Chapter 63 Mormons and Filibusters
"Polygamy is a blasphemous sin that defiles the sacred right of holy matrimony. When the Lord made man and women he did so in that they would be forever united in a union with each other. Not with multiple individuals of the opposite sex."- Bishop Sean Conroy 1850
"Going down south of the border it soon becomes very clear that the so called Republic of the Rio Grande is nothing more than a lawless land of bandits and thieves. No proper government is ever in authority and the ones that do claim themselves to represent the Rio Grande will eventually get toppled in a coup, only to be put back in power the next year. It is a barren hellhole that makes Comancheria look like the center of civilization. While I do support the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo , creating this nation was a mistake. We should give it back to the Mexicans."- Major Benjamin McCulloch 1855
"When our founding fathers created the great nation of the United States of America, they did so with the purpose to spread American exceptionalism across the continent and show the world the true glories of democracy and the America war. The Louisiana Purchase , Adam-Onis treaty, and the Oregon war; these are all examples of how our Manifest Destiny has guided the nation to greatness by obtaining our god-given land through the sheer might of America's military and the clever wit of our leaders. Some people cry me warmonger and yet I would like to ask how they bought their lands when it came from war with the Indians. Latin America is ours to take and gift unto Washington I shall. History shall remember my trials for the great crusade of democracy that they are, the path upon which the United States shall reign supreme." William Walker 1851
With the creation of the two new Commonwealths came a slight stab in the Republican control within Austin. While the Western Union had by no means eliminated the power of the Republican party or caused a huge shift towards their side, it was a major blow that had ended any chance of the Republic remaining a nation where the central government held supreme. Many Republican lawmakers held a great amount of fear that their party would go the exact same direction as the Federalists with them withering out while the popular opposition would become the domineering force in politics. Across Texas in autumn of 1854 the people where tending to their crops and getting ready for winter, while a few select congressmen within Austin were plotting on how to take back control. While it is true that the proposal was voted upon with many Republican congressmen, it was only done as there was little alternative besides an expansion in the commonwealths. With this action in mind the Republican party could not just go against the California Division or it would turn the electorate towards Crockett, instead what they needed to do was spin it so that the Texan people would be put off by it in the future. It all started with an offhanded comment by Representative James Flanagan, "Jesus Christ the whole situation is going to hell. While we can gain Arizona we'll eventually lose California to the Americans unless the Chinese come on our side. And who knows what the hell to do with Deseret. No one knows what goes on in the minds of those Mormons." With that last sentence it finally hit the men involved, their key to political salvation and a large target for the Western Union, the Church of Latter-Day Saints. During their time in Texas the Mormon population had largely been ignored by the rest of Texas as they had kept to themselves in the Rockies and few ever had a reason to interact with them or venture into Deseret. Unfortunately this isolation lead to rampant rumors of the group with many fearing them to be a satanic cult due to their vastly different ideologies and unusual practices. Many feared the power that the church had in the Salt Lake region and feared that they may one day try to secede from the Republic. The most alarming aspect of the Mormon Church that made them outcasts in the eyes of the greater Christian population though was their practice of polygamy. According to founder Joseph Smith, a man was entitled to multiple wives in marriage as it was standard practice in the Old Testament and by doing so they would become closer to God. This radical belief had driven the Mormons out of the Untied States and had made them feared and disgusted by many within Texas. Even some members of the Indian population who practiced Shamanism were disgusted by this as they saw Mormon Polygamy as little more than an evil deed that suppressed the wives of a marriage into slavery by their husbands. With this practice the Republicans had the ammunition they needed to blow the new Mormon majority Commonwealth of Deseret and blast Crockett's chances of reelection by creating propaganda that made him to support the cause.
