V. WALKER'S SURRENDER TO PAULDING IN 1857
While the foregoing events were taking place, another movement upon Nicaragua was being planned in the United States. Various attempts had been made, from time to time, to found colonies in the lands granted by His Mosquitian Majesty, but they had uniformly failed. Finally, in 1852, the titles were purchased conditionally by one Henry L. Kinney, who, relying on these titles, turned up at Greytown toward the end of 1854. After Walker's entrance into Nicaragua, in 1855, Kinney agreed to recognize him as commander-in-chief of the Nicaraguan Army, if Walker in turn would recognize him as governor of the Mosquito Territory. Walker, however, replied: "Tell Mr. Kenny, or Colonel Kenny, or Governor Kenny, or whatever he likes to call himself, that if he interferes in the affairs of Nicaragua, and I get hold of him, I will most assuredly hang him."1
1Wraxall, Remarkable Adventurers (1863), ii, 271.
In 1856, Kinney was placed under arrest on a charge of treason, and forced to surrender his governorship. But in 1857, after Walker had been arrested by Commander Davis, he managed to interest some English Mormons in his grant, and one of their agents agreed to buy one-half of the territory. On the strength of this agreement, Kinney borrowed a sum of money from some Panama merchants, and with several companions sailed to Greytown, where he landed on April 19, 1858. They attempted to take possession of the government, but were arrested and placed in the guard-house. Captain C. H. Kennedy, of the United States sloop-of-war Jamestown, then intervened in their behalf, and received the prisoners on board his vessel, after they had given their solemn promise in writing not to return to Greytown except with peaceful intentions toward the local authorities. Kinney then went to Aspinwall, and from there took passage to the United States.
In the fall of 1857, also, rumors of the new expedition against Nicaragua, under the command of Walker, became current in the United States. The two Central American representatives in Washington—Irisarri and Molina—at once notified Secretary of State Cass of the enterprise, and begged the American Government to prevent the landing of the expedition at any Central American port, in case its departure from the United States could not be prevented. Cass immediately sent a circular letter to all the United States marshals, district attorneys, and collectors of the ports of the Southern and seaboard states, notifying them of the projected expedition, and urging them to be diligent in enforcing the law. This circular read as follows:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, September 18, 1857.
SIR: From information received at this Department, there is reason to believe that lawless persons are now engaged within the limits of the United States in setting on foot and preparing the means for military expeditions to be carried on against the territories of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, republics with whom the United States are at peace, in direct violation of the sixth section of the act of Congress, approved 20th April, 1818. And, under the eighth section of the said act, it is made lawful for the President, or such person as he shall empower, to employ the land and naval forces of the United States, and the militia thereof, "for the purpose of preventing the carrying on of any such expedition or enterprise from the territories or jurisdiction of the United States." I am, therefore, directed by the President to call your attention to the subject, and to urge you to use all due diligence to avail yourself of all legitimate means at your command to enforce these and all other provisions of the said act of 20th April, 1818, against those who may be found to be engaged in setting on foot or preparing military expeditions against the territories of Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, so manifestly prejudicial to the national character and so injurious to the national interest. And you are also hereby instructed promptly to communicate to this Department the earliest information you may receive relative to such expeditions.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
LEWIS CASS.
Copies of this circular were sent, at the same time, by Secretary of the Navy Toucey, to the commanders of vessels in Central American waters, as well as to the commandants of the navy-yards at Portsmouth, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Pensacola, and San Francisco.2 The steamer Fulton, under the command of Lieutenant John J. Almy, was ordered to touch at Mobile and New Orleans, on her way to Central America. Almy was instructed to report to the Department what he could learn in those cities concerning the probable departure of the filibusters. He likewise carried the instructions to the other naval officers in the Caribbean with regard to the enforcement of the neutrality law.
