The war in Nicaragua

On the first of March, 1856, the regular American force in the service of Nicaragua was about six hundred men. It was organized in two battalions, one denominated the Rifle and the other the Light Infantry Battalion. The first was commanded by Colonel M. B. Skerrett, with E. J. Saunders as lieutenant-colonel and A. S. Brewster as major. The light infantry was commanded by Colonel B. D. Fry, with J. B. Markham as major. Nearly all the rifle companies were then stationed at Leon, a single company under Captain Rudler being at Rivas, where Major Brewster acted as commandant. The light infantry was at Granada. Since the appointment of Colonel P. R. Thompson as adjutant-general early in February, more system and order had been given to the army organization. The medical staff was well directed by the surgeon-general, Dr. Moses; and Colonel Thomas F. Fisher had charge of the quarter master’s department. W. K. Rogers had been recently appointed assistant commissary-general with the rank of major, and was then at the head of the commissariat. Colonel Bruno Von Natzmer was inspector-general; but was, at that time, stationed at Leon, having general and indefinite powers to regulate the civil administration there and to see that the wants of the American force were properly provided for. His knowledge of the people in the Occidental Department made his services valuable, inasmuch as there were constant rumors of trouble and difficulties on the part of the natives at Leon.

During the four months which had elapsed since the establishment of the provisional government, the Americans had been, for the most part, stationed in Granada. But the sickness prevailing there, as well as the partial necessity for a force elsewhere, had caused small bodies to be sent in several directions through the Republic, thus familiarizing the people of the remote districts with the appearance of the Americans, and furnishing the latter with a knowledge of the roads and local prejudices of the inhabitants. Thus Colonel Fry, with a party of voltigeurs, had spent several weeks in the neighborhood of Matagalpa, proceeding even as far as Juigalpa in order to quell certain disturbances the Legitimists were creating among the Indians. It would have been better for the discipline and spirit of the troops if they had remained less and in smaller bodies at Granada; but this being the depot of arms and the seat of government by the terms of the treaty, the disposition of the Legitimists of the town made it necessary to keep a strong force in the place. The quantity of liquor there, and the fondness of many officers for drink, not only injured the health of the troops, but tended materially to prevent its growth in military virtue.

In addition to the regular force of the Americans there were more than five hundred men capable of bearing arms engaged in civil business either at Granada or along the line of the Transit. At the capital there were numbers of Americans employed in the civil offices, besides the laborers engaged in building a wharf at the old fort; and at Virgin Bay and San Juan del Sur, the Transit Company had scores of persons engaged in the construction of their works at these two places. Some of these were organized as volunteer companies, and at Virgin Bay a company of this description, with a good uniform, and commanded by George McMurray, had nearly fifty members. Many persons supposed these men could be relied on, in case of disturbance, with as much certainty as the regular force, and hence it was estimated that in the event of invasion nearly twelve hundred Americans could be brought into action for the defence of Nicaragua.

A few days afterward, on the 9th of March, the regular force was largely increased by the arrival at Granada of more than two hundred and fifty men, under the direction of D. Domingo de Goicouria. The night before these recruits arrived a bearer of despatches from San Salvador, Col. Padilla, had reached Granada; and on the morning of the 9th, dressed in a ludicrous uniform, and wearing a cocked hat he had brought all the way over the mountains from Cojutepeque, he sallied forth on a visit to the general-in-chief. The new men had just reached the Plaza, and were drawn up so as to show their numbers to the best advantage, when Padilla entered the general’s quarters. The surprise of the San Salvadorian, at the sight of so many strange-looking men, was equal to the amazement the Americans found in his long, lank person, run into trowsers too short for his legs, and with the chest and arms tightly encased in a small military coat, buttoned up to the throat, and obstinate in the habit of slipping its lower edges above the pit of the stomach. As Padilla had brought despatches from the Minister of Relations at Cojutepeque, Señor Hoyos, asking why Americans were being introduced into Nicaragua, the arrival of Goicouria and his recruits was not inopportune.

Schlessinger had, in the meanwhile, returned from Costa Rica with an account of his treatment there. Manuel Arguëllo, for whose sake Selva left the cabinet, remained with his Legitimist friends near Mora, and his conduct was a sample of the actions of the old Granada faction. On the 11th, therefore, the new recruits were organized in a battalion of five companies, under the command of Schlessinger, and Capt. J. C. O’Neal was raised to the rank of Major, and attached to the corps. The same day a proclamation was issued by the general-in-chief, closing with the order to the troops to assume and wear the red ribbon. The object of the proclamation was to secure the zealous co-operation of the Nicaragua Democrats as well as of the liberals of the other States in the war immediately impending, and the cause assigned for resuming the red ribbon was the course of the Nicaragua Legitimists. “The self-styled Legitimist party of Nicaragua,” so the proclamation ran, “has repelled our efforts at conciliation. They have maintained communication with their fellow serviles in the other States. They have, by all means in their power, attempted to weaken the present provisional government, and have given aid and encouragement to the enemies of Nicaragua outside of the Republic.... They owe us for the protection they have had for their lives and property—they have paid us with ingratitude and treachery.”

A few hours after Walker wrote this proclamation he received the Mora decree of the 1st of March, declaring war against the Americans in Nicaragua. As soon as this decree was read, the Provisional President published a proclamation of war against Costa Rica, and on the 13th the general order was issued: “The Supreme Provisional Government of the Republic of Nicaragua having formally declared war, by decree of March 11th, 1856, against the State of Costa Rica, the army will be held in readiness to commence active operations.”

Col. Schlessinger, after organizing his battalion and receiving muskets for the several companies, was ordered to prepare for marching. He proceeded with his command to Virgin Bay, and, according to instructions, sent the weakest of his companies, under Lieut. Colman, to Rivas, while Capt. Rudler, with Co. F of the Rifles, was ordered to report to Schlessinger. The four full companies of the new battalion were commanded respectively by Capt. Thorpe, Capt. Creighton, Capt. Prange, and Capt. Legeay. The companies of these two latter officers consisted entirely the one of German and the other of French, and Schlessinger’s familiarity with the languages of these companies, no less than his acquaintance with Spanish and with the Department of Guanacaste, was the cause of his selection for the service on which he was about to be sent. After Rudler’s company reported, Schlessinger’s command numbered about two hundred and forty men.

