The war in Nicaragua

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.

In going aboard the Vesta Walker had put out the report that he intended to leave for Honduras since the Provisional Government would render him no assistance in the expedition to the Meridional Department, and General Cabañas had written letters inviting the Falange to Honduras. In fact, the President of the latter State was beginning to be hard pressed by the invaders from Guatemala; and in some of his letters to Castellon he had inquired whether some of the Americans could not be sent to Comayagua in return for the aid rendered to the Provisional Government of Leon the previous year. Walker, however, had little idea of getting farther off rather than nearer to the Transit: still less did he intend, if he could prevent it, to have the Americans divided up into squads, and thus trifled away for the use of chiefs of contending factions. In his letters to Castellon he spoke of going to Honduras; and the former, despairing almost of keeping the Falange in the Occidental Department, rather favored the plan, sending copies of extracts from letters Cabañas had written on the subject.

The Falange, with all its baggage and ammunition having been put aboard the Vesta, Valle, who had recently performed the duties of commandant as well as sub-prefect for the district of Chinandega, began to recruit his force. He placed on his staff D. Bruno Von Natzmer (afterward Col. Natzmer) who, in his new capacity, was of great service to Valle as well as to the Americans. The people immediately began to talk about Chélon’s recruiting; and rumors were soon rife of a revolution against the government at Leon. In fact, Valle wished to pronounce and establish a new provisional government; for he had been used to such proceedings for the last twenty-five years, and felt at home in them. But Walker dissuaded him from the idea; and at length got him to march his force to Realejo, and thence to send it aboard of the Vesta. Von Natzmer, who wished Walker to go to Honduras and was doubtful of the enterprise in the Meridional Department, rode up to Leon and let the Director know what was going on. Castellon, in great alarm, wrote to Valle, now entreating him as his old friend, then commanding him as a superior his subordinate, to desist from joining Walker. But Chélon was now aboard the Vesta; his course was decided, and the Director could not turn him from his purpose. Von Natzmer, on his return to Chinandega, was put in arrest by Walker; but he had acted with good motives, though from mistaken views, and being soon after released he showed himself first, a worthy soldier, and after, one of the best officers in Nicaragua.

Valle brought down from Chinandega between one hundred and sixty and one hundred and seventy men; but while the commissary stores were being taking aboard the brig numbers died of cholera and several deserted when sent ashore at Point Ycaco to keep the vessel from being overcrowded while in port. Just before the Vesta sailed a courier came down with letters from Castellon, informing Walker that there had been an action between Muñoz and Guardiola, at Sauce; that the Democrats had won the day, after several hours’ fighting, but that Muñoz had died of a wound received in the battle. The loss of the Democrats had, however, been heavy, and the Director, uneasy lest the Legitimists, though defeated, might move toward Leon, when they heard of the death of Muñoz, was anxious to keep all the force he could in the Occidental Department. Again he urged Walker to return to Leon, and now, Muñoz being out of the way, all would be well. But the Vesta was ready for sea, and the order was given to weigh anchor, Morton being again in charge of the vessel. And, as the brig was overcrowded, a ketch of Punta Arenas, having a German supercargo aboard, was employed to convey a part of the force bound for the Meridional Department.

The expedition sailed on the 23d of August, and the ketch was ordered to sail for San Juan del Sur. Scarcely had the Vesta passed the mouth of the harbor before she saw the schooner San José making for the port, her decks being apparently filled with men. The schooner passed close to the brig, and some aboard of the latter recognized Mendez among the passengers of the San José. Walker ordered the Vesta to be put about, and leaving her near the mouth of the harbor, he, with Valle, took a small boat and endeavored to overhaul the schooner as she sailed slowly up toward the river; but they were unable to reach her until some minutes after she had come to anchor. On boarding the schooner it was ascertained she was from Punta Arenas, and that Ramirez, who had come passenger, had already taken a boat and started for the town, fearing to meet the Americans after his conduct at Rivas. Chélon easily persuaded Mendez to go aboard the Vesta, but, as they had to wait for the ebb tide, it was nearly dark when they started for the brig. As they passed down the harbor, Valle insisted on saying good-bye once more to his two daughters, whom he had brought as far as Point Ycaco. The girls, with a younger brother, got into the boat with their father, and went with him some distance down the harbor, the old man promising them presents from Granada when he returned, and the girls as gay as if their parent was going out with a hunting party. The old revolutionist took his eldest son (not more than fifteen) with him, and telling the younger to take care of his sisters, he embraced them as composedly as if he expected to meet them at breakfast the next morning, and saying adieu again and again as he put off for the Vesta, left them, to pass through many a scene of peril and danger before again meeting them.

