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Speaker 1: Welcome to the show, fellow ridiculous historians, who wanted to

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Speaker 1: open today with a question, and I don't know, um,

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Speaker 1: the most diplomatic way to phrase this, but what's the

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Speaker 1: ballsiest thing you ever did? Well, Ben, Today's episodes all

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Speaker 1: about diplomacy, you really set the tone properly. Balls You're

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Speaker 1: asking the audience, you're asking me. I'm asking the audience,

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Speaker 1: and I'm asking you know bast thing I ever did?

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Speaker 1: And super producer Casey Pegram feel free to chime in again.

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Speaker 1: For the three of us, that might be a little

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Speaker 1: bit different because we have a caveat. We're saying the

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Speaker 1: ballsiest thing we ever did that we're willing to admit

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Speaker 1: on air. That narrows the pool a little bit. My friend, UM,

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I once uh gosh, when you put

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Speaker 1: it like that, then I just don't have a good answer.

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Speaker 1: It really makes me feel like I've squandered my life.

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Speaker 1: No way, No, we're we're living lives full of strange,

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Speaker 1: ridiculous adventure. Although it always does feel weird to say

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Speaker 1: ridiculous on this show, a little on the nose. But

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Speaker 1: the reason that we were thinking about this off air

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Speaker 1: is that today's episode is about a very, very let's say,

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Speaker 1: self confident guy full of chutzpah, who played a an

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Speaker 1: instrumental role in American history. When we say America, we

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Speaker 1: mean the continents South American North American history. And it's

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Speaker 1: a guy that a lot of people don't know about.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know about him. I know, I knew, I

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Speaker 1: knew of his his type, his type, Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: imperialist swine right, yeah, expansionist soldiers of fortune. Yeah, because

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Speaker 1: who knew there apparently was a time where you could

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Speaker 1: just kind of take it upon yourself to, you know,

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Speaker 1: go forth and conquer other countries. Yeah, with nothing but

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Speaker 1: a you know, a wish and a and a dream

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Speaker 1: and a possele like minded reprobates. Yeah. We I was

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Speaker 1: thinking about that too. So imagine if you would have

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Speaker 1: you ever been on vacation somewhere and thought, you know what,

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Speaker 1: I'm just gonna take the flag of another country posted

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Speaker 1: in the ground here and declare myself in charge. Have

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Speaker 1: you ever thought about that? I've never seriously thought about it.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like those rules apply anymore. I think

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Speaker 1: there's a little more paperwork. Yeah, but back in the

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Speaker 1: time of William Walker, there wasn't really that's the subject

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Speaker 1: of today show, William Walker. Could you give us a

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Speaker 1: little introduction to this guy? No, yeah, he he grew

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Speaker 1: up in a pretty um affluent family and you're of

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Speaker 1: the woods, been in Nashville, Tennessee, or as they say

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Speaker 1: around those ways, Nashville was that right, Yeah? And he

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Speaker 1: did everything from like he studied fencing, I want to say,

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Speaker 1: and he went to the University of Nashville, where he

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Speaker 1: graduated at the top of his class by the age

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Speaker 1: of fourteen, which is nuts. And then he earned a

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Speaker 1: degree in medicine. And then he also, you know, had

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Speaker 1: a as if that wasn't enough, he got a law degree.

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Speaker 1: And he was technically, no, not technically, in actual facts,

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Speaker 1: both a lawyer and a doctor. So law doctor. Mom

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Speaker 1: and dad were proud, let's just put it that way, right,

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Speaker 1: And he did, as I think we may have mentioned,

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Speaker 1: come from a prestigious family. One of his uncles was

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Speaker 1: John Norville as senator from Michigan, founder of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Uh.

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Speaker 1: He had sort of a silver spoon life. But he

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Speaker 1: was also a very smart guy. And the thing was,

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Speaker 1: he was very self assured. He practiced law, but not

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Speaker 1: for very long time, because after he was practicing law

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Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, he quit and he moved to New Orleans,

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Speaker 1: where he became the editor and co owner of an

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Speaker 1: outfit called the New Orleans Crescent, a paper of note.

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Speaker 1: And then that still wasn't enough, so he moved to

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Speaker 1: San Francisco, and in San Francisco he was a journalist,

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Speaker 1: and his fencing also came into play. Is that right,

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Speaker 1: Well sort of, I'm pretty sure he he shot people,

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Speaker 1: but he wasn't three duels. Oh, that's right, that's right,

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Speaker 1: because he he was a bit of a notorious trash talker,

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Speaker 1: wasn't he. Yes, he wrote these columns and there were

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Speaker 1: a few notable figures who he got into some pretty

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Speaker 1: serious beefs with, isn't that right? Yeah, Yeah, he was.

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Speaker 1: He was quite a bantam figure because he was only

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Speaker 1: five ft two inches tall, but apparently he would fill

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Speaker 1: a room. One of his duels that gained national attention.

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Speaker 1: The for time he really broke out in the public

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Speaker 1: sphere was when he had a duel with a guy

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Speaker 1: named William Hicks Graham on January twelfth, eighteen fifty one,

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Speaker 1: in San France. Yeah. I think Graham was known as

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Speaker 1: something of a gun slinger. Yeah, yeah, So at the

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Speaker 1: time Walker was the editor of the San Francisco Harold

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Speaker 1: Graham was technically, for his day job, a clerk employed

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Speaker 1: by Judge r In Morrison. And the thing is, as

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Speaker 1: you said, Noel Graham was also a notorious gun slinger,

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Speaker 1: which you could do that back in these days. You

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Speaker 1: could be in the eighteen fifties, both a clerk for

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Speaker 1: a judge and a well known gunsman. Gunsman is a

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Speaker 1: word I just made. I'm into it. I support that.

