18 Facts About Lee Christmas

Leon Winfield Christmas, usually called Lee Christmas, was an American mercenary in Central America.

Lee Christmas was born on February 2,1863, on a plantation on the Amite River in Livingston Parish, Louisiana.

Lee Christmas helped to build the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railroad, and returned to passenger service as a baggage master before the line was completed.

Lee Christmas then became a fireman and was promoted to engineer by age 22.

Lee Christmas was fired by Illinois Central and found odd jobs for the next three years, until he demanded an investigation of his collision.

Again employed as a railroad engineer, his train was captured by rebels at Laguna Trestle on April 14,1897, and Christmas joined their cause.

Lee Christmas exhibited dashing bravery in his first battle on that day, and was congratulated by the revolution's leader, Manuel Bonilla.

Lee Christmas earned the nickname "the Incredible Yanqui", and Bonilla immediately made him an officer.

Lee Christmas defected to the government forces in 1899 and was appointed a colonel and chief of police of Tegucigalpa by President Terencio Sierra, in May 1902.

Lee Christmas was wounded in the fighting and exiled to Guatemala.

Zemurray hired Lee Christmas to organize a military coup that would install Bonilla back in power, against the wishes of the United States government.

Lee Christmas hired about 100 mercenaries in New Orleans, including famed Jewish soldier Sam Dreben.

Lee 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.

Lee Christmas attempted to volunteer for World War I, but was rejected because he was over 50 years old.

Lee Christmas eventually acquired patents as an inventor, developing a rattrap that needed no bait, and a railroad safety device to prevent accidents when engineers fell asleep.

Lee Christmas lived in New Orleans, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, attempting various investments and business schemas.

Lee Christmas died in New Orleans some months later, on January 21,1924, of acute anemia brought about by the disease.

Lee Christmas was widely written about in his lifetime, and is believed to be the inspiration for Richard Harding Davis' novels Captain Macklin and Soldiers of Fortune.