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William Walker
American filibuster, physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary (1824-1860)
Person · Open Library
- Died
- 1726
- Works
- 132
via Open Library + Wikidata
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Male
- Origin
- United States
- Active from
- 1910-05-28
- Active to
- 1975-03-16
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Article
William Walker (May 8, 1824 – September 12, 1860) was an American journalist and mercenary. In the era of the expansion of the United States, driven by the doctrine of manifest destiny, Walker organized unauthorized military expeditions into Mexico and Central America with the intention of establishing colonies. Such an enterprise was known at the time as "filibustering".
After settling in California, motivated by an earlier filibustering project of Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon, Walker attempted in 1853–54 to take Baja California and Sonora. He declared those territories to be an independent Republic of Sonora, but he was soon driven back to California by the Mexican forces. Walker then went to Nicaragua in 1855 as leader of a mercenary army employed by the Nicaraguan Democratic Party in its civil war against the Legitimists. He took control of the Nicaraguan government and in July 1856 set himself up as the country's president.
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1824 births1860 deaths19th-century American journalists19th-century American male journalists19th-century executions of American people19th-century Nicaraguan lawyersAlumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical SchoolAmerican duellistsAmerican filibusters (military)American people executed abroadAmerican proslavery activistsAnti-Nicaraguan sentiment