A Nervy Lot of Dreamers--Veterans of Walker's Filibustering

 

Veterans' View of William Walker

November 21, 1909 Washington DC Evening Star

Washington has among its varied and picturesque veteran military population, two former members of “Filibuster” Walker’s armies, which first struggled and battled for an ideal and then a man's ambition in Nicaragua 54 years ago. Both men have passed the three score and 10 mark but, despite their age are as full of vigor and fire of adventure as though the half century since, their exploits among the Latin Americans was but a close neighbor in time.

The first man, Colonel C. W. Doubleday, is retired officer of the United States Army, with a long and enviable career in the service of the nation, both during the Civil War and later in the Western campaigns among the American Indians. Colonel Doubleday was Walter's. personal aide and one of his chief advisers during nearly all the hard campaigns that peculiar genius guided in Nicaragua.

The second member of Walters force is Captain E.F. Ruffin, a member of the rank and file in the Nicaragua forces, who struggled valiantly under Walker’s different detachment commanders in the days immediately preceding his downfall. Captain Ruffin later joined the Confederate forces at the outbreak of the Civil War and fought alternately in the Confederate Army and Navy. He closed his active military career as a volunteer in the Italian armies in their struggles against the Austrians.

 Colonel Doubleday lives the typical life of a retired army officer, surrounded by his family at his country home, The Cedars, near Rosslyn, Virginia.  Captain Ruffin, alone in the world except for the companionship of other Confederate veterans in the city, makes a living by proof reading and appears content with life in modest bachelor quarters.

” Do I recollect Walker? General Walker, as we used to call him,” said Colonel Doubleday, commenting, repeating the question of the interviewer. “Why I should say I do. I've written a book telling of our adventures down in Nicaragua. It all seems like a dream now. Those were wonderful days. Almost each one of them was characterized by courage, foolhardy bravery or questionable diplomacy. It all ended in one thing—a fight, and Walker’s fights were fights indeed.”

“Walker, in my opinion, was one of the most remarkable men this continent ever produced. He was the bravest, the most sagacious and the most crafty soldier—if I may use the term—I have ever seen. His greatest fault was his contempt for his adversaries and his utter disregard of danger. It was the first fault that led to needless loss of life among his followers and eventually opened the way to his downfall.

“He was the most ambitious man I ever saw---he seemed to think he had a destiny—and sometimes I instinctively compared the visible results of his thoughts to the ambitions of Napoleon. His ambition, his avowed declarations for slavery and his lack of diplomacy in dealing with Central Americans and others were directly responsible for his death.”

Col Doubleday joined the “gold rush” to California in the latter 40s, and after knocking about the far west for several years, wandered into San Francisco in the spring of 1854. It was while loafing about the waterfront there that he decided “on the spur of the moment “as he describes it, to cast his fortunes along the Pacific Coast of Central America. He accordingly sailed for San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua, where he found a revolution in progress between Chamorra and Castellon, rival aspirants for the presidency. Chamorra represented the Nicaraguan “aristocracy” and was backed by the church. Castellon was the choice of the Nicaraguan democracy and proclaimed himself as “fighting for his rightful place and needed reforms.” Colonel Doubleday organized a company of American and British adventurers and allied himself with Castellon.

He jumped into the thick of the fray and fought side by side for a number of months with General Don Maximo Jerez, a Castellon lieutenant, afterward, the Nicaraguan minister to the United States. He served with the Castillon forces about a year before the coming of Walker and his 56 fighting men from California.

“I was delegated by Castellon to meet Walker and his command at the coast and escort them inland,” said Col. Doubleday. “It was the first time I had seen the man, and little did I realize at the time that he would play such a prominent part in my life during the three year which followed. I must admit I wasn’t very much impressed with him at first, but it was not long before his abilities showed themselves.”

Colonel Doubleday acted as Walker's interpreter and aided him materially in concluding the contract of service with the revolutionary leader. After these preliminaries, the new arrival indicated an immediate desire to “get at” the enemy, and within a few days he had completed arrangements to advance against the town of Rivas, one of the Chamorra strongholds.

“That expedition was probably the most trying of all the many hazardous undertakings which Walker led us on.” said Col. Doubleday. “The recollection of the march, the charges and our eventually cutting our way to safety through a force twenty times as large as our are still vivid.”

In describing the attack on Rivas, Colonel Doubleday graphically told of a two-day forced march through tropical showers in the dense undergrowth of a cross country route to the outskirts of the object of attack. Besides his own men and Colonel Doubleday’s Walker had with him about 150 native soldiers specially detailed by Castellon under a native colonel.  The garrison at Rivas was estimated at between 1,200 and 1,300 men.

“If there ever was a man who had contempt for the overwhelming force he was about to attack and the value of his native auxiliaries, it was Walker,” said Col. Doubleday, in telling of the preparation for the assault. “He calculated their worth as little or nothing. It would have been better for everyone if he had been willing to attribute as least a few fighting qualities to the men who opposed us. When we arrived in front of the town Walker sent the native band to the rear of the town to cut off a possible retreat and, forming the balance of the company two abreast, boldly advanced and before the enemy realized what was going on the two outside barricades of the place had been scaled.”

