 On November 4th, 1853, 44 Americans, young men in their 20s and teens, landed on the beach at La Paz, Mexico. These young men were armed and hoping for a military adventure. Their first destination was the town plaza. There they met three men. One was the master of the Schooner Caroline, who used his ship to transport the 29-year-old William Walker and his deputy. Walker was the leader of a small band of adventurers, and he took them to the home of Rafael Espinoza, the governor of Baja California. Once there, William Walker placed Espinoza under arrest while the handful of Mexican police in La Paz were disarmed. Walker ordered the lowering of the Mexican flag in the town and replaced it with a flag he designed himself, which had three horizontal red stripes on a white background with two stars. One representing the Mexican state of Baja California and the other representing the Mexican state of Sonora. Walker's flag would be the flag of the New Republic of Lower California. Walker's men saluted the flag, and Walker issued a proclamation, quote, The Republic of Lower California is hereby declared free, sovereign, and independent, and all allegiance to the Republic of Mexico is forever renounced. The proclamation was signed by William Walker as the first president of the New Republic. The Republic was not complete, though. Sonora still needed to be taken, and William Walker couldn't do that until he received reinforcements. His 200 reinforcements came a few months later, and he took his new troops to capture the other Mexican state. That was to be part of his Republic of Lower California. At this point, his headquarters had been moved to Ensenada, and he left 20 men behind as a garrison. But his expedition was a disaster from the outset. In addition to leading his men, Walker was trying to drive a herd of cattle in front of him. While they attempted to cross the Colorado River on rafts, he lost most of his cattle in the party supply of food. So after this, many of his troops deserted to Fort Yuma, which was stationed in the U.S. territory. So Walker turned back to Ensenada with what remained of his men only defined that while he was gone, Colonel Guadalupe Melendres, a wealthy Mexican landowner, led a band of Mexican irregulars to wipe out his small garrison. So Walker tried to lead his men to San Diego. As they marched to San Diego, the men had to fend off attacks from Mexicans and Apaches. Before they made it to San Diego, they ran into Melendres, three miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border. He was backed by hundreds of Mexican militiamen. And what Walker did not know is that Melendres had already been in contact with the U.S. Army in San Diego, and he told him he was chasing Yankee bandits and asked the Army not to intervene. The Army commander agreed not to cross the border. Melendres spoke to Walkersmen, saying that if they would only hand over their leader, he would provide them safe passage back to the U.S. But Walkersmen were loyal, and they refused, choosing instead to fight the Mexicans and make their way the rest of the three miles to the U.S. border. The Army kept the promise not to cross the border, but American infantrymen were stationed right on the other side to wait for the Yankee bandits. So by the time Walker crossed the border, he had only 35 men remaining. They were starving. Their clothes were in tatters. Many of them were wounded. One named Charles Gilman had to be carried across the border by the others. He had been shot in the leg by the Mexicans, and Walker, himself trained as a doctor, had amputated Gilman's leg out in the desert. Walker had a leg bandaged as well, and he had to limp across the border. But the survivors made it and were back on the United States soil. So Major Justice McKinstry, the district quartermaster from San Diego, ordered the men to surrender and had them arrested for violating the Neutrality Act of 1818. The day was May 8th, 1854. It was William Walker's 30th birthday. Thirteen days earlier, the U.S. and Mexico had ratified the Gadsden Purchase, which had been signed back on December 30th. This agreement gave the U.S. control over the areas that Walker had been occupying, now part of Arizona and New Mexico, for $10 million. Some people credited Walker's occupation of Baja, California with Mexico's eagerness to sign the agreement, and they pointed to the clause that required the U.S. to strictly enforce the Neutrality Act as proof of Walker's unintentional role. Major McKinstry intended to see Walker and his men tried for violating the law. But while they awaited their hearing, he gave them parole, allowing them to move freely. So with this freedom, Walker and his men took their arms and headed north to San Francisco, where they were to stand trial, though a friendly jury found them not guilty. But while they were in San Francisco, they learned that a civil war had broken out in Nicaragua. Despite his recent failure, one that nearly saw him dead, William Walker quickly decided that Nicaragua was where his expansionist goals should be centered. I'm Chris Calton, and this is the Mises Institute podcast, Historical Controversies. In the last two episodes, we talked about Narciso Lopez and his filibusters in Cuba. Lopez gained quite a bit of notoriety for his exploits in the early 1850s, but his fame would be eclipsed by the exploits of William Walker and his filibusters in Nicaragua, which we will begin talking about in today's