On the 8th of May, 1824, William Walker was born into a notable family in Nashville, Tennessee, and young Walker was considered a genius. At the age of fourteen, he graduated from the University of Nashville at the top of his class, and by nineteen he has earned a medical degree. By the age of twenty five, he had both a degree in law and in medicine, and was legally permitted to practice both a lawyer and a doctor. In 1853, William Walker became the leader of a group and recruited a small army, about 45 men, sailed to Baja, California and took over the capitol La Paz. Declared himself the president of Lower California, and enforced the laws of the State of Louisiana which included legalizing slavery. Then he made a decision to expand his little kingdom by taking Sonora but many of his men deserted him during their expedition. By the time they cross the border, he had only about 35 men remaining and there he surrendered to the United States authorities and charged for the violation of United States neutrality laws. From this failed raid of Sonora, resulted in Mexico selling part of Sonora to the United States in the business deal called the Gadsden Purchase.
Within a year, he was back in action and this time, he set his eyes on Nicaragua. In 1855, along with his army of fifty eight Americans, called "The Immortals", he set sail from San Francisco to Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, he and his fifty eighty men, reinforced of a hundred Americans, and along with a native rebel force of about two hundred men marched onto and captured the capital, Granada. As the supreme commander of the army, he easily declared himself president with no trouble at all, and in May 1856, the administration under Franklin Pierce officially recognized William Walker's government. Many Central American countries became concerned with Walker's success and mainly Costa Rica, which launched an invasion on Nicaragua with a well armed force. Walker successfully defended off the attack but planned and carried out a poorly executed counter attack into Costa Rica which failed.
Along the way in his conquest, William Walker made countless enemies, among them which included Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was in control of an international shipping empire. As president, Walker negated Vanderbilt's ability to ship through Nicaragua which resulted in infuriating Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt sent soldiers get rid of him and his men joined forces with the other Central American countries mainly Costa Rica hoping to remove him. In early 1857, the army of Costa Rica supported by Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvadora, well as Vanderbilt and his money and men, invaded and defeated Walker's army which has been weakened from disease and defections, forcing Walker back to the United States.
In the United States, mostly the south, Walker was greeted as a hero and he wrote about his journey and made plans to take back his empire, Nicaragua. After a few bogus launches, which included once where he was seized by United States authorities, he grounded near Trujillo, Honduras to be captured by Captain Salmon of the British Royal Navy. Then was handed over to the Honduras authorities who decided to put him to death by a firing squad on the 12th of September, 1860. William Walker died at an age of thirty six.
Work Cited
"The Biography of William Walker." Latin American History. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofcentralamerica/a/wwalker_2.htm>.
"William Walker." NNDB: Tracking the Entire World. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nndb.com/people/125/000049975/>.
Fuchik, Don. "Costa Rica Tours - Saga of William Walker." Mexico's Copper Canyon, Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Bhutan and More. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://www.calnative.com/stories/n_walk.htm>.
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