The force Col. Doubleday stated, made its way to the plaza in the town, where it was caught in a crossfire from several hundred men shooting from behind loopholes in the native buildings which eventually forced it to seek shelter in a large stone building nearby.

“And that was the fight of the day,” remarked the Walker veteran.” Before we could close the door, the enemy swarmed about it like bees, and it was a terrific struggle to repulse them. Everyone realized it was a case of death if the enemy succeeded in gaining entrance, and if ever men fought like demons, they did in that five or ten minutes about the door of our temporary fortress. It was a hand to hand struggle in which swords and revolvers were used with such good effect that when they retreated, they left a barricade of dead bodies in front of us.”

Safety in the building was brief. In a short while the enemy advanced again, and while holding the band’s attention by attacking in front attempted to set fire in the rear. This maneuver was repeated several times, and with such a disregard for the bullets of Walker’s men that it was finally concluded the best thing to do was cut a way out to open country. This decision was hastened because of the number of men in killed and wounded and the waning strength of those still fighting.

The determination to cut their way out was immediately put into execution. The door was flung open and the members of the command, in close formation, dashed through the masses of the enemy opposed to them, ran down a street a short distance and then jumped into a ravine. Following this ravine for a mile or so, they soon reached the open fields outside Rivas.

“Our exit was so sudden,” explained Col. Doubleday, “that it took those fellows completely off their guard. They literally opened their ranks and let us pass between them without firing a shot. As we reached the ravine we turned and gave them a volley which appeared to rouse them to realization of what had happened. They didn’t follow us, however. They probably had had enough fighting for one day.

“The saddest part of the attack and retreat was the necessity of leaving behind our dead and badly wounded. The latter begged us pitifully to take them along, but it was impossible. After we got out of the town, we discovered the native troops had fled from their posts in the rear of the town almost at the beginning of the fighting.”

In speaking of the order maintained by Walker among his men, Col. Doubleday referred to several executions of men who had deserted or had been caught red handed looting towns and houses.

“I witnessed several of these executions,” the veteran remarked. “It was hard, but it was a necessity in dealing with the character of men who made up the rank and file. Walker was firm in having his orders maintained.”

Col. Doubleday remained in service of Walker until he was elected to the presidency of the republic and participated in a large number of fights of his principal campaigns. After walker assumed the reins of government Col. Doubleday returned to America, where he spent the winter of 1857, and in the following spring set out for Central America again with reinforcements. It was while he was sailing off the coast of Honduras that his ship was wrecked on a reef and he, with probably fifty companions, was marooned on an island until rescued by a British warship.

The following year he returned to Nicaragua after the forces of all the other Central American states were leagued against Walker and he had gained the enmity of America and Great Britain. He was a member of an expedition which made its way up the San Juan River in an effort to connect with Walker’s forces in Granada.  An explosion of the boiler of the boat on which the party travelled broke up the trip and those who survived sought succor on a British warship and were after conveyed to New Orleans. In the explosion, Col. Doubleday was so badly injured that he lay at the home of a German on the Honduras cost under the care of a native physician. About twenty men out of the sixty that composed the expedition lot their lives.

“That was the end of my active connection with Walker,” Colonel Doubleday concluded. “He insisted upon organizing another expedition, which landed in Trujillo, Honduras. He was defeated, and subsequently shot after a trial before a drum-head court-martial. My service was long and hard in Central America, but the experience was worth the trials. I'm now carrying three bullet wounds-- one in my head--another in my side--and still another in my thigh--as mementos.”

 

“I am the man who marched forty-six men from the Mosquito coast into the interior of Nicaragua to join Walker near Granada in the summer of 1855,” said Captain Ruffin when asked to tell of his experiences as a member of the “Filibuster army.” “I had previously been in the Panama railroad survey and later joined a party of men from the states under Kinney on the Mosquito coast to engage in agriculture. He work didn’t appeal to us, and hearing of Walker’s exploits across the mountains, we decided to join him.”

Captain Ruffin described his March over the tropical country as one of the great hardship and privation. He and his companions traveled on foot and lived as best they could for a period of a little over 8 weeks, until they finally reached Grenada and enrolled themselves. Under Walkers banner. he was glad to get us,” remarked Ruffin reminiscently. He wanted all the able bodied Americans he could find. It made him in a way feel at home and gave him confidence for greater undertakings. He was a fine commander, strict, brave and just, and wouldn't tolerate any foolishness.”

 Immediately after joining Walker's command, Captain Ruffin was placed in the detachment commanded by General Hornsby and later transferred to a four gun battery in charge of Colonel Henningson, and Austrian. Under these two men, he saw all sorts of service, from patrol duty along roads and rivers to pitched battles and skirmishes about Leon, Grenada, Rivas and other cities.

“We used to take pot shots at the enemy every time we got the opportunity when we did a patrol duty about Leon,” said the old man. It was great sport, like still hunting. We would wager if we could knock this fellow or that fellow off his feet in so many shots. The bets mostly went one way, as there were some powerfully fine marksmen among us.