Walker ordered Schlessinger to march with this force into the Department of Guanacaste. His object was to strike the first blow of the war on the territory held by the enemy, and also to have a strong outpost at some distance south of the Transit, to guard against any surprise on the line of American travel across the Isthmus. With the same view companies were occupying Castillo and Hipp’s Point, at the mouth of the Serapaqui. It was necessary to hold the Transit with more tenacity than any other part of the State, not only because the property there had more need of protection than any other in the Republic from the foreign enemy, but also because of the new arrangements made it was from the Transit the Nicaragua force was to be fed and supplied with new troops. As there are very few people between the Transit road and the line of Guanacaste, the necessity for a corps of observation toward the south was the more urgent. The greatest difficulty in war, that of knowing accurately your enemy’s movements, is increased in Central America by the want of facilities for communication, and by the habit frequent revolutions have begot of spreading the most exaggerated reports about most trifling facts. You can always get some facts, however, from any report; so that, all things considered, it requires more labor to get facts from thinly settled than from populous districts.

On the 16th, Schlessinger marched from San Juan del Sur toward the La Flor, a small stream which separates Guanacaste from the Meridional Department. Before leaving he had much irritated Major Brewster, who was commanding at Rivas, by the numerous irregularities he practised, but with natural reluctance that officer was slow in reporting such facts at headquarters. The march to the La Flor and beyond it to Salinas was characterized by the same irregularity which marked the command while on the Transit; and so great was the disorder that the surgeon of the command, a new-comer, and ignorant of the grave fault he was committing, left the force and returned to Granada with letters from Schlessinger. This fact, all too late, revealed the weakness of the commander who had permitted his only surgeon to leave at a time when he might any day engage the enemy. With such ignorance of duty, on the part of both commander and surgeon, it was necessary to carry on the war in the best manner possible. This instance of Schlessinger and his surgeon, one out of many, illustrates a difficulty which beset the Americans during the whole war.

It was not until late at night on the 20th that Schlessinger arrived at the country-house of Santa Rosa, the men hungry and exhausted by the long and weary march. The guard seems to have been properly posted during the night, and the next morning mounted men were sent to get news and, if possible, guides. An inspection of arms had been ordered first for two and afterward for three o’clock in the afternoon; and the men were lounging in all directions in and around the camp, when, shortly before the inspection was to take place, the alarm was given and the cry of “Here they come,” was uttered by a mounted rifleman as he rode up to the main building where the colonel was quartered. Schlessinger was taken entirely by surprise, and, in the confusion, could not be found by the adjutant. Capt. Rudler with his rifles seized a corral near the main house with a view of protecting the American flank; but the fire of the advancing enemy soon forced him to leave it. In the meanwhile Capt. Creighton, aided by Major O’Neal, had formed his company, its right resting on the house, and fired a few volleys at the Costa Ricans; but the German company had broke and left the field, while the French under Legeay retired from the hilly, broken ground, they had attempted to occupy. In five minutes, the whole command, led by its colonel, was in full and most disorderly retreat. Major O’Neal, with several other officers, strove in vain to turn the men and carry them back toward the enemy; but the panic was such that they found few willing to listen or to follow.

The Costa Rican force attacking at Santa Rosa was the advance guard of the whole army, then on its march toward the northern frontier. It consisted of about five hundred men, and among its officers was Manuel Arguëllo, the Legitimist. They wore the red ribbon, with the view both of deceiving the Americans and of conciliating the Nicaraguan Democrats. After the main body of the army, with the President, Rafael Mora, at its head, reached Santa Rosa, the Nicaraguan prisoners, many of them wounded, were tried by court martial and ordered to be shot. The cruel sentence was too faithfully executed.

After wandering for some time between Santa Rosa and the lake of Nicaragua, the disorganized remains of Schlessinger’s force arrived at a point near Tortugas, whence they found their way to Virgin Bay. They came to the latter place by squads rather than by companies, some without hats and shoes, and some even without arms. In their flight many had been torn by the thorns through which they had been forced, and it was days and even weeks before straggling men of the expedition ceased to arrive. The depression of spirits was great, and some of the soldiers, in order to diminish the shame of their retreat, were but too ready to exaggerate among their comrades the disciplined air, fine military conduct, and excellent arms and equipment of the enemy they so hastily saw at Santa Rosa.

Meanwhile Walker was concentrating the American force at Granada, and preparing for the war in which, it was probable, the other three Central American States would join Costa Rica. The Rifles were ordered from Leon; and about the time they entered Granada, a company of recruits arrived from San Juan del Norte under the command of Capt. Mason. With this company came Turnbull and French; but both those persons, finding their services were not required, soon left the Republic. While the Rifles were marching into the capital, the general-in-chief was in bed with a violent attack of fever; but thanks to good medical attendance and a strong constitution, he was able, on the next day, Sunday the 23d, to go to the dinner-table. Scarcely able to sit up, he had a note from Major Brewster put in his hands, bearing the first hasty news of the reverse at Santa Rosa. The same evening he managed to get aboard the steamer, and was, on the morning of the 24th, at Virgin Bay. The news of the stragglers from Santa Rosa was a better tonic than a cold bath. The necessity for mental and moral action has a wonderful effect in driving the reluctant body to perform the tasks the will imposes.

The disaster in Guanacaste made Walker determine to move the main strength of the Americans to Rivas. He did not know what effect the rout at Santa Rosa might have on the native Nicaraguans, or how far it might shake their confidence in the ability of the Americans to protect the State from its enemies. Orders were given accordingly; and in the meanwhile arrangements had been made for removing the government to Leon. Rivas was anxious to fill the vacancies in his cabinet; and Jerez had intimated that if the President would go to Leon he might resume his place in the government. Before leaving Granada, however, the President issued a decree whereby the Oriental and Meridional Departments were put under martial law, and the general-in-chief was invested with absolute power over these portions of the Republic. The Minister of Public Credit, Ferrer, remained at Granada as commissioner, to co-operate with the general, as far as the latter might require, in supplying means for carrying on the war, and for ministering to the wants of the army.

