A filibuster (from the Spanish ''filibustero''), also known as a freebooter, is someone who engages in an unauthorized
military expedition into a foreign country or territory to foster or support a political revolution or
secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
. The term is usually applied to United States citizens who incited insurrections across Latin America, particularly in the mid-19th century, usually with the goal of establishing an American-loyal regime that may later be annexed into the United States. Probably the most notable example is the
Filibuster War
The Filibuster War or Walker affair was a military conflict between filibustering multinational troops stationed in Nicaragua and a coalition of Central American armies. An American mercenary William Walker invaded Nicaragua in 1855 with a sma ...
initiated by William Walker in Nicaragua.
Filibusters are
irregular soldiers who act without official authorization from their own government, and are generally motivated by financial gain, political ideology, or the thrill of adventure. Unlike
mercenaries, filibusters are independently motivated and work for themselves, whilst a mercenary leader operates on behalf of others. The freewheeling actions of the filibusters of the 1850s led to the name being applied figuratively to the political act of
filibustering in the United States Congress.
History
The English term "filibuster" derives from the Spanish , itself deriving originally from the Dutch , '
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
, pirate, robber' (also the root of English ''freebooter''). The Spanish form entered the English language in the 1850s, as applied to military adventurers from the United States then operating in Central America and the
Spanish West Indies.
The Spanish term was first applied to persons raiding Spanish colonies and ships in the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, the most famous of whom was
Sir Francis Drake with his 1573 raid on
Nombre de Dios. With the end of the era of
Caribbean piracy in the early 18th century "filibuster" fell out of general currency.
The term was revived in the mid-19th century to describe the actions of adventurers who tried to take control of various Caribbean, Mexican, and Central-American territories by force of arms. In
Sonora, Mexico, there were the French Marquis
Charles de Pindray
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...
and Count
Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon and the Americans
Joseph C. Morehead and
Henry Alexander Crabb. The three most prominent filibusters of that era were
Narciso López
Narciso López (November 2, 1797, Caracas – September 1, 1851, Havana) was a Venezuelan-born adventurer and Spanish Army general who is best known for his expeditions aimed at liberating Cuba from Spanish rule in the 1850s. His troops carrie ...
and
John Quitman in Cuba and
William Walker in
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
, Sonora, Costa Rica and lastly Nicaragua. The term returned to American parlance to refer to López's 1851
Cuban expedition.
Several Americans were involved in freelance military schemes, including
Aaron Burr,
William Blount
William Blount (March 26, 1749March 21, 1800) was an American Founding Father, statesman, farmer and land speculator who signed the United States Constitution. He was a member of the North Carolina delegation at the Constitutional Convention o ...
(
West Florida
West Florida ( es, Florida Occidental) was a region on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico that underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. As its name suggests, it was formed out of the western part of former S ...
),
Augustus W. Magee (Texas),
George Mathews (
East Florida
East Florida ( es, Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of ''La Florida'' in 1763 as part of ...
),
George Rogers Clark (Louisiana and Mississippi),
William S. Smith (Venezuela),
Ira Allen
Ira Allen (April 21, 1751 – January 7, 1814) was one of the founders of the U.S. state of Vermont and a leader of the Green Mountain Boys during the American colonial period. He was the younger brother of Ethan Allen.
Biography
Ira Allen w ...
(Canada),
William Walker (Mexico and Nicaragua),
William A. Chanler
William Astor "Willie" Chanler (June 11, 1867 – March 4, 1934) was an American soldier, explorer, and politician who served as U.S. Representative from New York. He was a son of John Winthrop Chanler. After spending several years exploring Eas ...
(Cuba and Venezuela) and
James Long (Texas).
[Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America, by Robert E. May. Chapter 1]
Gregor MacGregor was a Scottish filibuster in Florida, Central, and South America.
Although the American public often enjoyed reading about the thrilling adventures of filibusters, Americans involved in filibustering expeditions were usually in violation of the
Neutrality Act of 1794 that made it illegal for a citizen to wage war against another country at peace with the United States. For example, the journalist
John L. O'Sullivan, who coined the related phrase "
Manifest Destiny", was put on trial for raising money for López's failed filibustering expedition in Cuba.
The Neutrality Act of 1818 became of great frustration for American filibusters. Article 6 stated anyone engaged in filibustering could receive a maximum three years imprisonment and three thousand dollars in fines. However, it was not uncommon for early Republic politicians to "overlook" and sometimes "assist" some filibuster missions in the hopes to add to US territory.
