In the 17th cent. the term was applied to buccaneers who plundered the Spanish colonies in the New World.
In the 19th cent. the word was used more in reference to adventurers who organized and led, under private initiative, armed expeditions into countries with which the country from which they set out was at peace. Complications between the governments involved were likely to result.
There was a series of filibustering expeditions from the United States against Cuba, Mexico, and Central and South American countries in the 19th cent., some of them led by citizens of the United States, as those of John A. Quitman and William Walker, and some by rebellious citizens of the government they sought to overthrow, as those of Narciso López against Cuba.
Texas, when it was still part of Mexico, was the scene of many such filibustering activities.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2002 Columbia University Press
The Masonic Connection Filibusters and Freemasons: The Sworn Obligation by Antonio de la Cova
This essay contends that Freemasons dominated the filibuster leadership. Secret Masonic identification facilitated joining the organization. It also provided protection from federal authorities suppressing their activities and rendered aid and comfort to distressed filibusters. The fraternity espoused the intellectual rationale justifying the invasion of Cuba. Masonic doctrine emphasized that a member "owed it to his country to seek to give her freedom, or maintain her in that possession. It made Tyranny and Usurpation the enemies of the Human Race. It created a general outlawry of Despots and Despotisms, temporal and spiritual." ...
"Freemasons were a main ingredient of the filibuster movement. Their assistance transcended sectional issues, political parties or national boundaries. Freemasonry served as an intermediary between the Cuban revolutionaries and Northern and Southern politicians and military figures who supported their cause. The brotherhood connection provided the Cuban revolutionaries with weapons, funds, and recruits, like it had done earlier in the independence movements of West Florida and Texas. Masonic international secret identification through handshakes, code words, and the sign of distress, caused strangers to help López, although he did not speak English. The sworn Masonic obligation to grant relief to a worthy distressed brother allowed filibuster fugitives to evade the federal authorities and receive assistance even from political opponents. Public officials John Hardee Dilworth and Daniel H. Stewart clearly placed fraternal loyalty above considerations of oath of office. Without Masonic participation, the Cuban independence movement would have been impaired and the Cuban national flag would have a different design today. Freemasonry alone did not create the American, Texas and Cuban revolutions, but it did prepare and accomplish them."
John A Quitman 1798–1858, American general and politician, b. Rhinebeck, N.Y. He settled in Natchez, Miss., where he practiced law and held a series of political offices, serving in the state legislature and as acting governor (1835–36). As a brigadier general (promoted to major general in 1847) in the Mexican War, he distinguished himself at Monterrey, fought at Veracruz and Puebla, and led the assault on Chapultepec. He was governor of Mexico City during the American occupation (1847–48). On his return to Mississippi he became governor (1850–51), but resigned after indictment by the federal government for aiding a filibustering expedition to Cuba planned by Narciso López. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1855 until his death.
Narisco López 1798?–1851, Spanish American soldier, b. Venezuela. After serving in the Spanish army during the Venezuelan revolution against Spain, he left his native country for Cuba (1823). He went to Spain, fought against the Carlists, and became a field marshal and a senator in the Cortes. He obtained an appointment as governor of Trinidad, Cuba, but lost it when the supreme command in Cuba was changed in 1843. A liberal, he began to plan a revolution against Spain, and in 1848 he was forced to flee to the United States when his scheme was discovered. He obtained American aid and planned a filibustering expedition to Cuba (1848). It did not succeed, and, two years later, a new expedition against Cárdenas was scarcely more successful. In 1851 a third expedition did gain a foothold on the island, but ended in complete defeat—López himself was captured and executed.
"Meantime the news of Walker’s exploits reached San Francisco. The skirmish at La Paz was regarded as a great victory. The California newspapers and periodicals greatly applauded him. Judge Lott, writing for the “Pioneer,” says: “The term filibuster no longer means a pirate ... It means the compassing of the weak by the strong... The term filibuster is now identical with the pioneer of progress... If these regions ... do not soon become a portion of the United States ... some other nation, stronger than Mexico, will grasp them.” Soule, in the “Annals of San Francisco,” says in commenting on Walker, “America secures the spoils won to her hand, however dishonestly they may have come. That is only her destiny ... America must round out her territory by the sea.”
Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon French Filibusterer in Mexico
his mission in Sonora:
- Becoming rich with the supposed Sonora richness.
- Putting a stop to the US expansionism.
- Reestablish the pure Latin-blood on the Americas.
- Taking revenge on Mariano Arista.
Texas