The Deseret Commonwealth
In the winter of 1854 the Republican Party became extremely active with their new plan by reaching out to the many Christian communities within Texas in order to get them to unite the populace against the Mormons. Bishops Sean Conroy of Galveston and Ferdinand Franco of San Francisco met with representatives of the Republicans and were asked to rally their dioceses against the Mormons by speaking within homilies of the evils of polygamy and the need to maintain Christian virtues. Pope Pius had been contacted by Ambassador Rubin Alanzo, Texas's first ambassador to the Italian Federation and a Catholic with Republican leanings, where he was asked if the Pope could provide official support and encouragement in the fight against polygamy. This was something that Pius easily agreed to as the man saw the practice as an abomination to the Church and also saw this as an opportunity to advance Catholicism as the higher faith in Texas and America. Pius published a Papal Encyclical in early 1855 which outlined the fundamental Catholic values of marriage and attacked practices that were deemed to be dangerous to the sacrament of matrimony such as polygamy, homosexuality, and divorce. Meanwhile the Protestant-wing of the party reached out to the many ministers within Texas and enlisted their help for the cause. Reverends took to the pulpit every Sunday and attacked the Mormon faith for being a vile cult that sought to enslave their daughters with the concept of polygamy. With growing anti-Mormon feelings every day and the Western Union coming under attack for allowing a Commonwealth to exist which supported polygamy, Republican lawmakers took this chance to introduce a bill into congress that would illegalize the practice of polygamy and would only allow the admission of Deseret if their Constitution contained a clause which supported this law and denounced practice of it in the Mormon church. The Western Union members were eventually forced to support the bill by a large majority as any opposition to it would easily hurt their chances of being reelected for allowing the continuation of the practice, their fears being true as some representatives and senators who voted against it lost their seats the next election. When the bill reached President Crockett's desk he sighed in melancholy as the man was a devout Christian who was devoted to his wife Elizabeth, but did not want to create any unnecessary conflict that would ruin the stability in Texas. Deciding that any veto would lose him reelection and would pass from congress anyways, Crockett decided to do nothing with the bill for 10 days which thereafter became a law. Crockett feigned that he had misplaced the bill in his office and took no stance against its passing, leading to only a minor loss in popularity. In Austin the Republicans celebrated this legislative victory and were now seen as standing on the moral high ground. It was their hope that the Mormon population of Deseret would reject this law therefore placing it back under the jurisdiction of California, leading the law to be enforced anyways. Either scenario was considered a win for the party and there was hope that they could take back the presidency in 1856 even with Crockett's high standing among the people. What they did not foresee was the possibility that the Mormons would actively resist this new measure.
In order to understand the reaction to the anti-polygamy law and the leadup to the Mormon rebellion we must look at the social conditions within Deseret at the time. Contrary to popular belief that Mormons at the time were all involved in polygamous relations, the reality is that much like the ownership in slavery, the numbers were heavily inflated and did not show the true conditions within Deseret at the time. According to historical estimates only a quarter of the Mormon population within Texas ever practiced polygamy, with a majority of those men involved having only two wives and a very small minority having a large harem of wives such as the case of Brigham Young's high number of 51 wives. Within Mormon society polygamy was treated as a right but not a mandatory practice. A Mormon could chose to keep with only one spouse and they would neither be looked down upon or seen as outcasts within the church, as was the case with most Mormon men. In addition not all Mormon wives of a harem saw this as beneficial. Many fell into depression and despaired at their conditions due to the treatment by their husbands with favoritism. Others embraced the pain by willingly entering into these pacts as a path upon which they would receive salvation. No matter what the case the women entering these marriages were allowed to freely divorce without consequences, preventing forced entrapment for the rest of their lives. Surprisingly there was even a small movement within the Church that sought to eradicate the practice as they did not believe that this was what God truly intended Joseph Smith to preach to his followers. The main problem with this was that almost the entirety of Mormon leadership consisted of men who were in multiple marriages. When word reached from Austin about the new outlawing of Polygamy the community drew into outrage. Even the anti-polygamists were horrified by this as they saw it as a breech of freedom of religion and the first possible step to their persecution like their brethren in the United States, and the possible banning of the religion altogether. There was a wide debate upon how to solve this crises as the church leaders and a few gentiles were in Salt Lake City and had already produced a constitution, which they could no longer pass due to the new restrictions. The gentiles obviously took the side of the government and wished to include the new amendment to the Constitution, something which was rejected upon by the Mormons. Some sought to take it