William Walker
Photo: Indiana University Department of Latin American Studies
WILLIAM WALKER
There was a time, in the early 1850s, when William Walker was considered to be one of the great American heroes. Born in 1824 in what is now downtown Nashville, Walker lived a life of adventure. He went to college in Nashville; then became a doctor in Philadelphia; then a lawyer in New Orleans; then a journalist in California during the peak of the Gold Rush. He then set his sights on foreign adventure, and became famous as a filibuster. (A filibuster is someone who would invade or aid in a revolution in another country to gain money and power.)
In 1854 Walker and a handful of followers invaded the Sonora area of northern Mexico, hoping to start a new colony that might later be admitted as a state. The Mexican army ran them out, but this led to what is now known as the Gadsden Purchase.
A few years later Walker invaded Nicaragua, along with two men who had previously worked for American millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt (but who had decided to betray their former boss). Mr. Vanderbilt and a small army of Costa Ricans defeated that mission.
Then, in 1860, Walker led an invasion of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras. The Honduran army defeated his army and executed Walker.
Today, most Americans don’t know who Walker was. But in Central America practically every child is told the story of how an American named William Walker invaded the area and was defeated.
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