Expedition of William Walker to Baja California and Sonora

William Walker was an American doctor and adventurer who had settled in California during the gold rush. He had tried to seize the state of Sonora before launching the Baja California campaign, which was carried out with the support of American magnates - probably among them was William Vanderbilt; and within the framework of the omission of the California authorities regarding what was an illegal action against a foreign country.

The flag hoisted by William Walker has a star that represents the supposed "Republic of Baja California". Walker left California, in the company of a group of 45 American mercenaries, on October 17, 1853, with the intention of arriving in Guaymas ( Sonora ) and occupying that Mexican state. However, a year earlier the Mexicans had already repelled an expedition of French filibusters, major in troops and military preparation. Perhaps this made him reconsider Walker, who chose to attack and first take the California peninsula as the first step to seize Sonora. On board the schooner Caroline, the Walker expedition arrived in Cabo San Lucas on October 28 of that year. He moved by sea to La Paz, capital of the territory of Baja California, which he occupied five days later by capturing Rafael Espinosa, political head of the territory. In that place, the filibusters lowered the Mexican flag and raised in its place a flag of three horizontal stripes, two red and one white in the center, loaded with two stars representing Baja California and Sonora. 1 The 3 of November 1853, the invaders proclaimed the independence of the peninsula which they called Republic of Baja California. Later, the expedition captured Colonel Juan Clímaco Rebolledo, who came to replace Espinosa in the position of political chief without knowing that the Baja California capital had been taken by the American invaders.

The second flag raised by William Walker has two stars representing the "Republic of Baja California and Sonora". Since the reinforcements of the expedition from California were slow to arrive, Walker decided to move his operations center to the north of the peninsula, near the border with the United States and the passage by land to Sonora, which was the objective of his ambitions and also those of the US government, which had already expressed its intention to buy the northwest of Mexico. In La Paz there were some clashes between civilians and filibusters, which Walker interpreted as military victories over the Mexican government, which he accused of tyrant and decadent. Already in Ensenada, the filibusters established their headquarters in what are currently the Third and Gastélum streets of that city. From there, Walker issued a proclamation to the American people, requesting their support to defend the independence of Baja California, of which he had named himself president. Many American volunteers adhered to Walker's call, adding up to a number of 253 expedition members who arrived in Ensenada on the Anita ship .

1. ↑ Rosengarten, 2002: 77.
2. ↑ Olmeda García, 2010: 20-21.

• Olmeda García, María del Pilar (2010). Baja California History of legal institutions . Mexico City: UNAM Legal Research Institute.
• Rosengarten, Frederic (2002). William Walker and the decline of filibusterism . Tegucigalpa: Guaymuras.