Take the Land, Not the People · Episode 5 of 8 · 38 min
The Grey-Eyed Man: Walker in Baja and Sonora
A five-foot doctor-lawyer-journalist from Nashville tried to carve a personal slave republic out of Mexico's northwest, and Gold Rush California cheered him on. The episode follows William Walker's 1853-54 expedition: recruiting in San Francisco, the schooner Caroline, the capture of La Paz, the 'Republic of Lower California' and then 'Republic of Sonora' placed under Louisiana's slave law, the collapse, and the San Francisco jury that acquitted him in about eight minutes.
Who's who
- William Walker+2 more episodesNashville-born filibuster who proclaimed two paper republics
- Rafael EspinosaPolitical chief of Baja California Sur captured at La Paz
- Antonio Maria MelendrezMexican guerrilla leader who broke Walker's force near Ensenada
Where it happens
- La Paz, Baja CaliforniaOccupied by Walker in November 1853
- Ensenada, Baja CaliforniaWhere Walker's force was harassed and collapsed
- San Francisco, California+12 more episodesWhere Walker recruited and was tried
Timeline
- October 17, 1853Walker sails from San Francisco aboard the schooner Caroline with about 45 men.
- November 3, 1853Walker proclaims the Republic of Lower California.
- January 1854He declares the enlarged Republic of Sonora under Louisiana's slave code.
- Spring 1854Guerrillas, desertion and hunger collapse the venture.
- 1856A San Francisco jury acquits him in roughly eight minutes.
Still debated
Historians ask whether Walker believed in a slave empire as a cause or craved the presidency of any republic and grabbed the nearest legal framework. The Louisiana-law decree supports the first reading, his serial proclamations the second.
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