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Speaker 1: So so what happened with this? So uh Walker and

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Speaker 1: as the editor of of said newspaper of note, was

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Speaker 1: talking some trash about this Judge rn Morrison and dueling.

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Speaker 1: This is you gotta remember this is the time of

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Speaker 1: like the California gold Rush and like you know, deadwood

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Speaker 1: and stuff like that, right, yeah, you know this is

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Speaker 1: also I mean it says it explicitly in books that

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Speaker 1: we checked out for the show, like Age of the Gunfighter.

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Speaker 1: At the time, dueling was a popular means of settling

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Speaker 1: disputes in California, though not technically legal, right, I mean,

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Speaker 1: we're pretty far out west at this time, that's true,

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Speaker 1: that's true. But so this is the funny part. It

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Speaker 1: was such a popular thing that the judge actually had

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Speaker 1: his clerks draw straws to see who would duel on

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Speaker 1: his behalf too, do you know, defend his honor. They

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Speaker 1: were beefed up. Yeah, that just seems really cowardly. But

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Speaker 1: I guess you know, I wouldn't do that for for

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Speaker 1: my boss. No, I don't, but I don't think. We're

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Speaker 1: in a very pro dueling environment. And again, Hicks was

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Speaker 1: you know, he was fond of this pastime. Yeah, William Hicks.

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Speaker 1: Graham had already taken part in numerous duels in the

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Speaker 1: time of the Old and Wild West, and Walker had

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Speaker 1: had some duels before, but the kind of duels he

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Speaker 1: had were duels where you use a single shot revolver,

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Speaker 1: and so you can if you just want to defend

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Speaker 1: your honor but not hurt someone. I'm not gonna say

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Speaker 1: where where this phrase is popular from. I don't want

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Speaker 1: to spoil the musical for everyone, But you can just

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Speaker 1: throw away your shot shooting the air with a single

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Speaker 1: shot firearm. But this fight was a little bit different

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Speaker 1: because it was waged with revolvers colts specifically. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: they had five shots and all of them were fired

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Speaker 1: and Walker took a bullet through. Yeah, I don't think

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Speaker 1: it actually injured him, but it went through the leg

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Speaker 1: as this as this book describes, through the leg of

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Speaker 1: his pantaloons. And then he also got one, Oh he

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Speaker 1: did get one in the thigh um. And the funny

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Speaker 1: thing is is that Graham got charged with aggravated assault

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Speaker 1: because this was in fact an the illegal active Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he was later found not guilty and no small part

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Speaker 1: I think because while Walker was shot, he was not

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Speaker 1: seriously injured. Right, That's what That's what I found. Also,

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Speaker 1: he from what I understand, Graham walked away without a scratch,

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Speaker 1: like he he got two shots off, and Walker didn't

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Speaker 1: even manage to fire a shot at Graham. And so

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Speaker 1: when he was wounded, Walker eventually conceded and as you said,

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Speaker 1: Noel Graham was arrested but found not guilty. And one

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Speaker 1: of the strangest things about this I this research maybe

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Speaker 1: want to trace the life of William Hicks Graham, because

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Speaker 1: in the books we were reading about this duel, Graham

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Speaker 1: goes on to fight other duels pretty much like immediately

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Speaker 1: after he gets the not guilty verdict. Oh yeah, he's

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Speaker 1: he's he's thirsty for these gunfights, and it sort of

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Speaker 1: shows the kind of attitude this dude had about going

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Speaker 1: out and conquering stuff, you know what I mean. Oh,

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Speaker 1: and I want to correct myself there because I said

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Speaker 1: he wasn't seriously wounded, but I found conflicting reports. Reports

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Speaker 1: of the time described it as a trifling wound, but

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Speaker 1: later historical reports described as a very serious wound. I've

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Speaker 1: always assumed a gunshot is a serious wound. Well assumption, decide.

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Speaker 1: One thing that is great about this duel is despite

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Speaker 1: the fact that he lost the duel, William Walker, as

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Speaker 1: we said, becomes known in the public sphere. He's in

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Speaker 1: the papers, you know what I mean. Lawyer duellist, William

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Speaker 1: Walker not walking for a while. That's a cute man.

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Speaker 1: It's they were very cute papers at the time. So

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Speaker 1: this is just some background about this guy. He's well off,

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Speaker 1: he's a hothead. He's also not shy about his opinions,

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Speaker 1: both his opinions on slavery, he's very much in favor

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Speaker 1: of it, his opinions on the expansion of the United States,

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Speaker 1: and his opinion on how to apply his patriotism. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and he got a little bit of inspiration from some

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Speaker 1: stuff that was going on in Cuba. There was a

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Speaker 1: dude named Narcisco Lopez who was born in Venezuela and

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Speaker 1: and this was an eighteen fifty by the way, um,

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Speaker 1: and he gathered up a band of mercenaries too basically

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Speaker 1: try to conquer part of Cuba and then make it

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Speaker 1: part of the US, make it part of the US. Like,

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Speaker 1: is that annexing? And what do you what is that that?

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Speaker 1: That would be annexing it if it were an authorized

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Speaker 1: state action. That's the thing. This guy has kind of

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Speaker 1: took it upon himself to do it. And uh walker

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Speaker 1: like like the cut of his particular jib and said,

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Speaker 1: huh interesting, I I want to try something like that.