To every naval officer these instructions were exceedingly vague, as they were originally intended only for civil officers in American ports. Almy, accordingly, before sailing, wrote for a fuller explanation of his duties in carrying out his instructions. The questions he asked were doubtless uppermost in the minds of all his fellow officers stationed in Central American ports. Since the neutrality law applied only to ports of the United States, or to those under its jurisdiction, were they to seize a suspicious vessel in a foreign port, or merely prevent its passengers from landing? Again, what were they to do if the passengers informed them that they were travellers intending to cross the Isthmus, or were merely peaceable settlers? The Secretary's reply was not very enlightening. "Naval officers," he wrote, "were not to act arbitrarily, or on mere suspicion, and they were to be careful not to interfere with lawful commerce; but where a vessel was manifestly engaged in filibustering, they were to use the force at their command to prevent men and arms from being landed."3 As a matter of fact, the stationing of American men-of-war in foreign ports to enforce the laws of the United States was such an anomalous proceeding, that no cabinet officer could have given specific directions as to the exact procedure that should be followed.
2Our war-vessels in Central American waters at that time were: The steam-frigate Wabash, Commodore Hiram Paulding; the sloop-of-war Saratoga, Commander Frederick Chatard ; and the sloop-of-war Decatur, Commander Henry K. Thatcher.
3Senate Doc. No. 13, 35th Cong., 1st Sess.
After reaching Mobile, Almy heard rumors of a filibustering expedition, but could learn nothing sufficiently tangible to justify official action. He found public sentiment very favorable to the movement, and there was a general opinion that the Washington administration was disposed to wink at such enterprises. This impression Almy strove to correct. He also found that the financial distress was then so acute that the contemplated movement was seriously hampered by a lack of funds. Similar conditions prevailed at New Orleans, and Almy reported his findings to the Secretary of the Navy, after which the Fulton proceeded to her destination.
The visit of the Fulton to Mobile and New Orleans evidently had the effect of conveying the idea that the government was in earnest, and was exercising a watchful eye over these reported expeditions; in short, that it would make the filibusters extremely cautious in their proceedings. The leaders of the movement accordingly managed their affairs in such a way as to deceive Captain Almy, and, after his arrival at Chiriqui, about November 10, he informed Commodore Paulding that filibusterism was dead, and that there was not the least possibility of Walker's leaving the United States with his followers.4
4Meade, "Life of Paulding," 195.
The contemplated expedition did, however, manage to sail shortly afterwards, and succeeded in reaching Nicaragua in spite of the vigilance of the steam frigate Susquehanna, which had been ordered to proceed from Key West to Honduras, and to cruise along the coast from Cape Gracias to Greytown. On November 25, 1857, the filibusters, on board the steamer Fashion, sailed boldly into the harbor of Greytown, and the greater portion of the men (about 150) were landed on Punta Arenas. This landing took place under the very eyes of the officers on the sloop-of-war Saratoga, which had been stationed in the harbor to prevent just such an occurrence. It seems that Commander Chatard's suspicions were entirely lulled when the filibuster steamer came in so boldly and passed so near to him, showing only about 15 men on deck. Great was his chagrin, however, when he saw several hundred men, armed with rifles, being landed. He was now confronted with the same problem which had puzzled Almy. He did not wish to open fire on the vessel in a neutral port, and so stop the disembarkation; and he realized also that once the men had landed, he would have no jurisdiction over them.5 In great perturbation he wrote to Commodore Paulding, at Aspinwall, urging him to come to Greytown at once. He reported to Paulding, in part, as follows:
My crew, as I told you, I consider too inefficient to do anything but use the big guns. I might blow steamers and all to pieces, but I do not feel the circular gives me the authority; it is too obscure in its directions to admit of my proceeding to such an extreme—the only way in which I could interfere. The vessels come properly cleared for Greytown, and pronounced all right before sailing from the United States, and I. cannot, in my opinion, pronounce them wrong and legally act against them.6
5It does not clearly appear whether the supplemental instructions of October 12 to Lieutenant Almy were communicated to Commodore Paulding and Commander Chatard or not, but inasmuch as Almy reported to Commodore Paulding as early as the 10th of November, on his way to Chiriqui, it may be presumed they were.—Senate Rept. No. 20, 35th Cong., 1st Sess.
