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Last Updated: Oct 1, 2008 - 8:26:47 AM |
Walker is hardly an unknown figure. When the United States was
supporting the Nicaraguan Contras, Walker was frequently pointed to as
a past example of American imperialism.
But a new book, "Tycoon's War," by historian Stephen Dando-Collins,
brings to light an aspect of Walker's career that has not been well
appreciated: his conflict with America's richest man, Cornelius
Vanderbilt.
Walker was a fascinating figure. Born in 1824, he was raised in
Nashville. He mastered Greek and Latin by age 12 and was admitted to
the University of Nashville, from which he graduated summa cum laude
two years later.
At 14 he enrolled in medical school and earned his M.D. at 18. He then
went to Europe to further his studies.
After his return to the United States, devastated by his inability to
save his ailing mother's life, he abandoned medicine and earned a law
degree in two years.
He helped found a liberal newspaper in New Orleans, where he took on
corrupt politicians, judges and police, and editorialized against
slavery.
The shock of his fiancee's death in a cholera epidemic caused Walker to
intensify his campaign against city corruption. That resulted in two
duels and eventually led to the newspaper's demise, after which Walker
went to California.
Upon arrival in 1850, he began writing for the San Francisco Herald and
again attacked rampant corruption.
Walker also believed in the Manifest Destiny doctrine. Walker put his
politics into practice in 1852, when he put together an expedition to
try to establish an American colony in lower California and Sonora.
With no military experience, he led his "filibustering" expedition and
in 1853 captured the governor of La Paz and waited for reinforcements
to arrive to help him secure the region.
Walker's invasion shook the Mexican government, which feared he was
backed by America, and they hastily signed the Gadsden Purchase Treaty
on Dec. 31, 1853. Upon doing so, American authorities declared Walker
to be in violation of the Neutrality Laws.
Walker surrendered himself and was arrested for violating the
Neutrality Laws. He delivered such a performance in the courtroom that
the jury found him not guilty.
Walker returned to the newspaper business and was hired as editor of
the San Francisco Commercial-Advisor.
What does this have to do with Vanderbilt, who was the Bill Gates of
his time?
Vanderbilt and other American business tycoons were already developing
commercial interests in the region. The publisher of the
Commercial-Advisor tried to persuade Walker to raise a group that could
invade Nicaragua, a nation wrapped in continuous civil war, and bring
it under American control. Walker refused, saying he would have to be
invited by one of the parties at war in contractual form, which would
provide him a legal ground from where he could operate. The publisher
soon delivered a contract from the Liberal Party in Nicaragua asking
for his help in fighting the Conservatives.
With the same strict discipline he used in his Sonora campaign, Walker
and 58 men sailed in May 1855 for Nicaragua and made their way to the
revolutionary capital of Leon. Walker's reputation had preceded him and
he was well received. He and his men captured Granada. Their fighting
abilities and Walker's leadership defeated numbers that were as much as
10 to one.
His story captured world attention. He had brought an element of peace
to the war-ravaged country and hoped the changes he enacted would help
bring the entire Central American region under American control.
In the new revolutionary government that formed, he was made commander
in chief of the Nicaraguan army. As such, he controlled Nicaragua. In
1858 minor breakdowns and uprisings led to the collapse of the
government, and in Walker's re-establishment of it he was elected
president. Walker's government was recognized by the U.S. government
under President Franklin Pierce, and friendly relations were
established.
Walker was so popular, he was able to recruit thousands of Americans
into his private army.
But unknown to Walker, however, was the fact that he had got caught
between Vanderbilt and his competitors, who were both trying to use
Walker's success to further establish their wealth and control over
Central American resources.
Vanderbilt was not a man to confine himself to the legal process. As he
wrote to his former associates, "Gentlemen, you have undertaken to
cheat me. I won't sue you, for the law is too slow. I'll ruin you.
Yours truly, Cornelius Vanderbilt."
The gold rush was heating up in California, and Vanderbilt wanted to
shuttle passengers from the East Coast to the West. Without a railroad
or a Panama Canal, the quickest way to do this was to send them around
the southern tip of South America.
Vanderbilt had another idea: send boats through the Caribbean to
Nicaragua, get on the San Juan River at Greytown, follow the San Juan
to Lake Nicaragua, use mules to cover a small strip of ground between
the Lake and San Juan Del Sur, and dump them out onto the Pacific. From
there, the trip to California was relatively short. In a nutshell
Vanderbilt needed Nicaragua, Walker's territory, to make his money.
Walker's men seized the steamship line owned by Vanderbilt and started
making deals that would be beneficial to the Nicaraguan government.
This angered Vanderbilt, who began financing rebel forces in Costa Rica
to overthrow Walker.
Subsequently President James Buchanan, who promised in his platform to
aid the Central American causes, sided with Vanderbilt. Following
various battles, Walker was forced to surrender and return to America.
In 1859 British colonists on the Honduran island of Roatan approached
Walker to help them establish a government to preserve Democratic rule
after the British pulled out its forces. Walker and his force arrived,
but the British government responded by sending in British marines and
forced him to surrender. He was then handed over to Honduran
authorities, who executed him.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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