CHAPTER XII.

THE DEFENCE OF RIVAS.

Force at Rivas in December, 1856—State of the Allies—Charges

against Belloso—Rangers at Nandaime—Rivas prepared for

Defence—Advance of the Allies to Obraje—Skirmish at

Obraje—Allies occupy San Jorge—Henningsen’s Attack on San

Jorge—March to San Juan del Sur—The Americans at Virgin

Bay—Attempt to carry San Jorge by Surprise—Proclamation of

Mora—Cannonade of San Jorge—Desertion—Its Causes—H. B. M.’s

Steamer Esk at San Juan del Sur—Sir Robert McClure and Capt.

Fayssoux—Commander Davis and the U. S. Sloop St. Mary’s—Davis’

Visit to Rivas—Encounters near the Transit and at Jocote—Red

Star Guard—Address to the Troops—Action of 16th March—News by

the Orizaba—Attack of the Allies on Rivas, the 23d March—Their

Repulse and its Results—Rations at Rivas—Second Attack of

11th April—Women Leave Rivas—Conduct of Davis—Treaty with

Walker—Capture of the Granada—Conclusion PAGE 367

THE WAR IN NICARAGUA.

Chapter First.

THE VESTA AND HER PASSENGERS.

On the 5th of May, 1854, a number of native Nicaraguans who had been

exiled by the existing Government of their Republic, landed at Realejo,

and thence proceeded to Chinandega with a view of organizing a revolution

against the acting authorities of the country. Among them were D. Maximo

Jerez, D. Mateo Pineda, and D. José Maria Valle, leading citizens of the

Occidental Department. They had sailed from Tiger Island on a vessel

commanded by an American, Gilbert Morton, and were about fifty-four in

all when they surprised the garrison at Realejo. After the revolutionists

reached Chinandega, they were joined by large numbers of the people,

and they proceeded with little delay to march towards Leon. On the road

thither they met the forces of the Government at several points, each

time routing them; and the President, D. Fruto Chamorro, seeing the

temper of the people, and unable to resist the revolution about Leon,

fled alone, and without an escort, to Granada. He did not reach the last

named city for some days after leaving Leon, having gone astray in the

woods and hills about Managua, and his partisans had almost despaired of

ever again seeing him, when he rode into the town where his principal

adherents resided.

After the revolutionists, headed by Jerez, reached Leon, they organized

a Provisional Government, naming as Director, D. Francisco Castellon.

This gentleman had been a candidate for the office of Director at the

preceding election in 1853; and his friends asserted that he had a

majority of votes, but that Chamorro had obtained the office by the free

use of bribes among the members of the electoral college. Chamorro was

installed in the office, and soon found pretexts for banishing Castellon

and his chief supporters to Honduras. In that State, General Trinidad

Cabañas held executive power; and favored by him, Jerez and his comrades

had been able to sail from Tiger Island with the arms and ammunition

requisite for their landing at Realejo.

While his political enemies were in Honduras, Chamorro had called a

constituent Assembly, and the constitution of the country had been

thoroughly revised and changed. The constitution of 1838 placed the Chief

Executive power in the hands of a Supreme Director, who was elected every

two years; the new constitution created the office of President, who

was to be chosen every four years. In all respects the new constitution

placed more power in the Government than had been trusted to it by the

previous law; hence it was odious to the party styling itself Liberal,

and acceptable to those who called themselves the party of order.

The new constitution was printed on the 30th of April, 1854; and its

partisans say it was also promulgated on that day. The opponents of

the new constitution say it never was promulgated. At any rate, the

revolution, made professedly against this constitution, was started on

the 5th of May, before the new law could have been promulgated in the

towns and villages distant from the capital.

The Leonese revolutionists styled their Executive Provisional Director,

and asserted their resolution to maintain the organic act of 1838.

They took the name of Democrats, and wore as their badge a red ribbon

on their hats. Chamorro was called by his friends President—they thus

declaring their adhesion to the new constitution; and calling themselves

Legitimists, they mounted the white ribbon, in opposition to the red of

the Democrats.

During the month of May the Provisional Government was accepted by all

the municipalities of the Occidental Department, and by some of the other

towns; and the democratic army, as it was called, marching southward,

reached Granada in the early part of June. The delay of the Democrats at

Leon and at Managua had given Chamorro time to organize his force, and

though his numbers were small, he repulsed Jerez and his followers (for

these latter could not be called a force) when they attempted to carry

Granada by assault. After the first repulse, Jerez sat down before the

town, and affected to lay siege to the place. The rabble at his heels

were, however, busier in plundering the shops of the suburbs than in

defeating the plans of their enemies. The arrival of some officers and

soldiers from Honduras assisted Jerez in his efforts to organize the

“democratic army,” and was a proof of the readiness with which Cabañas

had recognized the Provisional Government.

For some months Jerez remained at Granada, vainly attempting to get

possession of the chief square of the city, known as the Plaza. All the

towns of the State had in the meanwhile declared for Castellon, and

his friends held the lakes as well as the San Juan river, by means of

small schooners and bungos. The schooners were under the command of a

physician—an American or Englishman who had resided in the United States,

and bore the name of Segur, although his real name was Desmond. In the

month of January, 1855, Corral succeeded in taking Castillo, as well as

the lake schooners, from the Democrats; and soon thereafter Jerez broke

up his camp before Granada, and retreated in a rapid and disorderly

manner towards Managua and Leon. The flight of the Democrats from Rivas

followed almost immediately the retreat from Granada; and in a few weeks

the turn of affairs was visible by the adhesion of many persons of

property to the Legitimist party.

It was well for the Democrats that Chamorro, worn out by long disease and

anxious thought, died a short time after they left the Jalteva. He was

buried in the parish church, on the main Plaza of Granada, and his death

was kept carefully concealed from the enemy. His name was strength to

the Legitimists and a terror to their foes; and had he lived, a far more

vigorous hand than that of Corral would have driven the flying Democrats

back to the square of Leon. After the death of Chamorro, Corral remained

in command of the Legitimist army, and the Presidency fell, under the

constitution of 1854, to one of the Senators, D. José Maria Estrada.

In the meantime, causes at work outside of Nicaragua were destined

to influence very materially the fate of the Provisional Government.

President Carrera, of Guatemala, being friendly to the principles of the

party led by his countryman Chamorro, had determined to act against the

Government of Cabañas, in Honduras. In view of this fact, Alvarez and the

Honduras contingent received orders to return from Nicaragua, and this

dampened the spirit of the Democratic leaders. Honduras, threatened by

the much greater power of Guatemala on the north, not only had need of

all the resources she could control, but she could hardly hope, without

foreign assistance, to resist the strength of Carrera and his Indians.

Not even the Nicaraguans themselves could blame Cabañas for the course he

took, and the friendship between Castellon and the President of Honduras

remained unaffected by the policy the latter was forced to pursue. The

alliance between the Governments at Leon and at Comayagua continued, and

they seemed to be linked together for a common fate. But closely as the

cause of Castellon was bound to that of Cabañas, it was not in Honduras,

nor yet in Guatemala, that its destiny was being determined. The very

day which witnessed the most signal triumph of the Nicaraguan Democrats

was destined to behold the overthrow of the Cabaña administration; and

to ascertain the cause of such a strange result we must leave Central

America and consider events in California.

Three days after Jerez and his comrades landed at Realejo—that is on

the 8th of May, 1854—a novel scene was enacted on the boundary between

Upper and Lower California. On that day a small band of Americans marched

from the Tia Juana country-house to the monument marking the boundary

between the United States and Mexico, and there yielded their arms to

a military officer of the former power. These men were poorly clad,

but even at the moment of their surrender they—I speak not of their

leader—bore themselves with a certain courage and dignity not unworthy

of men who had aspired to found a new State. They were the last of what

has been called the expedition to Lower California; and some among them

had seen the flag of Mexico lowered at La Paz to give place to another

made for the occasion. They had passed through much toil and danger; and

most of them being altogether new to war had taken their first lesson

in that difficult art by long fasts, and vigils, and marches across one

of the most inhospitable regions of the American continent. The natural

obstacles of Lower California, the scarce subsistence, the long intervals

between watering-places, the rugged sides of the mountains, and the

wide wastes of sandy desert, would make war in that territory not a

pastime even to a well-appointed force. And when you add to these natural

difficulties an enemy who knows the country well, and who is always able

to muster larger numbers than your own, some idea may be formed of

the trials of those engaged in the Lower California expedition. When,

however, these men crossed the line, they gave no sign of failing spirit,

but looked the foe which hung about their rear and flanks as resolutely

in the face as if they had just left a field of triumph and victory.

Such a fact is itself sufficient to prove that the vulgar ideas of this

expedition are false; and as several of the persons with Colonel Walker

in Lower California afterward acted in Nicaraguan affairs, it is not

irrelevant to ascertain the motives which guided them in their first

enterprise, so little understood by the American people.

The object of these men in leaving California was to reach Sonora; and

it was the smallness of their numbers which made them decide to land at

La Paz. Thus forced to make Lower California a field of operations until

they might gather strength for entering Sonora, they found a political

organization in the peninsula requisite. It was the intention of their

leader to establish at as early a time as possible a military colony—not

necessarily hostile to Mexico—on the frontier of Sonora, with a view

of protecting that State from the Apaches. The design of such a colony

first took form at Auburn, in Placer county, California, early in 1852. A

number of persons there contributed to send two agents to Guaymas for the

purpose of getting a grant of land near the old town of Arispe, with the

condition of protecting the frontier from the Indians. These agents—one

of whom was Mr. Frederic Emory—arrived in Sonora just after Count

Raousset de Boulbon had agreed to settle several hundred French near the

mine of Arizona; and the State Government of Sonora expected the French

to do the work the Americans desired to attempt. Mr. Emory and his

companion, therefore, failed in their object; and the Count de Boulbon

soon afterward going to Sonora, the Auburn plan was abandoned. The

Government of Arista, or rather persons attached to that administration,

became hostile to Raousset de Boulbon on account of their interest in a

conflicting claim to the mine he contracted to work; and by the intrigues

of Colonel Blanco the French were driven into revolution, and afterward,

during the illness of their leader, into an agreement to leave the

country.

At the time the news of their departure from Sonora reached California,

Mr. Emory proposed to Mr. Walker, to revive the Auburn enterprise; and

Walker, together with his former partner, Mr. Henry P. Watkins, sailed

for Guaymas, in the month of June, 1853, intending to visit the Governor

of Sonora, and try to get such a grant as might benefit the frontier

towns and villages. Walker was careful to provide himself with a passport

from the Mexican consul at San Francisco; but this availed him little

when he reached Guaymas. The day after his arrival there the Prefect

ordered him to the office of police, and after a long examination forbade

him to leave for the interior, refusing to countersign his passport

for Ures. Seeing the obstacles placed in his way at the outset, Walker

determined to return to California; and after he went aboard the vessel

for that purpose the Prefect sent him word the Governor, Gandara, had

ordered his passport to be countersigned in order that he might go to the

capital. The same courier who bore the order from Gandara to the Prefect,

Navarro, also brought news that the Apaches had visited a country-house,

a few leagues from Guaymas, murdering all the men and children, and

carrying the women into a captivity worse than death. The Indians sent

word that they would soon visit the town “where water is carried on

asses’ backs”—meaning Guaymas; and the people of that port, frightened

by the message, seemed ready to receive any one who would give them

safety from their savage foe. In fact several of the women of the place

urged Walker to repair immediately to California, and bring down enough

Americans to keep off the Apaches.