episode. William Walker was an interesting guy. I'd love to read a psychological analysis of him because in looking at his early years, he seems like something of a restless genius. He was born into a wealthy family in 1824, though his father was a Scottish immigrant who became a successful businessman in Nashville, Tennessee. And when his mother got sick with an illness that her doctors couldn't diagnose, Walker decided to become a physician. This was still while he was just a kid, but he started reading everything he could, and by the age of 12, his dad took him to the University of Nashville to admit him into college. The university was skeptical about him, so they gave him a test. The young Walker easily translated passages from Latin and ancient Greek, which he could already read fluently. So the 12-year-old William Walker was admitted to the university, and he graduated at age 14. He then enrolled at the medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and had his medical degree by the time he turned 18. Next, he traveled to Europe, where he continued studying medicine in Paris, Germany, and Scotland. In Europe, he picked up French, German, and Spanish. He also participated in fencing competitions and became an expert swordsman. He finally came back to Nashville as one of the most qualified doctors in the entire country, and he watched his mother die, destroying his desire to practice medicine ever again. Now, still a young man, Walker went to New Orleans and started studying law under Edmund Randolph, the grandson of George Washington's attorney general. He demonstrated his brilliance again, obtaining his law degree in two years, and he started practicing as Randolph's law partner. Randolph also introduced him to a woman named Ellen Galt-Martin. She had wealthy parents and had the reputation as the bell of New Orleans, but she had trouble socializing at the various ball she attended because she was left deaf after contracting scarlet fever as a small child. So when she went to parties and other social events, she had to take a pencil and a pad of paper with her to try to talk to the young men, which made it understandably difficult to find a suitor. But William Walker, as we've already seen, was something of a genius when it came to acquiring languages, so learning sign language took little effort for him, and he was able to spark up a romance with Ellen. When two businessmen approached Walker to offer him a job as the editor of the newspaper, the Crescent, Ellen encouraged him to take the job. Now, Walker's time as editor is noteworthy. He wrote bitter editorials against corrupt politicians. He was particularly caustic toward John C. Calhoun, who was vice president at the time. Walker was raised in an anti-slavery household, and in his editorials, he expressed the belief that slavery should be abolished in the United States. He and Ellen married, and she died by the time Walker was 25, so all of this has occurred while he was still extremely young. But for the rest of his life, he would wear the gold crucifix she had given him on the day of their engagement. The Crescent went out of business in 1850, so with little keeping him in New Orleans, William Walker and Edmund Randolph went to San Francisco, which was a boom town because of the gold rush. Walker was immediately hired as co-editor of the San Francisco Herald. Walker continued his habit of attacking corrupt politicians, and in San Francisco, one of the targets of his editorials, Wil Hicks Graham, challenged him to a duel. This actually wasn't the first time Walker had been challenged to a duel over something he wrote. He participated in a duel in New Orleans before his wife died, but that duel was done with single-shot pistols, and after both parties missed, it ended without injury. This time, the duel would be conducted with revolvers that could fire multiple times. Walker lost the duel, taking a bullet in each leg. But this didn't stop him from continuing his onslaught against the corrupt politicians of San Francisco. Three months later, after writing an editorial against a local judge, he was arrested and fined $500. Walker refused to pay as a matter of principle, so he was jailed. This only helped fuel Walker's popularity, and thousands of people showed up to support him demanding his release and the impeachment of the judge who had him arrested. Edmund Randolph found another judge to issue a writ of habeas corpus, and Walker was released, now a hero of San Francisco. Soon after, he resigned from the Herald and set up a law practice with Henry Watkins. The two lawyers were commissioned by citizens of San Francisco to negotiate with the governor of Sonora for some land they wanted to use for cattle raising and mining. The governor's refusal to negotiate led to Walker's attempt to establish the Republic of Lower California that I opened the episode with. That ended in failure, of course, but all of this background is what led up to Walker setting his sights on Nicaragua. Nicaragua had gained independence from Spain only 35 years before, but now the country was facing civil war between the Ligitamista Party and the exiled Democraticos, who fled to Honduras. But now the Democraticos had captured several towns in northern Nicaragua. Walker saw a lot of economic potential in the country, which was rich in natural resources, but had less farmland in use than it had during Spanish rule, so he thought the civil war might provide