This conflict meant the army were reluctant to arrest filibusters who broke the terms of this legislation. Officers were worried that without permission from the
US district court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
to make these arrests, they could face arrest themselves.
Filibusters and the press
There was widespread support in the press for filibusters' missions. A number of journalists, such as
John O'Sullivan, Moses S. Beach at the ''New York Sun'' and the New Orleans' L. J. Sigur of the ''Delta'', were sympathetic towards filibusters. All supported Narciso López's Missions to Cuba. John S. Thrasher contributed articles for the annexation of Cuba in New Orleans' Picayune. Some journalists also enlisted to fight for filibustering missions as Richardson Hardy and John McCann did who both worked for the Cincinnati Nonpareil. The poet
Theodore O'Hara
Theodore O'Hara (February 11, 1820 – June 6, 1867) was a poet and an officer for the United States Army in the Mexican–American War, and a Confederate colonel in the American Civil War. He is best known for the poems "Bivouac of the Dead", ...
was a member of William Walker's expedition to Nicaragua. He worked on the Frankfort Yeoman and the Democratic Rally newspapers. After this, he served in the Confederate army in the American Civil War.
Antebellum United States
Connection to slavery
The mid-nineteenth century (1848-1860) saw Southern
planters raise private armies for expeditions to Mexico, the
Caribbean, Central and South America to acquire territories that could be annexed to the Union as slave states. Despite not being authorized by their government, Southern elites often held considerable sway over U.S. foreign policy and national politics. Despite widespread opposition from Northerners, filibustering thrust slavery into American foreign policy.
Historians have noted that filibustering was not a common practice and was carried out by "the most radical proslavery expansionists". Hardline defenders of slavery saw its preservation as their "top priority", leading to support for filibusters and their campaigns abroad. Support for filibusters in the U.S. was also driven by a desire to offset
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
influence in South America. At the height of filibustering, pro-slavery politicians wanted to expand the United States further into Latin America, as far as
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
and
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
. However, these attempts were quickly withdrawn when military and diplomatic retaliation was pursued.
Many future
Confederate officers and soldiers, such as
Chatham Roberdeau Wheat, of the
Louisiana Tigers
Louisiana Tigers was the common nickname for certain infantry troops from the State of Louisiana in the Confederate army during the American Civil War. Originally applied to a specific company, the nickname expanded to a battalion, then to a b ...
, obtained valuable military experience from filibuster expeditions. The author
Horace Bell served as a major with Walker in Nicaragua in 1856. Colonel
Parker H. French served as Minister of Hacienda and was appointed as Minister Plenipotentiary to Washington in 1855. However the United States refused to recognized Walker's government as legitimate and President Pierce refused his credentials. Rather than return to Nicaragua French spent several months spending his spoils enjoying a lavish lifestyle that included staying in luxury hotel suites and entertaining the press and politicians with cigars and champagne. Eventually French ran into legal troubles connected to recruiting volunteers for the Walker regime and he hastily returned to Nicaragua in March 1856.
William Walker
In the 1850s, American adventurer
William Walker launched several filibustering campaigns leading a private mercenary army. In 1853, he declared a short-lived republic in the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California. Later, when a path through
Lake Nicaragua
Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada ( es, Lago de Nicaragua, , or ) is a freshwater lake in Nicaragua. Of tectonic origin and with an area of , it is the largest lake in Central America, the 19th largest lake in the world (by area) and the t ...
was being considered as the possible site of a canal through Central America (see
Nicaragua canal), he was hired as a mercenary by one of the factions in a civil war in Nicaragua. He declared himself commander of the country's army in 1856; and soon afterward President of the Republic. After attempting to take control of the rest of Central America, while receiving no support from the U.S. government, he was defeated by the four other Central American nations he tried to invade and eventually executed in 1860 by the local
Honduran authorities he had tried to overthrow.
In the traditional historiography in both the United States and Latin America, Walker's filibustering represented the high tide of antebellum
American imperialism
American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conques ...
. His brief seizure of Nicaragua in 1855 is typically called a representative expression of
Manifest destiny with the added factor of trying to expand slavery into Central America. Historian Michel Gobat, however, presents a strongly revisionist interpretation. He argues that Walker was invited in by Nicaraguan liberals who were trying to force economic modernization and political liberalism, and that thus it was not an attempted projection of American power.
