More like an instant turnoff, First White House Black Secret Service agent still trying to clear his name, Gazing on Chicago’s hopeful shores, I mourn, Illinois reports 2,035 new COVID-19 cases, additional 24 deaths, Buona launching plant-based Italian beefless sandwich, Vehicle thefts reported in Lincoln Park, Near North Side, Mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, starred at Lyric Opera, dies at 94, Blackhawks sign Riley Stillman to 3-year contract extension. [46] On Oct. 15, 1853, he sailed from [14], The combatants met at Mission Dolores, where each was given a Colt Dragoon with five shots. Chicago State University - MS - Criminal Justice. Maj. Gen. William Walker, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard overseeing the military mobilization for Joe Biden’s inauguration, graduated from St. Sabina, Leo, UIC and Chicago State. [13] Graham was a notorious gunman, having taken part in a number of duels and shootouts in the Old West. In the video with ABC's George Stephanopolous, the Major General. Renversé en 1857 par la campagne nationale du Costa Rica menée contre lui, il fut mis à mort par le gouvernement … Jaslyn was fatally shot April 18 as she and her father were getting food at a McDonald’s drive-thru. He received two Distinguished Service Crosses for extraordinary heroism in World War … [14], In the summer of 1853 Walker traveled to Guaymas in Mexico, seeking a grant from the Mexican government to establish a colony. [citation needed] Florencio Xatruch led his troops against Walker and the filibusters in la Puebla, Rivas. "Pierre Soule: Southern Expansionist and Promoter,", Norvell, John Edward, "How Tennessee Adventurer William Walker became Dictator of Nicaragua in 1857: The Norvell Family origins of the Grey Eyed Man of Destiny,", Recko, Corey. He was driven off, but not without inflicting heavy casualties. Brief recount of William Walker trying to conquer Baja California, Maps of North America and the Caribbean showing Walker's expeditions at omniatlas.com, Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law, Jim Hawkins and the Curse of Treasure Island, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Walker_(filibuster)&oldid=1018990559, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni, People executed by Honduras by firing squad, 19th-century executions of American people, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Short description is different from Wikidata, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from March 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2018, Articles with Spanish-language sources (es), Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Moore, J. Preston. [27] On 22 September, Walker repealed Nicaraguan laws prohibiting slavery, in an attempt to gain support from the Southern states. "[34], A key role was played by the Costa Rican Army in unifying the other Central American armies to fight against Filibusters. William Walker (May 8, 1824 – September 12, 1860) was an American physician, lawyer, journalist, and mercenary who organized several private military expeditions into Mexico and Central America with the intention of establishing English-speaking colonies under his personal control, an enterprise then known as "filibustering". [37] Realizing that his position was becoming precarious, he sought support from the Southerners in the U.S. by recasting his campaign as a fight to spread the institution of black slavery, which was the basis of the Southern agrarian economy. [31], From the north, President José Santos Guardiola sent Honduran troops under the leadership of the Xatruch brothers, who joined Salvadoran troops to fight Walker. https://gma.abc/3sDfg8m Chicago South Sider, ex-St. Sabina altar boy, leads National Guard mobilization for Biden inauguration, Man charged in West Side murder of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams. The main airport serving San José (in Alajuela) is named in Santamaría's honor. However, Nicaraguans had trouble pronouncing the general's Catalan name, so they altered the phrase to "los catruches" and ultimately to "los catrachos. Chicago police shoot suspect in 7-year-old girl’s murder during chase on I-290. William Walker Born June 1, 1935 Kearny, New Jersey NationalityAmerican OccupationUnited States Foreign Service diplomat Commanding General DC National Guard Major General William J. Walker testifies before the Senate earlier this month in Washington, DC. While the security concerns are extraordinary and the threat level high, it is routine for National Guard members from around the nation to come to Washington to bolster inauguration security. Ships from New York entered the San Juan River from the Atlantic and sailed across Lake Nicaragua. Maj. Gen. William Walker (left) is the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard overseeing more than 20,000 troops in Washington for Joe Biden’s inauguration, with threat levels high after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. EDUCATIONAL DEGREES. