Battle of Santa Rosa

1856 CE.

Shown on the map at 10.835°, -85.612°.

In the 19th century, Nicaragua was beset by political problems, allowing William Walker, an American Southerner seeking to establish English-speaking slavery states in Latin America, to ascend to the Nicaraguan presidency. Walker believed in the doctrine of manifest destiny, and established himself in Nicaragua in the guise of offering help, but his real intentions were to conquer the five provinces of Central America, a manifesto he titled "Five or None." In Costa Rica, Juan Rafael Mora Porras, the president, was urged and backed by the British, saw the danger of Walker's intentions and on 27 February 1856 declared war on Nicaragua and called on all Costa Ricans to join forces and fight, a call that was heeded. They began marching on 4 March from San José to the northern border, led by the president, arriving in Liberia on 12 March, where they joined the battalion organised there (the Moracia Battalion), under the leadership of José María Cañas. When the filibusters of the Nicaraguan movement realised what was happening in Costa Rica, they organised a battalion numbering about 70 men, two out of its four companies consisting entirely of Frenchmen, the other two companies entirely

Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Santa Rosa, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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