--- THE WAR,.­ IN NICARAGUA GEN'L WILLIAM WALKER -;7 With a Foreword by ROBERT HOUSTON ~.~ ·=-:'tL.~'1.t.7.! _::'t) -'i!.':" ::."':';' { .. P:77~K~ THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA PRESS 1'ucsoo, AriZflna About the Autlwr William Walker (1SOM-1860), a freethinker, early champion ofwom~n's rights, abolitionist, and socialist of asort, abandoned apromising career as a muckraking newspaper editor to lead an anny of American mer• cenaries in an abortive invasion ofwesiem Mexico in 1853. The adven• ture was a failure, but Walker soon turned his attention to Nicaragua., invading that nation in 1856. Defeated in 1857. Walker attempted to seize control of Nicaragua twice more. Captured by a mixed force of Hondu• rans and English sailors, Walker was executed in Trujillo, Honduras, on 12, 1860. September ~itltragua ij!;.a ~!l Qt.amrabu in The text of17le War in Nicaragua is a direct photographic reproduction of the rU'St edition, published in 1860 by S. H. Goetzel & Co. (Mobile, Alabama), and is I dedicate this effort to do justice to their acts and reproduced courtesy of the Special Collections Division of the University of motives: To the living, with the hope that we may Arizona Library, Tucson. soon meet again on the soil for which we have suffered more than the pangs of death-the reproaches of a peo­ J Entered &£COrding to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, ple for whose welfare we stood ready to die: To the by S. H. Goetze! &: Co. In the clerk's office of the District Court of the IScJ6,~ 7 memory of those who perished in the struggle, with the .{u;f/ United States for the Southern Disbict of New York vow that as long as life lasts no peace shall remain with THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA PRESS the foes who libel their names and strive to tear away J9 'lf0- First Printing 1985 the laurel which hangs over their graves. Copyright © 1985 The Arizona Board of Regents All Rights Reserved w.w. Manufactured in the U.S.A. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Walker, William. J.8tt.-1860. The war in Nicaragua. Reprint Originally published: Mobile: S. H. Goetzel, 1860. 1. Nica.ragua-History-Filibuster War, 1855-1860. I. Title [F1526.27.W28 1985J m.85'04 84--22224­ ISBN 0-8165-~-8 .; 3S6 THE WAR IN NICARAGUA. THE WAR IN NICARAGUA. 357 and vessels employed on the coasts of Central America," had voluntarily embraced; for Cockburn, not satisfied to offer protection to any British subjects who might be with reading Erskine's orders, had also advised the whole detained and compelled to bear arms against their will. of Lockridge's command of the dangers they ran in at­ In aocordanoe with his instruotions, Capt. Cockburn de­ tacking the large force the Costa Ricans had oonoentra­ manded a list of all the men at Punta Arenas, and re­ ted on the river. quired them to be paraded in his presence, that he might Thus the demoralization of Lockridge's men was eom­ read to them the orders of Capt. Erskine. The men meneed before they left Pllnta Arenas. The Americans were accordingly drawn up on the beach, and Cockburn -at least the good men among them-were, of course, read to them the order of Erskine. The concluding sen­ indignant at the course the British pursued; but aU the tences of the order were: "Should any of the party in Europeans were more or less affected by this English question olaim proteotion as British subjects, and their interference. Nor is it in the nature of men long to claims appear to you to be well founded, you will acquaint respect those claiming authority over them, when they the offioercommanding, that these men must be permitted see such persons humbled by the actions of others. t.o withdraw from their present position; and you will Hence it was all-important for Lockridge to get beyond (in the event of his aoquiesoenoe) either give these men the reach of British interference. Not only was he daily a passage to Greytown, or take them on board Her Ma­ losing men by the policy the British practised; but the jesty's ship under your oommand, to await my decision effectiveness of those remaining with him was constantly as to their disposal, as t.hey may desire. In the event of diminished. Finally the small steamer was got ready the aforesaid officer resisting such a course as I have for going up the river, and Lockridge moved his whole pointed out, you will inform him that, in the first place, force to a point several miles below the mouth of the no person whatever under his command will be