an opportunity for American expansion. So on May 3rd, 1855, William Walker and 58 mercenaries, seven of whom had been with him during his failed expedition to Sonora, set sail from San Francisco. A crowd assembled to see them off, including John C. from Mont, who had apparently met privately with Walker before his departure and offered some encouragement to him. They made the voyage and arrived at Nicaragua on June 16th. Walker and his men had allied with members of the Democraticos to help defeat the Ligitamistas. Departing from the ship they took from San Francisco, the men joined locals and their paddle boats to be taken ashore. They were armed with rifles, pistols, and bowie knives, and some of them had swords. The men who had served in the Mexican War were wearing their military uniforms. As the locals paddled them into the shore, they spoke to each other in Spanish. Walker pretended he couldn't speak a word of Spanish, knowing that the Nicaraguans would speak freely in front of him, and he kept to this ruse up for some time. But of course, he understood every word they said. Around the middle of the afternoon, Walker joined his local allies, mostly peasants armed with flintlock muskets. They wore straw hats with a red hatband with the words Ejercito Democraticos. Forgive me if I mispronounce any of my attempts to use Spanish names or say Spanish words during this series. I'm sure I'm going to mess up a lot of words. So we should probably just get used to that up front, but forgive me for any mispronunciations. But these words meant simply democratic army. This was about the only thing on them that constituted any kind of a uniform. Most of them were barefoot. They were also probably conscripts, as the majority of the participants in the Civil War did not fight voluntarily. This was a political war that forced itself on the common people. They were led by Colonel Felix Ramirez. He led Walker's men through the village, which contained almost no adult men because of the war, and showed them to their quarters for the night. The next day, Walker was introduced to two more American allies of the Democraticos, Dr. Joseph Livingston, who once served as the U.S. Consul in Nicaragua, and Charles Doubleday, who was carrying a case full of gold home from California when the Nicaraguan Civil War broke out, and his gold was lost. Doubleday had actually known of Walker in San Francisco from his reputation, and when he finally met the man in person, he was disappointed at how unimposing Walker seemed to him. The Americans traveled to Lyon, the second largest city in Central America. This was also the Democratico capital at the time, the unofficial capital, I guess. And in Lyon, they met Don Francisco Castillon, the provisional director of the Democraticos. Basically, they're unofficial president. Walker quickly formed a low opinion of the man and his ability to lead a revolution, but he maintained the pretense that he was unable to speak Spanish, communicating through a translator. Walker had been in contact with Castillon over a contract to bring colonists to help him in the Civil War, but Walker had taken his time in arriving, vacillating over the terms of the contract because he didn't want to violate the U.S. neutrality law again. And as a lawyer, he was trying to make sure that whatever contract he signed was defendable in court. He had also been delayed by his efforts to recruit men and raise funds, but he was finally here in front of Castillon. Castillon told Walker that he wanted the Americans to form a separate unit called the Falanje Americana, meaning American failings, with Walker commanding it. Walker was reluctant and he waited until he met the Democratico commander-in-chief, General Don Jose Trinidad, Munoz. Walker was even less impressed by him than he was by Castillon. So after Munoz left, he told Castillon, using double day as his translator, quote, if my comrades and myself are to enter the service of the provisional government, it must be with distinct understanding that we are not to be put under the orders of General Munoz, end quote. Basically, Walker was making sure that his men were able to act completely independently. Walker spent the night at Castillon's house and the next day he proposed an idea. His men would attack the legitimistas in the city of Rivas. Rivas controlled an important railroad, the Transit Road, which hauled American passengers and gold across Lake Nicaragua to and from California. And if they were successful, Walker argued their control of the Transit Road would raise money for the Democraticos and more Americans would potentially be recruited to their cause because of how dependent they were on the route. All Walker needed, he told Castillon, was 200 Nicaraguan troops to support his American failings. And just, I don't have this in my notes, but just to give you some geographical context here, there were three major cities that we're looking at in these early episodes. One is the Pacific Coast City of San Juan del Sur. The other one is the Lake Nicaragua Coast City called La Virgen. And just north of that is the City of Rivas. And between San Juan del Sur and La Virgen was a road called the Transit Road that people traveled on when they were transferring from their ship from the Pacific Ocean, coming from California, to travel to La Virgen where they would take a lake steamer across the lake to another city that won't come up until a few episodes later called