After getting to sea the cholera was less severe among the troops, and few died between the time of leaving Realejo and the arrival of the brig at San Juan del Sur. The passage was long, and it was the 29th of August before the Vesta made the port. Two Americans seeing her outside brought Walker the intelligence that all the Legitimist troops had left San Juan as soon as the well-known brig hove in sight. The ketch had not arrived, nor had she been seen by the Vesta for several days. Some uneasiness was felt on her account, but the calms and contrary winds which had prevailed and the slow sailing of the craft were sufficient to explain her non-appearance. Soon after dark the Vesta dropped anchor in the port, but it was determined not to land the forces until the next morning.

A short time after the brig came to anchor Walker ascertained that Parker H. French had just arrived in the town from Granada, and was there waiting the next steamer for San Francisco. French had started for California in 1849, but, being engaged in some doubtful transactions in Texas, on his way to the Pacific, his name had ever since been suggestive of unfairness and dishonesty. In California he had been a member of the Legislature, and afterward established a short-lived journal at Sacramento. During the time Walker was trying to get men at San Francisco to go to Nicaragua French had met him and professed to have great influence with C. K. Garrison, the agent of the Accessory Transit Company in California. French’s character presented no obstacle to an intimacy of the sort he alleged between himself and Garrison, and French told Walker he had spoken to Garrison in reference to the proposed expedition and its bearing on the Transit Company. Certainly Garrison did nothing to aid the departure of the Vesta from San Francisco, but French intimated that after the sailing of a first party for Nicaragua he would himself follow, and would manage to interest Garrison in the enterprise. Nothing was heard from French until it was reported through the country that the Legitimist government was about to secure the services of a “coto”—one armed man—whose skill as an artillerist was amazing; for French had brought with him from San Francisco a mulatto servant to be used as the vehicle for communicating the most astonishing stories as to his master’s skill, bravery and general attainments. At his own desire French was brought aboard the Vesta under arrest. He strove to impress Walker with the idea that he had gone to Granada to observe the strength and defences of the place, and he then proceeded to state what he had observed. Of course Walker attached no importance to his statements, nor did he ever care to examine minutely the real motives of French in going there. The motives of such men are generally so tangled that he who attempts to unravel them is poorly paid for his trouble.

The next morning the force, together with all the stores, were landed, and the Democrats had scarcely taken possession of the town before the steamer from California appeared off the harbor. It was a glad sight for the Falange, inasmuch as it suggested the fact that they were now in communication with the friends of youth and manhood, and that there would now be an opportunity to swell their numbers from the passengers crossing the Isthmus. Some difficulty occurred at first in regard to the conveyance of the passengers across the Isthmus, as the contractor seemed afraid to venture to town with his mules and carriages; but soon they were all sent to Virgin Bay, and the town settled to its usual quiet condition. About midnight the ketch appeared, and the troops aboard of her were immediately landed. The full force of the command then amounted to near fifty Americans, and one hundred and twenty natives. A number of the latter were on the sick list, and the prevailing disease was the colerin, which generally carried the patient off in two or three days.

The enemy was reported to have five or six hundred men—some said eight hundred, but this was an exaggeration—at Rivas, and in a day or two it was known Guardiola had arrived to take the command. Flying from Sauce after his defeat there, the Legitimist General had hurried to Granada, entering that city with a single attendant. Brooding over his ill-luck in the north, and anxious for a chance to regain his lost fame, he leaped at the opportunity of going to Rivas in order, as he said, to sweep the “filibusters” into the sea. He marched from Granada with some two hundred select soldiers, expecting to make them the nucleus of a force to be organized after his arrival at Rivas. With him marched several officers, reputed to be of skill and courage, and desirous of more active service than was to be had under Corral. French’s mulatto man, Tom, who was sent over to Virgin Bay on some errand for his master, reported on his return that Guardiola had come down with a thousand men, and would march at once on San Juan del Sur; but this story was like that of his master being able to hit a man every shot with a twenty-four pounder at the distance of a mile.