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. The troops are coming from every state, including Illinois, which over the weekend had 267 National Guard members in the city. William Walker, said between the :22 to :31 mark, and I quote exactly: "... a peaceful transfer *OF* military power". He worked in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in the 1990s and after the 9/11 attacks, he spent a year in the Pentagon. Sign up for the He proposed that his colony would serve as a fortified frontier, protecting U.S. soil from Indian raids. It took them over two weeks to smash, burn and flatten the city; all that remained were inscriptions on the ruins that read "Aqui Fue Granada" ("Here was Granada"). [8] Northerners, on the other hand, generally regarded him as a pirate. William Walker, adventurer, filibuster, and revolutionary leader who succeeded in making himself president of Nicaragua (1856–57). Concerned about Walker's intentions in the region, Costa Rican President Juan Rafael Mora Porras rejected his diplomatic overtures and began preparing the country's military for a potential conflict. [29] Walker organized a battalion of four companies, of which one was composed of Germans, a second of Frenchmen, and the other two of Americans, totaling 240 men placed under the command of Colonel Schlessinger to invade Costa Rica in a preemptive action. The two have not talked since then. The British government controlled the neighboring regions of British Honduras (modern-day Belize) and the Mosquito Coast (now part of modern-day Nicaragua) and had considerable strategic and economic interest in the construction of an inter-oceanic canal through Central America. [47] On the other hand, Alex Cox's Walker incorporates into its surrealist narrative many of the signposts of William Walker's life and exploits, including his original excursions into northern Mexico to his trial and acquittal on breaking the neutrality act to the triumph of his assault on Nicaragua and his execution. William R. Walker Second Quorum of the Seventy In 1861, when U.S. Outraged, Vanderbilt dispatched two secret agents to the Costa Rican government with plans to fight Walker. [22][23] With Walker's expeditionary force was the well-known explorer and journalist Charles Wilkins Webber, as well as the English adventurer Charles Frederick Henningsen, a veteran of the First Carlist War, the Hungarian Revolution, and the war in Circassia. There were some 8,000 National Guard members deployed to the city for President Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration and about 7,000 in 2013 when President Barack Obama was sworn into a second term, Walker said. The duel was recorded in The Daily Alta California. [22] On October 13, he conquered Granada and took effective control of the country. [48], In Part Five, Chapter 48, of Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell cites William Walker, "and how he died against a wall in Truxillo", as a topic of conversation between Rhett Butler and his filibustering acquaintances, while Rhett and Scarlett O'Hara are on honeymoon in New Orleans.[49]. The commanding general of the D.C. National Guard on Saturday defended ... Maj. Gen. William J. Walker’s comments came amid continued criticism of the ... Sund said he asked Walker … William Russell Walker (born 25 May 1944) has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since 2002. By establishing control of this bi-national river at its border with Nicaragua, Costa Rica prevented military reinforcements from reaching Walker and his Filibuster troops via the Caribbean Sea. The commercial exploitation of this route had been granted by Nicaragua to the Accessory Transit Company, controlled by shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt.[20]. I believe in him. SOURCE OF COMMISSIONED SERVICE ROTC. With Castellón's consent, Walker attacked the Legitimists in Rivas, near the trans-isthmian route. His mother was a daughter of Lipscomb Norvell, an American Revolutionary War officer from Virginia. Head of DC National Guard discusses inauguration security Major General William Walker, the Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard, discusses the current threat level in the nation’s capital and how troops are preparing for Wednesday. [10] These campaigns were known as filibustering, or freebooting, and were supported by the Southern expansionist secret society, the Knights of the Golden Circle. My day with Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin. [33], As the general and his soldiers returned from battle, some Nicaraguans affectionately yelled out "¡Vienen los xatruches!" In our latest episode, we are honored to chat with Major General William J. Walker, Commander of the D.C. National Guard and Chicago South Side native. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Before the end of the American Civil War, Walker's memory enjoyed great popularity in the southern and western United States, where he was known as "General Walker"[44] and as the "gray-eyed man of destiny". William Walker convinced many Southerners of the desirability of creating a slave-holding empire in tropical Latin America. The National Guard’s job is to support U.S. Secret Service, the Capitol Police, the Park Police and the D.C. Police Department. This advance force was defeated at the Battle of Santa Rosa on March 20, 1856. When retreating from Granada, the oldest Spanish colonial city in Nicaragua, he left a detachment with orders to level it in order to instill, as he put it, "a salutary dread of American justice". [32], During this civil war, Honduras and El Salvador recognized Xatruch as brigade and division general. The villain of the Nantucket series by science fiction writer S. M. Stirling is a modern American adventurer named William Walker, who leads a kind of time traveling filibuster force to invade Mycenaean Greece, dethrone and kill King Agamemnon, make himself king and introduce machine guns to the Trojan War. 2007. Unlike men of similar ambition, such as Cecil Rhodes, Walker's grandiose scheming ultimately failed against the union of Central American people. He returned in an attempt to re-establish his control of the region and was captured and executed by the government of Honduras in 1860. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Despite his intelligence and personal charm, Walker consistently proved to be a limited military and political leader. Almost 30% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated from the coronavirus. Walker sailed from San Francisco on May 3, 1855,[21] with approximately sixty men. The security of the House will now be led by someone with a military background. Nevertheless, in the era of Manifest Destiny, his filibustering project had popular support in the southern and western U.S., and the jury took eight minutes to acquit him. These mercenaries received the right to bear arms in the service of the Democratic government. Within six months, he set off on another expedition, but he was arrested by the U.S. Navy Home Squadron under the command of Commodore Hiram Paulding and once again returned to the U.S. amid considerable public controversy over the legality of the navy's actions. He was a career United States Army officer who fought with distinction during the Mexican-American War, and also served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War.Walker was severely wounded many times in combat, and was killed in action during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign There is unprecedented security here because of the Capitol attack by a Trump-supporting mob on Jan. 6, leaving five dead. Both the nickname by which Hondurans are known today, Catracho, and the more infamous nickname for Salvadorans, "Salvatrucho," are derived from Xatruch's figure and successful campaign as leader of the allied armies of Central America, as the troops of El Salvador and Honduras were national heroes, fighting side by side as Central American brothers against William Walker's troops. "The Administration and Commodore Paulding,", "Message of the President to the Senate in Reference to the Late Arrest of Gen. Walker,", "The Central American Question – What Walker May Do,". Walker tried a number of times to shoot his weapon, but he failed to land even a single shot and Graham was left unscathed. View William J. Walker, CFE’S profile on LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional community. he pronounced Baja California part of the larger Republic of Sonora. the memory palace podcast episode about William Walker. Grove, Lloyd. Within a few months nearly 10,000 civilians had died, almost ten percent of the population of Costa Rica. newsletter, Both facts and fact-checking a threat to GOP, Congressman Bobby Rush’s ‘bridge to our future’ is a bridge to nowhere, Instant replay? Nevertheless, Walker's army was weakened by massive defections and an epidemic of cholera, and was finally defeated by the Central American coalition led by Costa Rican President Juan Rafael Mora Porras (1814–1860). On September 3, during the Battle of La Virgen, Walker defeated the Legitimist army. The "Campaign of the Transit" (1857), is the name given by Costa Rican historians to the groups of several battles fought by the Costa Rican Army, supervised by Colonel Salvador Mora, and led by Colonel Blanco and Colonel Salazar at the San Juan River. [11], Walker gained national attention by dueling with law clerk William Hicks Graham on January 12, 1851. 