San Carlos, south of Lake Nicaragua where they would take the San Juan River and transfer to another steamer on the Atlantic Ocean that would take them to the east coast of the United States. So before the Panama Canal, this was a very common route that people used to get from the east coast of the United States to the west coast of the United States. So these transits, especially in the middle of the California Gold Rush, were incredibly important and incredibly lucrative for whoever controlled them. So the City of Rivas was very strategically important for that reason. So Castillon was hoping to keep the Americans near him effectively using them as bodyguards but Walker had no intention of being used this way. He had his own goals in mind and even though he presented his plan to take Rivas as if it was some spontaneous idea, he had been thinking about it since long before his arrival in Nicaragua. Castillon was hesitant and he only agreed to Walker's plan after he said that he refused to get involved in the Civil War unless Castillon gave the green light for this idea. So with Castillon's final agreement, Walker was prepared to take Rivas. On June 27th, Walker and his men arrived at the shores of the southwest coast of Nicaragua. They were behind enemy lines and 18 miles north of San Juan del Sur, which was the Pacific Terminus for the accessory transit company steamers from San Francisco, like I just mentioned. Walker didn't get the full 200 Nicaraguan troops he asked for but Castillon had been able to provide 110 conscripts to reinforce Walker's regiment. Colonel Ramirez was in charge of the Nicaraguans but Walker was in charge of the expedition. He ordered Ramirez to send some of the Nicaraguans to scout around for trails. Double day had also joined Walker but four of Walker's men had already deserted so there was a total of 56 Americans present at this time. Walker divided them into two groups with his senior captain, Charles Hornsby, a Mississippian leading one group, and a New Orleans native named Julius DeBrizzo leading the other. Hornsby was one of Walker's most loyal followers having been with him throughout the Sonora Expedition and DeBrizzo was already in Nicaragua when Walker and Hornsby were in Sonora. Walker had commissioned several other officers among his small band of Americans and the officers wore red democratic army bands around their hats. Several of his men were only teenagers. One of his men named Alex Jones was a physician meaning that including Walker there were two trained doctors in the group but Walker liked having another doctor handy because as commander it was difficult for him to take the time required to tend to the injured men. Even though Walker's men made up a relatively small force it's worth keeping in mind that each one of them had a rifle and they carried an ammunition pouch full of 758 rifle rounds. The Nicaraguans were armed with muskets which were less accurate and couldn't fire as far so the Americans were a powerful force armed with the most modern combat weaponry. The landing was rough. DeBrizzo wrecked the boat he was steering against some rocks. Double day he was already feeling ill was dumped into the water and nearly drowned. It was nearly midnight by the time all the men were unloaded and on the march and then a downpour started. Then they got lost and double day feeling sick had to lie down in the mud with no cover while it was raining. If you've ever experienced rainfall in these regions downpours stop as quickly as they start and that's exactly what happened here. So the march resumed double day was able to continue supported by two men who helped keep them upright. They were still marching when the sun came up and the heat dried them off lifting their spirits. So at 9 a.m. the men stopped at an abandoned house where they ate and slept. The march to Rivas resumed that afternoon and after sunset another downpour started. The men were soaked when they met a band of farmers outside the village of Tola. These farmers were Democraticos sympathizers and they informed Walker that the Legitimista commander General Pansiano Corral was expecting Walker's troops to attack from the south and he had sent troops to strengthen the garrisons at both Rivas and San Juan del Sur. The general had also sent 20 Legitimista Lancers to Tola and they were currently occupying the previously empty military barracks in the village with orders to be on the lookout for Walker and his men. Clearly there was a spy or a traitor who had informed the Legitimistas of Walker's plan but he decided to continue with his mission anyway. Walker sent 20 of his Americans to find the Legitimista Lancers and deal with them. Rain was still coming down hard along with thunder and lightning. The Americans sent on this side mission handed their supplies to their colleagues and they held their rifles and ammo pouches under their coats to keep them dry. Walker and the rest of the men followed behind them. Tola was a village built on Toltec Indian ruins. The homes there were Adobe meaning they were made out of mud bricks kind of like what you might see if you've ever visited the Pueblo Indian ruins in the southwest United States. The 20 men trodded quickly over the cobblestone roads in the village and it didn't take them long to find the building with the Lancers because it was the only one that had a single sentry outside of it. The men inside were also loudly advertising their presence so