By the morning of the 2d of September, the passengers from the Atlantic side had arrived, and were aboard the steamer ready to sail. French returned to San Francisco with authority to raise and bring down seventy-five men for the service of the Provisional Government. Anderson, who had been wounded at Rivas, also went up on the steamer, hoping, by change of air, to recover his health and the use of his leg. The Vesta sailed for Punta Arenas the same day the steamer left; and on the afternoon of the 2d, the port had a solitary look. On shore, however, the town wore an aspect of activity. Pack-mules and carts were being collected for a march, and the soldiers in all the quarters were busy preparing for a movement which, it was supposed, might bring them nearer to the enemy.

Owing to the delays of some native officers, it was past midnight before the force was ready to march. The column was formed with the Falange in front, and the command of Valle in the rear, the baggage and ammunition of the Americans being in their charge; while the ammunition of the natives, they having no baggage, was under a guard from their own body. The night was fine and pleasant, the road good, and the spirits of the command high. At the Half-way house a halt was ordered, and the owner of the establishment brought water to the door, the soldiers not being allowed to enter as there was liquor within. The keeper of this house was, perforce, a model trimmer. He was an American; but having witnessed various political changes since his residence on the Isthmus, and his place being often visited the same day by scouting parties belonging to adverse parties, he had acquired the habits of a man born in the midst of revolutions. He had in perfection all the little arts by which a man manages to maintain his neutrality though constantly surrounded by circumstances tending to endanger it.

About daybreak the report of a gun was heard in the direction of Rivas; but not much attention was given to it at the time. The march was uninterrupted, and the force reached Virgin Bay about nine o’clock in the morning. A few moments after Walker halted and took quarters in the village, a well-authenticated report was brought to him that Guardiola had marched from Rivas with a strong force the previous afternoon; but the same report stated that he had returned to the town. The pickets were posted; quarters were assigned the several companies, and all prepared for a hearty breakfast after their bracing night march.

Breakfast was just over, and some of the men had already spread their blankets for sleep, when a fire of musketry was heard in the direction of the picket on the transit road. Then the picket of natives was seen retiring slowly and in excellent order, firing, as it fell back with coolness and entire regularity. The conduct of this picket, checking as it did momentarily, the advance of the whole body of the enemy, was admirable; and it gave the Falange time to get ready for the reception of the attack. The picket reached the main body without loss, and they had scarcely got to the first houses of the village before the enemy was seen in large numbers, pressing forward rapidly along the sides of the Transit, and to the right and left of the road, through the thick wood which skirts its edges.

On the right of Virgin Bay, as you stand with your back to the Lake and your face toward the Pacific, is a rising ground, offering advantages to an enemy attacking the place; on the left, the ground is level, though somewhat interrupted by ditches, and covered with fences made of upright stakes, affording defence for a force within the village. Near the lake the ground falls at once to the beach by a steep declivity, thus forming a sort of bank for the protection of riflemen. The building of the Accessory Transit Company, a large wooden storehouse surrounded with palisades, stands on the edge of the village next the lake, and to the left of the road. A small, trifling wharf then ran a few yards from the end of the Transit into the lake; but it afforded little advantage either for embarking or disembarking. Thus the democratic force stood with its back to the lake, and in a few moments its front and flank were simultaneously threatened by the enemy. It thus became necessary to fight well or be cut to pieces; none, not even the natives under Valle, hoping or expecting any quarter at the hands of Guardiola.

