Filibustered Review
May. 10th, 2016 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHey,
So in Battle Cry of Freedom, they mentioned various plans by private US citizens to invade Central American countries and set up US-friendly regimes. This ballooned into a larger idea, championed by Southern and pro-slavery groups of the "Golden Circle" where the US would control all of Central America and the Caribbean and that slavery would be re-introduced in these areas.
Although most of these plans never really got anywhere, the major exception was William Walker who brought a force of 60 men to help aid rebels in Nicaragua but wound up taking over the country. This only lasted for about a year. Walker re-introduced slavery which wasn't received well in much of the US, he seized Vanderbuilt's shipping facilities which angered him, and Britain wasn't too pleased with Walker's activities either. Also, every other country in Central America formed an alliance and (backed up with guns from Vanderbuilt) they kicked out Walker and his troops.
Wanting to know a bit more, I picked up Reminiscences of the "Filibuster" War in Nicaragua by Charles William Doubleday. Doubleday was a young man who had followed the gold into California and then, on a whim, boarded a steamer from San Francisco down to Nicaragua. He was planning to travel overland and back to the East Coast of the US when he arrived in time for the revolution.
Doubleday spoke Spanish and he strongly supported the rebel party, party because he felt it truly represented the will of the people and also because he didn't care much for the power the Catholic Church had in the country. So he took up arms and joined the rebellion.
After a few months of urban fighting in Granada, Doubleday was about to take a leave when Walker shows up. As Walker didn't speak Spanish and didn't have much faith in the local troops, Doubleday agreed to be on his staff. Doubleday gets involved in several military blunders with Walker and doesn't have a very high opinion of him, but there's a weird loyalty to fellow US citizens and an odd "military duty requires" sort of thing.
The book is short and quite poetic in places -- something I find a lot of in writing from this period, but it's just a tad short on details. Doubleday gets wounded a couple of times and is back in the States when Walker finally takes over and starts going on a rampage.
It's an interesting personal recollection, but I may want to find another source for the history of this conflict. Walker himself wrote up a book about his adventures, but I'd rather have a less biased author before I wade into that.
later
Tom
So in Battle Cry of Freedom, they mentioned various plans by private US citizens to invade Central American countries and set up US-friendly regimes. This ballooned into a larger idea, championed by Southern and pro-slavery groups of the "Golden Circle" where the US would control all of Central America and the Caribbean and that slavery would be re-introduced in these areas.
Although most of these plans never really got anywhere, the major exception was William Walker who brought a force of 60 men to help aid rebels in Nicaragua but wound up taking over the country. This only lasted for about a year. Walker re-introduced slavery which wasn't received well in much of the US, he seized Vanderbuilt's shipping facilities which angered him, and Britain wasn't too pleased with Walker's activities either. Also, every other country in Central America formed an alliance and (backed up with guns from Vanderbuilt) they kicked out Walker and his troops.
Wanting to know a bit more, I picked up Reminiscences of the "Filibuster" War in Nicaragua by Charles William Doubleday. Doubleday was a young man who had followed the gold into California and then, on a whim, boarded a steamer from San Francisco down to Nicaragua. He was planning to travel overland and back to the East Coast of the US when he arrived in time for the revolution.
Doubleday spoke Spanish and he strongly supported the rebel party, party because he felt it truly represented the will of the people and also because he didn't care much for the power the Catholic Church had in the country. So he took up arms and joined the rebellion.
After a few months of urban fighting in Granada, Doubleday was about to take a leave when Walker shows up. As Walker didn't speak Spanish and didn't have much faith in the local troops, Doubleday agreed to be on his staff. Doubleday gets involved in several military blunders with Walker and doesn't have a very high opinion of him, but there's a weird loyalty to fellow US citizens and an odd "military duty requires" sort of thing.
The book is short and quite poetic in places -- something I find a lot of in writing from this period, but it's just a tad short on details. Doubleday gets wounded a couple of times and is back in the States when Walker finally takes over and starts going on a rampage.
It's an interesting personal recollection, but I may want to find another source for the history of this conflict. Walker himself wrote up a book about his adventures, but I'd rather have a less biased author before I wade into that.
later
Tom
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Date: 2016-05-10 03:24 pm (UTC)