A Tale of Two Walkers

William and Jack Walker: Dreamers

When Jack Walker landed in Trujillo, Honduras, in the Spring of 1995 and announced to people he was from Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville, the first question out of everyone’s mouth was are you here to try to take over the country.

Walker didn’t understand the question being totally unfamiliar with famed or illustrious- depending upon your point of view- William Walker who was shot to death in Trujillo in 1860.

Learning who William Walker was and what he had done, Jack Walker emphatically declared there was no kinship, just the rueful coincidence that they were from the same part of the United States. Some of the locals were not too sure: same last name, same city, perhaps we should watch him carefully.

As one Walker from Tennessee built a business known for its hospitality and good food, the exploits of the other Walker from Tennessee are etched in history. And a bizarre history, it is.

During the 1850’s William Walker was a household name across the entire United States. He was one of America’s first soldiers of fortune and the only native-born American ever to be elected head of state of a foreign, non-English speaking country. Originally from the Low Country of South Carolina with its deep southern drawl and Gullah dialect, Jack Walker was content with Southern English.

William Walker’s many run-ins with prominent business leaders like Cornelius Vanderbilt, the shipping and railroad magnate who was interested in taking a canal across Central America, and with Presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan over the rights and responsibilities of American citizens abroad, gave William Walker the publicity he needed to stay before the public eye and to gain support from the masses for his freebooting forays. Jack Walker saw Trujillo’s pristine beaches and a country offering tax incentives making retirement and investment very attractive.

William Walker took on the world – from business tycoon to the American presidency. Who was he? Why was this little man, who stood only five-feet six inches tall and weighed slightly over 100 pounds, totally unafraid of either big business or the United States government, both of whom disdained his swashbuckling activities?

What made him invade Nicaragua in 1855 and, within only months, have himself elected president in free elections?

Lastly, what was it about him that caused respect—or fear---depending on how it is looked at, that his rebel government was recognized by the United States of America?

Renegade Walker was born into a well to do family in Nashville, Tn. His father was a very successful insurance executive and his mother was a recent convert of the newly formed denomination called the Church of Christ. At the age of 14, Walker became one the youngest men ever to graduate from the University of Nashville, summa cum laude. A parent’s pride.

His early interest in medicine encouraged by a friendship with a local doctor thwarted his parents hope for his ministerial career and he returned to Nashville in 1843 after traveling through Europe, studying medicine at the universities of Edinburgh and Heidelberg, and graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School--at 19.

However, he quickly bored with his medical practice in Nashville. Soon, he was off again, this time to New Orleans where he studied law and was admitted to the Louisiana Bar.

By 1848, he had embraced a third occupation – journalism- and became co-owner and editor of the New Orleans Crescent before moving to California where he became the editor of a San Francisco newspaper. And, fought three duels, being wounded in two.

It should be evident by now that this was a man with no focus, so, wanderlust surfaced again. This time, he conceived of conquering vast regions of Central America where he would create states, ruled by white English speakers. These campaigns were known in the 1800s as filibustering.

Accordingly, in November, 1853, accompanied by a rag-tag Army of 45 men, Walker invaded Mexico. Six months later, after establishing his own “republic” of Sonora and having elected himself president, Walker and his men were forced to surrender to American authorities at the international border.

Back in California he was put on trial for conducting an illegal war. But at this time in American history, Manifest Destiny was the doctrine and his filibustering project was popular in the western and southern states. The jury acquitted him in eight minutes.

Public approval and acceptance of his filibustering activities whetted his appetite for an even more grandiose adventure-the invasion of Nicaragua.

In all fairness to William Walker, the Nicaragua of his time was ripe for revolution as internal strife and a power struggle among native leaders had literally torn the country apart. William Walker was quick to take advantage of the situation….he was a mercenary.

In 1854, Walker obtained a contract from the de facto government of Nicaragua that allowed him to bring into the country 300 colonists to settle a land grant of 50,000 acres. In return, the colonists would be liable for military service, but would receive monthly compensation.

Now William Walker’s mother didn’t raise a fool: Walker legitimized his activities by having the papers concerning the operation reviewed by the U. S. Attorney at San Francisco and by the commander of the Pacific Division of the U. S. Army.

Walker and 56 companions arrived in Realejo in June, 1855. Defeating the Nicaraguan national army and capturing the capital, Walker took control of the country and became president in 1856. Mention should be made that it was an uncontested election making it rather easy to win.

Despite what should have been the obvious illegality of Walker’s ascension to the presidency, US President Franklin Pierce recognized Walker’s regime as the legitimate government of Nicaragua enabling Walker to recruit over 1,000 American mercenaries, transported for free by the Accessory Transit Company controlled by business tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, to fight for the conquest of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. Free transportation?

American business interests were interested in building a canal across Nicaragua as the major trade route between New York City and San Francisco ran through southern Nicaragua at that time. One must ask why would tycoon Vanderbilt’s Accessory Transit Company transport 1,000 men for free?

The previous Nicaraguan administration had granted the commercial exploitation of this route to Vanderbilt’s company, so Vanderbilt supported Walker in the hopes Walker would stabilize Nicaragua and facilitate the construction of the east-west railroad linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. As ruler of Nicaragua, Walker had other ideas and revoked Vanderbilt’s Transit Company charter awarding control of the route to those who offered Walker large sums of money and support for his military forays into other countries.

Vanderbilt was outraged and, as tycoons can be known to do, he successfully pressured the US government to withdraw its recognition of Walker’s regime, helped finance and train a military coalition from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica, and worked to make sure supplies and men did not reach Walker. Vanderbilt even offered defectors from Walker’s army free passage back to the States. Thus, Walker’s army was no match for the Central American coalition Vanderbilt put together and Walker surrendered to the United States Navy and was repatriated.

His academic intelligence aside, Walker appears unable to accept the inevitable and attempted to recapture Nicaragua several times. Returning to the region one more time, this time to the port city of Trujillo, Honduras, Walker soon found himself in the hands of the British Navy who now had economic interest in the construction of that inter-ocean canal through Central America and considered Walker a menace.

The British took the expeditious way out and turned William Walker over to the Honduran army who executed him by firing squad in 1860. He was 36 years old and is buried in the old cemetery in Trujillo.

Jack Walker’s tenure in Trujillo lasted for over a decade until his death earlier this year. He saw the natural beauty of the area, the talent of the Hondurans, the exciting blend of cultures. Like William, he, too, saw a vision. His vision involved his piece of beach front land which would welcome friends and strangers to come by, float on top of the waves, watch a silent orange sun disappear behind the horizon, feel the Caribbean breezes, listen to the waves lapping at the shore, have a bite to eat, a drink at the bar, and know the dream of one of the last places on earth where you can own a piece of paradise.

He wanted to be buried in the new cemetery overlooking Trujillo Bay.