William Walker. The Gray-Eyed Man of Destiny. Book 5: Truxillo, Alejandro Bolaños Geyer
William Walker (1824-1860) the “Gray-Eye Man of Destiny,” was the hottest news personality between the Mexican War and the Civil War-for a time the most talked of figure in the United States. Yet today probably not one U.S. citizen in ten thousand has ever heard of William Walker, a lost character in American history. But although forgotten even in his home state of Tennessee, Walker is still vividly remembered in Central America as a devil with horns and a tail. Elementary school books proudly acclaim the national War of 1856-57, when the ruthless imperialistic invader William Walker and his Yankee mercenaries were driven out of Nicaragua by the freedom fighters of the five Central American republics. William Walker was a “quiet, modest student” before he was suddenly transformed in 1849 into the “bold, daring, dauntless revolutionist and warrior”. The great change in his character, which occurred on the death of his fiancée, has never been explained satisfactorily. His many shifts in occupation from doctor to lawyer to journalist and to soldier of fortune have never been explained either. Walker remains much a mystery today as he was to his contemporaries, even to his closest friends. These pages record the process of unraveling the mystery of the “Gray-Eyed Man of Destiny,” unlocking the hidden springs of Walker´s mind; and they bring into sharp focus the stormy scenes during the early stages of U.S. imperialism climaxing in the Mexican War, his forays into Mexico, Nicaragua, and Honduras, until his death by firing squad at Truxillo in 1860, are the subjects of these five books: Book four the war of liberation is the subject matter of this book. Up to June, 1856, Walker enjoyed the support of the “Leoneses” and fought the “Legitimists” and Costa Rica. It was only after he usurped the presidency that all Nicaraguans and Central America united in a War of Liberation to expel him. Nicaraguan patriots saw in him the living embodiment of manifest destiny. The enemy was not only his person; the enemy was the Colossus of the North, bent on conquest. The racist, arrogant, covetous “Yankees” were the enemy.
Chapters
- Overview and Introduction
- Part One: Fallen hero
- Part Two: Ravaged nation
- Part Three: Possessed
- Part Four: Farewell
- Part Five: The phantom
- Part Six: Departure
- APPENDIX: Walker´s Speech at New Orleans / First Letter to President Buchanan / Walker´s Men at Bellevue / Letter to Charles J. Jenkins / Second Letter to President Buchanan / Walker´s Justice and Mercy / Speech in Mobile / The Central American Conspiracy / Letter to the Register / Manifesto to the American People / Truxillo Proclamation / Futile Defense / Filibuster Statistics
- Illustration acknowledgments / bibliography / Index