Walker’s first object was to prevent the enemy from gaining the high ground on his right flank, and for this purpose he placed some twenty of the Falange along the slope under cover of the weeds and bushes and of a few small huts scattered irregularly on that side of the village. This detachment advanced toward the enemy, creeping cautiously along, and firing only when it could do so to advantage. At first the Legitimists came on quite boldly; but when they got within thirty or forty yards of the Americans their hearts seemed to fail them. The defiant air of the Americans, shouting at the same time they fired with deadly accuracy, appeared to appal their assailants; and the officers of the Legitimists, marked by their black coats, and many being mounted, were seen freely using their riding whips and the backs of their swords in order to drive the soldiers to the use of the bayonet. But these efforts had little effect, and Walker seeing the enemy checked on the right, turned his attention to the other flank, which was being vigorously assailed.

Valle and Luzarraga, with the native force, had steadily resisted the advance of the Legitimists by the centre on the transit road. At one time the Granadinos had nearly got to a charge against the Leoneses, and one or two of the latter actually received bayonet thrusts from the former; but the Democrats showing a firm front, the enemy retired, thrown into some confusion and disorder by a fire from the houses on the edge of the village. But it was on the left flank that the Legitimists pressed their opponents the hardest. They appeared to aim at securing a position on the beach, and also at gaining possession of the Accessory Transit Company’s house, whence they might assail the rear of the Democrats. Markham, with some fifteen of the Falange, was pouring a well-directed fire from behind the fences and palisades on the left of the village, and a few others were deployed at irregular intervals along the beach to prevent a lodgment there by the enemy. At one time the Legitimists had got within thirty or thirty-five yards of the Company’s buildings, but Gray and several others charging with revolvers had driven them back; then Markham pressed forward toward the wood, skirting the left of the village, and the enemy showed signs of giving way, not only in that direction but on all sides. Soon the firing grew feebler and feebler; Chélon was seen coming in from the transit road with the ox-carts carrying the enemy’s ammunition; and then a loud shout from the whole democratic force announced that the day had been won by them.

Walker’s loss was trifling, and, considering the duration of the action, its heat, and the close distances at which the firing was done, almost inexplicable, unless on the supposition that the Central Americans fight better far off than near. None of the Falange were killed, though several were wounded. Small was shot through the chest, besides being hit in more than one place elsewhere; Benj. Williamson had a painful hurt in the groin; Capt. Doubleday was struck in the side; and Walker was struck in the throat by a spent ball, which knocked him to the ground for a moment, while the letters of Castellon, in his coat pocket, were cut to pieces. The only wound apparently fatal was that of Small, and he recovered in a few weeks; while Williamson’s wound, seemingly trifling, kept him in bed for months. The native Democrats had two killed and three wounded. The loss of the enemy was large. Upward of sixty dead were found on the field; and subsequent reports stated that over a hundred wounded—many of whom died of their wounds—reached Rivas, whither Guardiola retired, almost unattended, after the action.

When the wounded prisoners were examined, it was ascertained that Guardiola had marched from Rivas the afternoon of the 2d, with about six hundred chosen troops of the Legitimist army. He had camped over night at Jocote, a farm-house, distant about half a league from the Half-way house. His plan was to attack the Americans soon after daylight, at San Juan del Sur, expecting to find them there. But on arriving at the Half-way house he found, probably from the servants of the establishment, as well as by the signs on the road, that Walker had just passed toward Virgin Bay. Immediately facing about, he followed the Democratic force—probably not more than four or five miles in their rear. He had with him a six-pounder, with which he expected to drive the Democrats from the houses; but on arriving at Virgin Bay, he was unable to use the piece, through some defect in the carriage. Finding he could not use his gun, he decided to attack at once with the bayonet. Rations of aguardiente were distributed to the troops, and the order was given to charge. But either the quantity of liquor was insufficient, or it may have been too great, or it began to die out before the soldiers got close to their adversaries. The empty demijohns which were picked up on the road after the action looked like huge cannon-balls that had missed their mark.

The people of the village were quite relieved when they saw Guardiola driven back to Rivas. When the firing commenced the women and children had sought refuge in the Company’s house; and the agent, Mr. Cortlandt Cushing, had so arranged the trunks and boxes stored in the building as to protect the inmates from the fire of the enemy. Although very much frightened, the women and even the children maintained a silence which might be the result of revolutionary training. After the danger had passed, however, their tongues were unloosed, and the squalling of babies, mixed up with the shrill tones of the mothers, soon brought even the smooth-tempered agent into the open air. Fortunately, none of the poor people were hurt; and after it became very certain the enemy did not intend to return, they withdrew to their several houses, engaging with as much calmness as if no war existed, in the daily round of their domestic joys and domestic cares.

