Corpus Christi’s Mayor Maltby went missing for a few weeks in 1857

Allison Ehrlich’s Throwback Thursday article on the resignation of Albert Lichtenstein as mayor (March 9) had me thinking about another Corpus Christi mayor who resigned 97 years earlier—Henry Alonzo Maltby.

Maltby had first arrived in Corpus Christi in 1852 with his circus for Henry Kinney’s well publicized fair intended to bring more settlers to the region. But attendance at the fair was far below expectation and Kinney went bankrupt. Maltby, who also suffered financial losses, later returned to become one of the city’s key Kinney loyalists and in June of 1856 became mayor, a one-year position determined by the city’s six aldermen. But eight months later, on Feb. 14, he resigned the office to partake of a bold adventure.

According to the New Handbook of Texas, Maltby left Corpus Christi “to join General William Walker’s filibuster forces in Nicaragua, where he commanded a company that he raised in Corpus Christi.” Walker had established himself as president of Nicaragua and fought several battles with neighboring Central American countries that opposed him. In imminent danger of being ousted, he appealed for volunteers from the United States to join him in Nicaragua.

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When I was researching my "Maltby Brothers’ Civil War" I wanted to find out more about this episode. I found it baffling that several years later, when publishing the Corpus Christi Ranchero, Maltby expressed contempt for Walker and filibustering. He never mentioned his former patron Henry Kinney who had also been filibustering in Nicaragua at the same time as Walker. But why would Maltby have risked his life to rescue Walker, a man he despised? It did not add up.

Maltby’s point of embarkation to Nicaragua would have been New Orleans by way of Galveston. Just ten days after his resignation as mayor, the following item appeared in the Galveston Weekly News:

"Among the Nicaraguan emigrants who arrived here on Sunday last, and proceeded on to New Orleans, were Mr. Henry A. Maltby, who has been residing in Corpus Christi for the past two years, of which place he has been Mayor for nearly a year past, and has now resigned that office for the purpose of going to the aid of Walker. Mr. Maltby, during his residence in Texas, has gained the admiration of all who know him, and we doubt not that Gen. Walker will find him a remarkable acquisition in his great enterprise of revolutionizing and civilizing, or in other words, Americanizing Central America."

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There was no mention of Maltby having raised a company in Corpus Christi as stated in the New Handbook of Texas. In New Orleans, the Picayune made a practice of publishing the names of passengers on arriving vessels and check-ins at the local hotels. It also gave special attention to the new arrivals headed for Nicaragua, but Maltby is not mentioned among either arrivals or check-ins. After leaving Galveston he appears to have become invisible.

And then, only weeks later, a notice in the Nueces Valley brought the unexpected. Maltby was back in Corpus Christi insisting he had never resigned and was still mayor. No explanation was given as to where he had been or what he had been doing during his absence. In any case, Maltby did not regain his position as mayor. Mayor Pro Tem Cornelius Cahill continued to serve the remainder of Maltby’s term until replaced by Henry Berry who soon quit the office because of a dispute with the aldermen. Meanwhile, Walker had been rescued by the U.S. Navy and brought back to the United States. Should Allison continue to write about Corpus Christi mayors, there will no doubt be many more surprises.

Norman C. Delaney is a member of the Nueces County Historical Commission.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi’s Mayor Maltby went missing for a few weeks in 1857