William Walker's Wars

How One Man's Private American Army Tried to Conquer Mexico, Nicaragua, and Honduras

By: Scott Martelle

Narrated by: David Colacci

In the decade before the onset of the Civil War, groups of Americans engaged in a series of longshot - and illegal - forays into Mexico, Cuba, and other Central American countries in hopes of taking them over. These efforts became known as filibustering, and their goal was to seize territory to create new independent fiefdoms, which would ultimately be annexed by the still-growing United States. Most failed miserably.

William Walker was the outlier. Short, slender, and soft-spoken with no military background - he trained as a doctor before becoming a lawyer and then a newspaper editor - Walker was an unlikely leader of rough-hewn men and adventurers. But in 1856 he managed to install himself as president of Nicaragua. Neighboring governments saw Walker as a risk to the region and worked together to drive him out - efforts aided, incongruously, by the United States' original tycoon, Cornelius Vanderbilt.

William Walker's Wars is a story of greedy dreams and ambitions, the fate of nations and personal fortunes, and the dark side of Manifest Destiny, for among Walker's many goals was to build his own empire based on slavery. This little-remembered story from US history is a cautionary tale for all who dream of empire.

©2019 Scott Martelle (P)2019 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Scott Martelle's page-turning account draws on thorough research to tell the story of William Walker as it has never been told before." (T.J. Stiles, author of The First Tycoon)

Great book.

I knew about William Walker but not like this. Loved this book. I now better understand my country's history.

Fascinating neglected American History

It was a good biography of William Walker and his Fillabusters to various Latin American countries. Unfortunately, there was not a ton of context outside of a good aside about the Nicaragua route and American business interests, but it was so personally focused it was hard to grasp the bigger picture. It also had a crazy abrupt ending

overconfidence in human form

William Walker was an interesting guy, and a much more successful military leader than I realized. his confidence- no overconfidence- is what really sticks out about the book though. he really believed his own propaganda that he was the gray eyed man of Destiny

The Little Tyrant That Could!

If there's one takeaway to be gleaned from Walker's adventures; it's an appreciation of the power of confidence! The idea of the drive, charisma, and alternately; narcissistic and deluded viciousness it takes to decide to mount a completely private attack on a foreign nation and attempt to become potentate is truly staggering. I kept thinking; "Man, the balls on this guy." The shenanigans that Walker and friends got up to in South America were far more fitting of that of Norse chiefs in the Dark Ages, or something from the Golden Age of Piracy rather than less than 200 years ago.

The book is nicely researched, and tries to explain the virtually inexplicable; what makes a slightly built, stuffy, and scholarly guy suddenly decide to become Emperor of an as of yet unformed South American union of nations? The battles and skirmishes, as well as the geography and river systems of the campaign are well explained, and the main players are characterized from their letters and historical accounts.

Something hinted toward, but not greatly explored is whether or not Walker was truly acting on his own, out of self aggrandizing adventure, or whether some Mephistophelian society like the Knights of the Golden Circle or something similar were whispering in his ear prompting these wild takeover attempts?

Overall a great read, about a truly intriguing, but not very good guy.

Interesting but slow

The book’s length could have easily been cut by a third. Too much time spent on Walker’s professions in the U.S. and not enough on his misadventures overseas.