What Walker saw and heard at Guaymas satisfied him that a comparatively

small body of Americans might gain a position on the Sonora frontier,

and protect the families on the border from the Indians; and such an act

would be one of humanity, no less than of justice, whether sanctioned

or not by the Mexican Government. The condition of the upper part of

Sonora was at that time, and still is, a disgrace to the civilization

of the continent; and until a clause in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

was rescinded by one in the Gadsden treaty, the people of the United

States were more immediately responsible before the world for the Apache

outrages. On none more immediately than on the American people, did the

duty devolve of relieving the frontier from the cruelties of savage war.

Northern Sonora was, in fact, more under the dominion of the Apaches

than under the laws of Mexico; and the contributions of the Indians

were collected with greater regularity and certainty than the dues to

the tax-gatherer. The state of this region furnished the best defence

for any American aiming to settle there without the formal consent of

Mexico; and although political changes would certainly have followed the

establishment of a colony near Arispe, they might be justified by the

plea that any social organization, no matter how secured, is preferable

to that in which individuals and families are altogether at the mercy of

savages.

But the men who sailed for Sonora were obliged to sojourn, for a time, on

the peninsula; and their conduct in Lower California may be taken as the

measure of their motives in the enterprise they undertook. Wheresoever

they went they sought to establish justice and maintain order, and those

among them who violated law were summarily punished. An instance occurred

at the old mission of San Vincente, illustrative of the character of the

expedition, and of the persons who directed it. Several of the soldiers

had formed a conspiracy to desert and to pillage the cattle-farms on

their way to Upper California. The plan and purposes of the conspirators

were revealed by one of the confederates, and the parties to the plot

were tried by court-martial, found guilty of the charge, and sentenced

to be shot. A military execution is a good test of military discipline;

for no duty is so repulsive to the soldier as that of taking life from

the comrade who has shared the perils and privations of his arduous

service. On this occasion, too, the duty was more difficult, because the

number of Americans was small, and was daily diminishing. But painful

as was the duty, the men charged with the execution did not shrink from

the performance of it; and the very field where the unfortunate victims

of the law expiated their offence with their lives, was suggestive of

comparison between the manner in which the expeditionists and the Mexican

Government severally performed the duties of protection to society. The

expeditionary force, drawn up to vindicate law, by the most serious

punishment it metes out to the offender, stood almost in the shadow of

the ruins of the church of the mission fathers. The roofless buildings

of the old monastery, the crumbling arches of the spacious chapel, the

waste fields which showed signs of former culture, and the skulking form

of the half-clothed Indian, relapsing into savageism from which the holy

fathers had rescued him, all declared the sort of protection Mexico had

given to the persons as well as the property of the Peninsula. In the

vital functions of government, the expeditionists may safely challenge a

comparison of their acts with those of Mexico in Lower California; and

the ruin and desolation which followed the unwise no less than unjust

measure of secularizing the missions, were sufficient to forfeit the

claim of the Mexican Republic to the allegiance of the peninsula.

The main fact for us to know is that those engaged in the Lower

California expedition gave proof of their desire not to destroy, but to

re-organize society wherever they went. They were all young men, and

youth is apt to err in pulling down before it is ready to build up. But

they were men, also, full of military fire and thirsting for military

reputation; and the soldier’s instinct leads him to construct rather than

to destroy. The spirit of the soldier is conservative; the first law of

military organization is order. Therefore, these men, though young,

were not ill-fitted to lay the foundations of a new and more stable

society than any they might find either in Sonora or Lower California.

They failed, however; whether through the actions of others more than

of themselves, it imports not our present purpose to determine. Suffice

it to say that the last remains of the expedition reached San Francisco

about the middle of May, 1854.

The leader of the expedition—William Walker, or, as he was then called,

Col. Walker—after returning to Upper California, resumed the occupation

of editor of a daily paper. One of the proprietors of the paper he edited

was Byron Cole, whose attention had been for several years directed to

Central America, and more particularly to Nicaragua. Cole, in frequent

conversations with Walker, urged him to give up the idea of settling in

Sonora, and to devote his labors to Nicaragua; and soon after he heard

of the revolution undertaken by Jerez and Castellon, Cole sold his

interest in the paper at San Francisco, and sailed for San Juan del Sur.

He left for Nicaragua on the steamer of the 15th of August, 1854, being

accompanied by Mr. Wm. V. Wells, whose attention was fixed on Honduras.

From San Juan del Sur, Mr. Cole, after numerous delays and vexations,

succeeded in getting to Leon, and there obtained from Castellon a

contract, by which the Provisional Director authorized him to engage

the services of three hundred men for military duty in Nicaragua, the

officers and soldiers to receive a stated monthly pay, and a certain

number of acres of land at the close of the campaign. With this contract

Cole returned to California early in the month of November, and forthwith

sought Walker for the purpose of getting him to take an interest in

the enterprise. As soon as Walker read the contract he refused to act

under it, seeing that it was contrary to the act of Congress of 1818,

commonly known as the neutrality law. He, however, told Cole that if

he would return to Nicaragua, and get from Castellon a contract of

colonization, something might be done with it. Cole accordingly sailed a

second time for San Juan; and on the 29th of December, 1854, Castellon

gave him a colonization grant, under which three hundred Americans were

to be introduced into Nicaragua, and were to be guaranteed forever the

privilege of bearing arms. This grant Cole sent to Walker, and it reached

the latter at Sacramento early in the month of February, 1855.

A few days after receiving this contract, Walker went to San Francisco

with the view of providing means, if possible, for carrying two or three

hundred men to Nicaragua. He there met an old schoolmate, Mr. Henry A.

Crabb, who had just returned from the Atlantic States; and Crabb having

passed through Nicaragua on his way from California to Cincinnati, gave a

glowing report of the natural wealth and advantages of the country. While

crossing the Transit Road, Crabb heard of the events then transpiring in

the Republic—of the revolution at Leon and the siege of Granada; and he

also ascertained that Jerez was anxious to obtain the aid of Americans

for the campaign against the Legitimists. This suggested the idea of

getting an element into the society of Nicaragua for the regeneration of

that part of Central America; and while in the Atlantic States Crabb had

secured the co-operation of Mr. Thomas F. Fisher, formerly and now of

New-Orleans, and of Captain C. C. Hornsby, who had served in one of the

regiments known as the Ten Regiments, during the Mexican war. The three,

Crabb, Fisher, and Hornsby, left New-Orleans together in the month of

January, 1855: and on the way to San Juan del Norte they found aboard

the steamer Mr. Julius De Brissot, bound, as he said, for the Gallipagos

Islands. De Brissot joined the party; and he, together with Hornsby and

Fisher, remained in Nicaragua, while Crabb proceeded to San Francisco.

When Walker met Crabb at the latter place, he was awaiting advices from

Fisher, who stopped on the Isthmus for the purpose of visiting Jerez and

obtaining from him authority to engage Americans for the service of the

Democratic army.

Not many days elapsed before Fisher himself came to California, bringing

with him authority to enlist five hundred men for Jerez, and with a

promise of the most extravagant pay, in both money and lands, to the

officers and men who might engage in the service. It seems Fisher,

Hornsby, and De Brissot, found the newly-arrived United States Minister,

John H. Wheeler, on the Isthmus; and as His Excellency was anxious

to visit the Democratic camp in the Jalteva, as well as Chamorro, in

Granada, before deciding what authority he would recognise, Fisher and

his party went as an escort to the Minister, and under the protection of

the American flag, into both camps. From Jerez, however, Fisher obtained

at this time the contract he bore to San Francisco; while Hornsby and

De Brissot, after leaving Granada, went to Rivas, and entered into a

Quixotic agreement with D. Maximo Espinosa to take Fort Castillo Viejo

and the San Juan river from the Legitimists, who had lately driven

the Democrats from the stronghold at the Rapids. These two gentlemen,

however, were soon glad to manage their escape from San Juan del Sur

aboard of the steamer for San Francisco; and not long after Fisher’s

arrival, Hornsby and De Brissot both appeared in California.

Crabb and Walker had known each other from childhood, and their views

were similar in regard to the state of Central America, and the means

necessary for its regeneration. Therefore, Crabb generously proposed

to give Walker the whole benefit of the contract Fisher had made with

Jerez; and Crabb, in view of certain political movements then occurring

in California, decided to remain in that State. Walker, however, while

thanking Crabb for his offer, refused to have anything to do with the

Jerez contract, preferring to act under the Castellon grant to Cole,

not only because of its entire freedom from legal objections, but also

because it was more reasonable, and had been given by an authority

competent to make the bargain. Hornsby and De Brissot embarked in the

enterprise with Walker; and it will be seen hereafter that they, as well

as Fisher, held commissions under the Republic of Nicaragua.

In the meanwhile, Walker had taken care that no show of secrecy should

bring suspicion on his undertaking, either as to its illegality or its

injustice. He took the Cole grant to the District Attorney of the United

States for the Northern District of California, Hon. S. W. Inge, and

that gentleman after examining it declared no law would be violated by

acting under it. At that time, too, General Wool, commanding the Pacific

Division, was supposed to have special power from the President for

suppressing expeditions contrary to the Act of 1818. His headquarters

were at Benicia, and the General was in the habit of reading to many

persons the letters addressed by him to the then Secretary of War,

Colonel Jefferson Davis, defending the course he took in reference to the

Lower California expedition. Among others, he read these letters (which

the old gentleman seemed to think models of logic and style) to Walker,

the very person about whose acts the discussion had arisen between

himself and the Secretary. From these letters Walker was led to infer

that the common impression about the powers vested in the General, under

the Act of 1818, was correct; and, therefore, when he heard of General

Wool being in San Francisco, he sought him out, and found him on the

wharf only a few minutes before four o’clock, the hour for the departure

of the Sacramento steamer. The General was about to leave in the boat for

Benicia; and after hearing Walker’s statement as to the nature of the

grant made to Cole, and of his intention to act under it, the old man,

shaking him heartily by the hand, said he not only would not interfere

with the enterprise, but wished it entire success. Thus having secured

the sanction of the proper Federal authorities, Walker proceeded in his

efforts to provide means for carrying colonists to Nicaragua under the

Cole contract. He soon found that it would be impossible to get more than

a pitiful sum of money, and that his arrangements would have to be made

on the most economical scale.

While engaged in these preliminary preparations, Walker received an

injury in the foot, which kept him in his chamber until the middle of

April; and, in fact, the sore was not wholly healed when he sailed from

San Francisco. Thus confined to the house, he was able to do little more

in the way of means than to obtain a thousand dollars from Mr. Joseph

Palmer, of the firm of Palmer, Cook & Co. At this gentleman’s house he

had met with Colonel Fremont and talked with him about the enterprise

in Nicaragua; and the Colonel, who had passed across the Isthmus the

previous year, thought well of the undertaking. It is due probably, to

both Colonel Fremont and Mr. Palmer, to state that they were not fully

aware of all the views Walker held on the subject of slavery; nor,

indeed, was it necessary at that time for those views to be expressed.

Besides the assistance given by Mr. Palmer, Walker was much aided by two

friends—Mr. Edmund Randolph and Mr. A. P. Crittenden.

After much difficulty, a contract was made with one Lamson for the

passage of a certain number of men, aboard the brig Vesta, from San

Francisco to Realejo. The agreement had been made through a ship-master,

McNair, and it was considered that he would sail in command of the Vesta.

