Manifest Destiny in the Desert

Overview
In 1853 a filibuster (a person seeking to create English speaking colonies under a persons control) by the name of William Walker set off with an "army" of 45 men to attempt to take control of the regions of Baja California and Sonora. He managed to take control of Baja California quickly and even set up a "nation", the republic of Lower California. Later in 1854 he declared Sonora part of the territory, despite controlling it, and set up the Republic of Sonora. This was ment to later be controlled militarly by the USA before being annexed by them as a slave state. His plans never took off due to the fact that he didn't take charge even he accumulated massive support, he never got enough men for the project and the fighting amoung them men in the party. His plans may of come into fruition if he managed to take charge and the US may have got it's state.

POD
On Febuary 17th 1854, the Filibuster and Adventurer William Walker sent 3 men to California to gather 270 men for a major expedition into the Sonoran desert and take it for the Republic of Sonora offically. The men arrived 3 weeks later and were found to have not had water in 5 days. They visited the governor John Bigler to send more recorces and men. The governor agreed to the idea and sent out 400 more men than expected, mostly voulenteers. By they arrived on the Sonoran border, Willian Walker had amased aprox. 700 men fore the expedition. He entered the territory and faced little resisdence from the Mexican authorities their and took the capital, Arizpe, within 5 weeks of setting off. The Americans were slowly streeming more and more of their budget into the expedition, and due to it being the time of Manifest Destiny, thousands of men wanted to join Walker to capture the territory. Due to the pressure on the Mexicans from the US, they began debating on selling the states of Baja California and Sonora. Not wanting to risk another war and lose more than two small states, the Mexican government sold the territory not to the US but to Walker (being sponsored by the US) for $56,000 dollars. To make the transition easier, the US wanted Walker to head his own nation, Sonora, while the US bring more of their culture into the area, before being annex as a fully fledged slave state.