Accompanying this official communication, Chatard sent Paulding a private letter bewailing his own stupidity in allowing the filibusters to outwit him. "Somehow or other," he wrote, "I was spellbound, and so my officers seemed to be. . . . . I beg you, sir, in the most earnest manner, to come here and advise me. I am in a very cruel state of mind, and look gloomily to the future."7
About the same time, General Walker sent a letter to Paulding complaining that Commander Chatard was subjecting him to petty annoyances. On the ground of protecting American property, Chatard had refused to allow the filibusters to occupy the buildings of the Transit Company on the Point. Some of the Saratoga's officers, not in uniform, he declared, had entered the filibuster camp without noticing the sentry's challenge. Target practice with howitzers was carried on so close to Walker's camp that a stray shot might have caused serious trouble. And, finally, Chatard had notified Walker that his camp was in the way of any shot the Saratoga might have to fire in order to bring-to a suspicious vessel, and that the camp must therefore be moved. Walker, it seems, had already moved part of his camp to avoid danger from Chatard’s target practice, and so he paid no attention to this last demand. Piqued at being foiled by the filibusters, Chatard vented his spite in these petty ways, in the hope that he would provoke them to commit some act that would justify him in interfering and breaking up the expedition, and thus retrieve to some extent his blunder in allowing the filibusters to land.
6House Exec. Doc. No. 24, 35th Cong., 1st Sess.
7MS. Archives, Navy Dept., Home Squadron, ii, 58.
On the 30th of November, a brig bearing Sardinian colors, and having the Nicaraguan flag at the fore, entered the harbor of Greytown. Soon after she rounded the Point, a number of armed boats pulled off from the Saratoga towards the brig, and an officer boarded her. It was plain, therefore, that Chatard, by treating vessels in the harbor precisely as if they were on the high seas, was attempting to maintain the police of the port in derogation of the territorial rights of Nicaragua. And on December 2, Chatard also notified Walker to the following effect: "I am determined to bring all vessels to, that I may fully inquire into their character."
In the meantime the Fulton arrived at Aspinwall, by way of Chiriqui, and Lieutenant Almy reported to Paulding, as instructed. Paulding, resenting the fact that Almy, in the Fulton, had been ordered to Chiriqui, instead of being first sent to report to him at Aspinwall, wrote to Secretary Toucey, under date of October 20, as follows:
The Department will not fail to observe that my feelings as commander-in-chief of this squadron must be very much wounded when I say that the service of the government could have been better performed if Commander Almy had been sent to me, and some discretion had been given me by the Department for employing the force nominally under my command, instead of its being assigned to duties at a distance from home by the government, whom [who] it is impossible should so well understand the localities and the most proper measures to be taken .for a given purpose. . . . . In my judgment, it would be better for the Department to supersede an officer whenever it wants confidence in his capacity for command. . . . . It will be apparent to the Department that I must feel that my prerogatives, as commander-in-chief of the squadron, are turned aside with but little consideration, and that my presence here can have but a slight appreciation. . . . . Without presuming to intrude discourteously upon the Department, it is proper that I should present my views, and, in doing so, to say that the duties of this command cannot be discharged in a manner due to the good order and efficiency of the naval service unless the Department shall be observant, and exact of the officers a strict conformity to its military character. . . . .8
To this astounding letter, Secretary Toucey replied:
It was not the intention of the Department to intimate any doubt of your knowledge or capacity, or of your disposition promptly to discharge any duty assigned to you. But the Department will reserve to itself the right, under the immediate direction of the President, to despatch a vessel to any point, upon any emergency, under specific instructions, directing its commanding officer to report to the flag officer of any squadron subject to those instructions.9.
8House Exec. Doc. No. 24, 35th Cong., 1st Sess.
9Ibid.