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Speaker 1: And this was known as philipbustering for a lot of

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Speaker 1: a lot of us listening in the US right now

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Speaker 1: today as we record this, in case you happened to

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Speaker 1: be listening three thousand years in the future. For a

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Speaker 1: lot of US, filibustering today only describes the political practice

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Speaker 1: wherein in a congress person will try to put off

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Speaker 1: certain voting actions by just talking forever. Yeah, like we

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Speaker 1: do on this podcast, We're getting we get to the point. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we know what we do, but we're but we're But

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Speaker 1: I feel like I could be accomplishing so much stuff.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't always just talking into a microphone. I mean

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Speaker 1: you could see that about anything. I think, how many

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Speaker 1: hours a day we spend sleeping. It's like a third

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Speaker 1: of your life. Wow, you put it like that. But

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Speaker 1: these weird statistics aside, and these strange definitions aside. Filibustering

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Speaker 1: at the time described this specific practice illegally going into

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Speaker 1: a foreign country or land and taking it over by

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Speaker 1: force with a usually with a posse mercenaries or like

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Speaker 1: minded people native to the region, and then declaring that

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Speaker 1: land part of the United States. One of the big

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Speaker 1: inspirations for this is the state of Texas. They had

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Speaker 1: broken off from Mexico a few years before, and they

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Speaker 1: were held up as an example of the practice of

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Speaker 1: Americans going out taking over an area and then later

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Speaker 1: making it a state, and filibustering, although illegal in the US,

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Speaker 1: had wide popular support because we have to remember, this

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Speaker 1: is full on expansionist mode. You know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: See the Shining Sea, I mean, manifest that destiny, right,

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Speaker 1: young man? So where did where did Walker go? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: So Walker set his sights down Mexico away specifically, um,

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Speaker 1: a couple of states, one of which was Baja California,

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Speaker 1: which was actually in Mexico and Nora, and there weren't

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Speaker 1: a ton of folks living there at the time, so

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Speaker 1: he gathered a posse of I think around fifty men,

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Speaker 1: right yeah, yeah, yeah, and just you know, marched his

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Speaker 1: way on in there, and he was able to take Lapase,

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Speaker 1: which is the capital of Baja and he raised his

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Speaker 1: own flag that he had designed himself, which I think

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Speaker 1: had like three paralleled stripes on it, and um, yeah,

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Speaker 1: and you know he's like he said earlier, you sort

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Speaker 1: of put down his uh his his flag and and

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Speaker 1: said this is mine now the chuts Bah alone. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he named he renamed the area of the Republic of

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Speaker 1: Lower California, declared himself president, and then said the new

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Speaker 1: legal system will be uh, well, we're just going to

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Speaker 1: use the laws of the State of Louisiana. Unless you

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Speaker 1: think he is some sort of Indiana Jones type lovable

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Speaker 1: rogue character, uh, we should mention that there's a reason

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Speaker 1: he wanted to use the laws of the State of Louisiana.

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Speaker 1: Who wanted to use those laws because they included legalized slavery.

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Speaker 1: He was again very pro slavery, and words spread in

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Speaker 1: the US. Just imagine people saying, you know, remember that editor,

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Speaker 1: that hot headed editor from San Francisco who disappeared for

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Speaker 1: a while. Well, it turns out he took over Baja

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Speaker 1: California for the US, and he had this massive wave

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Speaker 1: of public support. People would read about this story and

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Speaker 1: then go volunteer to join him as a member of

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Speaker 1: his military force in the Republic of Lower California. And

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Speaker 1: this is where he got a a really weird nickname.

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Speaker 1: You're talking about, the gray eyed Man of Destiny. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't quite roll off the tongue. I think it's great.

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Speaker 1: I would I would love people call me that, the

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Speaker 1: gray eyed Man of Destiny. It's it's a lot to say.

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Speaker 1: It feels like it's good to read it in print.

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Speaker 1: I just said it twice, and I love the way

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Speaker 1: it sounds. So I respectfully disagree with you. Then, of course,

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Speaker 1: of course, to each their own and noted. Now, I

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Speaker 1: don't think his vice president got a nickname. That was

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Speaker 1: his former law partner, Henry P. Watkins. We should also

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Speaker 1: mention that when he was filibustering in Mexico, he didn't

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Speaker 1: just try to take over the Baja California territory. He

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Speaker 1: took over another sparsely populated area, the Sonora state. And

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Speaker 1: I do want to say, speaking of diplomacy, he did

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Speaker 1: start off this whole thing by asking the Mexican government

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Speaker 1: to let him make a colony in these areas that

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Speaker 1: were kind of sparsely populated. Um and he referred to,

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Speaker 1: according to this article from History is Now magazine, UH

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Speaker 1: that he wanted to create a buffer zone between Native

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Speaker 1: American and American territories. So Mexico said no, and he

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Speaker 1: decided to go forth with his wild plan. And like

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Speaker 1: uh Gregor McGregor from our earlier show, he funded his

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Speaker 1: project by selling script that was redeemable in the state

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Speaker 1: of Sonora that he would create, so even more ballsy,

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Speaker 1: seriously seriously so yeah he he he. So he staked

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Speaker 1: his claim in Lapase and also in Baja and also

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Speaker 1: in Sonora. And it didn't all go smoothly, obviously. He

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Speaker 1: moved his headquarters twice over the next ninety days or something,

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Speaker 1: once to Cabbo, son Lucas, and then once a little

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Speaker 1: further north to end Sonata because he knew that it

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Speaker 1: would be a really close fight if the Mexican government

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Speaker 1: was able to raise forces to attack and he actually

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Speaker 1: didn't get control of Sonora. He just sort of started

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Speaker 1: saying that the Republic of Lower California was part of

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Speaker 1: the larger Republic of Sonora, even though he didn't actually

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Speaker 1: control it. It's kind of like it's like, imagine if

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Speaker 1: we declared ourselves the emperors of Birmingham, Alabama, despite the

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Speaker 1: fact that we're not in Birmingham, Alabama. That's kind of

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Speaker 1: what happened. That sounds about right. And there was a

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Speaker 1: notable series of attacks that he lost, which further adds

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Speaker 1: Nold to the one of the themes in this guy's life,

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Speaker 1: which is talking a big game and then getting his

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Speaker 1: key star handed to him. One of those relocations he

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Speaker 1: took was a consequence of him losing a skirmish to

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Speaker 1: General Manuel Marques de Leone, and so he was eventually

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Speaker 1: forced to retreat from Mexico entirely. So it's eighteen fifty

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Speaker 1: four and the Gray Eyed Man of Destiny has sort

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Speaker 1: of rallied some troops to support him. He actually was

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Speaker 1: able to get around two hundred Mexicans to back him up,

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Speaker 1: along with another couple of hundred folks from San Francisco

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Speaker 1: who thought this scheme of his, you know, had had legs.

