In 1855 an American named William Walker invaded Nicaragua with 58 reckless soldiers of fortune. Within a year he took over the government and had himself "declared" president of Nicaragua. Planning to create a vast slave empire in Central America with himself as dictator, Walker challenged the power of Great Britain, the wealth of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the prestige of the president of the United States. He terrorized the five small Central American republics, as he ruthlessly plunged them into a ghastly bloodbath. Walker rose to the height of fame in the years just prior to the Civil War, his name was on every tongue. Frenzied admirers in New Orleans carried him triumphantly on their shoulders as a conquering hero. But he also inspired the fear, hatred, and vengeance of many who opposed him, and at the age of 36 he was executed by a firing squad of barefoot soldiers in Honduras in September 1860.