But, after the cash payment on the charter party had been made to Lamson,

he and McNair fell out, and the former was obliged to employ another

captain for his vessel. The provisions and the passengers were all aboard

the brig about the 20th of April; and when it was thought she was on

the point of leaving, the Sheriff seized the vessel by attachment at the

suit of an old creditor of the owner, Lamson. The evening, too, after the

attachment, there were some signs of the brig getting under way for sea;

and therefore the Sheriff sent down a posse of eight or ten, armed with

revolvers, for the purpose of preventing an escape. A sort of scuffle,

more in jest than in earnest, occurred between some of the posse and

their acquaintances among the passengers; and the new captain, frightened

out of his wits, jumped over the rail to the wharf, taking with him the

papers of the ship. A few days afterward the United States Marshal served

a writ on the brig for the price of the provisions; and the revenue

cutter W. L. Marcy was hauled astern of the Vesta, with orders to keep

her from going to sea with the Deputy Marshal aboard. To make assurance

doubly sure, the Sheriff had the sails of the brig unbent and put in

store. The owner seemed to be entirely without means to satisfy the

claims against the vessel, and everybody thought the chance very small

for the departure of the vessel on her proposed voyage.

Walker, however, advised the passengers to remain aboard, and all except

a few followed the advice. Soon he found a captain for the Vesta, in the

person of Mr. M. D. Eyre, who professed some knowledge of navigation. The

holder of the claim against Lamson, under which the attachment issued,

happened to be a friend of Crabb, from Stockton; and he was induced by

good will for the voyage the Vesta was bound on, to grant easy terms for

the release of the brig. Lamson really controlled the action of the

merchants who sold him the provisions; and when he was told it might

not be safe for him to keep the passengers in San Francisco, he rather

hesitatingly agreed to have the libel dismissed. But the sheriff’s costs

had run up, by the employment of the posse, and other extraordinary

expenses, to more than three hundred dollars; and Walker having expended

nearly the last dollar, it seemed as if this trivial amount might stop

the whole enterprise. The costs of the sheriff were very large, if

not illegal; but, as he had the sails in store, he seemed to have the

Vesta in his power. Walker managed, however, to get an order from the

sheriff on the store-keeper for the sails; and as the sheriff was kept

in ignorance of the dismissal of the libel, he supposed the cutter would

detain the brig in port if she tried to go out. Besides this, he had

a keeper aboard; and the keeper having been a member of a California

Legislature, was supposed to keep a sharp lookout for any suspicious

movement. The captain of the cutter was informed a little before dark

that the Vesta was out of the marshal’s hands, and arrangements were made

through one of the Marcy’s officers, for her sailors to come aboard about

ten o’clock, in order to bend the sails of the brig. The United States

sailors came at the appointed time, and the passengers managed to get the

sheriff’s keeper into the cabin, where he was detained for several hours.

Swiftly and silently the work of bending the sails went on; and shortly

after midnight, on the morning of the 4th of May, 1855, the steam-tug

Resolute came alongside the Vesta, and hitching her on, towed her from

the wharf, through the shipping, into the stream, and out by the Heads

to sea. The sheriff’s keeper was sent to the Resolute, the towlines were

cast off, and the Vesta put to sea, to the great joy of the passengers,

who had been for two weeks alternating between hope of her departure and

fear of her detention.

When the brig got to sea, it was found that there were fifty-eight

passengers bound for a new home in the tropics. Among them were Achilles

Kewen, who had commanded a company under Lopez, at Cardenas, in 1850;

Timothy Crocker, who had served under Walker throughout the Lower

California expedition; C. C. Hornsby, whose previous adventures in

Nicaragua have been alluded to; Dr. Alex. Jones, who had lately been to

the Cocos Islands in search of a buried treasure; Francis P. Anderson,

who had served in the New-York regiment in California during the Mexican

war; and others, whose names will hereafter appear in the course of this

narrative. They were most of them men of strong character, tired of the

humdrum of common life, and ready for a career which might bring them the

sweets of adventure or the rewards of fame. Their acts will afford the

best measure both of their capacity and of their character.

The voyage of the Vesta was rather long and tedious. In crossing

the Gulf of Tehuantepec she encountered a gale which tested her

timbers—twenty-nine years in her sides—to the utmost. The bow of the old

brig would open to the waves as they roared around her, and at times her

decks were swept clear by the huge billows passing over her. She was

worked by men detailed from the passengers; and after living through the

storm off Tehuantepec, the crew had little to do until she reached the

Gulf of Fonseca. More than five weeks had been consumed since leaving

San Francisco before the volcano of Coseguina—the first Nicaraguan

land—was seen looming in the distance. The want of wind detained the

brig for some hours at the mouth of the gulf, while a boat was sent in

to the port of Amapala, on the Island of Tigre. Captain Morton, the same

American who had carried Jerez to Realejo, in May, 1854, was at Amapala

with instructions from Castellon, awaiting the arrival of the Vesta.

The captain was gladly welcomed aboard the brig, as the skipper who

had brought the vessel from San Francisco knew nothing of the Central

American coast. After taking Morton aboard, the Vesta proceeded on her

way, and on the morning of the 16th of June, she came to anchor within

the port of Realejo.

I have been somewhat minute, and it may be tedious, in narrating the

earlier incidents of the enterprise whereby Americans were introduced

as an element into Nicaraguan society, because we may often judge best

of events by seeing clearly the origin of them. The father ceases to

have any direct influence over either the mind or the organization of

the child after the moment of conception; and yet how often we trace not

merely the features of the father, but even the delicate traits of his

character, in his offspring. The fine cells which determine the nature of

organic structure, have been minutely studied by the physiologist, and

the manner of their development has opened to him some of the hitherto

hidden laws of life. If, then, you desire to understand the character

of the late war in Nicaragua, do not despise the small events which

attended the departure of the fifty-eight from San Francisco. From the

day the Americans landed at Realejo dates a new epoch, not only for

Nicaragua, but for all Central America. Thenceforth it was impossible for

the worn-out society of those countries to evade or escape the changes

the new elements were to work in their domestic as well as in their

political organization.

The state of native parties in Nicaragua on the 16th day of June,

1855, was quite different from that existing on the 29th of December,

1854—the day on which Castellon made the grant to Cole. When the Vesta

dropped anchor in the port of Realejo, the Provisional Government was

confined almost entirely to the Occidental Department. The Legitimists

held all the Oriental and Meridional Departments, and most of the towns

and villages in Matagalpa and Segovia were subject to their sway. The

ally, too, of the Provisional Government, Cabañas, sat less firmly in

the executive chair of Honduras than he had on the previous Christmas.

A force organized by the aid of Guatemala, and commanded by a General

Lopez, had invaded the Department of Gracias; and while Lopez was sent

into the north of Honduras, General Santos Guardiola—whose name was

itself a terror to the towns of both States—sailed from Istapa for

San Juan del Sur, aboard the Costa Rican schooner San José, with the

intention of engaging in the service of the Legitimists for a campaign in

Segovia, close to the confines of Tegucigalpa and Choluteca. Guardiola

arrived at Granada only a few days before Walker reached Realejo; and

the latter found the people about Chinandega trembling at the name of

one who, whether properly or improperly it is hard to say, had acquired

the epithet of the “Butcher” of Central America. After the retreat from

Granada Jerez had fallen into disgrace with his party—at least they

denied him all claim to military capacity, no doubt glad to place on

the shoulders of their leader the blame of all the misfortunes which

had followed their entire want of military virtue. In place of Jerez,

Castellon put at the head of the “Democratic Army” General Muñoz, who

had at that time more reputation as a soldier than any man in Central

America. He had been invited to Leon from Honduras, whither he had

retired several years previously in consequence of having failed in a

revolution against the Government of D. Laureano Pineda; and it was only

by much entreaty and grave concession that Castellon had prevailed on

him to take the command of the army of the Provisional Government. Since

assuming the command Muñoz had acted wholly on the defensive, devoting

his time to drilling the men pressed into the service of Castellon; and

it was widely whispered among the people, especially among the blood reds

of the Democrats, that Muñoz was anxious for a compromise between the two

contending parties, thinking more of maintaining himself in power than of

the success of the principles for which the revolution was begun.

Walker was not ill pleased to hear from Morton on the way from Tiger

Island to Realejo, the condition of affairs in Nicaragua. He felt that

the more desperate the fortunes of the Castellon party were, the more

deeply would they be indebted to the men who might rescue them from

their danger, and the more thoroughly would they be committed to any

course or policy the Americans might propose. Far from being depressed by

the news, which to some might have appeared gloomy, he saw in the very

straits to which the Democratic party was reduced, the cause no less than

the presage of the success of his companions. The anxiety, too, with

which Castellon evidently awaited the arrival of the Vesta, was cheering.

He had sent Morton to Tiger Island for the express purpose of boarding

the brig and of bringing her as speedily as possible to Realejo; and when

the vessel appeared off the Island of Cardon, the collector of the port

and a special officer, sent by the Provisional Director, Col. Ramirez,

came out to the Vesta in order to welcome her to the waters of Nicaragua.

On the evening of the 15th of June—the day before the Vesta was able to

enter the harbor—these two officers came aboard the brig, and Colonel

Ramirez informed Walker that he was ordered from Leon to see all proper

arrangements made for the reception of the Americans. Quarters had been

prepared for them at Realejo, and the Director was anxious to see Walker

as early as possible.

As soon as the brig came to anchor, the passengers got ready to go up the

river to the town which lies four or five miles from the harbor. Several

bungos were secured for the purpose; and a little past noon the native

boatmen pulled away from the brig, the Americans taking with them their

clothes and blankets as well as their arms and ammunition. Each of them

carried a rifle, and many of them had revolvers. The bungos entered the

river, and silence was rarely broken save by the plashing of the oars

in the water, or the harsh cry of a macaw screaming its discordant note

from the boughs overhanging the stream. The deep gloom of the tropical

forests was more impressive from the ocean of sunshine which surrounded

it; and the stillness of all nature affected the beholder with an awe

which commanded silence and reflection. After pulling a short distance,

however, the native boatmen, whose senses long use had blunted to the

peculiar impressions of the scenery, began to talk about the different

objects they passed; nor did they fail to point out the stones used by

Morgan as ballast, and which he threw from his vessel in order to receive

the precious freight he pillaged from Realejo. The distance of the

present town from the harbor is due in fact to the dread the Spaniards

had of the buccaneers of the seventeenth century.

It was near 4 o’clock in the afternoon when the Americans drew up at

the wharf of Realejo and leaped ashore for the first time in Nicaragua.

The guard-house was near the landing-place, and as Walker passed, the

officer, a light, active young fellow, with a bright red short-cloak

thrown gracefully over his left shoulder, turned out the guard, and

saluted. The soldiers all wore the red ribbon with the words “Ejercito

Democratico” printed on it; and although without uniform or any music

except that made by a very indifferent drum, they had a good military

carriage, and their step, unimpeded by shoe or sandal, was excellent. As

the Americans passed up the street to the quarters assigned them, the

women, with their best dresses and most pleasing smiles, stood at the

doors and windows saluting with much natural grace the strangers who

had come to find a home in their midst, and to share the fortunes of the

party with which their husbands and lovers, and fathers and brothers,

were identified.

Early the next morning, Walker and Crocker, accompanied by Col. Ramirez

and Capt. Doubleday, an American who had served in the Democratic army

during the siege of Granada, started for Leon. As they entered the town

of Chinandega the church bells rang a welcome peal, and at all the

villages on the road they received marks of good will and hospitality.