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Speaker 1: But you know, as megalomaniacs often do. Uh. He he

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Speaker 1: didn't really plan this thing out very well, and he

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Speaker 1: didn't have enough supplies, and you know, the folks that

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Speaker 1: were helping him started getting restless, and the Mexican government

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Speaker 1: wasn't having it, and they were able to really make

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Speaker 1: things pretty uncomfortable for the occupying forces there in Lapaz Rights.

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Speaker 1: So at the same time, this is getting domestic support

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Speaker 1: in the US, with hundreds of people um wanting to

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Speaker 1: join the expedition raising the flag of the Republic of

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Speaker 1: Sonora in different streets in the US. Things are getting

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Speaker 1: increasingly hairy for Walker and co. Down there in Baja California.

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Speaker 1: And you know you mentioned earlier that the supply as

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Speaker 1: we're an issue, right, there's a there's a strange thing

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Speaker 1: that happens. He has a ship named the Caroline that's

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Speaker 1: supposed to wait on shore or bring him the AMMO

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Speaker 1: and the and the food stuffs he needs to continue

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Speaker 1: surviving the conflict. And this ship sails away with most

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Speaker 1: of his supplies. And then when two hundred more recruits

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Speaker 1: arrived from San Francisco. His supplies are already so low.

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Speaker 1: He can't feed them, he can't arm them. Wait, so

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Speaker 1: they just bailed on him, with his with his stuff.

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Speaker 1: The ship just left, so it was like they were deserting. Basically,

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Speaker 1: they were like, this is this is it. We're done,

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Speaker 1: and we're taking your ship and your supplies and you know,

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Speaker 1: go after yourself. So the most diplomatic way I found

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Speaker 1: it was in an article from the Virtual Museum of

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Speaker 1: the City of San Francisco by Fanny Judah that says,

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Speaker 1: for some unknown reason, his vessel the Caroline, sailed away

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Speaker 1: with the greater part of his supply eyes. So when

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Speaker 1: these people show up, he sends a group of them

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Speaker 1: towards Toto Santos Bay on a forging expedition, and he says,

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Speaker 1: you know, find us some food to eat, find us

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Speaker 1: some cattle, et cetera. They get in a fight with

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Speaker 1: the natives. This band does because those people don't want

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Speaker 1: to give up their stuff in return for script again

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Speaker 1: the fake money that you can redeem in Sonora, which

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Speaker 1: he does not control. And since they were running low

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Speaker 1: on food, they couldn't get their plundering done. Successfully, the

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Speaker 1: men began to dessert, Walker starts arresting them. He shoots

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Speaker 1: two of them. He has two others publicly flogged, and

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Speaker 1: this makes him even less popular, so much so that, um,

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Speaker 1: he only had a hundred men when he started walking

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Speaker 1: for Sonora or moving on Sonora, and by the time

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Speaker 1: they reached the Colorado River, there were only thirty five

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Speaker 1: people with him. He's Hemorrhageans supports that not a good look.

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Speaker 1: Not a good look for a leader and a conqueror, right,

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Speaker 1: which is why you know, I think reman in Destiny

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Speaker 1: is a good nickname. I just don't think he deserves it.

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Speaker 1: Here's the thing, though, Ben, I didn't realize this. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we're talking about how the laws were different and how

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Speaker 1: it was a little bit easier just to kind of like,

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Speaker 1: you know, go forth and conquer, but it was in

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Speaker 1: fact illegal, just like dueling. It was. It was, it

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Speaker 1: was widely done, and I guess, you know, it was

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Speaker 1: just kind of like if you don't get caught, but

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00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:30,439
Speaker 1: filibustering was illegal. And after this debacle and he returned

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Speaker 1: back to San Francisco, he and his remaining ten dudes

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Speaker 1: or whatever got arrested by the army right for violation

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Speaker 1: of US neutrality laws. Exactly. So how did this how

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Speaker 1: did this trial actually go? I wonder if he was

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Speaker 1: able to represent himself. He was a lawyer, right, there

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Speaker 1: was a doctor, lawyer, lawyer, duellist, imperialist, conqueror man. His

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Speaker 1: business card must have been extra logue. Do you think

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Speaker 1: he was bone? Yeah, phone line. So the thing is, yes,

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Speaker 1: he is arrested, he's tried for these multiple violations of

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Speaker 1: US neutrality laws. But in the US the population is

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Speaker 1: still supportive of him. The trial goes to a jury.

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Speaker 1: They list all the charges. Prosecution makes the argument, defense

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Speaker 1: makes our argument to your point, noal, I would be

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Speaker 1: fascinated to know whether he represented himself. And the jury

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Speaker 1: leaves to deliberate. They come back eight minutes later. What

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Speaker 1: do you think happened? They let him go, right, Yeah,

356
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Speaker 1: he's acquitted of all charges. He's a true America. Do

357
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Speaker 1: you think it's because of the chutzpah you keep talking about? Then?