The day Walker established his headquarters at Rivas, Schlessinger arrived to report in person the incidents of his march and retreat. He urged the inexperience of the men, and their want of disciplined courage as the cause of his misfortune; and he forthwith proposed to organize a new force for the occupation of Guanacaste. But the officers of the expedition who began to arrive all agreed as to the incapacity and cowardice shown by their late commander. Some, indeed, hinted that he had sold his command; but such conduct was not suited to his timid nature. Had he sold his men, he would never have returned to Nicaragua. The charges, however, made against him required a court of inquiry; and the report of the court of inquiry led to his arrest and trial before a court martial on the charges of neglect of duty, of ignorance of his duties of commanding officer, and of cowardice in the presence of the enemy. To these was afterward added the charge of desertion.

The movement of the army from Granada to Rivas by Virgin Bay had developed the necessity for more vigor in its means of transportation. Therefore C. J. Macdonald was appointed quartermaster-general with the rank of colonel; but this office he held only a few days for causes which will soon appear. Up to the 30th, the re-organization of the men who had returned from Costa Rica was going on, and efforts were being made to increase in several respects the efficiency of the army. But a general depression seemed to pervade officers as well as men. Applications were constantly made for furloughs to return to the United States; and the spirit of the troops was yet more depressed by the Americans outside of the army thronging to headquarters in order to get passports to leave the country. Two or three ladies—Mrs. Thompson, the wife of the adjutant-general, and Mrs. Kewen, the wife of Mr. E. J. C. Kewen, a civil officer of the State—aided to keep up the courage of the men by the cheerfulness with which they met all forms of fatigue and danger. But the sphere of such influences was necessarily narrow, and it was requisite to infuse some enthusiasm into the army or let it dissolve from the effects of one shameful panic.

Accordingly, on the afternoon of the 30th, the force in Rivas was paraded on the main Plaza, and the general-in-chief addressed them a few minutes in such words as he could find for the occasion. He endeavored to place before them the moral grandeur of the position they occupied. Alone in the world, without a friendly government to give even its sympathy, much less its aid, they had nothing to support them in the struggle with the neighboring States save the consciousness of the justice of their cause. Maligned by those who should have befriended them, and betrayed by those they had benefited, they had to choose between basely yielding their rights and nobly dying for them. Nor did their general seek to hide from them the peril in which they stood; but from the urgency of the danger arose the greater necessity for becoming conduct. The words were few and simple, and drew little force from the manner of him who uttered them; but they had the desired effect and created a new spirit among the men. It is only by constant appeals to the loftier qualities of man that you can make him a good soldier; and all military discipline is a mere effort to make virtue constant and reliable by making it habitual.

On the 1st of April the arrival of the steamer Cortes from San Francisco at San Juan del Sur was announced. W. R. Garrison had come as passenger with a view of making arrangements for the new transit; but no men had come for the service of Nicaragua. Soon after news reached Rivas of the arrival of the steamer, Walker received intelligence that she had again put to sea, towing out the coal-ship then in the harbor. The up-going steamer of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company had spoken the Cortes before she entered the port of San Juan, and had borne to her commander the orders of his principals in New-York. Captain Collens, of the Cortes, had, however, left Mr. Garrison ashore; and the latter, when he got to Rivas, informed Walker that this sudden movement of the old company had not been provided for, and that it might be several weeks, at least six, before another steamer would come from California. Thus one motive for holding fast to the Transit was, for the moment, taken away. Thus, at the very outset, the new contractors, Morgan and Garrison, by their timidity—to use no harsher word—jeoparded the welfare of those who had acted on the faith of their capacity and willingness to fulfil their agreements.

At the same time that Garrison and Morgan were embarrassing Walker’s communications with the United States by the hesitation and weakness of their conduct, Rivas was writing that news every day reached Leon of an intention on the part of Guatemala and San Salvador to join in the war against Nicaragua. It was clear that the people in the Occidental Department began to shake at the idea of an invasion from the northern States. As the Transit was, for the time being, made useless by the action of persons having an interest in the property on the line of travel, the general-in-chief decided to move northward so as to restore confidence to the Leoneses. He was not then aware of the large force Mora had on the frontier. Scouting parties of the enemy had come as far as Peña Blanca, a point on the southern boundary of the Meridional Department; but these were not of such force as to indicate the presence of the numbers Mora was leading through Guanacaste.

Just as orders were being issued to prepare the army for its movement to Virgin Bay, Col. Macdonald resigned the office of quartermaster-general. At the time, Walker attributed this act to the projected departure of the troops from the Transit, Macdonald then being on the Isthmus to watch the interests of Garrison and Morgan. But after events showed that his conduct was more the result of mortification at the apparent bad faith of his principal at San Francisco, than of any disaffection toward the cause of the Americans in Nicaragua. His resignation was, however, a loss at the time; for his clear head and energetic action were much needed in the coming crisis. At that time the general-in-chief knew something of the value of Macdonald’s head; but it was only at a later period that he had the opportunity of discovering other admirable qualities the sturdy Scotchman possessed. With the Highland blood, he had the Highland loyalty; but his dogged tenacity of purpose was that of the Lowland borderer.

After Macdonald’s resignation, D. Domingo de Goicouria was appointed intendente-general with the rank of brigadier-general. He was a Cuban, and had been engaged with the patriots of that island in some efforts to gain its independence. Before going to Nicaragua, Goicouria had sent a pure-hearted and devoted son of the island, Lainé, to negotiate with Walker for future assistance against the Spanish dominion. And the latter, while pledging his personal efforts to the Cuban cause, had been careful not to involve the relations of Nicaragua by such promises. On his part, Goicouria had promised much help in the way of money, arms, and clothing; and his manner and conversation, more mercantile than military, were calculated to make you imagine him capable of inspiring capitalists with confidence in his commercial ability. As many persons concurred in representing Goicouria’s credit to be good, his desire for rank was gratified by the appointment, and it was hoped thus to secure some recompense in the shape of shoes, jackets and equipments for the soldiers. The duties of the quartermaster’s department were devolved on the intendencia; and the chief, Goicouria, recommended for first and second assistants Fisher and Byron Cole—who had lately returned to Nicaragua—with the ranks respectively of colonel and lieutenant-colonel. These appointments were accordingly made.

