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In the mid-nineteenth century various groups formed north of the border
to invade Mexico. They were called filibusters (from the Dutch vribuiter,
meaning pirate or free booty). The Mexican government saw these
invasions as a threat to sovereignty. To Mexico it was significant that the
groups recruited, organized, and plotted their entradas from the United
States in full view of the U.S. government even as newspapers in both
countries published dozens of articles about the endeavors.

    There were many types of filibusters, from small groups of cutthroats
who were satisfied with raiding and stealing, to those whose goal was to
conquer territory.

    Many names of the privateers are familiar—William Walker and Henry
Alexander Crabb, for instance. Others remain elusive, and they are the
focus of Joseph A. Stout, Jr.'s book. In the mid- nineteenth century José
María Carvajal took his chances in Tamaulipas and Coahuila, and Charles
de Pindray plotted to establish a mining colony in Sonora. Juan Napoleón
Zerman had the audacity to raise a small army and invade Baja California
wearing an absurd uniform capped off with a sombrero decorated with
chicken feathers. None of the filibusters were successful and many men
lost their lives in chimeric escapades along the border.

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JOSEPH A. STOUT, JR., a professor of history at Oklahoma State
University in Stillwater, is the author of Border Conflict: Villistas,
Carrancistas and the Punitive Expedition, 1915-1920, published by TCU
Press in 1999.