As soon as Paulding received the letters of Chatard and Walker, he made ready to go to Greytown, where he arrived on December 6. The Wabash, his flagship, anchored just outside the harbor—which was too shallow for her draft—and directly opposite the filibuster camp. On the next day, the Fulton arrived, making three American men-of-war off the Point. On the same day, the British steam frigate Leopard and the monster ship-of-war Brunswick anchored near the American men-of-war. The arrival of so many war-vessels caused the filibusters no little apprehension. But as the hours passed, and nothing untoward happened, Walker believed that the American vessels were there only to watch the British, and to prevent any interference from that quarter. During the day, several boats put out from the Saratoga and proceeded up the river; but as these were supposed to be watering parties, they attracted no particular attention, except from the experienced filibusters, who noted that the boats did not come back. Shortly after midnight, Walker quietly sent Fayssoux up the river in a canoe to learn the object of the boat expedition. He found that the boats were maintaining a blockade. This information was kept from the other filibusters, but the next morning Fayssoux and Hornsby were sent to Paulding to protest. Paulding told them that the river had been blockaded to prevent Walker's men from ascending it, and that he intended making all the men prisoners and carrying them back to the United States.
Preparations were at once made for landing a force on the Point. On December 8, 300 marines and sailors were sent on board the Fulton, the smallest of the American warships, to which Paulding then transferred his flag, and she was taken into the Transit Company's wharf. There the men were landed, under circumstances of great difficulty, while the ship, in a heavy seaway, was rolling her scuppers to the water. The work of getting out the boats, and arming, was attended with great labor and almost insuperable difficulty, yet everything was done in so seamanlike and skilful a manner, that it was accomplished in the shortest possible time, without loss or accident. Lieutenant Sinclair superintended the general duty of the ship, and when the marines and seamen were embarked in the Fulton, took command and direction of the howitzer barges, and deployed them in their position in the harbor on the left of Walker's camp. The marines of the squadron, commanded by Lieutenants Lewis and Payne, and three divisions of seamen from the Wabash, with small arms, and commanded by Lieutenants Fairfax, Beaumont, and Paulding, landed and deployed in order of battle on the right and rear, all exhibiting the skill and tactics of practiced troops. The force amounted in all to about 350. When these arrangements had been made, and the broadside of the Saratoga sprung to bear on the front, there was no chance of successful resistance on the part of the filibusters. The demonstration of superior force was well managed, and Walker, familiar with the events of the preceding night, was not surprised at the movement.
Before Paulding's arrangements were altogether completed, Walker dismissed his guard and disbanded his military organization, telling some of his more impetuous followers, who were spoiling for a fight, that resistance would be the height of folly. Paulding next sent Captain Engle to Walker with a written demand for his surrender. The two met and shook hands, and Engle delivered his communication. The letter read, in part, as follows:
The mistake he [Chatard] made was in not driving you from the Point Arenas when you landed there in defiance of his guns.
In occupying the Point Arenas and assuming it to be the headquarters of the army of Nicaragua, and you its commander-in-chief, you and your associates being lawless adventurers, you deceive no one by the absurdity.
Lieutenant Cilley, of the Saratoga, informs me that he was in uniform, and you say he was in plain clothes, when you threatened to shoot him.
Whilst you use such threats, it may be of some importance for you to know that if any person belonging to my command shall receive injury from your lawless violence, the penalty to you shall be a tribute to humanity.
Now, sir, you and your followers are here in violation of the laws of the United States, and greatly to its dishonor, making war upon a people with whom we are at peace; and for the sake of humanity, public and private justice, as well as what is due to the honor and integrity of the government of the United States, I command you, and the people associated here with you, to surrender your arms without delay, and embark in such vessels as I may provide for that purpose. . . . .10
10House Exec. Doc. No. 24, 35th Cong., 1st Sess. The effect of this letter upon the people of Washington, when it was first published in the United States, about December 27, 1857, is thus recorded by one of Paulding's friends: "As to your letter to Walker, its stern and terse Anglo-Saxon spirited phrases are in every one's mouth, especially the delicate and new method of stating the hanging alternative." (See Meade, 199.)
Walker read the letter without changing a muscle of his face, and then remarked: "I surrender to the United States." Engle then asked him to lower his flag, and Walker ordered one of his officers to do so. After further conversation, Engle remarked: "General, I am sorry to see an officer of your ability employed in such a service. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see you at the head of regular troops."11 Engle then ordered the naval forces back to the ships, and returned to the Fulton.