The intendencia, thus hastily organized, received immediate orders to prepare transportation for the whole force then in Rivas, with all the property of the army there, to Virgin Bay. Walker himself repaired to the latter point to see that everything was ready to embark the troops on one of the lake steamers. After reaching Virgin Bay he was called up about midnight by the new intendente-general, who had rode all the way from Rivas to propose that he should be left with a few Americans and some native troops in charge of the Meridional Department. The conceit of Goicouria, excited by his new rank and title, had turned his head; and although he had scarcely been a month in the country, he foolishly presumed to thrust his opinion unasked on his general-in-chief. Of course he got a short answer; and Walker began to think the shoes and shirts might be too dearly purchased by the appointment of Don Domingo.

By the evening of the 5th of April, all were at Virgin Bay, and the embarkation was commenced. Most of the American residents about the Transit road, thinking from the preparations that the Meridional Department was to be abandoned, flocked with the troops aboard the San Carlos. When all were on the steamer she was ordered to the San Juan river, and the morning of the 6th found her off San Carlos Fort. Captain Linton’s company stationed at that point was embarked, and the steamer proceeded down the river to Toro Rapids. A company intended to garrison Castillo Viejo was sent down to relieve the force previously there; and when the returning company had reached the San Carlos, she was ordered to Granada. On the morning of the 8th, the steamer anchored off Granada, and the troops were rapidly disembarked. Thus the movement northward was, for a time, concealed from the people of the Meridional Department, among whom the enemy had numerous spies, and the impression was temporarily created, that the Americans intended to move either out of the country or toward San José. The enemy seems to have adopted the former opinion.

It seems that Mora, after his success at Santa Rosa, was pressing on toward the frontier; but hearing Walker had occupied Rivas in force, he stopped to watch his adversary. Then seeing the preparations for abandoning the department, he allowed the embarkation of the Americans almost in his very presence. Of course, with the Legitimists in and about Rivas, it was far easier for Mora to get reliable news than for the Nicaraguan general. As no villages or even country-houses were to be passed, it was not difficult to bring a force of three thousand men to the neighborhood of the Transit road, without its being at all known in the department. Walker had no sooner left Virgin Bay, than Mora moved forward with a view of occupying Rivas and the Transit road.

Early on the morning of the 7th, according to the testimony of sworn witnesses, examined by the American minister, Mr. Wheeler, the Costa Rican troops entered Virgin Bay and surrounded the office of the Transit Company. The officer in command gave the order to fire, and nine American citizens, mostly laborers in the service of the company, and all of them entirely unarmed, were killed or wounded by the first volley. The wounded were immediately run through with the bayonets of the soldiers and swords of the officers. Then the doors of the building were broken open, the trunks stored in it were rifled, and the persons of the murdered Americans were robbed of the money, watches, and jewelry, found on them. Nor were the brutal passions of the invaders satisfied with these acts. They afterward set fire to the wharf the Transit Company was just completing, and declared their intention to exterminate every American on the Isthmus. They commenced the work of destruction by burning to the water’s edge the wharf which American capital had constructed for the use and advantage of Nicaraguan labor and Nicaraguan products.

To San Juan del Sur and to Rivas, the entrance of the Costa Ricans was more orderly. At Rivas, particularly, Mora made every effort to conciliate the people of the country. A prefect was appointed, and D. Evaristo Carazo, who for several years had been accumulating a fortune from the transit of Americans across the Isthmus, accepted the office. Orders were also issued prohibiting the impressment of men for military service; but urgent invitations were made to the people to join those who professed to have come for their liberation from the yoke of the Americans. Few, however, if any, accepted the invitation; and the President of Costa Rica did not fail to express his disappointment at the backwardness of the people to join his ranks. He had trusted too much to the partial representations of the Legitimists, and he afterward complained bitterly of the deception practised on him.

An hour or two after Walker landed at Granada, on the morning of the 8th, an American from the Transit came to inform him of the events occurring there. At the same time the letters from Leon indicated that the alarm there had subsided. Hence orders were at once issued to have the whole marching force then in Granada, with the exception of two companies to garrison that place, ready to move the next morning by daylight.

The American force had been sensibly diminished by the expedition to Santa Rosa, and after the return from that disastrous field the French and German companies were disbanded and all who could not speak English were discharged from the army. Thus, on the morning of the 9th, not more than five hundred and fifty men marched out of Granada toward Rivas. The men were, however, in good spirits and went at a brisk pace, so that early in the afternoon they were halted for dinner a league to the southward of Nandaime. Here they met Col. Machado, a Cuban, who had been left at Rivas with a few native troops when Walker marched the American force thence. The officer commanding at Rivas was José Bermudez, who remained and took service under Mora, but the rank and file of the native Nicaraguans forsaking Bermudez had followed Machado, and left Rivas some hours before the Costa Ricans entered. Thus was it generally in Nicaragua; the people adhered to the Americans; the calzados, those wearing shoes, deserted to the enemies of the Republic.

After rest and dinner, the command strengthened by Machado’s men, marched to the Ochomogo, where it encamped for the night. Then it was ascertained that Mora had entered Rivas the day before with a large army, the woman, who brought the story, saying at least three thousand. But as the ideas of the people of the country about numbers are rather vague, not much confidence was put in the report. On the 10th, the march was slow and toilsome, owing to the heat of the day and to the long stretches of dry and dusty road without any shade to protect the men from the fierce tropical sun. During the morning a native from Rivas was taken, carrying proclamations from Mora to his Legitimist friends about Masaya, and, after some threats, much information was educed from the messenger concerning the position and strength of the enemy. As the force approached the Gil Gonzales, a body of rangers, under command of Capt. Waters, was sent on to the point where the main road to Rivas crosses the river, and there exchanged shots with an outpost of the enemy placed near Obraje. The main body of the Americans, however, left the high road half a league from the river, and taking a trail to the left struck the Gil Gonzales some distance below the point where Waters had encountered the enemy. About sunset Walker camped for the night on the south bank of the Gil Gonzales, and due silence was kept in order to prevent the enemy from perceiving his presence there.