they were playing cards and being boisterous and they were burning tallow candles so they stuck out like a sore thumb in the village that night because of the downpour the single sentry was hunkering back out of the rain and he couldn't hear the Americans approach. The Americans rushed in in the sentry caught by surprise shouted, Kienveve, who goes there? Without waiting for an answer the sentry fired off his musket in the dark but the sound of his gun was drowned out by a clap of thunder. His musket ball failed to hit any of the Americans but one of the Americans fired off his rifle while continuing to charge toward him and the sentry was hit by the miniball. He went down wounded but alive. The Americans kicked in the door of the building and barged in. The thunder had masked the commotion outside so the legitimate Estes were taken by surprise but they jumped up and prepared to defend themselves. One of them ran toward the Americans drawing his sword as he moved. Several others were right behind him but they were no match for the rifle toting Americans. Some were shot down some surrendered and the rest fled. When Walker showed up some of the Nicaraguans under Ramirez urged him to execute the Legitimista prisoners. Central America was a common practice in war to simply kill any prisoners but Walker wasn't part of this culture so he ignored them. Instead he spoke to them using Spanish without a translator for the first time since he arrived in the country. Now keep in mind for context in the story over the next couple of episodes he's only around the enemy Legitimistas and the Americans so even though he's speaking in Spanish he's not revealing to any of his allies that he can understand them when they speak in their native tongue. So the Legitimistas were grateful to be spared something they certainly had not expected and they gave Walker all the information he asked for. Among the information given the Legitimistas told Walker how they knew to expect him. A German merchant had traveled from Lyon and told General Corral of the planned attack. The merchant was able to travel freely past the Democraticos because he had been issued a passport by General Munoz the democratico commander-in-chief that Walker had previously determined was an incapable leader. So Walker concluded that Munoz must have deliberately sent the German to betray the mission. He was the traitor. At least that's what Walker believed. I don't know if Munoz was actually a traitor if he was completely unaware if the German was going to betray the attack but Walker was convinced his actions were deliberate. Even though Walker knew that the Legitimistas were expecting him he was determined to continue his attack the next day as planned. As they traveled to Rivas the next day finally marching without rain the men passed several subsistence farmers mostly women. The Americans used their limited Spanish to compliment the women on their beauty but General Rivas questioned them about the Legitimista troops at the city of Rivas. Doubleday overheard the general and noticed that he did not relay any of this information to Walker. Doubleday later wrote quote the full significance of this was revealed by subsequent events end quote. When the men closed in on Rivas they were taken by the natural beauty of the area. Lake Nicaragua came in a view and it contained an island called Ometepe with two volcanoes the taller one called Concepcion and the smaller one called Medera. Writing of it later Walker said quote the first glimpse of the scene almost made the pulse stand still. The men stopped before reaching a barricade that had been erected by the Legitimistas. The barricade was made of dried mud and tree branches and it stretched across the road with Legitimistas poking their heads up over the tops of it where Walker and his men could see them. There was a gap in the wall with the barrel of a cannon sticking out through it. Walker called his senior American officers into a huddle. Walker already knew the layout of Rivas pretty well. Before the war Rivas had a population of about 25,000 but it had since been reduced to less than half that leaving many of its buildings deserted. On either side of the road were large coca plantations owned by rivals. One was owned by Don Maximo Espinosa but his plantation was now in the hands of the Legitimistas and the Espinosas were one of the primary sources of information about the city to Walker. The other plantation was owned by Don Juan Ruiz who was part of the Legitimista government. Espinosa and Ruiz had been feuding since long before the war which is one of the reasons Espinosa joined the Democraticos. Walker decided that the two plantations could prove useful as defensive points if captured. Then when fighting in Rivas his men could fall back to the plantations as needed so he concocted a plan to drive his men through the barricades and storm into the central plaza of the city before the Legitimistas could organize their defense. He assigned half his men to Lieutenant Colonel Achilles Cuen and half to Major Crocker to carry out his plan. Ramirez was ordered to follow close behind them and protect their flanks. At this point Ramirez and the Nicaraguan still didn't know Walker could speak Spanish so his instructions were delivered through a Nicaraguan captain named Tejada who was nicknamed Napoleon and spoke English passively well. When Walker told him the orders he hesitated. He believed it was unwise to keep