Several oral messages now passed between Paulding and Walker, and one of these, misunderstood by the bearer, greatly offended the commodore. It seems he had tried to show Walker some consideration, and had sent him word that the officers and men would have separate quarters. Walker replied that he was asking no special benefits, and Paulding, regarding this as a piece of impudence, ordered Walker's immediate embarkation on the Fulton. What followed may best be told in Paulding's own words, as contained in a letter to his wife:
Upon this he came to see me, and this lion-hearted devil, who had so often destroyed the lives of other men, came to me, humbled himself, and wept like a child. You may suppose it made a woman of me, and I have had him in the cabin since as my guest. We laugh and talk as though nothing had happened, and you would think, to see him with the captain and myself, that he was one of us. He is a smart fellow, and requires a sharp fellow to deal with him.12
There was something almost dramatic in the meeting of these two men for the first time, and the officers and crew could barely conceal their excitement as the filibuster chieftain stepped on the deck of the Fulton. The gigantic frame of the commodore in uniform contrasted strangely with the slight figure of the general in somber civilian garb; and observers noted that Walker's eyes were very red, an indication, as Paulding himself has testified, that his emotions had gotten the better of him.
11Another version of this dialogue has it that Captain Engle said to Walker: "General, I am sorry to see you here. A man like you is worthy to command better men." To which Walker is said to have grimly replied: "If I had a third the number you have brought against me, I would show you which of us two commands the better men." (Davis, "Real Soldiers of Fortune.")
12Meade, "Life of Paulding," 190.
It was the irony of fate that just as Walker surrendered to Engle, and his red-starred flag was hauled down, a belated river steamer, the Morgan, which had gone aground 12 miles up stream, came in sight, having 12 filibusters and 30 Costa Rican prisoners on board. A detachment of United States marines seized the boat, liberated the prisoners, captured the filibusters, and placed the steamer in the keeping of the United States commercial agent at Greytown. Mr. C. J. McDonald, the agent of Morgan and Garrison, who had accompanied Walker to Nicaragua, claimed the Morgan on behalf of his principals, but Paulding recognized him as one of the filibusters, and sent him on board the Saratoga.13
When Walker surrendered, some 40 of his men took to the chaparral, intending to make their way up the river and join Colonel F. P. Anderson, one of Walker's lieutenants. On the following day, the marines beat around the dense undergrowth, and by night had rounded up 32 of the men. The rest had taken a boat and gone up the river. On the night after the surrender, the denizens of Greytown came over and plundered the camp to their heart's content. A few stores that remained were placed on board the Wabash to be turned over to the United States authorities.
The officers and men, with the exception of Walker and one other, were placed on board the Saratoga, and on the 12th of December, less than a month after their departure from Mobile, they were on their way back to the United States. Walker was not placed on board the Saratoga, on account of the ill-feeling between him and Commander Chatard. The Saratoga took the men and officers to Norfolk, while the Wabash returned to her station at Aspinwall.
Walker gave his parole to Paulding to return to the United States on the regular mail steamer, and to surrender himself on reaching New York to the United States marshal. His conduct on the Wabash was in complete contrast with his attitude toward the officers of the St. Mary's after his surrender to Davis. On that vessel he had been morose, insolent, and overbearing, while he was now genial and conciliatory. As Paulding reached Aspinwall five days before the scheduled departure of the New York steamer, he endeavored to persuade Walker to remain on board the Wabash, where he would have had better quarters than on shore; but Walker declined to remain even for another meal after the vessel cast anchor, and took a room at one of the town's indifferent hotels.
13Meade, p. 197.