Just before reaching camp a herdsman, hunting cattle for the Costa Ricans, had been made prisoner, and the soldiers had scarcely reached the several points in the camp assigned to them, before a man, found skulking near the river, was brought to the general-in-chief. At first he denied all knowledge of the enemy at Rivas, but a rope thrown around his neck and cast over a limb of the nearest tree brought him the use of his memory, and he gave an accurate and detailed account of the several points at which the Costa Ricans were posted. He stated the houses in which Mora and the principal officers quartered, the place where the ammunition was stored together the quantity of it, not forgetting two pretty little pieces of artillery commanding some of the streets. Unfortunately for himself, he let out the fact that he had been sent to gather news of the Americans, and hence was punished as a spy. But his information was so full, and, after severe cross-examination there was so little contradiction in his story, that Walker formed his plan of attack on the facts thus obtained. The result showed that the statements of the spy were entirely accurate. The fear of death had so discomposed his mind that he could not invent a lie.

Before retiring for the night, Walker sent for the principal officers, and explaining the plan of attack for the next day, assigned to each his separate duty. Lieut.-Col. Sanders, with four companies of Rifles, was to enter by the streets running along the north side of the Plaza, and was to keep his men in full charge, if possible, until they reached the house where Mora was quartered, about eighty yards from the main square. Major Brewster, with three companies of Rifles, was to enter by the street on the south side of the Plaza and was, also, to attempt to reach the headquarters of the enemy. As Walker expected to surprise Mora, he hoped to get possession of his person before he could escape; and at any rate as his headquarters were opposite the magazine, the occupation of the former would command the latter. Hence the object in ordering the Rifles to strike for the house Mora was known to occupy. Col. Natzmer, with Major O’Neal and the Second Rifles—as his command was called—although then armed with muskets, was to pass to the extreme left of the town thus threatening the right of the enemy and yet being within easy distance of Brewster. Machado with the natives was to pass by a road which enters the Plaza from the north, and would thus find himself on Sanders’ right. Col. Fry was to hold his companies of light infantry as a reserve.

Between two and three o’clock in the morning, the several companies were formed and the march toward Rivas began, Dr. J. L. Cole acting as guide. Owing to the darkness of the night and the obscurity of the trail, the march was for a time slow and interrupted by frequent halts; but when day broke, and the command fell into the road through Potosi, the pace of the men became brisk and lively. The quick yet firm step of the soldiers showed that their spirit was good, and the dust of the road, though thick and heavy, affected them little. The deep silence of the expectant ranks was only broken by the low voice of one asking his comrade for a drop of water from his gourd; and the bark of the watch-dogs, common in the huts along the roadside, was passed unheeded, save with the half-uttered hope that the noise of the brute might not give the enemy notice of their approach. Soon after they passed Potosi the sun rose in all the splendor of his southern skies, and when the Americans, making a detour toward the lake, fell into the road from San Jorge to Rivas, about a mile from the latter place, it was near eight o’clock.

Not more than half a mile from the edge of the town Walker met some market-women, who told him the enemy were not aware of his approach; they had left the Plaza only a few minutes previously, and the Costa Ricans—hermaniticos, as the San Jorge women called them—were as careless and indifferent as if they were in their own country. A short halt was made at the Cuatro Esquinas to give the rear time to close up; and when the rear-guard appeared the order was given for the several divisions of the force to advance in the manner indicated the night before.

Sanders, being in the advance, drove in a small picket near the edge of the town, and proceeding at a double quick step, entered the Plaza and rushed up the street toward Mora’s quarters. The enemy, taken by surprise, had scarcely commenced to return the fire of the Rifles when the latter reached a small brass gun standing in the street, about half way between the Plaza and the magazine of the Costa Ricans. Sanders’ men, shouting over the gun they had taken, carried it to the Plaza; but in the meantime they had given the enemy time to recover from the first shock and the Costa Ricans’ fire now became galling. Brewster had succeeded also in clearing his side of the Plaza of the enemy, and, with Captain Anderson’s company in front, was urging his command on toward the houses occupied by the Costa Ricans. A few sharp-shooters, however, of the enemy, French and Germans, got possession of a tower in front of the Rifles, and so annoyed them that they were finally forced to seek cover. Natzmer and O’Neal got possession of the houses on Brewster’s left and were doing good execution, keeping their men well protected and pouring a sharp fire into the enemy’s ranks. While Machado, leading on his natives in the most gallant manner, had himself fallen; and his soldiers, after his death, took small part in the engagement.

Thus, in a few moments, the Americans had possession of the Plaza and all the houses around it, while the enemy shutting themselves up in the buildings in the western part of the town, kept up an irregular fire from the doors and windows, as well as from the loop-holes they soon began to cut through the adobe walls. As for the Americans, after the first enthusiasm of the attack had died away, it was impossible to get them to storm the houses where the Costa Ricans were hiding from the deadly aim of the riflemen. Many of the men, exhausted by the first charge, actually set their muskets against the walls, and throwing themselves on the ground, could scarcely be driven to any active exertion. When Col. Fry came up with his reserve an effort was made to get them to charge down the street to Mora’s house; but Fry and then Kewen—who as volunteer aid acted gallantly during the day—urged the men in vain to the attack. The depression of the companies, blown by the first onset, had its effect on the fresh men; and it was impossible to get any portion of the force to renew the attack with the vigor which marked its commencement.

The few Rangers, under Captain Waters, had dismounted early in the action and had taken part in the conflict. Young Gillis, an impetuous lieutenant under Waters, had already fallen; while the captain taking possession of the tower of the church, on the east side of the Plaza, was able to observe to advantage the movements of the enemy and to annoy them with his rifles. Some of Sanders’ men were also placed on the roofs of the houses to the west of the square, and were able to do execution from this position. It soon became evident, however, that it might require days to drive the Costa Ricans from the houses they occupied after their first surprise was over, especially as the Nicaraguan force had no artillery, and would have to depend on the pick and crow-bar for working through the thick adobe walls of the town. Mora, it was clear, was closely pressed, for at different times during the day the Costa Rican troops from San Juan and Virgin Bay were observed entering Rivas. The president had concentrated all the strength he had in the department to repel the attack of the Americans.