Women's involvement with filibustering
Women often participated in filibustering, taking active roles such as planning, propaganda, participation, and popularization. Women also composed songs, arranged balls and concerts on behalf of the filibusters. Most of the interest came from women in the Gulf and Mid-Atlantic states as they were closer to the events. Correspondingly those in the Northern states tended not to take much interest in what was going on further south. Many women attended the filibuster expeditions as settlers, to help with casualties and to aid the expeditions in any way they could. Many women were at the front line experiencing first hand the armed engagements. A few even took up arms and used them to defend their men and property.
Jane McManus Storm Cazneau had an important role in negotiating between filibusters and U.S. politicians. She persuaded
Moses S. Beach to promote lectures about William Walker and his group. All of these women embraced the idea of expansionism to spread
American slavery
The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Slaver ...
in Central and South America. John Quitman's daughter Louisa used anti-Spanish rhetoric as she saw fit in order that the Spanish deserved to be punished for what they had done to
Narciso López
Narciso López (November 2, 1797, Caracas – September 1, 1851, Havana) was a Venezuelan-born adventurer and Spanish Army general who is best known for his expeditions aimed at liberating Cuba from Spanish rule in the 1850s. His troops carrie ...
and his men after they had been taken prisoner.
Filibusters and freemasonry
Several well-known figures in filibusterism were also freemasons and this organization played a major role within the hierarchy of the filibusters.
Narciso López
Narciso López (November 2, 1797, Caracas – September 1, 1851, Havana) was a Venezuelan-born adventurer and Spanish Army general who is best known for his expeditions aimed at liberating Cuba from Spanish rule in the 1850s. His troops carrie ...
and
José Gonzales of the Cuban expedition were both freemasons. Other freemasons who took part in filibustering came from Louisiana and were involved with the 1810 incursion into West Florida. Later in 1836 freemasons were involved in the Texas Revolution. These included Stephen F. Austin, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar and
David Crockett
David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of ...
among others. Freemasons from New Orleans had helped in planning the conquest of Texas. Several lodges were an important element of the filibusters contributing many men to the cause of
expansionism. Part of the masonic emphasis was that members should support their country's freedoms. During the period when
Narciso López
Narciso López (November 2, 1797, Caracas – September 1, 1851, Havana) was a Venezuelan-born adventurer and Spanish Army general who is best known for his expeditions aimed at liberating Cuba from Spanish rule in the 1850s. His troops carrie ...
was planning his expedition to Cuba the
Havana Club, founded in 1848 by Cuban freemasons, had endorsed the idea of inviting a filibuster expedition to Cuba in order to overthrow the colonial Spanish and free the island. The flag that López and others designed for their expedition had masonic emblems built into it. These included representations of the mason's triangular apron. The Star of Texas was included to represent the five points of the fellowship of the masons. This flag was adopted as the Cuban national flag fifty-two years after López's failed adventure. Other filibustering freemasons of note included
Chatham Roberdeau Wheat and Theodore O'Hara the poet. They came from an extensive network of lodges in the Southern U.S. such as Soloman's Lodge No. 20 in Jacksonville and Marion Lodge No. 19 in Ocala. The reach of the masons was wide and helpful. On arriving at John Hardee Dilworth's estate, Jose Gonzales used freemasonry symbols which prevented him from being arrested as Dilworth was also a mason and had been told by Presidential order to arrest Gonzales.
"Major F. P. Hann" hoax
The Frank Hann letters were a series of hoax letters published in 1895, purported to be written by a "Major F. P. Hann", who claimed to be an American filibuster fighting against the
Spanish colonial rule of Cuba. Hann wrote a fake account of his supposed experiences in the
Cuban War of Independence, detailing accounts of battles and operations that took place as well as commenting on the political situation within the country.
The real Frank Hann, a twenty-year-old man who lived in Gainesville, Florida, used the pseudonym "Anderfer" in order to release the letters he forged, acting as a medium for the letters written by "Major Hann". He used the hoax to raise his own profile in the U.S. as a war hero, while also attempting to garner support for filibuster missions in Cuba.
The episode draws attention to the influence of the media and
yellow journalism
Yellow journalism and yellow press are American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news while instead using eye-catching headlines for increased sales. Techniques may include ...
on American sentiment towards foreign affairs during the period.