1 April 11 is a Costa Rican national holiday in memory of Walker's defeat at Rivas. as Presage for What May Go Down Next", roundtable evaluation by scholars at H-Diplo, Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, "Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt fought war over route through Central America", "How Tennessee Adventurer William Walker became Dictator of Nicaragua in 1857 The Norvell family origins of The Grey Eyed Man of Destiny". [36], On December 14, 1856, as Granada was surrounded by 4,000 troops from Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, along with independent Nicaraguan allies, Charles Frederick Henningsen, one of Walker's generals, ordered his men to set the city ablaze before escaping and fighting their way to Lake Nicaragua. An 18-year-old man has been charged in connection with the attack. His father was a son of a Scottish immigrant. University of Illinois at Chicago - BA - Liberal Arts and Sciences. Walker studied law[7] and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Nashville at the age of 14. Walker then put the region under the laws of the American state of Louisiana, which made slavery legal. Walton Harris Walker was a United States Army four-star general who served in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, where he commanded the Eighth United States Army before dying in a jeep accident. Télécharger cette image : Le général de division William Walker, commandant général de la Garde nationale du District de Columbia, est vu lors d'une audience conjointe du Sénat sur la sécurité intérieure et les affaires gouvernementales et le Règlement et l'administration du Sénat le mercredi 3 mars 2021 pour discuter de l'attaque du 6 janvier contre le Capitole des États-Unis. "Murder on the White Sands." Scroggs, William O., Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Sociology in Louisiana State University. In 1854, a civil war erupted in Nicaragua between the Legitimist Party (also called the Conservative Party), based in the city of Granada, and the Democratic Party (also called the Liberal Party), based in León. Upon disembarking in New York City, he was greeted as a hero, but he alienated public opinion when he blamed his defeat on the U.S. Navy. H… The leadership change was the […] [38] This move increased Walker's popularity in the South and attracted the attention of Pierre Soulé, an influential New Orleans politician, who campaigned to raise support for Walker's war. Through the years, Walker has stayed in touch with St. Sabina’s Rev. William Henry Talbot Walker (November 26, 1816 – July 22, 1864) was an American soldier. ("Here come Xatruch's boys!") Senator from Michigan and founder of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Columnist Rick Telander recalls a day 44 years ago when he shared company with three Yankees legends. In all, Walker has been with the National Guard and DEA simultaneously for 30 years. “As a kid growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I always knew I wanted to serve. The most important strategic defeat of Walker came during the Campaign of 1856–57 when the Costa Rican army, led by Porras, General José Joaquín Mora Porras (the president's brother), and General José María Cañas (1809–1860), defeated the Filibusters in Rivas on April 11, 1856 (the Second Battle of Rivas). Michael Pfleger. In each incident, the vehicle was parked and unoccupied, or left running with the keys in the ignition, Chicago police said. In Central American countries, the successful military campaign of 1856–1857 against William Walker became a source of national pride and identity,[45] and it was later promoted by local historians and politicians as substitute for the war of independence that Central America had not experienced. [40], After writing an account of his Central American campaign (published in 1860 as War in Nicaragua), Walker once again returned to the region. Walker said as a young boy he wanted to be an Army officer, and watching the “Untouchables” as a youth “inspired” him to be a DEA agent. And we’ll see what happens.”