Leon Winfield Christmas, usually called Lee Christmas (February 2, 1863 – January 21, 1924), was an American
mercenary
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
in
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
.
Early life and career
Lee Christmas was born on February 2, 1863, on a plantation on the
Amite River
The Amite River (french: Rivière Amite) is a tributary of Lake Maurepas in Mississippi and Louisiana in the United States. It is about long. It starts as two forks in southwestern Mississippi and flows south through Louisiana, passing Greater ...
in
Livingston Parish, Louisiana
Livingston Parish (Louisiana French: ''La Paroisse Livingston'') is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its parish seat is the town of Livingston. Livingston Parish is one of the Florida Parishes, a region which, unlike the rest of the sta ...
. As a young man, he worked as a pilot on tugboats on
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west ...
and later became a railroad brakeman living in
McComb, Mississippi
McComb is a city in Pike County, Mississippi, United States. The city is approximately south of Jackson. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 12,790. It is the principal city of the McComb, Mississippi Micropolitan Statist ...
, for the
Illinois Central System in 1879. He helped to build the
Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railroad
The Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway was built between 1888 and 1890 and was admitted to the Illinois Central Railroad system in 1892. It ran between Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, through Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Baton ...
, and returned to passenger service as a baggage master before the line was completed. He then became a
fireman
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also a ...
and was promoted to
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
by age 22.
Christmas ran locomotives between
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
and
until 1897, when he fell asleep at the controls after 54 hours on duty and caused a collision with an oncoming train. He was fired by Illinois Central and found odd jobs for the next three years, until he demanded an investigation of his collision. Because he had been on duty for 54 hours, he was exonerated, but then was unable to be re-hired as an engineer because he could not pass a new test for
color-blindness.
Central America
In November 1894, Christmas moved to
Puerto Cortes, Honduras
Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to:
Places
* El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain
*Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
* Puerto Colombia, Colombia
* Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela
* Puerto Galera, O ...
. Again employed as a railroad engineer, his train was captured by rebels at Laguna Trestle on April 14, 1897, and Christmas joined their cause. He exhibited dashing bravery in his first battle on that day, and was congratulated by the revolution's leader,
Manuel Bonilla
General Manuel Bonilla Chirinos (7 June 1849 – 21 March 1913) was President of Honduras from 13 April 1903 to 25 February 1907, and again from 1 February 1912 to 21 March 1913. He had previously served as Vice President of Honduras from 189 ...
. He earned the nickname "the Incredible Yanqui", and Bonilla immediately made him an officer.
Christmas defected to the government forces in 1899 and was appointed a
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
and chief of police of
Tegucigalpa
Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...
by President
Terencio Sierra
Terencio Esteban Sierra Romero (16 November 1839 – 25 October 1907) was President of Honduras between 1 February 1899 and 1 February 1903.
Sierra was born in Coray, Valle, Honduras. After studying in Comayagua he became a typographis ...
, in May 1902. Defecting again in 1903, Christmas accepted a position as aide to rebel Bonilla. When Bonilla became president of Honduras, he appointed Christmas a
general
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
. Perhaps to assert his toughness or to intimidate the natives, Christmas had been known to chew on glass.
Bonilla's abortive invasion of
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
in 1907 led to his overthrow by General
Miguel Dávila
-->
Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to:
Places
* Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands
* São Miguel (disa ...
. Christmas was wounded in the fighting and exiled to
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
.
Battle of La Ceiba
In 1910, banana magnate
Samuel Zemurray
Samuel Zemurray (born Schmuel Zmurri; January 18, 1877 – November 30, 1961), nicknamed "Sam the Banana Man", was an American businessman who made his fortune in the banana trade. He founded the Cuyamel Fruit Company and later became president ...
of
Cuyamel Fruit Company
Cuyamel Fruit Company, formerly the Hubbard-Zemurray Steam Ship Company, was an American agricultural corporation operating in Honduras from 1911 until 1929, before being purchased by the United Fruit Company. The company was founded in the 1890s ...
desired to change regimes in Honduras, because Dávila's government was planning financial deals that would increase Zemurray's business costs. Zemurray hired Christmas to organize a military coup that would install Bonilla back in power, against the wishes of the United States government. Christmas hired about 100 mercenaries in New Orleans, including famed
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
soldier
Sam Dreben
Samuel Dreben (June 1, 1878 – March 15, 1925), sometimes misspelled "Drebben" or "Drebin", and known as "The Fighting Jew", was a highly decorated soldier in the US Army and a mercenary who fought in a variety of wars and revolutions.
Early lif ...
. Zemurray supplied the weapons and transportation. Their first attempt at revolution in 1910 was a failure.
The group attempted revolution a second time the following year, with a reorganized force using US Army surplus
Colt Model 1895 machine guns and transported on a former
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
vessel. Gaining soldiers from the local population, Bonilla's rebels captured Trujillo and Iriona, and cemented their victory at the Battle of La Ceiba on January 25, 1911. Christmas used his machine guns for fire support of the infantry with interlocking fields of fire, inflicting some six hundred casualties on the government forces.
This is believed to be the first time automatic weapons were so used, and La Ceiba was studied by military professionals in Europe and the Americas. This tactical use of
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
s would become standard practice in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Bonilla resumed the presidency of Honduras, with Christmas as his military commander.
Later career
After Bonilla's death in 1913, Christmas lost his influence and worked odd jobs. He attempted to volunteer for World War I, but was rejected because he was over 50 years old. He eventually acquired patents as an inventor, developing a
rattrap
This is a help:sorting, sortable list of characters and toys in the Transformers: Beast Wars, ''Beast Wars'' franchise, part of the larger Transformers franchise, from Hasbro. This includes characters appearing in an animated series, comics or ...
that needed no bait, and a railroad safety device to prevent accidents when engineers fell asleep.
Christmas lived in New Orleans, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, attempting various investments and business schemas.
While in Central America, Christmas began to suffer from
tropical sprue
Tropical sprue is a malabsorption disease commonly found in tropical regions, marked with abnormal flattening of the villi and inflammation of the lining of the small intestine. It differs significantly from coeliac sprue. It appears to be a mor ...
, and returned to the United States in hopes of receiving treatment. He died in
some months later, on January 21, 1924, of acute
anemia
Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...
brought about by the disease.
Christmas was widely written about in his lifetime, and is believed to be the inspiration for
Richard Harding Davis
Richard Harding Davis (April 18, 1864 – April 11, 1916) was an American journalist and writer of fiction and drama, known foremost as the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish–American War, the Second Boer War, and the First ...
' novels ''Captain Macklin'' and ''Soldiers of Fortune''.
The University of Tennessee has papers donated by Mrs. Marion Samson of Abilene, Texas in 1958.
Marion Samson Collection of General Lee Christmas and President William Walker, MS-0014. University of Tennessee Libraries, Knoxville, Special Collections
They include correspondence to and from Christmas, and an invitation to his wedding to Ida Culotta at Puerto Cortés, Honduras, in 1914.
References
Further reading
''The Incredible Yanqui: The Career of Lee Christmas''
(1931), Hermann Bacher Deutsch, Longmans, Green and Company
* ''Mercenary: The hard-drinking drifter who changed the fate of a nation'' (2015), David Gaughran, Lexington, KY
External links
"From a Whorehouse to a White House"
The Hoghead Who Became Dictator of Honduras.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christmas, Lee
1863 births
1924 deaths
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
American inventors
American locomotive engineers
American mercenaries
History of Honduras
People from Livingston Parish, Louisiana
People of the Banana Wars
Tuberculosis deaths in Louisiana
People born in the Confederate States
American expatriates in Honduras