The troops, both American and native, being fatigued by the night-march as well as by the excitement of the action, Mr. Cushing undertook to have the dead of the enemy buried. In the meantime the wounded Legitimists were brought in and carefully tended, the surgeon of the Falange dressing their wounds as carefully as if they had been Democrats. This surprised the people of the village much; and the poor fellows, who expected to be shot, were exceedingly grateful for the attentions they received. Details of the Leoneses were sent into the neighboring wood to gather up the muskets thrown away by the retreating foe; and more than a hundred and fifty of these were collected. Later in the day Valle and Mendez, with such Americans as were able to get horses, scouted the roads for several miles round, to see if any of the Legitimists yet lurked in the neighborhood; but no signs of the enemy were found, and they seemed to have disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared.

Walker’s object in marching to Virgin Bay had not been to occupy the place, but to prevent the enemy, as well as the people of the Department, from supposing he intended to remain entirely on the defensive, by keeping his force shut up at San Juan del Sur. His own force would acquire confidence by seeing its ability to pass through the country without the fear of an attack from the enemy; and he had scarcely hoped for so fortunate a circumstance as the march of Guardiola to Virgin Bay. The action of the 3d of September secured the Democrats for a time from being troubled by the Legitimists, and gave them time to gather up the friends they had in the Meridional Department. On the afternoon of the 4th, therefore, Walker marched back to San Juan, carrying with him his wounded, and the arms and ammunition taken from the enemy. Early the next morning the column was seen pouring over the hill back of San Juan, and in a short time the whole force was again quartered within the town.

Despatches were immediately sent to the Provisional Director informing him of the incidents at Virgin Bay, and requesting, if possible, new supplies of men and provisions, with a view to offensive operations. The bearer of despatches arrived in Leon just in time to see the Director die. Within an hour after the official news of the victory reached the capital, Castellon breathed his last, yielding to the fatal cholera which was then slaying so many scores of his countrymen and adherents. He had fulfilled his task—an important one it was—of introducing a new element into Central American society; and his amiable spirit—the body worn out, probably, by the toils and troubles ill-suited to his gentle nature, and offering an easy prey to the fearful pestilence—had gone forth to give an account of the deeds done in the flesh. Much as his friends and neighbors loved and respected him, their estimate of his character will rise yet higher if they live long enough to see in maturity the fruits of the policy he inaugurated. Leon deeply mourned his death, and time will yet develop the fact that, soft as his nature seemed, he was destined to have a far wider, and a far deeper, and a far more enduring effect on the fate of Nicaragua, than was left by his stern, unyielding rival, Don Fruto Chamorro, who preceded him only a few months—but how fruitful—to the grave.

The despatches to Castellon were answered by the new Provisional Director, D. Nasario Escoto, who succeeded to the office in virtue of being the Senator of the Republic designated for the place by the constitution of 1838. The Senator-Director warmly thanked the expeditionary force, native and American, for the services it had rendered, and he further wrote that the Provisional Government would use all diligence to forward supplies from Realejo to San Juan del Sur. The cholera, according to Don Nasario, was making much havoc about Leon, and hence it was difficult to command labor, much less men for military service. Besides this Walker wanted only volunteers from the natives, and refused the forced levies by which the ranks of all factions, and parties, and governments, are generally filled in Central America. The Director promised to send only these, and stated the circumstances to account for the fewness of the number.

In the meanwhile the little force at San Juan del Sur was swelling its numbers from another source. Soon after the news of the action at Virgin Bay spread through the country, the men of San Jorge—always democratic in their feelings and now irritated by the arbitrary acts of the Legitimists at Rivas—began to come with the red ribbon on their hats, asking to receive arms and be admitted into the democratic ranks. Those, too, who had fled to Guanacaste when the Granada Government got possession of the Meridional Department, now returned and joined Walker with the hope of once more getting back to their families and friends. Among these last were Dr. Cole, an American, who had married some years previously into a family residing near Rivas, and the three Cantons, Tranquillino, Clemente, and Daniel. Soon, also, Don Maximo Espinosa—who had been hid in the neighborhood of his plantation since the 29th of June—made his appearance, and then came his son-in-law, Don Ramon Umaña. After Espinosa’s arrival at San Juan del Sur he was charged with organizing the civil administration of the Department in virtue of the authority given him by the Provisional Government in the month of June previous.

