The Collected Library, Including Americana and Early Photography

Long Island, N.Y. December 3, 1858. One sheet, 13 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. (343 x 216 mm.) Draft of an autograph letter by Hiram Paulding to an unnamed recipient. In part: "Since retiring from the Home Squadron...I have not been able to convey to you as I desired a connected narrative of my proceedings in the disarming of Walker together with the consequent vexations...my Flag ship Wabash was stationed by the Department at Aspinwall...much solicitude was felt by the government at Washington in regard to the Filibuster movement at the South having for its object the invasion of Nicaragua. The President had issued his proclamation....The emissaries of the unlawful movement managed their affairs in such a way as to deceive...You may suppose therefore how much I was surprised not long afterward to learn...Walker in the 'Steamer Fashion', after landing fifty men at the mouth of the Colorado river had made port of San Juan...The 'circular order' from the State Department, which you have doubtless seen had been furnished to me... Its commands did not literally comprehend my capturing these marauders on foreign soil. That would have been a violation of national comity, but here on an isolated sand back I found a set of lawless men who...had disembarked under the American flag with the avowed purpose of making war upon people with whom we were at peace. They had forfeited their rights as citizens...In a broad sense of the word they were pirates..." Some emendations to text. Creasing form old folds, scattered foxing.

Lengthy account by Admiral Hiram Paulding (1797-1878) partially recounting his involvement in capturing the Filibuster William Walker (1824-1860).

Paulding was a career U.S. Naval Officer who served with distinction from the War of 1812 through the American Civil War, eventually attaining the rank of Rear Admiral.

In the 1850s, Nicaragua served as a major thoroughfare for U.S. shipping between the east and west coasts, as the transcontinental railroads were not yet a reality. Ships would sail up the San Juan River from the Atlantic, cross Lake Nicaragua, then take stagecoaches at Rivas to the Pacific coast. In 1854, a civil war broke out in Nicaragua between the Legitimist (Conservative) Party based in Granada and the Democratic (Liberal) Party based in Leon. American William Walker, motivated by economic control of the shipping route as well as the concept of American "manifest destiny", contracted with the Democratic president Francisco Castellon to bring a group of "colonists" who were in reality mercenaries. Walker's expeditionary force defeated the Legitimist army. On October 13, 1855, he had conquered Granada and took effective control over the government, ruling as a shadow president through provision President Patricio Rivas. It is unclear how many became "colonists" as Walker's regime remained short-lived. Walker's government was recognized by President Franklin Pierce on 20 May 1856, however, Costa Rica and other armies took action against the "Filibusters", and by May 1, 1857 Walker had capitulated. He would later attempt to return to the region, but was captured by the British Royal Navy and turned over to officials of the Honduran government. Walker was convicted of piracy, and "fillibusterism", and executed by firing squad on September 12, 1860.