The road from Chinandega to Leon, by Chichigalpa and Posultega, passes

through a country for which nature has done much and man little; and

the effect of even what little man had done was marred by the constant

signs of revolutionary violence. Under the shade of the magnificent

ceiba might be seen halted a company of soldiers with their trowsers

rolled above their knees; but on close observation you could perceive

that the sergeants and corporals were keenly watching lest some of

their new recruits might take advantage of the halt to slip away for a

moment, and so escape the hated service. It was a relief to turn from

man and his works to the nature brilliant with beauties in her tropical

aspects. As the travellers approached Leon they beheld spread out before

them a vast plain which seems almost boundless in extent as you look

toward the south; while gazing northward, you perceive the lofty line of

volcanoes—Viejo on one flank and Momotombo on the other—stretching from

the Gulf of Fonseca to the Lake of Managua. It is only when you ascend

the tower of the cathedral within the city, and are able to distinguish

to the westward the ocean through the break in the coast range of hills,

that you see the southern wall of the plain made by the mountains around

the town of Managua.

But it was not to muse over nature or to admire her vast and grand

proportions in these southern latitudes, that the companions of the

swarthy Ramirez had come to Central America. The sight of the picket on

the outskirt of the town, though at least three quarters of a league

from the Plaza, was more suggestive of the objects they had in view; and

riding rapidly through the lanes and streets they soon reached the house

of the Provisional Director. Castellon received the new-comers with frank

cordiality, and expressed the lively pleasure he felt at their arrival.

It did not require many minutes to see that he was not the man to control

a revolutionary movement, or to conduct it to a successful issue. There

was a certain indecision, not merely in his words and features, but

even in his walk and the general motions of his body; and this trait

of character seemed to be aggravated by the circumstances about him. A

short conversation revealed his anxiety that Walker should meet Muñoz;

and Castellon said at once that he needed the military assistance of the

Americans to secure the success of the Provisional Government. He said

he wished them to enter the service as a separate corps, and proposed to

call them _La Falange Americana_—the American Phalanx.

During the evening Muñoz called at the house of the Director, and Walker

was presented to him. The contrast between the manner of the Executive

and that of the General was striking. Castellon was modest, gentle,

almost shrinking in his address; Muñoz had an air of conceit which

affirmed a feeling of superiority on his part, to all around him. It was

not difficult to see that they disliked each other; though Castellon

concealed his feelings and opinions better than Muñoz. The General, soon

after saluting Walker, began to talk in the most ridiculous style about

the comparative military merits of General Scott and General Taylor,

exposing his ignorance in every sentence, and showing the weakness of

his character. Muñoz let the American perceive that the new element

Castellon proposed to introduce into the war did not have the approval

of the commander-in-chief; and after the General took leave, Walker

told Castellon that if he and his comrades entered the service of the

Provisional Government, it was with the distinct understanding they were

not to be put under the orders of Muñoz. Walker found that the Director

was not at all averse to have some one with him to lighten the burden he

had been obliged to bear in the person of the commanding general.

The next day Walker determined to return to Chinandega, to let the

Americans know that Castellon wished their services as soldiers; and

before leaving, he proposed to the Director, in case they enlisted, to

immediately march on the town of Rivas, with a view of occupying the

Meridional Department. This movement, if successful, would furnish money

to the Government, which was now obliged to overtax and thereby to create

disaffection among the people of the Occidental; and the occupation of

the Transit Road would place the Americans in a position to increase

their numbers from the passengers across the Isthmus. The Director

said he would place the proposition before his Minister of War, D.

Buenaventura Selva, and advise Walker of the decision in the matter.

The Americans were delighted, on Walker’s return to Chinandega, where

he found them, to hear that Castellon wished them to engage in the

service, and that in a few days they might be called on to march against

the enemy. On the 20th of June, Walker received a commission as Colonel

in the Democratic army, and the Secretary of War informed him that

commissions would be issued to other officers among the Americans as he

might suggest. Achilles Kewen was appointed to the rank of Lieutenant

Colonel; Crocker was made Major; and the _Falange_ being organized into

two companies, two captains were named, the senior being C. C. Hornsby.

By the constitution of 1838, a simple declaration of intention made any

native-born citizen of an American Republic a naturalized citizen of

Nicaragua, and under this clause most of the _Falange_ became Nicaraguans.

At the same time the Secretary of War sent Walker his commission, he

informed him that the Director desired him to organize a force to act

against the enemy in the Meridional Department; that Col. Ramirez had

been ordered to raise two hundred natives, and to report with his command

to Col. Walker as soon as he was ready to march; and that the civil and

military officers at Chinandega and Realejo had been ordered to give him

any assistance he required in the way of supplies and transportation for

the force intrusted to his charge.

Chapter Second.

RIVAS, JUNE TWENTY-NINTH, 1855.

Immediately after receiving the dispatches of the Government placing

him in command of an expeditionary force to act against the Legitimists

at Rivas, Walker began to prepare the _Falange_, as the Americans were

henceforth called, to march to Realejo whence they were to sail on board

the Vesta for a point in the Meridional Department. The stores, both

commissary and ordnance, were sent by ox-carts to Realejo and thence

by bungos to the brig anchored off Point Ycaco. On the 23d, three days

after the order reached Chinandega, the force was aboard ready for

sailing. Ramirez had been backward in his movements and showed little

disposition for the enterprise, deeming it hazardous and ill-advised.

He was evidently influenced by the words of Muñoz, whose disapproval

of the expedition to Rivas was well known. So much did the opinion of

his superior, Muñoz, control his conduct, that he made small effort

to enlist the number of men—two hundred—the Director assigned as the

strength of the native force. When the Vesta was ready for sea, not

many more than one hundred natives mustered on her decks. Among the

officers with Ramirez was Mariano Mendez, a pure Indian who had been

engaged in revolutions and counter-revolutions from his youth upward.

With violent passions and uncontrolled desires he had a courage and

experience which made him at times useful to the men who were in the

habit of attempting political changes for personal objects; and when

active service was required, they would put the old chief on a good horse

with a stout lance in his hand, and reasonably expect from him the most

hazardous enterprises. Utterly unfit for civil life and incapable of

being subjected to the rigid rules of military law, he was a dangerous

tool and an unreliable friend. He would not serve under Ramirez, and

obeyed no orders except those from Walker himself. Aboard of the Vesta

his principal amusement was to spread his blanket on the deck and gather

a crowd of soldiers about him for his favorite game of Monte. Once the

money of the bettors was on Mariano’s blanket, it mattered little, so

far as the fate of the cash was concerned, whether the cards ran for or

against him; it was honor enough, so Mendez thought, and so some of the

men seemed to think, for a soldier to bet with a Colonel of Lancers, as

he claimed to be; and to lose his money was, with the soldier, a pleasant

mode of paying for so signal a distinction. Muñoz was no doubt glad to

get Mendez out of Leon; and the Colonel of Lancers was glad for awhile

to exchange the aguardiente of Subtiaba for the chocolate of Rivas,

especially with the prospect of being able to slip a few ceroons to Leon

for sale among the Indians of his neighborhood.

Nor had Castellon failed to provide for a civil organization in case

the expedition got a foothold within the Meridional Department. D.

Maximo Espinosa, the owner of a valuable cacao plantation near Rivas,

was authorized by the Minister of Relations, D. Francisco Baca, to act

as Prefect of the Department, and also as Commissioner to collect the

revenue so necessary for the sustenance of the Provisional Government.

Espinosa was an old man, upward of seventy, with a Don Quixote cast

of features, and the dark lustreless eye, full of melancholy, so

characteristic of his race. A ruling passion with him seemed to be

hatred to D. Juan Ruiz (one of Estrada’s Ministers), whose lands touched

those of Don Maximo. Indeed it is probable that an old feud about limits

between Don Juan and Don Maximo determined the latter to espouse the

cause of the Democratic army. Having lived all his life near Rivas,

Espinosa was thought to be well informed as to the roads and places

near the town. His nephew, who accompanied him, was also familiar with

the Meridional Department; and his services as guide were useful to the

expedition.

Morton was placed in charge of the Vesta; and although he knew the coast

well and took all advantage of the winds, it was not until four days

after leaving Point Ycaco that Walker was enabled to land. On the evening

of the 27th of June, about sunset, boats were let down for landing the

force at a point known as El Gigante, a short distance above Brito and

some six leagues to the north of San Juan del Sur. The boats were few and

small, and De Brissot who, by his desire to produce an effect was often

taking false steps, ran a whaleboat he had charge of against the rocks

the first trip she made to the shore. It was nearly midnight before the

whole force, consisting of about fifty-five Americans and one hundred and

ten natives, was landed on the coast. When the disembarkation commenced

the moon was shining brightly; but by eleven o’clock the sky was

overcast. The clouds continued to grow thicker and darker, and before the

force was formed in marching order, drops of rain, precursors of a heavy

shower, began to fall. Espinosa and his nephew found the trail which led

over the coast range of hills to Rivas; and about midnight the Americans

in front, Ramirez and his command in the rear, and a few native soldiers

detailed to carry the ammunition covered with ox-hides in the centre, the

column took up its march for the interior. The men carried nothing but

their arms and blankets with two day’s provisions in their haversacks, so

that they marched with as much rapidity as the damp, muddy nature of the

ground would permit; but before they had gone more than half a mile the

rain came down in torrents. Then Espinosa and his nephew lost the trail;

the old man complained of colic, and the young one seemed to be afraid to

venture further. A halt was ordered; several were sent out to search for

the trail; and in the meanwhile the main body got what shelter it could

under the heavy foliage of the large dark-looking forest trees. In a few

minutes, however, the rain ceased, the trail was found, and the command

resumed its march. At dawn the little force had somewhat recovered its

spirits, and had got over the drenching of the night previous; and

marching briskly through the thick forests, they avoided all habitations,

designing if possible to surprise the enemy at Rivas the night of the

28th. About nine o’clock they came to an old deserted adobe house, and

halted several hours for breakfast and rest.

The encampment that morning was quite gipsy-like. The felt hats of the

_Falange_ showed, in their drooping brims, the effects of the night’s

rain; and thick, heavy beards gave to most of the body a wild and

dangerous air. As soon as the sentries were posted, the Americans began

to dispose of their crackers and cold meat, washed down in some instances

by a draught from a liquor canteen; while the native soldiers opened

their supplies of cheese and tortillas, winding up with a little tiste—a

mixture of chocolate, sugar, and corn meal, diluted in water—from the

fantastically carved jicaras they carried tied with a string run through

the button-holes of their jackets or trowsers. After breakfast and

several hours’ sleep, the force was well prepared to renew its march, and

the disagreeable impressions of the night were completely forgotten in

the balmy effects of the soft, mild air, which seemed a fluid altogether

different from the atmosphere of northern climates. You felt as if a

thin, and vapory exhalation of opium, soothing and exhilarating by turns,

was being mixed at intervals with the common elements of the atmosphere.

By night, however, the clouds began again to gather; and soon after dark

a steady rain set in. The weather interfered so much with the march

that Walker saw he could not reach Rivas, as he had expected, before

morning; and as the natives carrying the ammunition began to complain of

their burden, it became an object to secure pack-horses for the command.

Besides this, many of the Americans, tired and foot-sore, lost some of

the alacrity requisite for action.

At the little village of Tola there was a small body of horsemen, sent

out by the commandant at Rivas, to watch the approach of Walker, whose

departure from Realejo had been already communicated to Corral at

Granada. Report said the news of this fact was carried to the Legitimists

by a German who received a passport to leave Leon from Muñoz. The story

is not improbable, and was confirmed by so many circumstances, that it

is not singular the Americans adopted it as a well-authenticated fact.