Ramirez in the rear and he pretended he couldn't understand Walker's instructions. So Walker had Doubleday relay the orders instead and Doubleday noted that quote the eyes of Ramirez sparkled end quote when he was given the instructions. Doubleday warned Walker of Ramirez's unreliability but Walker was confident in his 55 Americans. In Doubleday's account of the events Walker smiled knowingly at his warnings about Ramirez so Doubleday decided to trust Walker's instincts. Walker then confirmed that all of the officers understood their orders and gave the command to commence the attack. The Americans were led toward the barricade in two columns with Walker following closely behind them on horseback. His officers were all on horses taken from the Lancers and Tola. The Nicaraguans followed behind but as the Americans continued to move forward the Nicaraguans fell farther and farther behind. Walker finally called out for his troops to charge and the Americans rushed forward. The Legitimistas fired off the cannons sticking out through the barricade but it was aimed too high and the grape shot flew harmlessly over the heads of Walker's men. Before the Legitimistas could reload the cannon the Americans were scaling the barricade. Once over it they found a second barricade set up further ahead. Legitimistas fled the first barricade and the Americans let them go saving their ammunition as they fled toward the second barricade they had not been expecting. The Americans scaled the second barricade without incident as well and the Legitimistas were retreating up Santa Ursula Hill toward the center of the city. The Americans followed them as they charged they faced a hail of musket fire from adobe buildings on either side of the streets. Legitimistas soldiers had cut loopholes under the walls and were holed up inside. The Americans continued charging forward while they reloaded leaving these men to be dealt with by Ramirez and his democratic troops. When they reached the top of Santa Ursula Hill they faced another barrage of bullets fired from men they couldn't see posted inside buildings in front of them into their sides. Several of the Americans went down and the rest tried to take cover behind the adobe buildings as they continued to advance. Seeing that their frontal assault was futile Achilles Kuhn ordered his men to take refuge inside a large house nearby. The men smashed open the wooden gates with the butts of their rifles and broke down the front door of the house. The men did their best to drag their wounded with them Major Crocker and his troops were on the other side of the road and he quickly imitated Kuhn's orders. His men took refuge in a handful of small homes on their side of the road. As the men were occupying the house Walker rode up behind them. The first person he saw was Tim Crocker one of the seven men who had been with him in Sonora. His shoulder had taken a bullet and his right arm hung uselessly by his side. His sword was on the ground beside him and his left hand was a six-barreled pepper box pistol smoking from the three barrels that had already been fired from. Walker called out to Crocker asking him how far the men had gotten toward the plaza. Colonel the men faltered he answered I can't get them on. Walker turned back to see how far Ramirez his troops were behind him. He couldn't see them but he did spot a small group of Nicaraguans leading mules carrying airmo boxes. To his right Walker could also see another group of Democraticos led by Mariano Mendes coming up on a side street but this wasn't much in the way of reinforcement. In front of him there was a group of 80 legitimista infantry men making a move to outflank the Americans on the left. They were led by Colonel Manuel Arguello who had just arrived from San Juan del Sur to reinforce the troops in Rivas. They fired off their muskets as they moved forward and musket balls went flying around Walker. He dismounted and joined Qn and his men in the large house they were now occupying which was the home of Don Maximo Espinoza who was waiting for them back in Tola. It was a large house but all of its valuables had already been looted by the legitimistas. Qn and his men had dragged some of the furniture left inside it to create a barricade in front of the opening left by the door they had just destroyed. From inside the Espinoza home the Americans could hear shouting from across the street. Major Crocker was dead and the legitimistas were preparing an assault on the houses they were occupying but Walker, Qn and Double Day were dealing with their own assault as legitimista soldiers charged with their bayonets against the barricade that the three men had just finished. Alone in front of the barricade they used their swords to swat away the thrusting bayonets until Captain Hornsby and a group of men came up from behind them pointing their rifles over the soldiers of the three men and fired point blank at the legitimistas trying to break through the makeshift barricade. As Hornsby and his men fell back to reload their rifles a second group of Americans took aim with theirs firing off another volley. The two groups kept firing while the others reloaded and with their superior weapons the legitimistas were slaughtered. The bodies of their attackers were littered in front of the barricade their white uniforms soaked red with blood. The few survivors took off firing their muskets aimlessly behind them as they fled. After the legitimistas were