“I was in the midst of the fighting the second time Rivas was attacked and captured., and later on when Walker retook Grenada from the opposing forces. They had slipped in on the capital when the general was away and occupied it before he could send reinforcements. It was fighting, sure enough, and when a fellow got into a tight hole, he had to either get himself out or be killed. There was, two, a mighty sound rumor in circulation that the other fellows murdered their prisoners of war. Captain Ruffin was present at the execution of coral, who was convicted by court martial of plotting against Walker's government. The firing squad was not more than five or six feet away from him at the time and he narrowly escaped being detailed as one of its number. It was a question of whether 12 men from my command or 12 men from the Texans would do the shooting, and they chose the Texans at the last moment, roughly explained, I'll never forget that morning as long as I live. They told us Corral was going to be shot before noon and everybody crowded into the Plaza to see it. It was a bright, sunshiny day, 1A. Man would never associate with death. I think everybody was depressed that morning., the not because of any of us. We're sorry for Corral. Not a man in the command had any use for him, but we had been having a fine time, celebrating and loafing for a week or more, and the execution seemed an unfitting climax to it all. Corral was imprisoned under Walker's headquarters at one end of the Plaza within a hundred yards of his home. His wife and family had been present in the city during his trial, and following judgement of death they either could not or would not leave. All morning we heard the members of his family weeping over hi impending fate. The hysterical shrieks of his eldest daughter were pathetic and heartrending.”

About 11 o’clock Corral came out of his prison between two keepers and, under their direction, a took a seat in a chair already prepared for him in front of a high brick wall of a nearby building. He walked quietly and without a sign of nervousness until the firing squad took its place about twenty paces in front of him, under the command of Captain Gilman. As one of the men started to tie a band across his eyes Corral waved him aside and, looking straight at the dozen men before him, said in Spanish, “Senors, don’t hit me in the face. That’s all I ask of you.” Then indicating he was ready for the band; he turned his head to permit the knot to be tied as quickly as possible.

“Just at that moment I noticed Walker come out of his headquarters and lean against a post in such a position he could see everything that was going on. Captain Gilman gave the order to fire in a low voice, and twelve shots rang out almost instantly. Corral sank from his chair, blood spurting from his chest and spattering over the pavement. He was dead the moment his body hit the ground.

“We examined the corpse shortly afterward and found eleven bullet holes in the region of his heart within a pace of eight inches. We learned that afternoon that one of the rifles had been loaded with a blank.”

To all the enemies of the calibre of Corral, the filibuster was merciless, according to Captain Ruffin, and in speaking of another incident in which he disposed of an individual who plotted against him or his men The former Walker soldier told of the capture of a native near Rivas on whom we found orders to poison the spring of water at one of the permanent camps.

” When Walker found the proof on the man he was beside himself with rage,” said Captain Ruffin. “He first thought over turning him over to a drum head court-martial, but later in an uncontrollable anger, called a number of the men to his headquarters and told them to take the prisoner out and do what they wanted with him.

“Well, we were not possessed of the delicate instincts we have in our mature years,” mused the old man after a moment’s pause. “The fellow would have killed about half of us if we hadn’t caught him, so we came to the conclusion that hanging would serve him right. The whole command had a sort of impromptu lynching party.  We took the fellow out in the woods and strung him up on a tree and let him die there. The details are of no consequence, and besides, it was by General Walker’s orders, or rather, permission.”

Captain Ruffin’s last service with Walker was as a member of a patrol along the San Juan River on the southern border to watch the advance of the Costa Rican army. It was in this part of Nicaragua that he served directly under Colonel Wheat, later a noted Confederate soldier, as colonel of the Louisiana “Tigers,” Colonel Lockridge and Colonel Titus of Kansas border war fame. A portion of this time he was besieged by allied armies of Central America and with his companion forced to kill and eat the company’s pack mules.

“The nearest I ever came to being captured was along this river when a company of Costa Ricans jumped out of the underbrush and attempted to surround two other men and myself on muleback,” he said. “It was one of the rockiest roads I ever saw, but rocks didn’t count in getting these mules over the ground to safety. They fairly flew. It isn’t a pleasant thing to see about a hundred Central Americans stick as many bayonets in your face with the chance of a sugar cane knife getting into play if the bayonet won’t do. They were not twenty feet away when we first saw them coming out of the bushes, and the sight gave me the shivers for a month afterward.”

Captain Ruffin recounted several adventurous tales of efforts on the part of his command to march across the country and join Walker near Granada just before he was driven from the country. These efforts failed dismally because of the superior number of Walker’s opponents. Conditions finally became such that Ruffin and his companions returned to America to take up other and less dangerous occupations.

“I think a few went back to Trujillo with him the last time, but they were very few,” remarked the old man. “We began to realize then that his conquest of the country was an impossibility.”

“Were you ever paid for your service?” he was asked.

“Not a cent,” he replied with a smile. “We weren’t fighting for money. It was for what might have come afterward. We were a nervy lot of dreamers.”