The Legitimists themselves said, the first news they got was from this

German; and it is certain he passed through Pueblo Nuevo with a passport

from the commanding general of the Democratic army. On receipt of the

news of Walker’s sailing from Realejo, Corral sent Colonel Bosque with a

force to Rivas; and after his arrival at the latter place, Bosque began

to build barricades, and to press the men of the town into the ranks as

soldiers. He had sent out horsemen to scour the country between Rivas and

the sea-coast; and twenty of these were, according to the information

Walker received from some Democrats near Tola, quartered in the village

the night of the 28th. As the expeditionary force approached Tola, the

rain fell fast; the roads became filled with water, and the men found it

almost impossible to keep their ammunition dry. About half a mile from

the village, some twenty men were sent on in advance to attack, and,

if possible, capture the enemy there. The detachment marched briskly

forward, the main body following at a short distance. As Walker reached

the outskirts of the village, he heard, between two claps of loud

thunder, the sharp crack of the American rifles, then all was still.

The detachment had found the hostile party in the corridor of one of the

principal houses of the town; and so little did the Legitimists expect

an enemy in the midst of the storm, that they were, without a sentry

posted, playing at cards. Several of them—among others the officer in

command—were wounded; the rest escaped, and carried the news of the

approach of the Americans to Rivas. After securing the horses of the

Legitimist troopers, sentries were posted by the Democrats, and they

halted for the night. Orders were given to the surgeon, Dr. Jones, to

look after the wounded prisoners—much to the dissatisfaction of some

native officers, who thought they ought to be shot.

A little after eight o’clock next morning, Walker marched for Rivas,

which lies about nine miles to the eastward of Tola. The day soon

became clear and bright; and the _Falange_, eager for a fight, pressed

forward briskly. Mendez having found a horse and taken a lance from one

of the enemy, was in a fine flow of spirits, and kept near the head of

the column, sometimes pressing the advance-guard to let him pass. But

Ramirez hung back, and even checked his men as they stepped close after

the Americans. Every now and then market-women, with fruit-baskets on

their heads, and just from Rivas, would gayly greet the soldiers, nodding

familiarly to some acquaintance among the natives, and much wondering at

the strange figures of the men from California. Nor were the Americans

less amused at the new faces and forms they met on the road; and such of

them as spoke any Spanish, would waste all the terms of endearment they

could muster on the girls, who seemed pleased with the compliments of the

men from the land of gold. When, however, the command reached the summit

of a hill, about four miles from Rivas, a scene of beauty and of splendor

burst upon their vision, and for a while drew them from everything else,

even from thought of the eager strife in which they expected soon to

mingle.

As the advance guard reached a turn in the road it seemed to halt for a

moment, involuntarily, and though the order was to march in silence an

exclamation of surprise and pleasure escaped the lips of all. Mendez,

the red streamer flying from the lance which rested on his stirrup, was

up with the advance and uttered the single word “Omotepe.” To his eye

the scene was familiar, but to the Americans it appeared a vision of

enchantment. The lake of Nicaragua lay in full view, and rising from

it, as Venus from the sea, was the tall and graceful cone of Omotepe.

The dark forests of the tropics clothed the side of the volcano, which

seemed to repose under the influence of the soft sunshine around it. The

form of the mountain told its history as if written in a book; and the

appearance of the volcano was so much that of a person enjoying a siesta,

the beholder would not have been surprised to see it waken at any moment

and throw the lava from its burning sides. The first glimpse of the scene

almost made the pulse stand still; and the Falange had scarcely recovered

from its effects when the command was halted opposite a country-house a

few hundred yards from Rivas, in order to prepare for the attack on the

town.

About a mile from Rivas Walker had fallen into the road leading to

Granada, so that he might enter the former place from the north. He took

this course with a view of securing the houses either of the Maleaño or

of the Santa Ursula estates—two cacao plantations on the edge of the town

furnishing good positions to a force either attacking or defending the

place. Halting his troops, then, less than half a mile from the first

houses of the town, Walker called the principal officers, American and

native, around him, explaining his plan of attack, and assigning to each

his separate duty. Kewen and Crocker were ordered to drive the enemy, if

possible, from the streets, keeping the Americans advancing at a quick

step until they reached the Plaza; while Ramirez and his command were

to follow close after the Americans, protecting, as much as they could,

their flanks and rear. A few moments sufficed for these orders, and all

declared their full understanding of the several places assigned them.

Then Kewen and Crocker ordered their men to advance. As they got within

sight of the first houses, a body of the enemy opened fire; the reply of

the rifles was sharp and deadly, and the shout of the Americans as they

rushed forward proclaimed their eagerness for the strife. The Legitimists

fell back rapidly toward the Plaza; the hill of Santa Ursula was gained

by the Falange, and driving in the panels of the gates and doors with the

butts of their rifles, the soldiers soon had possession of the houses on

the summit. Walker rode past just as the houses were entered; and seeing

Crocker a short distance in advance, he called out to know how far the

men had got toward the Plaza. Crocker was panting with excitement; his

chin was bleeding from the graze of a bullet, one arm hung useless, being

shot through near the shoulder, while in the hand of the other side he

carried his army revolver, with half its barrels discharged. But the rage

of battle was on him; and heedless of wounds he was trying to drive the

men toward the enemy. As soon, however, as he saw his commander, he sank

his voice, and said in a low tone, “Colonel, the men falter; I cannot get

them on.” Then Walker, looking to the rear, saw that the natives were not

yet in sight. The pack-mules and horses with the ammunition were slowly

coming on; and Mendez, with a few natives near him, was to be seen a

little to the right. Passing to the front, Walker saw it was too true,

as Crocker said, that the men could not be brought to advance. At the

same time a brisk fire was opened on the left flank of the Americans by

Colonel Manuel Arguëllo, who had just arrived with a force from San Juan

del Sur. Then the Americans were concentrated in a large adobe house near

the hill of Santa Ursula, and in some small houses on the opposite side

of the street; the ammunition was unpacked, and the whole force was, as

far as possible, placed under cover, in order to get a breathing time

before future action.

The enemy seeing Ramirez did not press forward to aid the Americans,

got in between the two bodies; and Madregil, as the Leonese colonel was

called, marched off with nearly his whole command toward the Costa Rican

frontier, thinking, doubtless, that the Falange would be destroyed.

The Legitimists, too, noticing the disappearance of Ramirez, began to

press the Americans on all sides, making several efforts to charge the

houses, where the rifles did good execution. The white ribbons were

strewed thickly about the streets, and the Americans had several killed

and wounded early in the conflict. But the spirits of the latter did not

droop until first Crocker and then Kewen was reported killed. Even after

these losses, however, the men were brought to a charge in order to drive

the enemy from an old gun, a four-pounder, they were trying to get to

bear on the houses the Americans occupied. The charge was successful,

and the enemy were unable to use the piece during the action. Then the

Legitimists tried to fire the houses held by the Democrats, and they

so far succeeded as to get one of the roofs in a blaze. By this time

upward of fifteen of the Americans were killed or wounded, not more than

thirty-five of them remaining for action. The fight had begun at twelve

o’clock, and it was near four when orders were issued to prepare for

retreat. Several of the wounded had to be left; but those who could march

at all were notified of the intention to abandon the houses, so that they

might be ready to move when the order was given. The enemy, protected

by the thick undergrowth, had crowded in some force close to the houses

when the order was given to sally. At the moment of leaving the house, a

shout was raised by the sallying party; the nearest of the enemy turned

and fled in confusion; and the main body of the Legitimists, paralyzed,

as it were, by the offensive appearance of the American movement, waited,

expecting everywhere an attack. Thus the Falange escaped from its

difficult position with the loss of only one man killed.

When the Democrats attacked Rivas, the Legitimists had probably five

hundred men in the town; and they were re-enforced soon after the action

commenced by Arguëllo, with some seventy-five or eighty men. There were,

according to the best accounts, at least seventy of the Legitimists

killed, and as many wounded. The Americans lost six killed and twelve

wounded; and five of their wounded left behind were barbarously murdered

by the enemy, and their bodies burnt. After such a day, the Legitimists

were not much in the humor of pursuing those who had taught them a first

lesson in the use of the rifle.

But it was not by numbers that the loss of the Americans was to be

computed. The chivalrous spirit of Kewen would have weighed against a

host of common men; and the death of Crocker was a loss hardly to be

repaired. A boy in appearance, with a slight figure, and a face almost

feminine in its delicacy and beauty, he had the heart of a lion; and

his eye, usually mild and gentle, though steady in its expression, was

quick to perceive a false movement on the part of an adversary, and

then its flash was like the gleam of a scimetar as it falls on the head

of the foe. With little military experience and less military reading,

he was a man to lead others where danger was to be met; and none who

knew him feared he would get a command into any position from which his

courage and address would be unable to extricate them. To Walker he was

invaluable; for they had been together in many a trying hour, and the

fellowship of difficulty and danger had established a sort of freemasonry

between them.

There had been with the Americans during most of the day, at Rivas, two

natives, one of them a boy, the other a man, familiar with the country

about Rivas. Under the guidance of the latter the little band retreated

through cacao plantations, seeking some road which might lead them toward

the Transit. Their march was of course slow, and they were obliged to

wait often for the wounded to come up. Among those most seriously hurt

were De Brissot and Anderson (afterward Colonel Anderson), the former

having a wound through the fleshy part of the thigh, and the latter, in

addition to a wound in the thigh, having a scratch in the scalp and a cut

in the foot. Capt. Doubleday, a volunteer in the expedition, was useful

by his knowledge of native character and the modes of native warfare; and

although having a painful wound in the head, he did not for a moment lose

his spirits or presence of mind. Two or three times in their wanderings

through plantations, the retreating party came upon native laborers, who

are accustomed to fly at the sight of armed men, through fear of being

pressed into military service; and once overtaking a slow, cautious old

man who, after some hesitation, half opened his jacket, to show a red

rose under it, they were amused by seeing a white rose at the same time

fall to the ground. After a doubtful day in revolutionary times, the

poor fellow thought it best to have the white emblem for the Legitimists

as well as the red for the Democrats. Nor were the Americans themselves

altogether lacking in such prudence; for many of them had torn the red

ribbon from their hats, in order to escape the notice of hostile parties.

This, however, was a vain precaution, since their tongue, as well as

their dress and manners, plainly told the race, and therefore the party,

to which they belonged.

It was nearly dark when the guide succeeded in striking the road from

Rivas to St. George, about half way between the two places. As the

Falange approached the high road the bells of Buenos Ayres were ringing

in the distance, and Doubleday thought it was for the victory of the

Legitimists, though it was probably for the usual vesper prayers.

Marching briskly on, the remains of the expeditionary force passed, about

dark, the outskirts of San Jorge, all the doors being closed, as usual

when a battle has been fought in the neighborhood, and all the dogs of

the village seeming to bark at the tread of the retreating Americans.

Walker ordered Mayorga, the guide, to take the command by as quiet a path

as possible to the Transit; and he soon led the party by a trail to the

right of the road between Rivas and Virgin Bay. The ground was muddy and

difficult, the men at times sinking into it over their shoes and half way

up to the knee. And if the march was trying to well men, how much more so

was it to Anderson and De Brissot, with the muscles of their thighs bored

through by musket-balls. The rear guard, however, did its duty well, and

kept the column closed up, while maintaining the coolness and firmness

requisite for meeting the enemy in case of a pursuit. But there was no

sign of pursuit; and about midnight the worn-out soldiers of the Falange

halted, and camped until morning at a deserted hut on the top of a hill,

some two miles from the Transit road.

A little sleep and a hearty breakfast revived the exhausted spirits of

the command; and before nine o’clock on the morning of the 30th, they

were again toiling along the muddy trail. Soon they got a glimpse of

the white Transit road, between two and three miles from Virgin Bay.