. [12] Walker criticized Graham and his colleagues in the Herald, which angered Graham and prompted him to challenge Walker to a duel. He is buried in the "Old Cemetery", Trujillo, Colón, Honduras. One of Walker's maternal uncles was John Norvell, a US Senator from Michigan and founder of the Philadelphia Inquirer. William Walker, né le 8 mai 1824 à Nashville et mort le 12 septembre 1860 à Trujillo, est un aventurier, flibustier et soldat de fortune américain qui tenta de conquérir plusieurs pays d'Amérique latine au XIXe siècle. On October 12, 1856, Guatemalan Colonel José Víctor Zavala crossed the square of the city to the house where Walker's soldiers took shelter. Walker's plans then expanded from forming a buffer colony to establishing an independent Republic of Sonora, which might eventually take its place as a part of the Union (as the Republic of Texas had done in 1845). The Democratic Party sought military support from Walker who, to circumvent U.S. neutrality laws, obtained a contract from Democratic president Francisco Castellón to bring as many as three hundred "colonists" to Nicaragua. Walker’s military service started with the Illinois National Guard in 1981, which ran concurrently with his time as an agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Walker deliberately contaminated the water wells of Rivas with corpses. People and goods were then transported by stagecoach across a narrow strip of land near the city of Rivas, before reaching the Pacific and ships to San Francisco. WASHINGTON — Maj. Gen. William Walker, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard overseeing the massive military mobilization for Joe Biden’s inauguration in the wake of the deadly Capitol siege, is a former St. Sabina’s altar boy and Leo High School graduate who grew up at 75th and Aberdeen. 1st President of the Republic of Lower California, "Lipscomb Norvell, September 1756 – March 2, 1843", "How Tennessee Adventurer William Walker became Dictator of Nicaragua in 1857", "California Filibusters: A History of their Expeditions into Hispanic America", "The Knights of the Golden Circle: The Career of George Bickley", "William Walker: King of the 19th Century Filibusters", "La Guerra Contra los Filibusteros y la Nacionalidad Costarricense", "El general que trajo a los primeros catrachos", "Juan Rafael Mora y las tres fases de la Campaña Nacional", "Maps of Nicaragua, North and Central America: Population and Square Miles of Nicaragua, United States, Mexico, British and Central America, with Routes and Distances; Portraits of General Walker, Colonel Kinney, Parker H. French, and Views of the Battle of New-Orleans and Bunker Hill", "Costa Rica in 1856: Defeating William Walker While Creating a National Identity", "Life Imitating Art in Haiti? It therefore regarded Walker as a menace to its own affairs in the region.[41]. General Walker is a graduate of the Inter-American Defense War College, the Joint and Combined War-fighting School and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Senior Executive Course. Fu il 6º presidente del Nicaragua dal 1856 al 1857. 19th-century American filibuster, physician, lawyer, journalist, and mercenary, For other people named William Walker, see, James Mitchell Clarke, "Antonio Melendrez: Nemesis of William Walker in Baja California.". [3] His mother was the daughter of Lipscomb Norvell, an American Revolutionary War officer from Virginia. Under heavy fire, he reached the enemy's flag and carried it back with him, shouting to his men that the Filibuster bullets did not kill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped Major General William Walker, head of the Columbia National Guard, as the next House Sergeant-at-Arms, he announced Friday, which would make him the first Black American to hold the post. I had two ambitions, and I’m at the summit of those ambitions,” Walker said. William J. has 11 jobs listed on their profile. Walker’s undergraduate years were at the University of Illinois at Chicago; his master’s is from Chicago State University. Also Costa Rican diplomacy neutralized U.S. official support for Walker by taking advantage of the dispute between the magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt and William Walker.[35]. William Walker (May 8, 1824 – September 12, 1860) was an American physician, lawyer, journalist, and mercenary who organized several private military expeditions into Mexico and Central America with the intention of establishing English-speaking colonies under his personal control, an enterprise then known as "filibustering". William J. Walker is a United States Army major general, and the Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard.He is responsible for the command and control of the District of Columbia Army and Air National Guard units with an authorized strength of 2,700 Soldiers and Airmen. In this First Battle of Rivas, a school teacher called Enmanuel Mongalo y Rubio (1834–1872) burned the Filibuster headquarters. He was with the DEA in Chicago for a year and from there Walker did stints in various cities and abroad. Tulane University. William Graham Walker is a veteran United States Foreign Service diplomat who served as the US ambassador to El Salvador and as the head of the Kosovo Verification Mission. Walker disembarked in the port city of Trujillo, but soon fell into the custody of Nowell Salmon, an officer of the Royal Navy. Major General WILLIAM