permitted Serapaqui. to leave their present position, to proceed up the river or On the morning of the 4th of February the Texas elsewhere, until my demands shall be complied with; again arrived from New-Orleans at San Juan del Norte, and, secondly, that I will adopt such measures to enforce having aboard H. T. Titus, known in Kansas as Col. the rights of British subjects as I may think best adapted Titus, in charge of about one hundred and eighty men. to the purpose." Ten men claimed and l'eceived protec­ Many of the persons with Titus had been his companions tion under the ordor of Ersldne, and were taken from in Kansas, and probably most of them were made of bet­ the point in Cockburn's boat. The instructions of Her ter stuff than their leader. But his swaggering air had Majesty's government must have been indeed stringent, imposed on many people; and the contest in which he when they induced honorable officers to degrade them­ was said to have been engaged, gave him a sort of news­ selves to the work of inciting men to desert a cause they paper notoriety, thus making his name familiar as the 358 THE W ....R IN NIC.~RAGUA. THE WAR IN NICARAGUA 359 leader of the "border ruffians." Lockridge organized charge of Hipp's Puint; and the contest between him Titus and his men in a separate body, and soon a jeal­ and 'ritus, as to ranli, had increased the disorganization ousy rather than rivalry sprang up between the new-com· and disorder already existing in Lockridge's command. ers and those aetin~ under Anderson. Attached to the Desertions were frequent, and were, of course, encour­ command of the latter was Capt. Doubleday, formerly of aged by the protection and assistance the English gave the Nicaraguan service; and several others who were to the deserters. The heavy rains made camp He dis­ yot in the service, acted under Anderson's orders. All agreeable, and its duties arduous; and much labor was of Titus' men were entirely new to the country. necessary in order to protect the men from the weather. Soon after !ili!!. arrived, Lockridge, by a' sharp skir­ 'l'hus the movements were impeded; and much care mish, got possession of Cody's Point, a piece of high ground was necessary to keep the ammunition in a state fit for just opposite the mouth of the Serapaqui; and Wheat. u:;:e. Numbers were sick with fever; but considering thence opened a cannonade on the defences the Costa the exposure nnd fatigues to which the men were sub· Ricans had built on the opposite side of the San Juan jected, their health was not bad. river. But the fire of Wheat's guns was not of such a On the other hand the difficulties of the Costa Ricans character as to make a serious impression on the enemy; were not slight. After getting possession of the San Juan and it was on]y after Col. Anderson had crossed the river end of the lake, Mora had communicated with the Allies and succeeded in harassing the Costa Rican flank and at Masaya; and movements were undertalwn which will rear with riflemen, that the Americans drove- the enemy be more particularly described hereafter. Suffice it to from the Serapaqui, and got possession of both sides of say here, that these movements entailed heavy draughts the river. The Costa Ricans left behind a number of on the force Mora held on the river; and in addition to killed and wounded, besides two guns, some small-arms this the Costa Ricans coming from the high lands about and ammunition, and a supply of military clothing. A San Jose, suffered much with fever when they reached yet more important portion of the articles captured were the low country on the San Juan. Thus by the necessi­ certain letters from General Mora detailing the condition ties of the Allies for troops in the western part of Nica­ of his foroe on the San Juan, and urging the necessity ragua, and by the effects of disease in the force occupy­ for fresh troops, in order to hold his position on the rivN. ing the river, the garrison at Castillo was reduced to a The Costa Ricans were driven from the mouth of the trifling figure; and when fitus appeared before the fort Serapaqui on the morning of the 13th of February; and Cauty, an Englishman commanding at Castillo, had, ao­ the next day 'ritus, with some hundred and forty men, cording to some, twenty-five, and according to others, ascended the river on the little steamer Rescue with the fifty men. view of attacking Castillo. Anderson was placed in When l'itus landed neal' the fort of Castillo Viejo, he TUE WAR IN NICARAGUA. 360 TilE WAR IN NICARAGUA.