Nor were deserters from the enemy’s ranks wanting. Almost every day the men from Rivas, forced into the service by the Legitimists would manage to escape from the barricades, and come down to San Juan del Sur to report the numbers and situation of the enemy, and even to take up arms to avenge the injuries they had sustained. As Walker would not permit the native democratic officers to follow their old habit of impressment, the people from the neighboring farms, men as well as women, came in daily with their supplies of fruits and provisions for the soldiers. It was difficult at first to check this inveterate habit of catching a man and tying him up with a musket in his hand to make a soldier of him, but seeing the good effects of the policy the officers afterward desisted from a practice which seemed to have become almost a second nature to them.

Soon after returning from Virgin Bay Walker had, in order to raise means for the support of his troops, resorted to a military contribution on the principal traders doing business at San Juan del Sur. Among others, John Priest, the United States consul, who kept an inn and drinking-house, was assessed at the same rate as others of his calling. Priest refused to pay, on the ground that he was a foreign consul, showing thereby an intelligence more akin to his inn-keeping than to his consular character. He talked largely about having an American man-of-war brought into port for the purpose of enabling him to sell grog quietly to soldiers and sailors without being obliged to pay taxes for the support of a government which could not claim him as a citizen. But as he had on a former occasion complained loudly at the outrages said to have been practised on his person and property by the Legitimists, but had, when the United States sent a sloop-of-war to inquire into his grievances, made the commander of the ship appear very ridiculous by demanding compensation for Priest, when the latter had really signed a paper fully exonerating the Chamorro government, the consular inn-keeper’s threats carried little weight with them. For his contumacy, he found a native guard placed in his house, with orders not to permit any one to pass in or out until the assessment was paid. Not many hours elapsed before the inn-keeper forgot his consular dignity, and came forward with the money to pay the contribution.

There were, in fact, few sources of revenue at San Juan. Most of the lots in the town are held by the occupants at a monthly rent, to be paid to the State; and in addition to this there were the customs and the monopoly of the sale of beef. These revenues, small as they were, could not be honestly collected through means of native functionaries. One of the Leoneses, acting as collector, was caught taking bribes from a merchant for smuggling; and the complaints against Mendez for killing cattle and selling beef in fraud of the revenue were almost daily. The habit of cheating the State, prevailing in all parts of Central America, leads to the maladministration which produces revolution; and the habit of revolution in turn reacts and increases the disposition of officers to make as much as possible for themselves at the public expense, since the tenure of their offices must, necessarily, be short. It is difficult to say which is cause and which effect; and it may be that they are both common effects of a radically bad social organization. Nor can reforms in revenue, either as to the method of raising or of collecting it, be well attempted in the midst of war. The taxes to which the people are accustomed, being those most readily collected, must be resorted to in times when the demand for money is urgent.

Walker soon had evidences that the Legitimists found the question of revenue as difficult as did the Democrats. Near the 20th of September the steamer Sierra Nevada arrived at San Juan, having on board D. Guadalupe Saënz, who had been sent to California for the purpose of raising means to aid the government at Granada. Don Guadalupe seeing the red ribbons on shore did not venture to land, but a detail was sent to the steamer and searched the vessel thoroughly without, however, being able to find the Commissioner of Estrada. His papers, less fortunate than his person, fell into the hands of the Democrats, and showed that he had sold to one Body of California some brazil-wood belonging to Mariano Salazar, but then in the possession of the Legitimists, and that he had made a contract with the same Body for the establishment of a mint in Nicaragua. The private papers of Don Guadalupe also disclosed that while acting for the Government he had not failed to take care of himself; and they proved that Body had probably made good bargains, as his partner in the contracts was no less a person than Commissioner Saënz himself. The diary, too, kept by Don Guadalupe, revealed the singular sensation he had when he first tasted a sherry cobbler, and recorded his deliberate opinion as to the superiority of such a beverage over the taste of Nicaragua.