driven off Cuen stopped back grabbed at the empty air and fell to the ground. He'd been hit by one of the musket shots fired wildly by the retreating soldiers double day caught Cuen as he fell and held him against the ground. Blood dripped from his mouth and blood soaked his shirt where he'd been hit. He'd been shot in the lung and he died in double day's arms. While Cuen was dying Colonel Agüello led his legitimistas to block Colonel Ramirez's band of democraticos from reaching the americans. Ramirez saw this and diverted his troops away from the battle leading his men south into Costa Rica. He abandoned Walker who was now surrounded by 1200 legitimistas. As the day continued the americans stayed holed up behind their barricades. Legitimistas sent waves of assaults against the barricades but the americans were able to drive each wave back. When they weren't firing the men were sitting with their backs against the wall to avoid enemy fire. Double day crawled around on the floor taking their loaded rifles from the men and one by one firing them through the windows until finally he was hit on the right side of his head. He fell back seemingly dead. As he started to regain conscious he could hear the voice of Captain Hornsby saying he's gone and Walker responding. It's a pity. Double day opened his eyes and said I'm not gone yet. He stood up staggering and noticed that he was covered in his own blood. Dr. Jones bandaged the wound around his temple and informed double day that his temporal artery had been severed. He was lucky to be alive. The musket ball was lodged in his skull behind his right ear and Jones promised him that he would dig it out later. After losing his two most senior officers Cuman and Crocker along with a handful of other men Walker was beyond relieved to see that double day at least was still alive. Walker decided that his troops should hold out until nightfall and then attack the plaza. Double day thought Walker was crazy. They should just cut their losses and escape. He was sitting with his back against the wall still dizzy from blood loss and he could see injured men scattered around the room including several of Walker's other officers. But before the two could argue someone yelled out a warning. Legitimist troops were using crowbars and picks to hack a hole in the wall on the other side of the building as they hacked the wall the hole widened enough for men to see a cannon on the other side. Before long the wall would be weak enough for the cannon to demolish it completely. Walker called for volunteers to help him put the cannon out of commission. He and five other men rushed out and attacked the Legitimist as they were bringing the cannon into position. They yelled as they charged toward the cannon Walker led the charge waving his sword as he ran holding his pistol in his other hand. The rest of the men were armed with rifles. The Legitimist saw the charge and they dropped everything and fled. The Americans were able to take some of the mount while they retreated and then they used their rifle butts to smash the wills of the cannon's carriage bringing the gun to the ground. With their mission accomplished they rushed back inside the Hacienda unharmed. Outside the Hacienda bodies littered the ground at least 30 of them. Two were Americans but the rest of the dead were Legitimist soldiers. Colonel Manuel Bosque the Legitimista commander was growing frustrated with his failed attempts to get at the American filibusters. After his cannon was destroyed he tried another tactic. He offered 50 pesos to any Legitimista who successfully set fire to the Espinoza Hacienda. Two men volunteered but they said they would do it for free. It was their patriotic duty. So Bosque prepared a torch made by tying a bayonet to a long wooden pole and then wrapping straw around the bayonet and then covering the straw with tar. They lit the makeshift torch on fire and the two volunteers rushed toward the Hacienda carrying the torch just before 3pm. Other Legitimistas covered them by firing their muskets at the Hacienda. The roof of the home was built by laying sugar can on top of wooden rafters with baked clay creating the tiles of the roof laying on top of the sugar cane. This is actually the way roofs in Nicaraguan homes are still constructed today in fact. One of the Legitimistas helped to lift the other on top of the roof where he started to remove some of the tiles. He then shoved the torch into the sugar cane underneath and set the roof on fire. For this deed the two men named Emmanuel Mangolo and Neri Fajardo are still considered to be heroes in Nicaragua. So now Walker and his men were inside a house whose roof was on fire. The flames spread and the Americans had no way of putting it out. Smoke started to choke them out and Walker ordered their evacuation. They were going to make a break for Crocker's men who were still holed up on the other side of the street. Walker yelled out to the men on the other side to expect them so they wouldn't be shot down by friendly fire. Walker's men slung their wounded over their shoulders and made a single mad dash across the street making it safely to the other side but joining the rest of the Americans. Counting out both the dead and the wounded Walker had only 37 men left capable of fighting including himself. At this point even he realized that it would be better to retreat and live to fight another day. He planned a bayonet charge against the Legitimistas