But when the enemy saw the Nicaraguans made no advance, they assumed the offensive and undertook to get into a house to the north of the Plaza, whence they might pour a destructive fire into the American flank. This movement was defeated by Lieutenant Gay with a number of others, officers principally, who volunteered for the service. The gallantry of those who went with Gray was, in its spirit, more like that of the knights of feudal times than of the officers and soldiers of regular armies. Among those with the young lieutenant were Rogers of the commissary department, bearing the rank of major, Captain N. C. Breckenridge and Captain Huston. There was no thought of rank, but each one went forth with his revolver, ready to do the part of a true man in the fray. Not more than a dozen went out to drive away upward of a hundred, and their charge swept the enemy completely away. Gray and Huston fell, and Breckenridge received a slight wound in the head; but the remainder of the party came off unhurt.

During the afternoon the enemy set fire to some of the houses held by the Americans, and the fire of their rifles from a tower, in front of Brewster’s command, interfered somewhat with free communication between the east and west sides of the Plaza. As night, too, approached, the fire from both sides slackened, each apparently exhausted by the excitement and strife of the day. In the meanwhile, Walker was preparing to withdraw, and after dark the wounded and disabled were moved over to the church on the east side of the square. Then the several companies were gradually gathered toward the same point, a few men being still left in the burning houses to keep the enemy from embarrassing the American movement. The surgeons examined the wounded, and those declared mortally hurt were left in the church near the altar, while the others were provided with horses for the march. It was past midnight when all arrangements were completed, and the command slowly and silently defiled from the town, the wounded in the centre, and Major Brewster commanding the rear-guard.

Soon after daylight, the little force, weary and foot-sore, ragged, but resolute, crossed the Gil Gonzales near Obraje, and halted for a short rest. Their guide, Dr. Cole, and Macdonald, who had gone to Rivas as a volunteer, were missing, although they had left the town with the command. Nor was Captain Norvell Walker anywhere to be found. The rear guard had been well commanded by Brewster, and his coolness and firmness conduced much to the orderly character of the march. It was not until the Americans were some miles beyond the Gil Gonzales that Captain Walker, marching by himself, overtook the rear-guard, and showed by his story that his absence was not due to any laxity of the guard in keeping up stragglers. He had fallen asleep in the tower of the church on the Plaza at Rivas, and not waking until daylight, was surprised to find himself alone in a town occupied by the enemy. But the Costa Ricans had not, up to the time he left, discovered that the Americans had retired: hence he was able to escape with safety. Cole and Macdonald, overcome by fatigue, wandered into a bye-path near Rivas to take rest. Finding themselves separated from the Nicaraguan force they sought and obtained refuge from a poor native, who kept them hid near San Jorge for a week. They did not re-appear in Granada until ten days after the action.

On the night of the 12th the camp was again on the banks of the Ochomogo. Col. Natzmer was sent forward to Granada with orders to have all the disposable horses and mules, together with some provisions, brought to Nandaime; and about noon of the 13th the force had reached the latter village. Here the first report of the losses at Rivas was made by the adjutant-general. The official report showed 58 killed, 62 wounded, and 13 missing. Most of the latter afterward came in; so that the whole loss may be put at 120. A very large proportion of both the killed and wounded were officers. Among the former were Captains Huston, Clinton, Horrell and Linton, Lieutenants Morgan, Stoll, Gray, Doyle, Gillis and Winters; of the latter were Captains Cook, Caycee and Anderson, Lieutenants Grist, Jones, Jamieson, Leonard, Potter, Ayers, Latimer, Dolan and Anderson. The loss of the enemy is difficult to determine: for the Central Americans never, even to their own officers, state their losses accurately. But there were probably near six hundred of the Costa Ricans put hors de combat; two hundred killed and four hundred wounded. Their force at the beginning of the action was upward of three thousand; and their losses may be estimated by the wounded they afterward took away from Nicaragua.

From Nandaime to Granada the march was long and wearisome, in spite of the additional facilities of transportation. Hence, it was near midnight when the shattered forces of the Republic entered the capital. The friends of the government in Granada were, however, awake, in order to receive the force with every demonstration of respect and confidence. The bells rang forth a joyful peal, rockets were sent up into the air, and all appeared thankful for the services the army had rendered the State. Although the Americans had not succeeded in driving the Costa Ricans from Rivas, they had struck a blow which paralyzed the enemy. Mora was surprised by the suddenness and the force of the attack made on him; and the sight of the crowded hospitals at Rivas depressed the spirits of his soldiers, new to the trials and sufferings of war. The people, too, of the Meridional Department, as well as those of the Oriental and Occidental, seeing the Americans were not intimidated by the numbers brought against them, regained their confidence, somewhat lost by the disgrace of Santa Rosa.

While Mora had marched into the Meridional Department, a body of 250 Costa Ricans had been sent to the Serapaqui in order to cut off Walker’s communications by the San Juan river. Capt. Baldwin, a vigilant and intelligent officer, was at Hipp’s Point when he ascertained the enemy were cutting a road toward the river. He did not wait for the enemy to reach him; but, ascending the Serapaqui, he vigorously assailed the Costa Ricans while they were cutting the road, and drove them back with large loss and in extreme confusion. He himself lost one killed, Lieut. Rakestraw, and two wounded; while the enemy left more than twenty dead on the field. This affair of the Serapaqui took place on the 10th of April; and the routed Costa Ricans did not stop in their flight until they had fallen back to San José.

Immediately on reaching Granada the general-in-chief wrote to the President at Leon a detailed statement of the action at Rivas; and a day or two afterward he sent Mr. Fabens with letters to Don Patricio, suggesting the appointment of Father Vigil as Minister to the United States. The President replied to the letter concerning the engagement with the Costa Ricans, thanking the army, in the name of the Republic, for the courage and the conduct it had shown in the attack on the invaders of Nicaragua; and Mr. Fabens brought back with him the credentials and instructions of Vigil as Minister. The latter forthwith got ready to leave for San Juan del Norte in company with Mr. John P. Heiss. The priest agreed to leave his easy home in the tropics for the purpose of explaining properly to the cabinet at Washington the nature of the events occurring in Central America.