It looked American, and the very sight of it refreshed the Falange and

put new life even into the wounded. Not many minutes after they got

on the Transit, Walker heard, at a distance ahead, the tinkle of a

mule-bell, and the guide said it was the treasure train, the passengers

having crossed from San Juan del Sur to Virgin Bay the day before. As

the train was usually accompanied by an escort, Walker was apprehensive

of a collision between the treasure guard and his force, and of the

misrepresentations which would necessarily arise from such an event.

Hence he hastily ordered the men to be hid on the side of a hill they

were then passing; and he was relieved at seeing the whole train pass by

with none but the muleteers in charge of it. The march was then resumed,

and near the Half-way House a man named Dewey, formerly a gambler in

California, rode up, and informing Walker he was just from San Juan del

Sur, told him some of the native Democrats, Mendez among them, had passed

through town the night before, on their way to Costa Rica, but that no

Legitimists had been there since the departure of Arguëllo, early on the

morning of the 29th, for Rivas.

A few minutes after sunset, the people of San Juan del Sur beheld about

forty-five men, several of them wounded—some without hats, others without

shoes—all of them travel-stained and clinging to their rifles, defile

through the streets of the town and take up their quarters in the

barracks near the beach. The appearance of the Falange at that moment was

not imposing; but he who knew how to read men might see from the looks

of these, that they bore with firmness the blows of adverse fate. There

was no hesitation in their march or in their movements. A few men—you

could not style them a detachment, scarcely a detail—were ordered to

take possession of all the small boats in the harbor and keep them under

guard. The Costa Rican schooner, San José, cast anchor in the harbor just

as the Falange entered the barracks; and, before any of her officers or

crew had got ashore, a file of Americans were aboard and held her for

further orders. Walker expected to hear something of the Vesta, as Morton

had been ordered to cruise off and on near San Juan del Sur, until he

saw a certain signal from the shore. But no one at San Juan, although

many there were friendly to the democrats, could give any news of the

Vesta. Several of the residents of the town did all they could for the

wounded and destitute soldiers; and even in that moment of adversity,

an Irishman, Peter Burns, and a Texan, Henry McLeod, had the hardihood

to link their fate with that of the Falange. It was encouraging for the

soldiers to find that some, besides themselves, did not regard their

fortunes as altogether desperate; and small as was this addition to their

numbers, it gave increased moral as well as material strength to the

command.

Hearing nothing from the Vesta, Walker determined to press the San José

for the service, and go in search of the brig, or in default of finding

her, sail for Realejo. Accordingly the wounded were first sent to the

schooner, and soon afterward the whole command followed. They found

the owner of the vessel, one Alvarado, of Punta Arenas, aboard the

San José, which had formerly been a pilot-boat out of San Francisco.

Alvarado received the command courteously, and Walker assured him the

schooner should not be used for the democratic service longer than was

absolutely necessary; and as this same vessel had brought Guardiola, a

military person of importance, from Guatemala to Nicaragua, with the

avowed object of making war against the Provisional Government at Leon,

the owner thought it well to act civilly, lest a libel might be filed

against the schooner on her arrival at Realejo. In what may be termed

minor diplomacy, the Central Americans are not surpassed by any race on

the continent.

The tide was coming in, and there was little or no wind when the

Americans went aboard of the San José; hence the vessel remained at

anchor waiting for the turn of the tide and for the morning breeze to

spring up. Most of the soldiers, fatigued by their toils and excitement

during the last three or four days, at once threw themselves on the decks

and were asleep almost the moment after they touched the planks. Walker,

however, with Captain Hornsby and a few others, kept awake, watching

anxiously the shore for any signs of movement there, and as keenly

regarding the waters and the heavens, in order to catch the faintest

signal of the ebbing tide or of the expected breeze. With all their

senses on the stretch, they suddenly saw the flames burst forth from the

barracks near the beach, and in an instant the blaze seemed to their

startled view to spread over half the town. Immediately a boat was sent

off to gather the meaning of the fire. The flames, on close observation,

seemed to be confined, and owing to the calmness of the night the fire

did not spread. In a few minutes the boat returned with the news that

the barracks had been set on fire by Dewey and a sailor named Sam: the

former being an American, who had lived for a while on the Isthmus, and

the latter being the owner of a small launch running between Realejo

and San Juan del Sur, and which had followed the Vesta on her voyage

to El Gigante. These two men had some private hatreds against certain

legitimists about the Transit: and taking advantage of the times, they

determined to wreak their revenge by this act of destruction. It may be,

too, that the thirst for plunder and the hope of satisfying their avarice

during the confusion of the fire partly prompted the act: for Dewey was

a desperate man who had fled from California to escape the punishment of

his crimes. Their act had jeoparded the whole town; for all the houses

being built of wood, a light wind would have borne the flames to most of

the property of the place.

It became important for Walker to get possession of these men and punish

their offence; otherwise the whole responsibility of the act might fall

on the Americans in the democratic service, and the enemies of these

last would say that, in revenge for their repulse at Rivas, they had

attempted, like savages, to burn up an inoffensive town. He therefore

sent an officer with a few men—their arms concealed in the bottom of

the boat—to attempt to get Dewey and Sam aboard the San José. Half

by stratagem and half by force, Sam was brought to the schooner; but

Dewey, doubtful of the result, refused to venture aboard, and took,

as he thought, the safer course of getting to Sam’s launch, which was

luckily hitched astern of the pilot-boat. Sam had no sooner crossed the

taffrail of the San José than he came reeling (for he was drunk) to

where Walker stood, and openly boasted that he and Dewey had set fire

to the barracks, and that they considered it an act of right against

the legitimists. After these declarations of Sam, there could remain no

doubt of his guilt, and as little of Dewey’s, since Sam had made similar

statements in the presence of and uncontradicted by his accomplice. The

refusal, too, of Dewey to come before Walker, implied guilt. Sam was,

therefore, ordered to be tried: and after a short consultation with Capt.

Hornsby and John Markham (afterward Colonel Markham), who had shown much

discretion at Rivas and during the march thence, Walker determined to

send the criminal ashore in order to have him executed there. Riflemen

were also placed at the stern of the schooner to watch the launch and

prevent Dewey from cutting the lines which held it to the San José.

The prisoner was sent ashore in charge of Capt. Hornsby and a few

select men, with orders to shoot him and place on his body a memorandum

stating the offence, and by whose command he had been executed; for

haste was necessary, it being far past midnight and Alvarado’s skipper

was expecting every moment to be able to weigh anchor and set sail.

The duty was disagreeable; and therefore, the Colonel commanding had

himself chosen the men for the performance of it. Hornsby was an upright

honorable soldier; but, then, his ability to fulfil the order might

depend on the disposition of those who were to carry it into execution.

He was almost the only commissioned officer left to Walker; yet, he was

without the large views requisite for perceiving the great importance

of clearing the Americans from any participation in the arson which had

been committed. Therefore, the commander took aside those who were to

go with Hornsby and strove to impress on them the urgent necessity for

faithful and conscientious conduct on their part. Hornsby and his detail

took the prisoner off in a small boat; in a short time Walker heard the

crack of the rifles, and soon afterward the rubbing of the oars against

the rowlocks as the boat approached the schooner. Hornsby came back to

report that the prisoner had escaped; that while the men were in the act

of untying Sam he had broken away, and the rifles being fired at random

in the dark, it was not known whether he had been hit or not. It was

afterward ascertained that he escaped unhurt to Costa Rica.

The escape of Sam gave an air of connivance at his crime to the action of

the Americans. This was the impression certain to be made on the natives

of the country, unless some means were found to counteract it. Indeed,

when the Costa Rican merchant, Alvarado, who was watching the events as

they happened, heard Sam had not been shot, he seemed, by his air, more

than by his words, to intimate that the Americans were not over-anxious

to punish the offender. Hence, it became necessary to guard against

Dewey’s escape; for such an event would tend to strengthen the inference

enemies might draw from the failure to execute the sentence of his

accomplice. Throughout the night, therefore, which seemed to Walker as if

it would never end, strict guard was kept over Sam’s launch. The wearying

wretchedness of that night’s watch may be imagined when it is considered

that the future character of the Americans in Nicaragua depended, to a

great extent, on their ability to punish Dewey’s crime.

At last day broke, and about sunrise the breeze sprung up off shore. The

skipper of the schooner weighed anchor and the vessel put to sea, towing

the launch astern. Walker ordered the San José to be kept two or three

leagues from the land, steering for Realejo, and watching in-shore for

the Vesta. A native woman of Chinandega, Sam’s mistress, and who sailed

with him on his voyages, managed the rudder of the launch. Three or four

hours passed thus; the riflemen in the stern with their eyes constantly

on the launch, and with orders to shoot Dewey if he attempted to cut the

lines by which she was towed. The small hold of the boat enabled Dewey

to keep out of sight, and as he had a couple of army revolvers with him,

and was a remarkable shot, it was necessary for the men watching him to

keep themselves covered. It was a contest between crime and law after

the fashion of the Indian. After a while Dewey rose stealthily from the

hold, and managing to place the woman between himself and the riflemen,

was evidently preparing to make a desperate effort to cut loose from

the schooner. The woman was warned in Spanish to keep clear from Dewey,

and was told that death would be the result if she attempted to aid

him in his plans. But the poor creature was unable to get away from the

man. The order was given to the riflemen to watch their opportunity and

shoot Dewey when they could do so without endangering the woman. The

discharge of a couple of rifles, almost at the same instant, told that

the opportunity had been found. Dewey dropped into the hold, shot through

the body; but the ball, passing entirely through him, had, unfortunately,

inflicted a painful and dangerous wound on the woman. The woman was

brought aboard the San José; her wound was dressed by the surgeon, and

she recovered in a short time her usual health. Dewey’s body was sewed up

in canvas and buried at sea.

I have minutely narrated the circumstances attending Dewey’s death,

because they made a deep impression on the native mind, and gave a

certain and decided character to the Americans in the democratic

service. The Nicaraguans conceived from these events a respectful idea

of American justice. They saw that the men they had been taught to call

“filibusters,” intended to maintain law and secure order wherever they

went; that they had the will to administer justice, and would, when they

had the power, protect the weak and the innocent from the crimes of the

lawless and abandoned. And it is this sentiment stamped deeply on the

people of Nicaragua which makes the evil-doers of that land dread the

re-appearance of the Americans in the country. The anarchy and license of

thirty-five years of revolution have unfitted the political leaders for

subjecting their lawless passions and unbridled impulses to the fixed

rule of unchanging and unswerving duty.

Late in the afternoon of the same day the schooner left San Juan, her

passengers recognized the Vesta at a distance bound northward, and

apparently for Realejo. After the brig saw the schooner, her movements

became mysterious and uncertain; in fact she did not know what to make of

a vessel showing Costa Rica colors, and clearly looking out for, and in

chase of the Vesta. The San José, however, soon overhauled the brig, and

in a few moments the Falange was again aboard of their old acquaintance.

The wind was favorable; the Vesta kept on her course for Realejo, and

the schooner followed close in her wake. Alvarado, no doubt, thought it

was fair, and by his civility he had made it safe for him to carry on

a little smuggling, and pay himself out of the pockets of the Leonese

for the services he had rendered their friends. Early the next morning,

it being the first of July, the Vesta again found the volcano of Viejo

bearing due north, and letting her cable slip, she stood at her former

anchorage opposite Point Ycaco.

A few stragglers from the force of Ramirez, taking the coast trail

from Rivas to Chinandega, had already reached the latter place, and

reported some of the incidents of the march and action on the 29th.