to their west hoping that by surprising the enemy his men would be able to break through them and escape. They would then make their way to San Juan del Sur where they would find a boat and make their way back to Democratico territory. The men gave their approval of the plan but Walker soberly warned them that for this to succeed every man had to be able to fight unassisted. Anybody too injured to run without help would have to be left behind. This meant certain death since Central Americans didn't take prisoners alive but the situation was bleak and nobody argued. As the men fixed their bayonets to their rifles Walker and Dr. Jones attended to the wounded to see who could join them. Many were unconscious so they would have to be left for dead. Those who were conscious were determined to participate in the fight including Frank Anderson and Julius DeBrizzo who had received serious gunshot wounds but it was better to fight through the pain than be left to die and they assured Walker and Jones that they could participate without assistance. The worst off were those too injured to walk but still conscious. One, a private Hughes I don't know what his first name was begged Doubleday not to leave him behind. Doubleday was frank with him. He knew Hughes was going to die and he didn't pretend otherwise but if they tried to take him with them they'd all die. Hughes was staying behind for the good of his fellow soldiers. He accepted his fate along with four other injured soldiers who were doomed to be left behind. It had been nearly four hours since the battle of Rivas had begun and Walker told his men it was time to go. The legitimistas were distracted by the burning Espinoza Hacienda including the injured who were determined to fight 45 Americans prepared to make their escape. They knew that if this failed they'd all be dead before the day was over. Walker led the charge running out of the house followed quickly by the uninjured troops who followed in the rear. They yelled wildly. At this point it was every man for himself. They fired their rifles and their pistols at the legitimistas who blocked their escape armed with the element of surprise. A handful of legitimistas were able to fire back and one of the Americans was hit by a bullet and fell but the rest of the Americans successfully broke through and instead of pursuing them the legitimistas were fleeing and panicked. When word traveled back to Colonel Bosque that the Americans escaped he ordered a full assault on the buildings they had been in. Many of them still believed the Americans were inside but when they barged in they found only the five injured men left behind. The legitimistas had lost 70 of their own in the battle with just as many wounded. So Bosque ordered his men to build a pile of wood in the city plaza. The bodies of the dead Americans were thrown into the pyre including the single American who had been killed during the escape. Next Bosque had his men take the five injured Americans and chain them together at the top of the pile of wood sitting on top of the carcasses of their dead comrades. The pyre was then set on fire and legitimista soldiers cheered as the five men were burned alive. Walker and his men did escape. Jones kept his promise to double day by digging the bullet out of his skull when they finally stopped to eat on the morning of June 30th their first meal in 24 hours. Jones used a jackknife to perform the impromptu surgery with no anesthetic to give double day. But double day survived and later wrote complimenting Jones's skills as a surgeon. The men reached transit road by 9 a.m. This road by 1855 when Walker and his men were traveling on it had been turned from one of the worst roads in Nicaragua one American traveler called it a mud hole before it had been transformed into what was widely considered the best road in all of the country through the private investment of Cornelius Vanderbilt. As they traveled on the road they ran into a man who had served under double day at Granada. Dewey informed Walker that Ramirez had abandoned them for Costa Rica. Then he helped lead the men to San Juan del Sur which had been abandoned by any legitimistas after they heard of Walker's attack on Rivas. This meant that Walker and his tired and beaten men could safely board a ship and make their way back to friendlier regions. Walker's first attempt at conquering Nicaragua had failed. After returning to Democratico territory two of Walker's few remaining men deserted and the rest looked ready to do the same. So he gathered the rest of his men and delivered a speech. In his speech he told his men that they were in Nicaragua to regenerate the civilization there. And it wasn't just Nicaragua they were going to regenerate it was all of Latin America and all of South America. They were there to bring modern American values and ideas to these antiquated societies and these fortunate few remaining men were quote the precursors of a movement destined to affect materially the civilization of the whole continent of South America. End quote. The speech worked in renewing the motivation of his men and the term regeneration was picked up as the common description for their goals. This idea spread and new recruits began to be referred to as regenerators rather than filibusters. With the enthusiasm of his men renewed Walker began to plan his next expedition and that will be the topic of the next episode. For more content like this visit mesis.org