to the Supreme Court while others wished to regulate polygamy and possibly hold a meeting of the Quorum of Twelve (the ruling body of the Church) to debate the current stance of their theology. One man who would not back down from this was Ezekiel King. The man was a very devout member of the Mormon community and was an outspoken firebrand of Orthodox Mormon values, the man having seven wives himself. Ezekiel was a very popular member of Salt Lake City for his devotion to the Church and high status in the town as owner of one of its few mercantile stores, with the man heavily rumored to join the Quorum in the future. He saw this as a betrayal of Joseph Smith's vision for the promised people and a sign that allegiance to Austin would turn them away from the path of Salvation. Deciding to take action, Ezekiel launched a campaign within Deseret in order to unite the Mormon people and called for them to actively resist Austin and fight them with a rise of revolution. He cited how Texas rose for independence so that they could enjoy religious liberty from Mexico's forced practice of Catholicism, therefore the Mormon Church had the legal and moral right to protect its religious freedom. Gathering most of the Mormon populace in Deseret and some members of the Quorum, a convention occurred in Salt Lake City on May 11th where Ezekiel led those present to call for a rebellion against the state until they were allowed to retain their right of polygamy. A document was signed that day called the Moral Compact, a petition modeling the Deceleration of Independence which addressed their grievances with the gentile population of Texas and their reasons for revolt. The Free State of Deseret was declared the next day with Ezekiel King selected as First Governor. During all this Brigham Young as leader of the Mormon Church vocally kept quite but in private supported the move with open arms. Though the man was a devout disciple of the Book of Mormon, he feared that this movement would end up just like Missouri and wished to publicly remain neutral on the matter, so that if they failed he would retain leadership for the Church. The People's Army of Deseret was formed and soon 2,000 people became part of its ranks, gradually arming themselves with vast stockpiles of rifles and either driving gentiles out of the state or keeping them under close watch in the communities. While these actions may have seemed like a full-blow religious rebellion, findings by historians show otherwise. Out of the entire Mormon population in Deseret only around 15% of the male population actively joined or supported the People's Army in the state. Recorded accounts by many Mormons within Deseret show that the general mood was a watch and see type of feeling. If they won the battle then the church would be secure and its doctrines protected. If they lost then they would salvage the situation and move on with their lives. Many stuck to the sidelines and watched to see where the wind blows. During this whole affair the reaction from Texas was slow at first as the time of news took two months to reach Austin and there were no Ranger companies or army garrisons in the area. By the time Austin learned of the rebellion they had another issue that proved to possibly be even bigger than an Mormon Insurrection, the takeover of the Southwest by filibusters.
Mormon Rebels on the move
Within the Republic of Texas the notion of filibustering was no new occurrence. During the Mexican years in the 1820's there were many occurrences of such within the Texas colony due to the influx of American immigrants who sought to take the land for either themselves or for the United States. It was a large pain for the Mexican government to deal with these rogue empressarios but the reaction was always harsh and swift. The largest such occasion was the Fredonian Rebellion in 1826 where Empressario Haden Edwards sought to establish the Republic of Fredonia in Nacogdoches. Ironically Stephen F. Austin and the Texas Rangers played a major role in crushing this rebellion even though Fredonia was a large inspiration to the Texans in the Revolution. In addition Texas had already supported such a large filibuster with the creation of the Republic of the Rio Grande in the Mexican Civil War. Thus filibusters were seen as folk heroes that filled many Texans with numerous wild fantasies on the same level as the Texas Rangers. This attitude started to change in the 1850's. For years since the Mexican Civil War and the defeat of the Border Wars, Texas's southern neighbor was constantly beset with strife and the occasional filibuster. While Texas had no love for Mexico many of its Tejano citizens still had fond memories of the country and the populace became horrified with the atrocities that filibusters would sometimes enact. Their opinion of these revolutionaries was not helped out by the constant turmoil in Rio Grande where the nation fulfilled the stereotype of the Wild West as each town was run as its own country and the central government was constantly attacked by filibusters with illusions of great authority. The situation got so bad that in 1854 there was six presidents within Satillo during the whole year, making foreign relations very complicated and Texas having to deal with the local french forces as the legitimate government. In the Caribbean and Central America was where Texas finally had enough as the activities of the American filibusters threatened the regional balance of power and caused general fears of an American hegemony approaching unto Texas, with the Lone Star Republic one day possibly coming under such an invasion itself. Still the general policy of Austin itself was to ignore the whole affair as it did not affect Texas directly and was seen as not worth the resources of sending the Navy or Rangers to combat. Everything changed when William Walker attacked.