Therefore the Vesta had been but a few hours in port, when three or four

of the principal Democrats of Chinandega came down to get the news of

the expedition to the Meridional Department. On their return with the

flood-tide—for whenever a boat was sent up the river to Realejo, it was

generally on the incoming tide—one of these gentlemen bore to Castellon

the written report of occurrences at the south. In his report, Walker

stated his impression that Muñoz had acted in bad faith, and that the

conduct of Ramirez was due to the inspiration, if not orders, of the

commander-in-chief; and the report concluded by informing the Director

that, unless the course of Muñoz was inquired into, and cleared of the

suspicions hanging about it, the Americans would be compelled to leave

the service of the Provisional Government, and seek elsewhere than in

Nicaragua a field for their faculties and enterprise. The next day Dr.

Livingston, an American, long resident in Leon, brought Castellon’s

reply to Walker aboard of the Vesta. The Director complimented the

Americans on their conduct at Rivas, thanked them for the services

they had rendered the democratic cause, but evaded saying anything in

reference to the acts of Muñoz. He urged Walker, however, not to think

of leaving Nicaragua, as such an event might be fatal to the Provisional

Government; and Dr. Livingston was sent to urge verbally the same views,

intimating, too, that the critical position of the democratic party

made it inexpedient for the Director to scan too closely the conduct

of the commander-in-chief. Walker, however, appeared obstinate, having

decided in his own mind to remain some days on the brig for the purpose

of allowing the Americans to recover from their fatigues and wounds, and

with a view of making the Castellon party manifest as clearly as possible

the necessity of the Falange to their cause. So Dr. Livingston went back

to Leon, with a report not very encouraging to the Provisional Government.

For some days Walker continued to receive letters from Castellon,

entreating him not to give up the democratic cause, and urging him to

march the Falange to Leon. In order to bring about the latter result

the Director stated that the Legitimists were meditating a movement

against his capital, Corral being at Managua with a force of nearly a

thousand men, and with arms and ammunition for the supply of a large

additional number of recruits. It was also certain that the recruiting

of _voluntarios forçados_—forced volunteers—was going on actively in the

Oriental Department. Don Mariano Salazar, too, the most energetic man in

the democratic party, visited Walker aboard the Vesta, to impress on him

the danger of an attack on Leon by Corral, and the necessity of having

the American rifles about the residence of the Director. Salazar was the

brother-in-law of Castellon; and being a merchant of much shrewdness and

sufficient capital, he managed to have a sort of monopoly of the trade

in foreign fabrics, imported by the ports of Realejo and Tempisque. Thus

he was able and willing to furnish means to the democratic army, and

offered to supply the Americans with any ammunition they might need. He,

accordingly, sent to La Union, and procured a quantity of rifle powder

for the Falange; the powder which the natives used in their muskets

not being fit for the arms of the Americans. Walker appeared, however,

inflexible, and the friends of the Provisional Government again began to

despair.

Some ten days passed in this manner, and the Falange, recovered from

the effects of the expedition to Rivas, was beginning to wish for more

active exercise than could be found aboard the Vesta. It was, therefore,

decided to march them to Chinandega, as they were promised good quarters

there, and the wounded would be able to get more delicate diet than was

to be had at Point Ycaco. Accordingly boats and bungos were procured, and

the whole body of Americans was transported to Realejo without previous

notice given to the authorities. Not many minutes after Walker reached

the town he was standing in front of the Collector’s office, and saw

the Director, Castellon, and Don Mariano Salazar, step from the boat.

It seems Don Francisco had left Leon that morning, and passing by the

Polvon, a sugar plantation belonging to two Americans, John Deshon and

Henry Myers, had reached the Vesta only a few minutes after the Americans

entered the river. He had forthwith followed, in order to persuade Walker

to continue his march to Leon. His anxiety was apparent; in fact it was

necessary for him to get back to his capital before the people discovered

his absence, otherwise a panic might ensue, and the effects be disastrous.

In reply to the entreaties of Castellon, Walker affected to be undecided

as to his course after reaching Chinandega, evading a positive reply,

by saying he did not know whether he could safely leave his wounded at

the last-named town, since the Legitimists, if they intended to enter

the Occidental Department, would certainly occupy that place, in order

to cut off supplies and communications. The Director told Walker that

if he intended to go to Leon, the sub-prefect at Chinandega had orders

to furnish him with all the supplies and transportation he required.

Castellon and Salazar left for Leon in better spirits, because there

appeared a prospect of retaining the Falange in the country; and the

Americans proceeded to Chinandega, where they arrived the same afternoon,

and found as comfortable quarters as the town afforded. All the officers,

civil and military, vied with each other in the efforts they made to

satisfy the wants of the Falange; and the women of the place were

constantly paying to the wounded those little attentions which take away

from the tedium of the soldier obliged to lie idle and inactive, while

the bustle of preparation for marching and adventure is going on around

him.

The day after reaching Chinandega, Walker made his requisition on the

sub-prefect for the horses and ox-carts necessary on the march to

Leon; and the Americans were in high spirits at the idea of visiting

the old capital of the country, and the second city in size of Central

America. The evening before they set out for the seat of the Provisional

Government, Byron Cole rode into Chinandega accompanied by Don Bruno Von

Natzmer. The former had waited several months after sending his contract

to California, expecting each week to hear of the arrival of Americans at

Realejo; but as time wore away and the cause of Castellon waned rapidly,

he had gone to Honduras hoping to find profit, if not fame, in the gold

hills of Olancho. There he met Bruno Von Natzmer, a Prussian, who had

resigned his commission in the cavalry of his native country to join

Baron Bulow in the colony he proposed to establish in Costa Rica some

years ago. Von Natzmer spoke Spanish very well, French tolerably, and

English quite indifferently. Having resided for some time in Central

America, and being a man of fine intelligence, Von Natzmer was well

calculated to render much service to the Americans. He and Cole had left

Olancho for Nicaragua as soon as they heard of the arrival of the Vesta

at Realejo; and it will be seen in the course of events that they were

valuable auxiliaries to the Falange.

Leaving the wounded at Chinandega, in charge of the sub-prefect there,

Walker marched to Leon, carrying the ammunition and baggage in the

ox-carts of the country. It was late at night when he arrived at the

first pickets; and the strength of the pickets, as well as the number

of sentries, indicated that Muñoz thought it not altogether improbable

the enemy might be in the neighborhood. A native officer was sent on

to inform the sentries it was necessary to pass of the approach of the

Falange; though the creaking of the cart-wheels, easily heard at the

distance of a mile, was sufficient evidence that the party entering

the city did not expect to take it by surprise. The white trowsers and

jackets of the sentries, as they paced their posts, enabled a person to

distinguish their position, even in the darkness of the night, while

the clothing of the Falange was favorable to secrecy and concealment.

Nor were other differences in military habits less striking; and it

was difficult for the Americans to see the advantages of many pickets

where large camp-fires were kept burning, as the light enabled an

enemy not only to discover the position, but also, in some cases, the

exact strength of the picket. It might appear a delicate matter for a

force speaking an entirely different tongue, and with military habits

altogether dissimilar, to enter a friendly camp near the hour of

midnight; but the very difference of language and habits in this case

facilitated the task, and no unpleasant incident occurred to mar the

arrival of the Americans at the quarters which were assigned them.

The day after the arrival of the Falange at Leon, Castellon expressed

a desire for a meeting between Muñoz and Walker, entreating the latter

to forget his resentment for the grievances he thought he had suffered

at the hands of the commanding-general. Accordingly they met at the

house of the Director, and both avoided any allusion to the past,

conversing mostly about the prospects of the advance on the part of

Corral. The cholera had broken out at Managua; and with an adventurous

captain this might have determined him to attack an enemy, hoping by a

movement forward to escape the dreadful scourge, or if pursued by the

plague to scatter it also among the hostile force, and at least to bring

on an action before his own strength was destroyed by the ravages of

disease. But Corral was not of the temper such a movement requires; and

his character was sufficient guaranty that the cholera alone, without

other foe, would drive him back to Granada. Nevertheless, there were

constant rumors of the approach of the Legitimists; and the market-women

were frequently seen picking up their trays and baskets and flying in

all directions from the Plaza. These alarms would sometimes happen at

night as well as during the day; and one of them, soon after the Falange

reached Leon, was near having serious consequences.

Muñoz had invited Walker to visit the pickets with him, and to observe

the condition of the camp after tattoo. Previous to mounting they

had met at the house of the Director, and they with Castellon were

conversing together when a clashing was heard at the main entrance of the

building, and the officer on duty ordered the body-guard to fall in. The

general-in-chief, the Director, and Walker, all advanced rapidly toward

the gate in order to ascertain the cause of the movement; and on getting

into the street, they found the Americans with cartridge-boxes on, and

their rifles in their hands, mingled with the officers of the general’s

staff, some mounted, others dismounted, some with their swords drawn,

and others with their pistols out of their holsters. As soon as the

Americans saw Walker they at once retired toward their quarters; and then

the cause of the disturbance became manifest. Two of the officers of the

general’s staff had got to quarrelling at the door of the Director, and

had drawn their swords intending to fight out the quarrel on the spot. In

the effort on the part of others of the staff to prevent this, a certain

noise and confusion ensued; and as the quarters of the Falange were near

the Director’s house, and the Americans knew that Walker was there with

Muñoz, the idea occurred to some of them that treason was being practised

on their leader. They rushed to the house demanding admission, and were

about to force the door when Walker appeared. The difference of language

added, of course, to the misunderstanding; and in the confusion of the

moment the report spread among the people that the enemy had secretly

entered the town, and were already at the house of Castellon. The alarm

continued for some moments; but at length quiet was restored, and the

officers proceeded to make the tour of the camp.

The ride that night would have furnished amusement and interest to the

general observer, no less than to the soldier. The sentry duty is well

done by the natives, and if they fought as well as they do guard duty,

or as patiently as they submit to all manner of hardship except when

mixed with danger, they would make extremely formidable troops. In riding

through the streets at night, it was difficult at times to keep your

horse from treading on the soldiers. There they lay on the hard pavements

ranged by companies in two files, the feet of the front and rear ranks

toward each other, and their heads against the walls of the houses on

opposite sides of the street; their arms are at their sides, and their

cartridge-boxes with one compartment, and made sometimes of leather,

sometimes of hide, turned in front, in order to enable them to lie easily

on their back or sides. And if dismounting you enter their quarters and

see them, some on the brick or dirt floors, others swinging in hammocks,

and bent up almost double in order to keep from falling out, you would

not wonder at the horror the whole people have of military service. There

is scarcely any labor a Nicaraguan will not do in order to keep out of

the clutches of the press-gang; and their immunity from this dreaded evil

by the presence of the Americans in the country, gave the latter much of

the moral power they possessed over the native population. The laborers

and small proprietors run more risks to escape military duty than they

are generally required to meet, if they are so unlucky as to be caught by

the recruiting sergeant.

After the Falange had been in Leon a few days reports of the advance

of Corral became less frequent, then ceased altogether; and afterward

there came vague rumors of terrible ravages by cholera at Managua, and

of the intention of the Legitimists to fall back on Granada. Then Walker

broached to Castellon his real object in going to Leon. He desired to

get an efficient native force of two hundred men, commanded by a man in

whom he had confidence, to make another effort against the enemy in the

Meridional Department. Castellon appeared uneasy as soon as the subject

was broached, and at length proposed a meeting of Muñoz, Walker, Jerez,

and several others, in order to discuss a plan of a general campaign.

