William Walker was an American "mercenary" who organized several private military expeditions into Latin America with the intention of establishing fiefdoms under his control. This specific type of brigandage and piracy was known as "filibustering" back then.  Today, we call it regime change, or humanitarian operations. It is also almost always state sponsored today, and, in particular, US sponsored. Though the CIA does continue to play a big role in such operations, the US is more and more willing to openly use its military. It does still use mercenary surrogates like Afghan Warlords, The Taliban, al quaeda/al nusra front, Blackwater/Xe/Acadami, and random insurgents ginned up by the CIA, but is quite comfortable openly sending in the armed forces whether it be boots on the ground or shelling, bombing, drone strikes and other forms of "stand off" terrorism.  At any rate, Walker managed to get control of Nicaragua for about a year (which is better that the CIA did at the Bay of Pigs) but he was, all the same, deposed and eventually captured and put to death.

On this day in history:

1495 – John Cor, a monk,  recorded the first known batch of Scotch whisky.
1779 – Benedict Arnold, was court-martialed for malfeasance.
1794 – The battle of the Glorious First of June was fought between Britain and France. Both sides won
1812 – President James Madison asked Congress to declare war on the UK.
1855 – The William Walker conquered Nicaragua.
1868 – The Treaty of Bosque Redondo was signed, allowing the Navajo to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.
1890 – The United States Census Bureau began using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.
1929 – The 1st Conference of the Communist Parties of Latin America was held in Buenos Aires.
1961 – The Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada merged to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the largest bank merger in Canadian history. No doubt for the benefit of the little people, eh.
1964 – Kenya became a republic with Jomo Kenyatta as its first President (1964 to 1978). Britannia wept. Bwahahaha.
1974 – The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims was published in the journal Emergency Medicine.  Now they need one for choke-hold victims and others who fall prey to the Blue Plague.
1979 – The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years took power.  More tears and anguish from Britannia, tsk, tsk.
1988 – The European Central Bank was founded in Brussels., no doubt also for the benefit of the little people.
1988 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty went into effect.
1990 – George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev signed a treaty to end chemical weapon production.
2008 – A fire on the back lot of Universal Studios broke out, destroying a large irreplaceable archive of master tapes for music and film.
2009 – General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history.

Born this day in:

1637 – Jacques Marquette, missionary and explorer

1796 – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot,  physicist and engineer

1843 – Henry Faulds,  physician and missionary, developed fingerprinting

1878 – John Masefield,  author and poet

1907 – Frank Whittle,  soldier and engineer who developed the jet engine

1921 – Nelson Riddle,  composer and bandleader

1922 – Povel Ramel,  singer, songwriter, and pianist

1929 – James H. Billington, academic and Thirteenth Librarian of Congress

1930 – John Lemmon, logician and philosopher

1934 – Pat Boone, singer, songwriter, and actor

1940 – Kip Thorne, physicist, astronomer, and academic

1941 – Dean Chance, baseball player and manager, the real answer to "who's on first?"

1943 – Richard Goode, pianist

1945 – Jim McCarty, blues rock guitarist

1945 – Linda Scott, singer

1947 – Ronnie Wood, guitarist, songwriter, and producer

1950 – Charlene, singer, songwriter

1953 – Ronnie Dunn, singer, songwriter, and guitarist

1959 – Alan Wilder, singer, songwriter, keyboard player, and producer

1981 – Brandi Carlile, singer, songwriter and guitarist

Died this day in:

1660 – Mary Dyer, Boston martyr, hanged by Puritans for being a Quaker

1872 – James Gordon Bennett, Sr., publisher, founded the New York Herald 

1927 – Lizzie Borden,  accused and acquitted of murder

1952 – John Dewey,  psychologist, educational reformer, and philosopher

1966 – Papa Jack Laine,  drummer and bandleader

1968 – Helen Keller, author and activist

1980 – Arthur Nielsen, businessman who founded the ACNielsen company 

2000 – Tito Puente, drummer, composer, and producer

2007 – Tony Thompson,  singer and songwriter (Hi-Five)

2012 – Faruq Z. Bey,  saxophonist and composer

2015 – Jean Ritchie, singer, songwriter, dulcimer player, and  guitarist

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Children's Day (International)

Global Day of Parents (international)

World Milk Day (international)

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

Bonus Boone

-
Ronnie Redux

Image is Havasupi Children

It's an open thread, so do your thing