American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography

Extraordinary archive of more than 150 letters and documents of Commodore Hiram Paulding, as Commander of the United States Home Squadron fleet, Flag Ships Potomac and Wabash, as well as other vessels, spanning April 1855 - March 1858. Papers include Paulding’s personal correspondence, communications from a variety of correspondents related to multi-national combatants in Nicaragua during the country’s “Filibuster War” of 1855-57, original orders from the Department of the Navy, and scarce autograph letters signed by William Walker, the most audacious filibuster of the 1850’s. Also included in the archive are letters and documents associated with Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Accessory Transit Company and with the American government’s early exploration of the feasibility of constructing an interoceanic canal in Central America.

“WHEN HE CAME TO ME UNINVITED ON BOARD THE FULTON HE BEHAVED MORE LIKE A FEEBLE BOY THAN THE ‘GREY EYED MAN OF DESTINY.’”

Documents trace William Walker’s filibustering activities in the region from his October 1855 takeover of the Accessory Transit Company’s steamer La Virgin on Lake Nicaragua with “200 American riflemen” to his capture by U.S. Naval forces and return to the United States. Archive consists of a mix of signed original manuscripts and contemporary copies. Copies detailing the Walker Expedition’s early Nicaraguan exploits were perhaps supplied by John H. Wheeler, U.S. Minister to Nicaragua, whose ALS to Paulding of 25 December 1855 indicates that prior to a meeting with Paulding he will have prepared for him “a copy of all the papers on file in the Legation as to the late brutal outrages on American citizens, who were passengers of the Transit Company, which has justly given our Government so much concern.” Other letters and documents were clearly requested by Paulding as part of his orders to ascertain the situation in the region. A 7pp letter of 12 January 1856 to Paulding from Courtland Cushing, Agent of the Accessory Transit Company, acknowledges receipt from Paulding of a “communication of the 3d inst. asking me to narrate in consecutive order according to dates a history of each of the transactions therein referred…,” then relates events in the region starting with the seizure by William Walker of the steamer La Virgin, the firing upon the steamer San Carlos, and concluding with his own imprisonment in Rivas by Nicaraguan forces.

Highlights of the archive include: Commodore Paulding's original order, 20 June 1855, detaching him from command of the Washington Navy Yard and appointing him to the command of the Home Squadron, as well the Navy Department's original 24pp instructions to him in his new command, 5 July 1855, both signed by from Sec. of the Navy James C. Dobbin; documents associated with Walker’s takeover of the steamship La Virgin; 16 November 1855 original order to Hiram Paulding signed by Secretary Dobbin stating, in small part, that “Reliable information has reached the Government, of the existence of a state of affairs…especially in Nicaragua, rendering it important that our Flag should be shown in that region,” then outlining specifically the “views of the Government” with regard to the situation in Nicaragua; an 8pp letter from Paulding to his wife, 18 December 1855-1 January 1865, describing his arrival in Nicaragua and conditions there, with reference to Walker and his men, “Grey Town” and other matters; firsthand accounts of the ongoing situation in Nicaragua from military officers as well as commercial agents in the region; 30 December 1855, 3pp ALS by William Walker, as General, Commander in Chief, Army of Nicaragua, to Minister John H. Wheeler, regarding his intention to conduct a formal investigation into the death of a U.S. sailor from the Potomac that was shot and killed, and his intention to manifest to Wheeler that “his confidence in the existing Administration was not misplaced”; documents related to the health and condition of Walker’s men who were taken aboard the USS Roanoke and Cyane in 1857 for return to the US; copies of Secretary of State Lewis Cass’s 18 September 1857 letter relative to Filibustering Expeditions fitted out in the US; copy of a letter written 30 November 1857 from San Juan, by Samuel S. Wood, a friend of Paulding, describing the arrival of Walker and his men, and seeking protection from Captain Chatard of the Sloop of War Saratoga “against Walker who had plundered of our goods destroyed our houses in Nicaragua and put my son in prison…”; 30 November 1857, 3pp LS by William Walker, as Commander in Chief of Army of Nicaragua, to Paulding, reporting his arrival at San Juan and complaining of the interference of Commander Chatard; 2 December 1857, 3pp ALS by William Walker, as Commander in Chief of Army of Nicaragua, to Paulding, again complaining of the interference of Commander Chatard; copy of Paulding’s 7 December 1857 response to Walker’s letters in which he writes, in small part, that Walker and his men are ”lawless adventurers” who are in Nicaragua “in violation of the laws of the United States and greatly to its dishonor; making war with a people with whom we are at peace,” and commanding them to surrender; a “List of Men received on board Decr 8th 1857 at San Juan del Norte,” identifying Walker and 99 of his men as prisoners of the US Navy; a 12 December 1857 list provided to Paulding by Commander Chatard identifying “Inventory of Arms, Ammunition, Ordnance Stores and provisions belonging to Walkers [sic] party, received on board at San Juan del Norte”; a series of letters to Paulding written in late-December 1857 from naval officers and others reporting on the capture of Frank P. Anderson and the remainder of men from the Walker Expedition; and a series of personal letters written by Paulding and other officers in 1858 related to the sentiment in America after the capture of Walker and Paulding’s removal from command by the President.

Key figures associated with the Filibuster War and represented in the correspondence besides Paulding and Walker include the following: John H. Wheeler, United States Minister to Nicaragua; General Ponciano Corral, Commander in Chief of the Republican (Legitimist) Army; B.D. [Birkett D.] Fry, Col. Army of Nicaragua; Colonel Bosque, Commander of Legitimists at San Carlos; B. Squire Cotrell, United States Commercial Agent, San Juan del Norte; Courtland Cushing, Joseph N. Scott, and other Agents of the Accessory Transit Company. Naval officers and other related figures represented in the correspondence include: Commodore William Mervine, Commander Pacific Squadron; Isaac Toucey, Secretary of the Navy; Rear Admiral John B. Montgomery; George M. Totten, Chief Engineer, Panama Rail Road; Commander Frederick Chatard; Lt. Commanding John J. Almy; and Captain Joshua R. Sands.

Tennessee-born William Walker was a doctor, lawyer, journalist, and adventurer who led multiple filibustering expeditions in the 1850s. He achieved his greatest success in Nicaragua where for a time he established himself as the country’s president. While some Americans heralded Walker for his conquests, others viewed him as a pro-slavery mercenary and opportunist. Hiram Paulding was a career naval officer who had served with distinction since the War of 1812. After losing his command following the Walker arrest, Paulding was appointed by President Lincoln in 1861 to assist in building the wartime fleet, and took over the New York Navy Yard.

A fascinating archive with important connections to American imperialism and interventionism, Manifest Destiny, the California Gold Rush, chattel slavery, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and US business interests in Central America. Items from William Walker are exceptionally scarce at auction, and we locate no Walker Expedition archives of this size and substance outside of institutional collections.