libuster, but he throughout the Americas. He may have decisively, driven out of town after suf- became the most famous and—for a had a change of heart—or may simply fering signifi cant casualties. Though his while—the most successful. have recognized the usefulness of pro- military prowess was questionable, After hearing about a French colonial slavery sentiment in gaining support and Walker became the leader of the Demo- expedition to Sonora, Mexico, Walker set recruits for his fi libustering. The most crats by default, when the chiefs of both in motion his fi rst plan to act upon his ardent advocates of manifest destiny the military and the executive branch expansionist inclinations. Without wait- were Southerners who viewed expansion died. On October 13, in what many con- ing for permission from the federal gov- and annexation as opportunities to es- sider to be the only truly adept maneu- ernment, which Walker believed to be tablish new slave states, tipping the ver of his military career, he comman- too passive, the Tennessean arrived with tenuous balance with the abolitionist deered a ferry and sailed to Granada, a group of 45 mercenary recruits in North. Most of Walker’s enlistees on the taking the Legitimist forces by surprise. Mexico on November 4, 1853. Despite a Mexican misadventure had been recruit- At this point, he eff ectively gained con- complete lack of military experience, ed from the slave states of Tennessee and trol of Nicaragua, installing a puppet Walker successfully commanded the Kentucky. Once in control, Walker bor- interim president in Patricio Rivas. Soon capture of the governor of the Mexican rowed the laws of Louisiana for his new after, he had himself elected president state of La Paz and declared himself republic, making slavery legal by default. and was inaugurated on July 12, 1856. president of the new Republic of Lower Despite the hundreds of reinforce- Walker’s reign was characterized by the California. Though he ostensibly intend- ments who had come to join his ranks, imposition of white American cultural ed to eventually join his republic with Walker failed to take his second target, and racial hegemony over the native the United States, his installation of Sonora.