The Sierra Nevada was not able to get coal at San Juan, and had to go to Realejo for that purpose. It was consequently some days after her arrival before she got off for San Francisco. A few recruits for the Falange were obtained from the passengers for California; and they, together with some residents of the Isthmus, who enrolled themselves in the body, swelled its numbers to nearly sixty effective men. The strength of Valle’s force, in spite of losses from cholera, reached over two hundred. In the meantime the Legitimists had been recovering from the effects of Virgin Bay. Guardiola, made more moody than ever by his late defeats, was not sorry to yield the command to Corral, who came from Granada with a view of directing the operations against the Democrats in person. With more amenity of manner than the Hondureño, the legitimist commander-in-chief, was able to conciliate many the other had repelled; but he lacked decision and was more fertile in perceiving difficulties than in defying or overcoming them. Not having been defeated like Guardiola—for his skill consisted rather in avoiding action than in bringing the enemy to blows—he was better suited to restore order to the disorganized troops he found at Rivas, and to infuse spirit into the adherents of his party residing in the department.

There were constant reports coming to San Juan of Corral’s intention to advance against the democratic force. But the rainy season made the roads difficult to pass, and swelled the water-courses so bodies of men could not cross them with ease, unless having more facilities than are to be found in Central American armies. A report, however, that Corral had actually marched, coming with some probabilities of truth, induced Walker to march out to meet him, and, if possible, bring him to action unexpectedly. A day or two, therefore, after the steamer sailed, the Falange, accompanied by Valle’s command, was marched late at night to the hill, a little over a league distant from San Juan, on the transit road; and on the side of the hill next to Virgin Bay the whole force was placed in ambush to await the approach of Corral. The night was dark and dismal, the rain falling now slowly and like a heavy mist, then rapidly and in drops nearly as big as a revolver bullet; but the men stood to their places, sheltering themselves under the large trees which cover the sides of the hill, and being careful to keep their cartridge-boxes dry, drawing them, for this purpose, to the front part of the belt, and bending over so as to protect the precious powder with their bodies. Such situations have their excitements and pleasures as well as their discomforts; and although, when the morning came, and no enemy appeared, the force looked wet and weather-beaten, it marched at a brisk and cheerful pace to the Half-way house, where a ration of liquor made the men as fresh and lively as if they had passed the night in a palace.

Hearing no tidings of the enemy from mine host at the Half-way house, who always ran off to another subject when the news was asked or talked of, Walker determined to continue his march to Virgin Bay. There he heard that Corral had actually left Rivas with nearly his whole force; but on reaching the river Lajas, the Legitimist general hearing the Democrats had marched from San Juan, and fearing they might attack the chief town of the Department while it was comparatively undefended, hastily counter-marched and withdrew within his barricades. Thus Walker, by the march to Virgin Bay, ascertained that he had only to leave San Juan del Sur, apparently for Rivas, in order to paralyze any advance movement his opponent might make. Besides this, however, he obtained other useful information which hereafter materially affected the operations against the enemy. The day he reached Virgin Bay he intercepted despatches and letters from the Mayor General—literally Major General, but really performing the duties of Adjutant General—of the Legitimist army, D. Fernando Chamorro, to Corral; and they disclosed to the democratic officer the destitute condition of the government at Granada and its inability to assist its commander-in-chief at Rivas with more men. The letters also indicated that Granada itself was almost entirely undefended; that the spirit of its people was drooping: and that the chiefs of the party began to despair of maintaining the war much longer if vigorously pressed by the democratic forces.