During the absence of the main body of the army on the expedition to Rivas, Schlessinger had been left at Granada on parole. He had an opportunity to regain, to some extent, his lost character, by volunteering to march with the Americans against the enemy. But he did not take advantage of the occasion; on the contrary, he remained to acquire, if possible, new infamy by adding desertion to his former crimes. The court martial which was ordered to try him, found him guilty of all the charges brought against him; and he was sentenced to be shot, and to be published throughout the civilized world. He afterward joined a body of the Legitimists acting against the Americans, and in such society he sank, by the way he permitted himself to be treated, beneath the contempt of the lowest soldier in even a Central American army. He is now fallen so far that it would be an unworthy act to execute on him the sentence of an honorable court.

After the return of the Americans to Granada an enemy fiercer and more malignant than the Costa Ricans began to ravage their thinned ranks. The fever which had before carried off many, re-appeared in an even aggravated form. Major Brewster was one of its first victims; and few could have been more missed than he. He had the calmness of spirit no danger disturbed; and it was only in the hour of trial and misfortune his full value could be known. It was the loss of officers—dying just as they began to be formed, and as their character and value began to be known—which prevented the American force from acquiring the discipline and steady virtue it might otherwise have attained. During the earlier as well as the later stages of the war in Nicaragua, it was the officer, ambitious of gaining a knowledge of his profession, and zealous in the pursuit of duty, who was most apt to seek the post of danger, and was therefore most likely to fall by the bullets of the enemy; and at times, too, it seemed as if disease also seized on such with more avidity than it did on others who might have been better spared.

New-comers, however, began to arrive to take the place of those cut off by battle and disease. On the morning of the 21st of April the steamer arrived at Granada with about two hundred men in charge of General Hornsby, who had been absent on business in the United States. As the Americans had been re-organized after the 13th in two battalions, one rifle, the other light infantry, the new recruits were formed into a second infantry battalion, with Leonidas McIntosh as major, and James Walker and James Mullen as captains. Upward of twenty men had come at their own expense to Granada, and they were enlisted for four months, and put into the rangers under Captain Davenport. This addition to the numbers of the army of course re-animated the old troops—for some of them, considering the services they had seen, might with propriety be called old troops; and after the arrival of the new men all were as eager as ever to march against the enemy at Rivas.

And while the Nicaraguan force was increasing, that of Costa Rica was rapidly sinking from the double cancers of cholera and desertion.

When the Americans retired from Rivas, the Costa Ricans were encumbered with so many dead that instead of regularly burying the bodies they threw them into the wells of the town. Their surgical staff, too, was weak; and the hospitals being crowded and ill-regulated, the festering sores of the wounded soldiers tended to produce disease even if the cholera had not appeared. The epidemic which began to prey on their camp soon after the 11th of April, was probably the same colerin that attacked the Democrats at San Juan del Sur the year before, and afterward troubled the Americans at Virgin Bay. The spasms of this form of disease are not so violent as those of the Asiatic cholera, nor does the patient sink so rapidly. Its fatal effects were increased in the Costa Rican camp by the general depression of spirits which pervaded the officers as well as the men after they saw the results of the first conflict with the enemy they had come to drive, as they imagined, by easy marches, and by the mere force of their numbers, out of Central America.

Walker soon heard, through the people of San Jorge, the condition of the Costa Rican camp. Far from receiving recruits from the Nicaraguans, all fled the infected town. Mora began to build barricades as soon as the Americans retired; and this of itself showed fear of another attack. But when cholera and desertion supervened, the invader lost the hope of holding his ground even behind the adobes of Rivas. Nor was it possible for the Costa Rican officers to conceal from the soldiers the fact that the Americans were receiving reinforcements. Increased depression followed the growing apprehension of attack; and the pestilence found its victims each day yielding more readily to his deadly grasp. Then, too, there were vague rumors of movements in Costa Rica against the rule of the Moras. The people, beginning to feel the burden of the war, were asking why it was made; and the party which had for years been banished from the business of the State, was heard to raise its voice against the unjust war an ambitious executive was waging for the increase of his own personal power. D. Rafael Mora saw he must leave Rivas and return to San José; so, placing his brother-in-law, General José Maria Cañas, in charge of the army, with orders to lead it back to Costa Rica, the troubled President mounted his horse, and almost alone took the road to Guanacaste.

It was no part of the Nicaraguan general’s plan to waste his strength on an army which was being effectually destroyed by other causes; so he did not move from Granada until he heard the Costa Ricans were preparing to abandon Rivas. Then putting the rifle and light infantry battalions on the lake steamer, he proceeded with them to Virgin Bay. The battalions were landed as quickly as the charred and ruined state of the wharf admitted; and the order was given to advance along the familiar Transit road toward San Juan del Sur. But the force had gone not quite a league when a breathless messenger rode up to inform the general that Cañas was already marching with rapid and disorderly steps toward the La Flor. At the same time the messenger bore a letter addressed to “Wm. Walker, General-in-chief of the Nicaraguan Army,” signed “José Maria Cañas, General-in-chief of the Costa Rican Army,” and couched in the following terms: “Obliged to abandon the Plaza of Rivas, on account of the appearance of the cholera in a most alarming form, I am forced to leave here a certain number of sick it is impossible to carry away without danger to their lives; but I expect your generosity will treat them with all the attention and care their situation requires. I invoke the laws of humanity in favor of these unfortunate victims of an awful calamity, and I have the honor of proposing to you to exchange them when they get well, for more than twenty prisoners who are now in our power, and whose names I will send you in a detailed list for making the exchange. Believing that this, my proposal, will be admitted, according to the laws of war, I have the honor of subscribing myself, with feelings of the highest consideration, your obedient servant.” It is needless to add, that the surgeons immediately received orders to take charge of the sick of the enemy wherever found.

Such, then, was the conclusion of the first act in the war of extermination. Had the Nicaraguan chief been a proud man, or one capable of rejoicing in the humiliation of a foe, he might have been excused for some elation of spirit at receiving the letter of Cañas. The enemy which, not two months before, had declared war against the “filibusters,” and ordered all taken with arms in their hands to be shot, now supplicated the commander-in-chief of the Nicaraguan army to spare the lives of the suffering soldiers left behind at Rivas. The victims of the murderous court-martial at Santa Rosa, the bayonet stabs inflicted on the wounded prisoners found near the altar of the church at Rivas, the insults to the bodies of the brave dead who gave up their lives on the 11th of April, for a country theirs only by adoption, were to be avenged by mercy, and care, and attention, bestowed on the sick and wounded of those who had done the wrongs. It was a revenge such as the Americans might well be proud of—not unworthy either of the cause they advocated, or of the race from which they sprang.

