Encore: The Walker Affair | The Gray-Eyed Man of Destiny | 1

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2022

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the mid-1800s, the United States was full of adventurers and entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of the country’s ever-expanding boundaries. One of them was a young lawyer and newspaper editor from Tennessee named William Walker. Hoping to establish his own republic, like Texas, Walker became a “filibuster” – a mercenary who attempts to colonize foreign lands without government authorization. He set his sights on a remote corner of Mexico, on the Baja Peninsula. But Walker’s ragtag band of soldiers-for-hire quickly ran afoul of the Mexican authorities.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.4	Imagine its October 1855, you're a doctor and teacher in Granada, the cobblestone colonial
0:24.7	capital of Nicaragua.
0:26.8	Global war has ravaged your beautiful country ever since it declared independence from
0:30.7	Spain over 30 years ago.
0:33.0	The conservative, land-owning elites fight bitterly with the populist liberals while the
0:37.3	British and Americans interfere, causing even more bloodshed.
0:41.3	You've lost count of how many wounded fighters you've had to operate on.
0:45.5	From your second floor study, you hear a voice outside crying your name.
0:49.8	You go to the window and see one of your students in the street below.
0:53.2	What?
0:58.2	What's happening?
1:03.2	What?
1:04.2	Stay there, I'll be right down.
1:06.9	Like everyone in Nicaragua by now, you've heard the name William Walker.
1:11.3	You always assumed he was just another mercenary for hire, like all the other American adventurers
1:16.0	and profiteers who come to your country.
1:18.6	So it's hard for you to believe it's possible that he could have united your whole nation
1:22.2	in just a few months, but your wide-eyed student seems convinced.
1:26.8	You reach the bottom of the stairs and enter out onto the street to meet your excited
1:30.6	student.
	...

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