358
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Speaker 1: Do you think the people were just like, you know,

359
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Speaker 1: this guy is a real American, and why would we

360
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Speaker 1: put him away for just doing what Americans do, which is,

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Speaker 1: you know, going out and conquering the wilds I think

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Speaker 1: it was. You know, I think there's something to it, honestly,

363
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Speaker 1: because I believe that the public support for manifest destiny

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Speaker 1: and expansionism was at such a fee her pitch that

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Speaker 1: people were maybe having conversations where they said, well, there's

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Speaker 1: a difference between what's right and what's legal sometimes right.

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Speaker 1: And so after he gets away unscathed through this adventure

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Speaker 1: attempting to capture Baja California and Sonora, he says, you

369
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Speaker 1: know what, I'm gonna go back to practicing law a

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Speaker 1: little bit. They've got a reputation. Maybe I'll just go

371
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Speaker 1: be a lawyer. And that last a little less than

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Speaker 1: a year. Oh, I'm sorry, I just want to interject

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Speaker 1: really quick. Band I remembered something. Um, the reason we

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Speaker 1: don't hear about him practicing medicine is because as a

375
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Speaker 1: right out of medical school, he saw his mother die

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Speaker 1: very horribly, so his traumatized. He was traumatized and turned

377
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Speaker 1: away from ever practicing medicine. So that's why the whole

378
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Speaker 1: doctor lawyer thing didn't didn't work out. I didn't really

379
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Speaker 1: couldn't really do the combo. There. That's a tragedy. Please

380
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Speaker 1: go on, Well, I'm setting you up to tell one

381
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,160
Speaker 1: of the strangest turns in this story. Right, he got

382
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Speaker 1: away unscathed from his ill needed adventures in Baja California

383
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Speaker 1: in Sonora, and he says, you know what, I'm gonna

384
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Speaker 1: go practice law again. That lasts for about a year,

385
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,680
Speaker 1: and then he gets that itch, that conquering itch. Yes,

386
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Speaker 1: he gets that filibuster. Rich he needs to be filibustering

387
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:20,679
Speaker 1: every day, filibuster, and so he sets his sights on Nicaragua. Weird.

388
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,480
Speaker 1: It's really really far, far, far far away from San Francisco.

389
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Speaker 1: You know, Mexico made sense, you know, on the on

390
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,760
Speaker 1: the border, and it's sparsely populated. He also, by the way,

391
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Speaker 1: he gets a lot of public support because he's saying

392
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Speaker 1: that he's setting up this buffer colony to protect people

393
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Speaker 1: from the Apache. That's right. That's right. Because it was

394
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Speaker 1: during the gold Rush and there was a lot of

395
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Speaker 1: like these little settlements there in Indian attacks and the like,

396
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,800
Speaker 1: but not the case with Nicaragua. For this, this was

397
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:49,399
Speaker 1: purely exploitative on his part. Because Nicaragua was having some

398
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Speaker 1: serious problems. They were like in the absolute throes of

399
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:57,960
Speaker 1: a horrible civil war, and there were these factions that

400
00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:01,920
Speaker 1: we're trying to control the government of the country. Um.

401
00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:07,800
Speaker 1: And they were the Leonese and the Granadins. The Leonese

402
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:12,000
Speaker 1: were more liberal and the Granadans were more conservative. And

403
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Speaker 1: if I butcher that pronunciation, I don't know. You know,

404
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 1: you got it. I just don't even care anymore, Ben did,

405
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 1: I just don't care. Hey, chick up man, you know, no,

406
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:22,920
Speaker 1: I'm good. I just I just really, you know, pronunciations

407
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 1: be damned well. Also, English is a living language. That's

408
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 1: just that's just a thing. Dumb people say that mispronounced words.

409
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Speaker 1: Are you accusing me? Noah, that you're just trying to

410
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,119
Speaker 1: make me feel better? No, no, it is. It is

411
00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,920
Speaker 1: a living language. I mean, look, when's the last time

412
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,680
Speaker 1: you heard filibustering described in this way? That's a very

413
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,879
Speaker 1: good word. Has changed over I have never heard it actually,

414
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:45,359
Speaker 1: because we thought, I mean, it's not even in the

415
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,160
Speaker 1: Webster's definition. We're yeah, we gotta bring it back. I'm

416
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:54,800
Speaker 1: gonna start filibustering places like our local bar across the street.

417
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:56,680
Speaker 1: Is that where you hang out for a really long time.

418
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: I think I think the main thing is I need

419
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,640
Speaker 1: a flag. It seems like flags are really key here.

420
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: I need. I need it. So if you're a good vexologist,

421
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:10,360
Speaker 1: which is the fancy word for flag lover vexologists, that's

422
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 1: you vexillologist. If you are a vexillologist, one who is

423
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,159
Speaker 1: very familiar with the study of history, symbolism, and usage

424
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:21,760
Speaker 1: of flags, then hit us up and let us know

425
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,000
Speaker 1: what kind of flags we should have. I'm open to ideas.

426
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,080
Speaker 1: Are you on board with this? I don't want a pigeonhole,

427
00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:30,800
Speaker 1: you know, man, pigeonhole away? Okay, I'm malleable. I will

428
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:33,399
Speaker 1: bend to your whims. You're a gray eyed man of

429
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,399
Speaker 1: destiny that you, buddy, I wouldn't I I will follow

430
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,360
Speaker 1: you till the ends of the year. I would much

431
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:42,359
Speaker 1: prefer that you take the nickname gray Eyed Man of

432
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:45,159
Speaker 1: Destiny over this Walker character. That's very kind. Member. You

433
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,960
Speaker 1: can be the power behind the gray eyed throne man.

