The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956 Page: 413
587 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texans and Filibusters in the 1850's 413
preparations were "conducted with great secrecy." The order of
the Lone Star with its subordinate lodges made the necessary
arrangements without exciting suspicion. The obligation of
secrecy imposed upon the initiated prevented the publication of
details. The "promised reward of spoilation" infused energy
among the members of the formidable bands of men who were
expected to arrive in Galveston by steamboats.
Although Texans were prepared to furnish their quota of men
in a continued attempt to invade the island which General Lopez
had failed to conquer, events occurring on the larger stage in 1855
precluded further expansion in this direction. The Democratic
administration of Franklin Pierce, taking control in 1853, after
the four-year Whig interlude, had at first encouraged the explora-
tion of various avenues which might lead to the acquisition of
Cuba. It was, at that time, generally acknowledged in Washing-
ton that the "Pearl of the Antilles" ought to be acquired either
by means of the sword or the purse. The Pierce administration
had therefore dispatched Senator Pierre Soul6 of Louisiana to
Madrid, as minister to Spain with instructions to pursue the
Cuban policy. The minister's mission, however, produced only
the abortive Ostend Manifesto, which presumed to conquer the
island of Cuba by the mere issuance of a joint statement to that
effect. President Pierce and Secretary of State William L. Marcy
gave up any further effort, for the time being, to acquire Cuba.1
In this situation Texan filibustering activities, which were still
in full motion, turned toward Central America.
At about the same time, during the early 1850's, General
William Walker, who was later to become famed as the "Nica-
raguan filibuster," had been experimenting with his particular
kind of warfare by leading small expeditions against Mexican
possessions on the Pacific coast. After failing to establish himself
as the founder of a new nation on the Pacific coast, General
Walker, in 1854, joined the side of the liberalist leader, Fran-
cisco Castellon, during the course of a political revolution which
was then in progress in Nicaragua. Walker soon rose to become
5Lynn to John F. Crompton, February 18, 1855, ibid.
oThomas A. Bailey, A Diplomatic History of the American People (New York,
1944), 316-318; Graham H. Stuart, Latin America and the United States (New
York, 1938), 324-327.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956, periodical, 1956; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101162/m1/439/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.