The Filibuster War (3)

October 13, 1856. Walker boldly sailed the paddlewheel steamer, La Virgen, from Lake Nicaragua on a moonlit night with all lights doused, and the Legitimist sentries at the old Spanish fort guarding Granada’s lakeside jetty never saw him slip by. He anchored three miles north of the city, attached a cable to a large tree on shore, and used a flat-bottomed tender to ferry his army ashore.

Colonel Valle’s native battalion followed the Americans, and the 350 soldiers marched overland to surprise the legitimists, easily capturing Granada within minutes. Having conquered the Legitimist capital, he copied his hero, Julius Caesar’s ruse in his attack on the Gaul city of Gergovia almost two thousand years before. He disguised townsfolk and travelers waiting for their San Francisco steamship as soldiers. Convinced that walker’s army was far bigger than it was, General Corral reluctantly came to the negotiating table and surrendered. As commander of the army, Walker kept command of the army and controlled Nicaragua through puppet President Patricio Rivas.

That’s the stage for When Rivers Collide.