434
00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:51,720
Speaker 1: I just want a filibuster, which sounds like we haven't

435
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,840
Speaker 1: learned our lesson. We're mostly joking, except you know, let

436
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:56,560
Speaker 1: us know if you have a good idea for a flag.

437
00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:02,439
Speaker 1: So Walker is aware of this situation that Noel you

438
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:07,360
Speaker 1: just described. In Nicaragua, the Granada faction, the more conservative faction,

439
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 1: is at the time, winning winning so hard, like winning

440
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: to the nth degree, and the Leonese seem set for defeat.

441
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: Walkers sees an opportunity in this chaos. And this is

442
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,080
Speaker 1: again we have to remember, these are the days before

443
00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:31,159
Speaker 1: the Panama Canal. So a lot of shipping went through Nicaragua.

444
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,919
Speaker 1: It was a it was a tremendously important crossroads for trade.

445
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: Wasn't this kind of masterminded by Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was

446
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:45,120
Speaker 1: like the railroad tycoon that trade position. Well, he think

447
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:46,679
Speaker 1: I think he sort of had the idea of of

448
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,439
Speaker 1: building this canal, and he wanted to connect, you know,

449
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: the Caribbean with the Pacific Ocean. And so Walker, knowing this,

450
00:27:56,359 --> 00:28:03,000
Speaker 1: saw what a strategic stronghold economically Nicaragua was and decided

451
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 1: to roll the dice and offered his assistance to the Leonese. Right, yes,

452
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 1: he's he offered his assistance, and he did it with

453
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,520
Speaker 1: very sketchy support from the US government. So he says,

454
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,959
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get down there and get with the Leonese,

455
00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 1: used them to augment my fighting forces. We're gonna take

456
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:27,320
Speaker 1: over Nicaragua for America. Who's with me? Who's with me?

457
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:29,920
Speaker 1: Kind of like that scene in Half Baked how many

458
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,720
Speaker 1: were with him? Then sixty sixty people said, well, I'll

459
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,920
Speaker 1: do it. It's not enough. That's not enough. I'm I'm no, uh,

460
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 1: you know, master of war. But that that seems a

461
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:41,840
Speaker 1: little on the light side. We have never, in fact,

462
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 1: purposely filibustered, but just ballparking. That seems yeah, that seems low.

463
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:49,880
Speaker 1: So here's the thing though, here's what the sketchy support was.

464
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,800
Speaker 1: He's got the sixty people and says, Okay, we're gonna

465
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: set sail. It's eighteen fifty five by this time, and

466
00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:01,520
Speaker 1: the United States Marshal tries to events Walker and his

467
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 1: men from leaving, but the federal officials who earlier tacitly

468
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 1: supported him in his quest to take over parts of Mexico,

469
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 1: they're still on his side. In fact, before he sets sail,

470
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 1: Walker meets with a guy named General Wool who is

471
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:22,160
Speaker 1: the military commander of the Pacific Coast, and Wool had

472
00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 1: special powers granted from the President to suppress all filibustering expeditions.

473
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,400
Speaker 1: But this guy, this guy meets with Walker. Walker says, yeah,

474
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:36,280
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go take over Nicaragua for America. I'm gonna

475
00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:38,719
Speaker 1: make it like its own thing first, but then I'm

476
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:42,080
Speaker 1: gonna hand it off to the US and the general.

477
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:44,400
Speaker 1: Here's this plan, And he says, you know what, not

478
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 1: only am I not going to interfere, but break a leg, buddy,

479
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 1: I wish you well. Yeah, totally. I got a question

480
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 1: for you, Ben and all of this, how how is

481
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 1: he benefiting? Like? Is he is he cashing in on

482
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 1: on all of these exploits like areas He just totally

483
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,560
Speaker 1: power mad and just wants to like be the king

484
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 1: of a country. Yeah, it's it's tough for us to

485
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:08,560
Speaker 1: ascribe motive. We know he didn't come from impoverished means

486
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,160
Speaker 1: or anything. I just think he was obsessed and driven

487
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: and like just like kind of to a completely uh

488
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,600
Speaker 1: self destructive level. Yeah. I think he just really dug power.

489
00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:26,720
Speaker 1: So I think you are right. I think you're right.

490
00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 1: I think it was about the power for him. It

491
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 1: was about the drive to conquer and to rule. As

492
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 1: soon as they land in San Juan del Sur, he

493
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 1: starts to flex his muscles. He's got his sixty people

494
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 1: with him, he's got those Leonese troops, and he starts

495
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 1: fighting the Granada faction at the Battle of Rivas and

496
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:54,080
Speaker 1: because he wins the day for the Leonese gets another title.

497
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:57,360
Speaker 1: That name he gets, yeah, not not not a nickname,

498
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,800
Speaker 1: this is almost an official title general at least some

499
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 1: General Lissimo. And he's a white man. He's from from

500
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:10,160
Speaker 1: from Nashville, right right. I just it's so crazy how

501
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 1: he found himself in this situation. I just don't understand

502
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: like the impulse to do that. Maybe I'm just my

503
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:17,960
Speaker 1: brain doesn't work like this. But yeah, so he's General

504
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 1: Lissimo now and he declares himself to be the new

505
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:29,160
Speaker 1: president of Nicaragua for days. Yeah, and the population of

506
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:31,880
Speaker 1: the U S here's about this, and they love it.