J. WALKER. This page was last edited on 20 April 2021, at 23:31. On June 12, 1857, after Walker surrendered, Xatruch made a triumphant entrance to Comayagua, which was then the capital of Honduras. [17], Back in California, Walker was put on trial[by whom?] Major General William Walker, the Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard, discusses the current threat level in the nation’s capital and how 25,000 troops are preparing for Biden's inauguration on Wednesday. Es el más reconocido de los denominados « filibusteros » del siglo XIX. General William Walker "we're assisting with a peaceful transition of military power". Later, a cholera epidemic spread to the Costa Rican troops and the civilian population of Rivas. The man was wanted in the murder of Jaslyn Adams, who was shot Sunday afternoon inside a car with her father at a Homan Square McDonald’s drive-thru. National Guard troops also provide security for members of Congress and their staffs around the Capitol, the White House and the National Mall. En 1855, il envahit l'Amérique centrale et devient président du Nicaragua en 1856. He funded his project by "selling scrips which were redeemable in lands of Sonora. Marco Calderon allegedly fired six rounds at a vehicle occupied by four people about 7 p.m. in the 200 block of West Pomeroy Street, prosecutors said. Walker usurped the presidency of Nicaragua in July 1856 and ruled until May 1, 1857,[1] when he was forced out[2] of the presidency and the country by a coalition of Central American armies. The singer debuted at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Dorabella in Mozart’s "Così fan tutte" in on Nov. 9, 1959, with conductor Joseph Krips. Walker took up residence in Granada and set himself up as President of Nicaragua, after conducting a fraudulent election. Upon landing, the force was reinforced by 110 locals. [8] He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and University of Heidelberg before receiving his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 19. Said Walker, “I’m praying for him. University of North Texas Press. By Wednesday, when President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are sworn in at a heavily fortified Capitol, there should be between 22,000 and 25,000 guard members in parts of the city, Walker said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. They stood face to face at ten paces, and each aimed and fired at the signal of a referee. Up Next in News [5] Walker was engaged to Ellen Martin, but she died of yellow fever before they could be married,[6] and he died without children. Cercò di conquistare alcuni paesi dell'America Latina nella metà del secolo XIX. In 1850 he migrated to California, where his interest in a colonization scheme in Lower California developed into filibustering plans. Initially, as commander of the army, Walker ruled Nicaragua through provisional President Patricio Rivas. Commanding General, District of Columbia National Guard. William Walker (Nashville, Tennessee, 8 de mayo de 1824- Trujillo, Honduras 12 de septiembre de 1860) fue un médico, abogado, periodista, político y mercenario estadounidense. “I know him, he knows my family.”. He practiced briefly in Philadelphia before moving to New Orleans to study law. Walker was the Leo High School Alumni Association Man of the Year for 2019, with the association calling him “one of the highest ranking and most decorated military leaders in Leo history.”. In parallel with Enmanuel Mongalo y Rubio in Nicaragua, Santamaría would become Costa Rica's national hero. (1969) directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, starring Marlon Brando, and Walker (1987) directed by Alex Cox, starring Ed Harris. [39], On May 1, 1857, Walker surrendered to Commander Charles Henry Davis of the United States Navy under the pressure of Costa Rica and the Central American armies, and was repatriated. He succeeded in capturing La Paz, the capital of sparsely populated Baja California, which he declared the capital of a new "Republic of Lower California" (declared November 3, 1853), with himself as president and his former law-partner, Henry P. Watkins,[17] as vice president. William Walker ( Nashville, 8 maggio 1824 – Trujillo, 12 settembre 1860) è stato un medico, avvocato, giornalista, mercenario e avventuriero statunitense . Fayssoux Collection. William Walker was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1824 to James Walker and his wife Mary Norvell. General William Walker "we're assisting with a peaceful transition of military power" - YouTube. [4] One of Walker's maternal uncles was John Norvell, a U.S. Walker usurped the presidency of Nicaragua in July 1856 and ruled until May 1, 1857, when he was forced out of the presidency and the country by a coalition of Central American armies.