After reading these letters and despatches, Walker sent them to Corral with a note stating that he had taken the liberty to read them, thus making the Legitimist general feel that his condition and prospects were not unknown to his adversary. Walker also intimated in the note that the country needed repose, both parties, so far as the native forces were concerned, having nearly exhausted themselves in the long struggle. To this note Walker soon received a reply acknowledging the receipt of the letters and despatches from Granada, and within Corral’s answer was a small slip of paper containing some cabalistic signs the democratic colonel did not understand. Supposing these signs to be masonic—for it was known Corral was a mason—Walker showed them to Captain Hornsby, who, although a mason, seemed ignorant of their meaning. Then they were shown to De Brissot, who, according to Hornsby’s statements, was of high standing in the mystic order. De Brissot said the signs were masonic, and that Corral desired by them to know whether he could communicate confidentially with Walker. Here the correspondence ended; and it had served the purpose of showing that Corral was not indisposed for peace even in the then condition of affairs.

Remaining only a few hours at Virgin Bay, Walker returned with his whole force to San Juan del Sur. Even had the condition of the roads allowed a march to Rivas, he did not have sufficient strength for an attack on that place. Besides this, his views were now directed elsewhere; and the reports he received almost daily from Granada confirmed the statements of the despatches he had intercepted. A musician by the name of Acevedo, imprisoned at Granada for being a democrat, escaped to San Juan and gave a full account of the state of affairs there, saying, among other things, that there were more than a hundred democrats working in the streets with balls and chains about their legs.

On the morning of the 3d of October the steamer Cortes from San Francisco came into port, and soon the news spread that Colonel Charles Gilman, one of the companions of Walker in Lower California, was aboard with some thirty-five men. In a short time they were all ashore, each of them carrying a rifle, and being well supplied with ammunition. Gilman was a man of strong mind, with all the sentiments of a soldier, and having a good store of military knowledge. He had lost a leg in Lower California, and the wound from which he suffered long and cruelly before the amputation of the limb, having kept him abed for many months, his intellect seemed to have ripened rapidly during his confinement. With him were also several others of excellent capacity. Captain George R. Davidson, who had served in the Kentucky Regiment during the Mexican war, was one of the company; as were also Captain A. S. Brewster, afterward Major; John P. Waters, afterward Colonel Waters, and John M. Baldwin, afterward Major Baldwin. They had scarcely landed ere they were sent on service, being ordered to guard the specie train across the transit road to Virgin Bay.

The Falange, now numbering nearly a hundred men, was at once organized into three companies, and called a battalion. Captain Hornsby was placed in command of it with the rank of colonel, and Colonel Gilman was appointed lieutenant-colonel. The three captains were Markham, Brewster, and Davidson. Lieutenant George R. Caston was made adjutant, and Captain William Williamson, quartermaster. While, however, the Americans were thus gaining strength in Nicaragua, they also suffered some losses. Captain Doubleday, who had served for some time under Jerez, and had diligently performed the duties of commissary of war under Walker, asked and obtained leave to return to the United States. Industrious and exact in the performance of his duties, and having from his long residence in the country a knowledge of the language and manners of the people, he was much missed after his departure. He left at this time because having, without invitation, stated to Walker his opinion about certain movements being made, the commander remarked, that “when his commissary’s opinion was required it would be asked for.” At the time the remark was made, it was of the first necessity for the force to feel that it had but one head. Captain Doubleday afterward returned to the country and engaged in its service with credit to himself and benefit to the cause.

The same day Colonel Gilman with his comrades arrived at San Juan, a small vessel came in from Realejo, having on board a democratic officer, Ubaldo Herrera, with some thirty-five Leoneses. These, with the recruits who had been daily dropping in to fill the places of those cut off by disease, raised the force under Valle to upward of two hundred and fifty men. It became necessary, at the same time, to get rid of Mendez. His offences were daily; and his cruelty to his men, together with his petty peculations, destructive of discipline and order, made it expedient to send him to Leon. He went away telling Walker he would learn that the Nicaraguans were to be governed only with silver in one hand and the whip in the other.

Besides the increase of numbers about this time, the democratic force was somewhat strengthened by a small brass two-pounder brought from Leon, and a new iron six-pounder obtained from Captain Reed of the clipper ship Queen of the Pacific, then in port with a cargo of coal. Some days were passed in mounting the six-pounder, and preparing ammunition for it; and during this period, the organization and discipline of the whole force were being improved. Finally all was ready for a march, and on the morning of the 11th Walker moved with his whole force to Virgin Bay, and arrived there a little after dark of the same day.