When the Wabash steamed away from Greytown, Colonel Anderson was still up the river. The Fulton was therefore sent to the mouth of the Colorado, and the Susquehanna, Captain Joshua R. Sands, which had just arrived, was stationed at the mouth of the San Juan, thereby preventing the escape of Anderson and his men, as well as the landing of any reinforcements for Walker that might be on their way from the United States. On hearing of Walker's capture, Anderson abandoned his stronghold and placed his force on board the steamer Ogden. On December 20, he sent a letter to Captain Sands, stating that he wished to disband his command, and inquiring whether they would be permitted to enter Greytown. Most of them, he stated, wished to return to the United States. Sands replied that he would send back to the United States any man who would surrender to him on board his ship. On the 24th, Sands took his boat's crews up the river and captured the remaining filibusters on the Ogden. Anderson surrendered under protest. The command, numbering 45, were taken to Aspinwall, in the Fulton, and there transferred to the Wabash. Paulding set them ashore at Key West, and Walker's third filibustering expedition was likewise a thing of the past.
The intelligence of the capture of Walker and his followers was received by the government of Nicaragua with much satisfaction. In the name of the Republic, Maximo Gerez, General of the Nicaraguan forces, extended his thanks to Paulding on board the Wabash, in January, 1858. The Minister Plenipotentiary of Nicaragua in Washington was also expressly directed to make known to the government of the United States that Nicaragua approved with full satisfaction the capture, on its own territory, of the filibusters by the naval forces under Paulding. Directions were further given that its assent to that incursion should be published in all the journals of the United States; and the Central American press republished it with the greatest enthusiasm.14
14Senate Exec. Doc. No. 10, 35th Cong., 2d Sess.
Chatard, as we have seen, had held that it was not "due diligence" or legitimate means to arrest the Fashion within a foreign port. In this construction of his orders he was not sustained, but, with marked severity, was suspended from his command and ordered to return to the United States, there to await the action of the Navy Department. The punishment of this officer, for his doubts, was thus communicated to Commodore Paulding by the Secretary of the Navy, under date of December 18, 1857:
Should the Saratoga not have left before you receive this, you will suspend Commander Chatard from his command, and order him to return to the United States to await the further action of the Department. You will then place Lieutenant George S. Sinclair in command of the Saratoga, with directions to carry out the instructions to Commander Chatard, of the 16th ultimo, to proceed to Norfolk.15
But Chatard had already left, with the Saratoga, about December 12, and arrived at Norfolk on January 1, 1858.
This suspension of Commander Chatard was accompanied by new orders to Commodore Paulding, enjoining "particular vigilance." These orders read, in part, as follows:
The three points which it is most important to guard are Aspinwall, Chiriqui, and San Juan del Norte, and with this [in] view you will dispose of the forces under your command to the best advantage. The President directs me to inform you that he considers it all-important that you should not leave the neighborhood of these points until further instructed by the Department, which you are hereby ordered not to do under any circumstances.16
The vessel bearing this despatch arrived at Aspinwall on the 31st of December. But the communication, having been directed to Greytown instead of Aspinwall, had been left at Kingston, Jamaica, thence forwarded to St. Thomas, thence to Greytown and Aspinwall, finally reaching Paulding at his residence in Huntington, Long Island, on March 17, 1858, some time after he had been relieved of command of the Home Squadron. As it was, Paulding arrived at Key West, on board the Wabash, on January 17, 1858. There the prisoners taken on the San Juan River by Captain Sands were delivered over to the custody of the marshal of that district, to undergo examination. On February 9, the Wabash sailed for New York, and on the 18th, Paulding was detached from command of the Home Squadron.17
The first orders detaching Paulding from the command of the Home Squadron read as follows: "You are hereby detached from the command of the Home Squadron, and a leave of absence is granted to you for three months, at the expiration of which you will report to this department [the Navy Department]." This order was subsequently withdrawn, however, lest it might be misunderstood as a reprimand and suspension; and the following order, addressed "Flag Officer Hiram Paulding, Commanding Home Squadron, New York," was substituted: "Having been over two years in command of the Home Squadron, you are hereby detached from that command, and you will regard yourself as on leave of absence for three months."
15House Exec. Doc. No. 24, 35th Cong., 1st Sess.
16Senate Exec. Doc. No. 63, 35th Cong., 1st Sess.; also, Meade, 191.
17Senate Exec. Doc. No. 63, 35th Cong., 1st Sess.
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