Dissatisfied and disgusted with Washington for abandoning his men in Cuba and the Ostend Manifesto, American filibuster William Walker decided to switch tactics and stop targeting colonies or nations that were within Europe's sphere of influence. Instead he shifted eyes to Mexico, a land which Texas wanted nothing to do with and France would not be willing to intervene. Walker's subordinates tried to dissuade him from such a venture by saying that there was no connection to the United States and it would be possible to gain support back home from even the most militant of American Imperialists. Walker did not care though, in his eyes this land was ripe for the taking, one he would deliver to America on a silver plater. On October 13th, 1853, Walker set out with 145 men to the Mexican state of Sonora with the hopes of conquering it. After months of travel he was able to conquer the sparsely populated capitol of Hermosillo (which had been damaged in both the Civil War and the Border Wars) on January 21st 1854, proclaiming himself President of the Republic of Sonora. Unfortunately for them newly elected President Benito Juarez looked to establish full order in Mexico and sought to prepare the nation for the eventual reclaiming of its lost territory, thus the man would not tolerate any foolish revolution from a Gringo. Juarez ordered General Filisola to lead 1500 men of the newly founded Republican Guard to march out and crush the rebellion with full prejudice. When the army approached Walker in late April he was fully confident in defeating the Guard due to Mexico's perceived cowardice and inability to fight from their losses against Texas. He was wrong, very wrong. What made the Republican Guard so special is that they were madeup of hundreds of men who were veterans of Mexico's long wars and rebellions, all fierce patriots dedicated to the constitution and independence. When the so called Battle of Sonora took place on May 8th, it turned out to be a one-sided affair as the Republican Guard acted with brutal efficiency and mowed down the filibusters with their superior weaponry, these men having recently obtained training from British regular advisors sent by the Queen. In the aftermath of the battle only 4 Mexicans were dead and 9 wounded, while Walker's men were cut down with 83 killed and 36 wounded. The rest of the survivors, Walker included, sought to escape to Texas where they hoped to receive asylum. This was not the case as the men were met upon the border by Texas Rangers who sought to extradite them to Mexico in order to improve relations with Mexico. In the ensuing firefight 9 more of Walker's men were killed while only one Ranger was wounded. Walker was forced to run to a remote fishing town with the Walker brothers of the Texas Rangers giving chase, just barely managing to escape on a boat with 3 other comrades on May 17th.
The Elite Republican Guard. Soon to be mortal enemies of the Texas Rangers in the Mexican War.
While Walker was disappointed with Mexico and wrote it off as a waste, he saw other success as his best friend Charles Hennigsen managed to achieve success in an invasion of the Rio Grande which occurred at the same time as Walker's expedition to Mexico. Hennigsen's expedition landed at the state of Tamaulipas on November 29th. The 100 men group found surprising success as they were welcomed with indifference due to the local population having become used to these standard affairs by now, most simply wanting to go on with their daily lives and not caring for politics. Hennigsen established a base in the small port of Tampico where he consolidated rule over the city as a virtual dictator and invited dozens of men from the American south to join them in their cause. In the first half of 1854 these men started a campaign where they traveled up and down the coast, capturing each port town one by one to gain economic control of Rio Grande and force the nation into submission by ruling its foreign trade. When William Walker was cast out from Mexico he later joined these men in late-June and decided to make Tamaulipas the base of operations for his cause, as it was by far his most successful venture. In the meantime Texas looked on with worry as their southern neighbor was being gradually taken over by a scheming America. While most Texans did not care for Rio Grande itself they needed the nation's continued existence to act as a buffer against Mexico, especially as Benito Juarez was increasing his Pan-Mexican rhetoric. Crockett decided to take action on June 1st when he sent the 3rd Battalion of the Texan Army under the command of Major Benjamin McCulloch to establish order at the border and halt the spread of Walker's nation. Reinforcing McCulloch were the Texas Rangers of the 3rd Company stationed in Brownsville, Texas, led by Benjamin's brother Henry McCulloch. These men being made up of mostly Tejanos who routinely regulated the border and were experts in both the terrain and local culture. The first battle between Texan and filibuster took place at the Battle of Matamoros where the Texan force of nearly 700 soldiers and Rangers defended the border town from an approaching force of 85 filibusters who wanted to capture the city to control trade along the Rio Grande and possibly establish a point for a future invasion into Texas. The battle took place on June 27th and was largely one sided as was the case of Hermosillo where the Army regulars formed defensive barriers in the town and took the fight to the filibusters in the streets while the Rangers would harass them with their cavalry and sniping. The battle ended in a victory with only 4 Texans dead and 5 wounded while the filibusters took 26 killed and 19 wounded. July was spent securing the border with additional battles occurring in Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, bordering Laredo and McAllen Texas respectively. At the same time the Texan Navy launched a virtual blockade of Tamaulipas with Walker's forces severely weakened due to being cut off from trade with the South. With no further attacks occurring in August the McCulloh brothers were given new orders to launch raids into Walker's territory and try to liberate small segments of the coast to discourage them from even thinking of going into Texas. The rest of 1854 saw numerous skirmishes with the filibusters and around 40 miles of Gulf coast liberated from these men. At the same time portions of the French garrison had launched attacks on Walker's territory and liberated towns along the border with Nuevo Leon. The main problem that had prevented a total collapse of Walker's territory was the fact that his group now consisted of hundreds of American southerners and locals, his men having gained control of most of Tamaulipas and the general population not being hostile to their force. The French garrison was already stretched thin trying to maintain order in the rest of the Republic and Texas did not want to launch a fullscale war when they weren't being threatened. For a while it looked like Walker might walk away with his own nation. However, the man's greed soon got the best of him and he set his sights on a new target, Nicaragua.
