Filibustering Expeditions

Filibustering Expeditions, armed intrusions, mostly by United States adventurers, undertaken during the 19th century against countries then at peace with the United States. The term filibuster is derived from the Dutch word vrijbuiter (“free-booter”), which was applied in the 17th century to English buccaneers, and has come to mean adventurer.

The targets of such private forays were states of Central and South America and the Caribbean that had relatively weak governments. The rash of filibustering grew largely out of the expansionist sentiment in the agrarian western and southern U.S., encouraged by the prerogative of Manifest Destiny. Such private expeditions, which had certain precedents in the earlier border skirmishes of English, French, and Spanish colonists, were initiated by factions that saw opportunities to settle or exploit a foreign territory.

Despite considerable public sentiment behind many filibustering expeditions, almost all such ventures were unsuccessful. They often caused complications between the U.S. government and that of the country involved, and in many cases the American government helped to suppress such invasions. Besides the acquisition of territory, other contributing motives to the opportunism included personal gain by the expedition leaders or soldiers, political or financial advantage for their supporters in the U.S., and, in some instances, the lucrative expansion of slavery for the American South.

Cuba, especially, had long been viewed as a possible additional state for the U.S., a notion that had been entertained even by President Thomas Jefferson. More than 70 expeditions against Cuba alone were organized in the U.S. during the 19th century. Texas, declared independent in 1836, and northern Mexico were also objects of much filibustering activity. Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr, along with the adventurer James Wilkinson, was implicated in 1806 in a disputed conspiracy involving the Mississippi Valley territory. In 1810 a group of U.S. citizens seized West Florida from Spain. The most notable expeditions, however, were those of the U.S. soldier of fortune William Walker, who mustered invasions of Baja California, Mexico (1853-54), Nicaragua (1855-57), and Honduras (1860); and those against Spanish-ruled Cuba led by the Spanish-American soldier Narciso López, who was supported by prominent southerners. Both Walker and López were ultimately defeated and executed by the states they invaded, Walker in Honduras and López in Cuba.

Because filibusters often counted on support from indigenous populations or rebels, the term filibustering has sometimes been used to mean the arming of rebels or mercenaries.

For a discussion of filibuster in its legislative sense, see Filibuster.