ABG-ING-T3-C-16-Guardian Angel of Peace.pdf - Biblioteca Enrique ...

16. "Guardian Angel of Peace"
As soon as he captured Granada, Walker issued a "Manifesto
addressed to Nicaraguans," promising "protection to the
laboring man, security to the citizen, encouragement to the
arts, science and agriculture," and, in short, "to preserve,
and cause to be preserved, order.'' 1 Simultaneously, Walker
sent "propositions of peace" to the municipal authorities,
stipulating the following conditions:
1. William Walker shall be appointed Provisional Director of
the Republic for the term of one month. Immediately after his
installation, elections shall be held to elect his successor.
2. All rights of person and property, of both parties, shall
be guaranteed, and a veil shall be thrown over all political
offenses.
3. William Walker shall be the commander-In-chief of
Nicaragua's armed forces.
The City Council assembled in the Court House on Sunday,
October 14, and "taking into consideration the critical
position in which this city finds itself, invaded by the forces
of the Provisional Supreme Government who have taken
possession of the city," considered Walker's conditions for
peace, and resolved:
. , , the undersigned, being convinced that, under
circumstances so embarrassing, this is a means of
obtaining peace and the consequent guaranties of person
and property, have thought proper to appoint the
lwa. Walker, "Kanifiesto a los Nicaraguenses," Granada, 10/13/1855.
Original and translation in H-219-10, The National Archives, Washington.

194 WILLIAM WALKER
Granada aboard the Virgin at 11 p.m. on Sunday. other
commissioners went to Rivas next morning, by land. Each
group carried a copy of a letter from Walker to Corral, with
a proposal for a treaty of peace: Corral would be named
Provisional Director, and Walker would be ''named and
recognized General in Chief of the Republic of Nlcaragua.'' 5
As soon as Corral had received the news that Walker had
landed at San Juan del Sur, he had written a letter on August
3oth to the Transit Company agent at Virgin Bay, Cortlandt
Cushing, instructing him to remove the lake steamers from
Virgin Bay and anchor them In front of Granada for the
duration of the war. Corral expressed his apprehension that
the filibusters would seize the steamers to use them In
military operations against the government. Agent Cushing
declined obedience to Corral's order, alleging that the
filibusters would never dare to do such a thing. In his
September 2nd answer to Corral, Cushing reassured him that
there was "little to fear from those who knew the will and
power of the Government of the United States to protect this
Transit Route 'against all danger of interruptlon.'" 8
Corral believed him. When his scouts saw Walker's army
marching along the transit road on October 10, he got ready
to defend Rivas. When Walker was cruising up the lake
towards Granada, Corral was considering an attack on VIrgin
Bay. When Corral received the news of the fall of the capital,
he hastily marched with 500 men to recapture It, leaving Col.
Florencio Xatruch In command of the garrison in Rivas.
Wheeler and Rulz landed at VIrgin Bay on Monday morning,
October 15. On mules furnished by Cortlandt Cushing, over
roads impassable from heavy rains, they arrived in Rivas at
2 p.m., when Corral was already near Nandaime, on his way
5 Ansel.o 8. Rivas, OJe.ada Retrospeetiva (Managua: Talleres de La
Prensa, 1936), p. 122.
6 cushing to Corral, Virgin Bay, 9/2/1855, photocopy in the Archivo
General de la Naci6n, Kanagua. Mentioned in Coe.odore Paulding's dispatch
to Dobbin, 1/22/1856, H-89-96, The National Archives, Washington, D.C.

196 WILLIAM WALKER
by Parker H. French, as they carried on military operations
against the government to which he was accredited.
Early In October, several hundred men from the interior
had converged on San Francisco, intent on sailing aboard the
steamer Uncle Sam, on the 5th, for Nicaragua. But on the day
of sailing, the Sierra Nevada was overdue from San Juan,
Garrison had not heard from Macdonald, and Walker's victory
at Virgin Bay was not yet known in san Francisco. As far as
Garrison knew, the Legitimists could have defeated Walker in
San Juan as they had done in Rivas, and therefore he refused
to accept suspected filibusters aboard the Uncle Sam. Parker
H. French then published a ··card"" in the Alta, calling Walker
another Lafayette in his ""heroic effort to spread Liberty and
Civilization""; yet,
.•• I shall not leave for Nicaragua by the steamer
of to-day, as I had sincerely wished, but will return to
my editorial duties, and hereafter reflect upon the
suicidal policy of the Nicaragua Steamship Company, in
persisting in their foolish neutrality, and opposition to
their own best interests, and the spread of progressive
freedom. Parker H. French. 9
Either the ··card"" was a ruse worthy of French, or he
changed his mind at the last moment, but he sailed on the
Uncle Sam that day. The steamer's departure was delayed
when officers stationed throughout the vessel, allowed no one
on board unless provided with a passage ticket. A thorough
search of the steamer revealed 29 muskets belonging to the
··san Francisco Blues·· military corps; also two large crates,
full of arms, but the vessel sailed before the Sheriff procured
the necessary documents to impound them, upon ascertaining
that the Armory of the Sacramento Rifle Company had been
divested of every weapon and round of ammunition. The
authorities did stop about 300 filibusters from boarding:
9 Parker H. French, "Card, 11 Alta, October 5, 1855, p.2, c.2.

"GUARDIAN ANGEL OF PEACE, 199
Fc:>:rt Sa.r1.. Carlc:>s
,arrived off Fort San Carlos at 11 a.m • ••• " (p. 197)