Jerez was at that time under a cloud; but Walker sought to bring him

forward inasmuch as he manifested a deep resentment at being superseded

in the command of the army by Muñoz. Accordingly the meeting was held,

and of course without result. The general-in-chief proposed to divide

the Americans by tens, distributing them among the several bodies

of the native troops, and this done he proposed to march by several

directions on Granada. But the object of his policy was too plain to

deceive anybody, and by proposing such a plan he merely disclosed his

feelings without being able to move a step toward the accomplishment

of his desires. The manner of Castellon showed Walker that but little

was to be done toward obtaining aid for another expedition to Rivas,

although the Director went so far as to say that Muñoz would march toward

the Department of Segovia in a few days, and something might be done

after his departure in furnishing force for the Meridional Department.

Walker then, to the chagrin of Castellon, determined to counter-march to

Chinandega.

Orders were issued to the Falange to prepare for marching, and

requisitions were made on the prefect for horses and ox carts, but

hours passed and the carts did not make their appearance. All at once a

section, consisting (in the Nicaraguan use of the term) of three hundred

or three hundred and fifty men, marched into a strong house just opposite

the quarters of the Americans. Walker immediately ordered the Falange

to be on the alert, standing by their arms and ready for action. At the

same time he sent word to Castellon that the movement of these troops was

menacing and, unless they were ordered from their new position within an

hour, the Falange would consider the force hostile and act accordingly.

The native troops were immediately ordered from the building, and they

marched out of the house less than an hour after they marched into it.

Had Muñoz been able to take the Americans unawares, he would, in all

probability, have disarmed them and sent them out of the country. Nor

was it long after these troops evacuated the house opposite the Falange,

before the carts, required for the march of the latter from Leon, were

driven to their quarters. In a little while the Americans were on the

road to Chinandega, keeping a sharp lookout to the rear and all the time

prepared for any movement which might appear offensive. They arrived,

however, at Chinandega without any incident worthy of notice.

Cole had remained in Leon with the view of securing certain

modifications in the contract by which the Americans had entered the

service of the Provisional Government. He easily obtained what he

sought. The colonization grant was given up, and Walker was authorized

to enlist three hundred men for the military service of the Republic,

the State promising them one hundred dollars a month, and five hundred

acres of land at the close of the campaign. Castellon also gave Walker

authority to settle all differences and outstanding accounts between the

Government and the Accessory Transit Company. These powers were necessary

preliminaries to the effort for securing a position in the Meridional

Department; and it was a fixed policy with Walker to get as near the

Transit as possible, in order to recruit from the passengers to and from

California, and to have the means of easy and rapid communication with

the United States. So far as the Falange was concerned it was idle for

them to waste their energies and strength on a campaign which did not

bring them toward the Transit road.

As soon as Walker received the documents Cole brought from Leon he

determined to return to the Meridional Department, whether he was or

was not able to obtain aid for the expedition from the Provisional

Government. It was necessary, however, to wait on events and choose the

most opportune moment for carrying out the designs he had in view.

Chapter Third.

VIRGIN BAY, SEPTEMBER THIRD, 1855.

Nothing tries so much the firmness of men like those constituting the

Falange as inaction. The roving and adventurous life of California had

increased in them the thirst for action and movement characteristic

of the American race; and as they were engaged in the service of the

Provisional Government on mere promises, the value of which depended on

success, it is not singular that the garrison life at Chinandega soon

became irksome to them. Two of the men, especially restless and unsettled

in their characters, abandoned the service; and their conduct as well

as their conversation had a demoralizing effect on many others of the

Falange. Walker perceiving the spirit which began to prevail called the

men together and addressed them for a few minutes, exhorting them not

to look back when once the hand was to the plough; and his address had

the effect of bringing the disaffected to a sense of the duties and

responsibilities devolved upon them. In his conversations as well as in

his addresses he strove constantly to fill them with the idea that small

as was their number they were the precursors of a movement destined to

affect materially the civilization of the whole continent. Thus filled

with the importance of the events in which they were participating, the

Falange became capable of performing worthily the part assigned them.

Nor were other causes for difficulty lacking. The skipper of the Vesta,

Eyre, did not know what to do with his vessel. He had brought her out

of San Francisco without sailors and it was impossible to engage any in

the port of Realejo. Besides, her condition as to sea-worthiness made

it unsafe to undertake a long voyage with her. Therefore it was thought

advisable for the men who had worked the vessel down from California to

bring suit against her for wages; and the collector intervened also for

his port charges. After due notice judgment was rendered against the

captain and vessel in favor of the claimants, and the brig was ordered

to be sold under execution. She was bought for a little upward of six

hundred dollars by the two persons, McNab and Turnbull, who had separated

from the Falange.

In the meanwhile, letters were daily passing between Castellon and Walker

in reference to the expedition to the Meridional Department. The Director

seeing that the commander of the Falange was bent on this enterprise, no

longer opposed it directly but strove to delay it promising assistance

after the departure of Muñoz from Leon. At length Muñoz marched with six

hundred men, the best organized and best equipped in the Provisional

service; but he left few materials either of men or of arms to be

disposed of by the Director. The movement of Muñoz was made with the view

of acting against Guardiola, who having left Granada with a small force

but with a good supply of arms and ammunition was proceeding toward

Condega, thereby joining hands with his friends in Tegucigalpa and being

thus enabled to act against either Comayagua or Leon as circumstances

might require. Guardiola was recruiting industriously in the villages

of Matagalpa and Segovia; and his activity together with the terror of

his name inspired the people of the Occidental Department with a dread

they seemed unable to shake off. The Director himself thought Guardiola

intended to strike at Leon; and he therefore desired to have the Falange

within easy distance of his capital. The people of Chinandega, too, were

anxious to keep the Americans in their town, in order that their property

might not fall a prey to the reputed rapacity of Guardiola and his

soldiers.

Under these circumstances it was easy for Walker to see that there was

small hope of his securing assistance from the Provisional Government for

any enterprise outside of the Occidental Department. He went on, however,

purchasing all the rifles he could find about Leon and Chinandega, in

order to have arms for any recruits on the Isthmus, and continued to

replenish his stores of fixed ammunition, almost entirely exhausted by

the Rivas expedition. Powder and caps were obtained from La Union; but

it was impossible to get lead thence, and the quantity of that metal

in northern Nicaragua was extremely small. The cartridges used by the

natives in their muskets contained an iron missile, made by cutting

into slugs, about an inch long, the gratings of the windows. Leon and

Chinandega were searched in order to procure one or two hundred pounds of

lead for the American rifles; and the only supply to be had was from a

few pounds of bird-shot and a few pieces of lead sheeting belonging to an

Englishman at Chinandega. An officer was sent to buy the metal from him,

but he refused to sell. A small guard was then sent with orders to take

the lead, paying therefor a reasonable price. Thereupon the Englishman

declared to the officer that if the guard entered his house he would run

up the British flag and put his house under the protection of the British

Government. The officer, uncertain how to act, returned to Walker for

orders; and being told that no foreign resident, except a representative

of the sovereignty of his country, had a right to fly a foreign flag, he

was ordered to enter the house, and in case the British colors were shown

over it, to tear them down and trample them under foot, thus returning

the insult offered to the Republic of Nicaragua by their display. The

native authorities, accustomed to yield to the wishes of not only British

consuls but even of British merchants, were utterly astounded at these

orders. On the Englishman, however, the orders produced a wholesome

effect; for he immediately gave up the lead, about one hundred and fifty

pounds, for the use of the Americans.

At the same time Walker was collecting the scanty supplies of arms and

ammunition the country afforded for the use of the Falange, he was also

searching for some native officer who would have the resolution to join

in the expedition to the Meridional Department with or without the

consent of the Provisional Government. Such a person was found in the

sub-prefect of Chinandega, D. José Maria Valle. He was one of those

who accompanied Jerez on his landing at Realejo, in May, 1854, and had

risen to the rank of Colonel in the democratic army; but a severe wound

in the lower third of the thigh had endangered his life during the siege

of Granada, and the bone being broken in splinters, he was left with a

stiff knee, and had retired for the time from active service. Valle had

great influence over the soldiers about Leon and Chinandega, and with a

certain rude eloquence he was accustomed to stir the hearts of the people

with a recitation of the wrongs they had suffered from the Legitimist

Government. Almost a pure Indian, without any education, being unable to

either read or write, he would ride through the streets of Chinandega and

into the hamlets of the neighborhood, speaking of the generous Americans,

who had come to help them in their struggles against the Granadians. Nor

was his influence confined to the men. When he took the guitar in hand

he would carry the women away with his songs of love or of patriotism;

and the control he exercised over the women was not to be despised in a

country where they serve to some extent the use of newspapers, at the

same time scattering news and forming opinion.

Since the arrival of the Americans in the country, Chélon—as Valle was

familiarly called—had been their firm friend; and it was not difficult to

secure his co-operation in the movement toward the Meridional Department.

He was, however, a warm adherent of Castellon, and the latter could

scarcely refuse his permission for Chélon to march with the Falange. But

the Director endeavored to dissuade Valle from the enterprise, trying

to convince him of the danger to Chinandega from Guardiola, in case the

town was left inadequately guarded. As the devotion of the sub-prefect

to his family and friends was strong, it required an effort for him to

resist the arguments of Castellon; but his hatred to the Legitimists,

and his desire to avenge the death of a brother he had lost in the siege

of Granada, overcame the logic of the Director. Valle was, however, one

of those wavering men easily influenced by persons around them, and it

became necessary to fix his determination by leading him to take some

active steps in the enterprise.

Accordingly Walker decided, near the middle of August, to march the

Falange to Realejo, and place it aboard the Vesta. The morning the

Americans were to leave Chinandega, and while they were packing the

carts for the march, an alarm arose and the rumor flew through the town

that Guardiola was a few leagues off on his way to attack the place. The

commandant sent a couple of drummer-boys through the streets beating the

call to arms; and although it was Sunday, the churches were closed, and

the whole town wore the appearance of expecting an immediate assault.

Walker, however, thought the alarm was a mere trick, got up by the

government, in order to keep the Americans from marching. The general

impression about the Falange was that you only had to show them a chance

for fighting, to secure their presence at the dangerous point.

When the Americans left Chinandega the people who really imagined

Guardiola was near the town, gave up to despair, expecting soon to find

themselves at the mercy of one their fancies painted as a relentless

foe. In a few hours, however, the alarm subsided; and, although Don

Pedro Aguirre, the sub-delegado of hacienda at Chinandega, who had shown

much attachment to the Americans during their stay there, followed the

Falange as far as Realejo, the news of Guardiola still being in Segovia

encouraged the old man to remain ashore rather than proceed to the Vesta.

As a consequence of this change in his resolution (for he had brought his

trunk along, with the idea of going to the brig) Don Pedro was taken with

cholera at Realejo, and died there after a few hours’ illness.

The cholera—or colerin, as the natives called it, for the disease was a

mild type of cholera—had appeared at Chinandega in the month of July.

It had aided the democrats previously by its ravages at Granada and at

Managua; and moving slowly northward had finally reached the Occidental

Department. At Chinandega it preyed entirely on the natives, and the

Americans escaped it altogether. Nor was this peculiarity of the disease

confined to Chinandega. It will be seen hereafter that although natives

and Americans were together on the same vessel, with the disease killing

off the former in considerable numbers, the latter were entirely free

from the malady. Whether the fact arose from the more vigorous life or

from the more generous meat diet, or from the greater care in sleeping,

which the Americans had, it is difficult for the unlearned—probably also

for the learned—to decide.