507
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 1: And soon pro slavery advocates begin trying to recruit more

508
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:43,360
Speaker 1: people to help with this cause. In Nicaragua, large southern

509
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 1: cities host public meetings and fundraisers and Walker gets to

510
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 1: really settle in and make himself comfortable. And this is

511
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 1: where he makes a powerful enemy. And Nol, I'm so

512
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,680
Speaker 1: glad you mentioned this guy earlier. We had a little foreshadowing. Yeah,

513
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 1: this Vanderbilt does not play because I believe that General

514
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 1: Lissimo l Presidente Walker did not allow his ships to

515
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:14,040
Speaker 1: travel through like we were saying before he saw the

516
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 1: strategic power of controlling Nicaragua. So I guess, yeah, there

517
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,400
Speaker 1: there was money he he was getting he was I mean,

518
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:23,720
Speaker 1: come on, he had to have been cashing in on this, no,

519
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 1: no question about it, because he had such power that

520
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 1: he was actually able to revoke the deal with Vanderbilt's company. Yeah,

521
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 1: the Vanderbilt steamship. Come, that's right to allow them to

522
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:38,840
Speaker 1: travel through that very important region for getting from you know,

523
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 1: the Caribbean, the Pacific Ocean. This is before the Panama Canal. Right, yes, yeah,

524
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,880
Speaker 1: this for the Panama Canal, and Dad insult to injury,

525
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:50,120
Speaker 1: Walker gives that right of transit uh to a guy

526
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: named Edmund Randolph, the competitor of Vanderbilts, for a term

527
00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:58,080
Speaker 1: of twenty five years. And then as soon as he's

528
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 1: consolidating his power, he reverses the anti slavery laws that

529
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:07,800
Speaker 1: nickarag Wood had for the last thirty two years. And

530
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:12,520
Speaker 1: because this guy is essentially reinstituting slavery, revolts begin to

531
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:18,480
Speaker 1: break out. Also, there's a there's a puppeteer helping strengthen

532
00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 1: and augment these acts of revolt. It's Vanderbilt, the owner

533
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:26,360
Speaker 1: of the steamship company. This has become a proxy war

534
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:32,400
Speaker 1: for him, Dang making waves. He is he is uh

535
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:37,720
Speaker 1: and Costa Rica declares war against Walker as well. Things

536
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,360
Speaker 1: just go to go to pot They go pair shaped

537
00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:44,640
Speaker 1: pretty quickly. And you know, it's not hard to see why.

538
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:47,640
Speaker 1: If somebody came in and took over a US state

539
00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:53,240
Speaker 1: and reinstituted slavery right and then angered the largest corporations

540
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:57,600
Speaker 1: in the area, of course, things would be incredibly unsustainable.

541
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,200
Speaker 1: And so after about two years, as a result of

542
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,480
Speaker 1: these various conflicts, in May of eighteen fifty seven, Walker

543
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:08,560
Speaker 1: has to surrender. He has to leave Nicaragua until that is,

544
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 1: he convinces people to join him on his second Nicaragua campaign.

545
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:18,080
Speaker 1: So he's in Mobile, Alabama, and he organizes the second

546
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:22,319
Speaker 1: Nicaragua Expedition. How do you get to Mobile? Where were

547
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,200
Speaker 1: that come into play? It's when he left Nicaragua behind

548
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,799
Speaker 1: it for Mobile. He went back to the States. He

549
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,719
Speaker 1: was forced by Central American Armies and the government of

550
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:38,840
Speaker 1: Costa Rica to surrender to US Navy Commander Charles Henry Davis,

551
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:43,040
Speaker 1: and so he was taken back to New York City.

552
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,360
Speaker 1: And then when he got to New York at first

553
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:49,160
Speaker 1: there was fan fair. You know, imagine the confetti, the applause.

554
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,480
Speaker 1: People are like, this guy's a real American hero. But

555
00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:55,960
Speaker 1: then the public turned against him when he said, the

556
00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,040
Speaker 1: only reason I lost is because of the U. S. Navy. Also,

557
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:02,520
Speaker 1: he was using airy dirty tactics in the war. He

558
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:08,880
Speaker 1: was purposefully contaminating water wells with corpses. Yeah, he's waging

559
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:14,560
Speaker 1: biological wars. Caused a cholera epidemic. What a guy. And

560
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:17,239
Speaker 1: so now the the U. S. Public is starting to

561
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,040
Speaker 1: turn against him. He goes from New York, makes his

562
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:25,719
Speaker 1: way down to Mobile, Alabama, starts his second Nicaragua expedition,

563
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,920
Speaker 1: and then he gets arrested by the U. S. Navy

564
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 1: under the command of a guy named Commodore Hiram Paulding

565
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,319
Speaker 1: gets returned to the US again, writes a book War

566
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:41,000
Speaker 1: in Nicaragua, published in eighteen sixty, and then he goes back.

567
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:43,040
Speaker 1: But this time he says, you know what, if Nicaragua

568
00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:46,960
Speaker 1: didn't work, if Baja California didn't work, there's another place

569
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 1: I can try. Let's Honduras with the same you know,

570
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 1: the same designs in mind as he's had the whole time.

571
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 1: This guy's just got like stars in his eyes about

572
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,160
Speaker 1: his conquering. I just I still want to know, like,

573
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:02,600
Speaker 1: how is he how is he benefiting from this? It

574
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,359
Speaker 1: sure seems like he's putting himself in harm's way. You know,

575
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 1: I think he maybe just got off on the the

576
00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:11,600
Speaker 1: chaos and the chaos I guess. Yeah, this is very interesting,

577
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: very interesting character. Doesn't seem like he was doing much

578
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:19,120
Speaker 1: to institute sustainable government after he took over, or even

579
00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,120
Speaker 1: had any real plans on how to do it. He

580
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,000
Speaker 1: just wanted to declare himself the president. He just wanted

581
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:26,440
Speaker 1: to be important, you know what I mean. But all

582
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 1: this bad behavior finally caught up with him in the

583
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:35,799
Speaker 1: form of a firing squad. Yeah, that's right. So after

