Unknown Soldiers Podcast Episode 24, "How to Steal a Country": Maps, Images and Sources

Today's episode was one of the earliest episodes I ever planned to do...I just placed it later in the schedule to keep a decent flow going between time periods. It's been in the plan for a while, but here we are!

I think the Filibuster movement is extremely important for understanding both the leadup to the American Civil War, and America's role in Latin America and international affairs as a whole. It was also freaking wild, the kind of thing I barely believed when I first read about it. In any event, below I have a couple of maps, some images, and as usual my sources for this episode. Catch you next week!

Filibuster Invasions in the 1850s. Note: Walker's first invasion of Nicaragua came from California, not New Orleans as depicted here.

Walker's short-lived "Republic of Lower California". He never controlled more than 10% of this territory.

Map of Nicaragua during Walker's invasion. There are not many good maps of this war...well, probably because it's unknown!

Statue of Juan Santamaria, the Costa Rican drummer boy, in San Jose

William Walker, c. 1860

SOURCES

Gobat, Michel. Empire by Invitation: William Walker and Manifest Destiny in Central America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018.

McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Martelle, Scott. William Walker's Wars. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2018..

May, Robert E. Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

May, Robert E. The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire, 1854-1861. University Press of Florida, 1973.