It is scarcely necessary to follow the Costa Ricans in their sad and dreary march from San Juan to San José. The path to the La Flor was blocked with the bodies of stragglers who had fallen behind when the fatal spasms seized them, and prevented them from returning with their comrades. Nor did the scourge cease to pursue them when they entered the territory of Guanacaste. It tracked them to San José, and so well was its work of destruction done, that not more than five hundred of the brave array which had gone forth to exterminate the “filibusters,” returned to the capital of the Republic. Then the pestilence turning from the army it had almost wholly devoured, sought its prey among the peaceful families of the land. Young and old, women and children, succumbed to the disease, and some estimate that as many as fourteen thousand died from its effects. Probably, however, the more moderate estimate of ten thousand might cover all the loss to the population of the State.

While the Costa Ricans were occupying Rivas, it was reported that the Legitimists were attempting to raise men in the District of Chontales, and in the departments of Matagalpa and Segovia. Goicouria was sent with Captain Raymond’s company to scour the hills of Chontales; and meeting a small collection of the old Granadinos at Acoyapa, he scattered them in the course of a few moments. Then traversing the greater part of the district, he returned to Granada, and reported all quiet on the other side of the lake. Valle, who was military governor of Segovia, readily dispersed the Legitimists who made some show of a movement near Somoto Grande; while Mariano Salazar, sent by the government as commissioner to Matagalpa, pacified the Indians of that region, and returned with his command to Leon. Thus, in a few weeks, order and quiet were restored to the whole Republic, and the commands of the provisional government were respected in all parts of the State.

In the Meridional Department it was necessary to make examples of some Legitimists who had marched with the Costa Ricans from Guanacaste to invade the Republic. A principal one of these was Francisco Ugarte, who had been married to a sister of Dr. Cole’s wife. The general-in-chief heard that Ugarte remained in the department after the departure of the enemy; and a detachment sent in search of the traitor, found him and brought him to headquarters. He was tried by a military commission, and ordered to be hung. This mode of punishment for such offenders being unusual in the country—shooting being resorted to rather than hanging—the execution of Ugarte made a strong impression on the people, and infused a salutary dread of American justice among the plotting Legitimists. As there had been some questions concerning the guardianship of Ugarte’s children, and the administration of their mother’s estate between him and his connections, the natives generally attributed the arrest of the criminal to information derived from his wife’s brother-in-law, Dr. Cole; and the prevalence of the suspicion indicates that the people were not unaccustomed to see adherence to a party, or proposed devotion to the public interests, made the stalking-horse for the gratification of family feuds and personal passions.

For two or three weeks after the departure of Cañas from Rivas, the main body of the Americans were kept at Virgin Bay, detachments being constantly sent to different points of the department, with a view of restoring confidence in the strength of the Rivas administration. The fever was fierce at Granada, carrying off many of those who had lately reached the country. After some days, too, the cholera or colerin appeared at Virgin Bay, and numbers died from it there. Nor were the resident Americans or the soldiers the only victims of fever and cholera at this time. The owners of the Transit not having made proper arrangements for their line, the passengers for California who had come to San Juan del Norte, in April, were obliged to remain in Nicaragua a whole month. Many of these passengers being destitute of means, and irregular in their course of life, readily yielded to the fever then prevailing at Granada; and the reports they gave of the country, thrown into it as they were without any of the common comforts of civilization, prevented many from going thither. It was not until the 19th of May, that the steamer arrived at San Juan del Sur, and gave these suffering passengers a chance to go to San Francisco.

In spite, however, of the sickness which prevailed among the Americans, their spirits were good and their hopes high. To the casual observer the political elements appeared at rest, and all seemed more tranquil than at any time since the treaty of the 23d of October. The common people, with their strong religious instinct, thought that Providence had sent the cholera in order to drive the Costa Ricans from the soil. The Americans with that faith in themselves which has carried them in a wonderfully short period from one ocean to another, regarded their establishment in Nicaragua as fixed beyond the control of casualties. But to him who knows that great changes in states and societies are not wrought without long and severe labor, the difficulties of the Americans in Nicaragua might appear to be only beginning. To destroy an old political organization is a comparatively easy task, and little besides force is requisite for its accomplishment; but to build up and re-constitute society—to gather the materials from the four quarters, and construct them into an harmonious whole, fitted for the uses of a new civilization—requires more than force, more even than genius for the work, and agents with which to complete it. Time and patience, as well as skill and labor, are needed for success; and they who undertake it, must be willing to devote a lifetime to the work.

At that time there was one man at least in Nicaragua who saw that the path of the Americans was even then beset with thorns. Edmund Randolph, who since the beginning of April, had been in the Occidental Department, came down to Virgin Bay to take passage for New-York. During his stay at Leon and Realejo he had been very ill, almost dead at one time, from an affection of the liver; but in the intervals of his painful sickness, his quick eye had seen an under-current in the affairs of the provisional government. On the 20th of May, just before leaving for San Juan del Norte, he told Walker there was something wrong at Leon; but that confined as he was to his bed he had not the means of ascertaining precisely what was the nature of the evil.

Nor was the information given by Randolph unsupported by other facts. A day or two before the Costa Ricans evacuated Rivas, a courier from Leon had been brought to Granada, and on him were found letters directed to His Excellency, D. Juan Rafael Mora. Walker, on opening these letters, was surprised to find them signed by Patricio Rivas; and one was an official communication from the government stating that it desired to send a commissioner to treat for peace. Of course the general-in-chief detained the courier and the letters, he well knowing that Mora was about to abandon the town of Rivas. The Provisional President in his letters to Walker from Leon, said nothing about these communications with the enemy for some days; and the fact that he had sent such letters to Mora without advising with the general-in-chief was suspicious.

It became, therefore, highly important for the Americans to ascertain the state of affairs at Leon. Hence as soon as the mails for California and the Atlantic States had been despatched, Walker determined to repair to the Occidental Department. The events which transpired at Leon in consequence of that visit present another and a new phase of the war in Nicaragua.