584
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,560
Speaker 1: he's organized this other expedition, put it together New Orleans,

585
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:44,560
Speaker 1: set sail for Central America. He lands near Troshio in Honduras,

586
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:48,120
Speaker 1: and he's still thinking, you know what, eventually I'm gonna

587
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:52,640
Speaker 1: get to Nicaragua. But his men, probably thinking we have

588
00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:58,040
Speaker 1: heard this before, they desert him. So eventually, as he

589
00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:00,880
Speaker 1: is probably trying to take over nick Araguay, he has

590
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,400
Speaker 1: to surrender himself to the captain of a British naval vessel,

591
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:08,920
Speaker 1: that was nearby off the coast. This guy, Commander Noel Salmon,

592
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:14,320
Speaker 1: who would later become Admiral Sir Noel Salmon, for reasons

593
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:19,960
Speaker 1: that aren't completely clear, decided that instead of returning Walker

594
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,520
Speaker 1: to the US, he was just going to deliver him

595
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:26,880
Speaker 1: to the authorities of Honduras, along with his chief of staff,

596
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:32,840
Speaker 1: Colonel A. F. Rutler. Ruddler was sentenced to four years

597
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:37,399
Speaker 1: hard labor in the minds Aaron Hondoras, which in many

598
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:40,760
Speaker 1: ways was a death sentence. But as he said, Walker

599
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,000
Speaker 1: met a different thing. Yeah. And and we've got a

600
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:44,760
Speaker 1: really good account of it from The New York Times,

601
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:49,120
Speaker 1: published in October five, eighteen sixty, by John E. Norville,

602
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:51,480
Speaker 1: And this is how he describes it. He marched from

603
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:53,720
Speaker 1: his cell to the place of execution with a steady

604
00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 1: step and unshaken. Mean a chair had been placed for him,

605
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,399
Speaker 1: with his back toward of the castle. Having taken his seat,

606
00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 1: he was blindfolded. Three soldiers stepped forward to within twenty

607
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:06,359
Speaker 1: ft of him and discharged their muskets. The balls entered

608
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:09,560
Speaker 1: his body and he leaned a little forward, but it

609
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,400
Speaker 1: being observed that he was not dead, a fourth soldier

610
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:15,680
Speaker 1: mercifully advanced so close to the suffering man the muzzle

611
00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,560
Speaker 1: of the musket almost touched his forehead, and, being there discharged,

612
00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,080
Speaker 1: scattered his brains and skull to the winds. Thus ends

613
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:24,520
Speaker 1: the life of the gray eyed Man of Destiny. And

614
00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:26,440
Speaker 1: I have to make this joke, Ben, they were using

615
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 1: musket balls. You live by the balls? Were you planning on? That?

616
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 1: Just just just great in my head. I had to,

617
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 1: had to, had to kind of give it wings. Yeah, yeah,

618
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:42,560
Speaker 1: let it fly. And so this is the conclusion of

619
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:46,520
Speaker 1: the story of the the Man, the Myth, the Monster.

620
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:51,120
Speaker 1: William Walker side note, I don't know if we mentioned this.

621
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:53,040
Speaker 1: Do you know how old he was and that firing

622
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:55,279
Speaker 1: squad got him? No, I don't. I didn't see that here.

623
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:57,960
Speaker 1: Thirty six years old. She did all that, he did

624
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,520
Speaker 1: all these terrible things in thirty six. Then I just

625
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:05,959
Speaker 1: turned thirty five. I never conquered a country even half successfully. Hey,

626
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,719
Speaker 1: you know what, neither is he? That's true? No, he

627
00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:12,600
Speaker 1: was half successful. I don't know. I think he just

628
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:17,360
Speaker 1: raised the ruckets and then he was never legally recognized

629
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:20,719
Speaker 1: by another country. But you know what, we've still we've

630
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 1: still got time to start countries of our own. Maybe

631
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:27,400
Speaker 1: on the moon when SpaceX gets his stuff together, but

632
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:30,879
Speaker 1: that's a story for another day. Thank you so much

633
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 1: for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed the tale of

634
00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:38,280
Speaker 1: William Walker and stay tuned for our next episode when

635
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:41,400
Speaker 1: we break down the story of what are they know

636
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 1: monkey hangers the Hartlepool Monkey or why Hartlepoolians are known

637
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:51,720
Speaker 1: as monkey hangers. That's happening. That's happening with a vengeance,

638
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,480
Speaker 1: my friend, it is inevitable. In the meantime, hit us

639
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:57,440
Speaker 1: up on the internet. We are ridiculous at how stuff

640
00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 1: works dot com. You can join our Facebook group a

641
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:03,279
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Historians on on the Facebook. All you gotta do

642
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 1: is name one of our names. It's a pretty low bar.

643
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 1: That's the magic entry question. And you know what, if

644
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:11,480
Speaker 1: you don't know, or you say something clever, we'll still

645
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:13,839
Speaker 1: let you in. Yeah, we like jokes. Your knowl and Ben.

646
00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:17,400
Speaker 1: That's Casey. That's us. Oh and we want to thank

647
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,560
Speaker 1: Casey super producer, Casey pegrum Wann, I think Alex Williams

648
00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:24,840
Speaker 1: who composed this track. Our research associates Christopher Hasciotis and

649
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:28,360
Speaker 1: Eve's Jeff Cote, and most important to you out there,

650
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 1: in podcast land, specifically on YouTube. Then you really, you

651
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:35,960
Speaker 1: really carried me on this one, I gotta say, and

652
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:39,600
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Oh man. Oh last thing. Please, No,

653
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,880
Speaker 1: we're serious. Send us flag designs if you have. For

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00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:44,000
Speaker 1: seeon