Depiction in popular media
William Walker's filibusters are the subject of a poem by
Ernesto Cardenal
Ernesto Cardenal Martínez (20 January 1925 – 1 March 2020) was a Nicaraguan Catholic priest, poet, and politician. He was a liberation theologian and the founder of the primitivist art community in the Solentiname Islands, where he lived fo ...
.
Other media portrayal of filibustering include:
Richard Harding Davis
Richard Harding Davis (April 18, 1864 – April 11, 1916) was an American journalist and writer of fiction and drama, known foremost as the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish–American War, the Second Boer War, and the First ...
novels, The 1987 film ''
Walker
Walker or The Walker may refer to:
People
* Walker (given name)
*Walker (surname)
* Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer
Places
In the United States
*Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County
*Walker, Mono County, California ...
'' by
Alex Cox
Alexander B. H. Cox (born 15 December 1954) is an English film director, screenwriter, actor, non-fiction author and broadcaster. Cox experienced success early in his career with '' Repo Man'' and ''Sid and Nancy'', but since the release and co ...
,
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won ...
's ''A Book of Common Prayer'',
Ned Buntline's novels ''The B'hoys of New York'' and ''The Mysteries and Miseries of New Orleans'' and
Lucy Petway Holcombe's ''The Free Flag of Cuba''.
See also
*
Burr conspiracy
The Burr conspiracy was a plot alleged to have been planned by Aaron Burr in the years during and after his term as Vice President of the United States under US President Thomas Jefferson. According to the accusations against Burr, he attempted to ...
*
British Legions
The British Legion () or British Legions were foreign volunteer units that fought under Simón Bolívar against Spain for the independence of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and José de San Martín for the independence of Peru in the Spanish Ameri ...
*
Heimosodat
The Finland, Finnish Heimosodat (singular ''heimosota''), refer to a series of armed conflicts and Filibuster (military), private military expeditions in 1918–1922 into the areas of the former Russian Empire which were neighbouring Finland an ...
*
Hunters' Lodges
The Hunters' Lodge was the last of a series of secret organizations formed in 1838 in the United States during the Rebellions in the Canadas. The organization arose in Vermont among Lower Canadian refugees (the eastern division or Frères chas ...
*
Knights of the Golden Circle
The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) was a secret society founded in 1854 by American George W. L. Bickley, the objective of which was to create a new country, known as the Golden Circle ( es, Círculo Dorado), where slavery would be legal. T ...
*
Foreign Enlistment Act 1870
The Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict c 90) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that seeks to regulate mercenary activities of British citizens.
It received royal assent on 9 August 1870.
Background
There was no common la ...
(UK)
*
Little green men (Russo-Ukrainian War)
Little green men (russian: зелёные человечки, translit= zelyonye chelovechki; uk, зелені чоловічки, translit= zeleni cholovichky; pl, zielone ludziki}) are masked soldiers of the Russian Federation in unmar ...
*
Kingdom of Sedang
*
Raj of Sarawak
(While I breathe, I hope)
, national_anthem = '' Gone Forth Beyond the Sea''
, capital = Kuching
, common_languages = English, Iban, Melanau, Bidayuh, Sarawak Malay, Chinese etc.
, government_type = Absol ...
*
Vikings
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...
Notes
Further reading
* Brown, Charles H. ''Agents of Manifest Destiny: The Lives and Times of the Filibusters''. University of North Carolina Press, 1980. .
* Lipski, John M. "''Filibustero'': origin and development." ''Journal of Hispanic Philology'' 6, 1982, pp. 213–238
* May, Robert E. "Manifest Destiny's Filibusters" in Sam W. Haynes and Christopher Morris, eds. ''Manifest Destiny and Empire: American Antebellum Expansionism''. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1997. .
* May, Robert E. ''Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America''. University of North Carolina Press, 2002. .
* Roche, James Jeffrey
''The story of the Filibusters'' T. F. Unwin, 1891.
*Schreckengost, Gary. ''The First Louisiana Special Battalion: Wheat's Tigers in the Civil War.'' Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 2008. .
External links
on filibustering
on the Cuban Filibuster Movement (1849–1856)
Memory palace podcast episode about filibuster, William Walker.
*
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Piracy in the Atlantic Ocean
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History of United States expansionism
Cuba–United States relations
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