Texan Rangers riding into Matamortos
In the aftermath of the Guatemala War, Nicaragua emerged as the dominant nation of the remaining breakaway states of the USCA, now only including Costa Rica and a reduced Honduras. For years the country had entered into a period of prosperity due to Nicaragua being the primary trade point between the Gulf of Mexico and California, Texas having a particular interest in the nation due to their sea trade between Texas and California. This somewhat Golden Age came to an end in 1854 in a civil war between the Legitimist Party (Conservatives) and the Democratic Party (Liberal). The cause of the conflict is generally hard to explain as the civil war generated more from regional rivalries between Conservative Granada and Liberal Leon then actual differences in ideology. In the beginning of the war Texas and most other nations in the Gulf recognized the Legitimist government in Grenada as the rightful rulers of the nation. Seeking an edge over his opponents to gain control of Nicaragua, Democratic President Patricio Rivas invited William Walker an his men by hiring 300 of them as mercenaries in a contact to defeat the Legitimists. The Walker Company landed on January 3rd and soon tilted the war into the Democrats favor with Walker proving instrumental in multiple Democratic victories. On April 10th Granada was overtaken by the Democratic Army and the war won for the Democrats. Unfortunately for Nicaragua, Walker would not leave the nation once the civil war was over. Spending the next month growing his forces and consolidating personal control of Nicaragua, William Walker declared himself President of Nicaragua and ousted Rivas from power in a coup, turning Nicaragua into his own state on May 13th when his "inauguration" had happened. When news of Walker's takeover had spread the people of Central America were outraged. They saw this as a deliberate intervention into the region by Douglas and Nicaragua the first step into American conquest of the region. Costa Rican President Juan Rafael Mora mobilized his army and formed a coalition with Honduras in order to defend one another from an invasion by Walker. In order to launch an intervention and liberate his neighbor, Mora needed strong outside help, help from a nation that already controlled half of Central America, the Republic of the Yucatan. Mora contacted Yucatani President Jaime Morales in mid-May and begged the President to enter Yucatan into a war to support the sovereignty of Central America. While Yucatan had caused an immense amount of aggression in the region after the Guatemala War, Yucatani leadership saw themselves as the protectors of Central America and had brought much prosperity through the development of the Mayan peoples in the newly conquered territories. At the same time Miguel Barrachano had made it his mission to improve relations with his neighbors so that Yucatan could form an alliance bloc with the rest of Central America and hopefully join forces with Texas to one day become the dominant force in North America. Morales saw Walker as an Gringo imperialist who sought to steal his people's freedom and sell it off to Washington. He knew that this could be the start of further American control into the region as there were still American imperialists who wished to make Texas part of the union and would gladly expand into Central America to solve the free-slave state issue. He knew what he had to do in order to defend Latin America. On May 28th, 1855, the Yucatan Congress in Merida voted in an overwhelming majority to declare war on Nicaragua, with President Morales declaring that this was not a war of conquest, but one of liberation to save Latin America from Yankee Imperialism. The move was openly supported by both Mayans and Creoles within the country and soon the Yucatani Army mobilized to march within Nicaragua in the coming weeks. The next day both Costa Rica and Honduras declared war with President Mora positioning his troops to move into the border, waiting for Yucatan assistance. All of these moves did not go unnoticed in Austin as word reached the capitol by way of Gulf fishing ships during the so called May Crisis. For both Republicans and Unionists this was the last straw as Nicaragua could very well lead to an American takeover of Texas, Walker's attacks on the border clearly showing that he wanted to conquer the Lone Star Republic. Crockett figuring that this action could save his administration from the Mormon scandal and lead to increased Texan strength in the region, called upon the Texan Senate to declare war on Nicaragua in order to support their allies. The Senate voted in a large bipartisan majority to do just that on June 2nd. Within weeks both the Army and Texas Rangers were mobilized with thousands of Texans joining the Army on six month contracts. The goal was to launch a two front war by kicking the filibusters both out of the Rio Grande and Nicaragua. Little did the Texan forces know that as soon as the expeditionary forces left, word reached of the Mormon rebellion, Texas facing two crises in both inside and outside its borders.
Flag of Walker's Nicaragua (Left). Walker's men maintaining control in Granada (Right).
