Come and Take It! The Gonzalez Cannon

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by midelburgo

In this book,

La organización naval de los estados mediterráneos y en especial de España durante los siglos XVI y XVII. By Francisco-Felipe Olesa Muñido.

There is a artillery compilatory table at page 318 of the first volume,

where an "esmeril" is described as a bronze minor weapon without servers firing lead ammunition (or lead with an iron core) of 1/2 to 1 pound of weight, 2-3cm diameter, 40 calibers in length.

Data comes from Jorge Vigon, History of the Spanish Artillery, first volume around page 118. I have it as well, but the table is easier to check.

What I find interesting to mention is that an "esmeril" is a flint. I thought this was related to a stone ammunition, but probably that was not clever because of the wasting of the tube. If it is related to a spark system, Rainier Daenhardt says Portuguese were using those already in the 1530s.

I understand that a gun with the characteristics of the first gun with servers in Fernando post, will fall in the mentioned table under "cerbatana".

About the original brass buried gun, there is something wrong. I believe a six pounder of 6 feet will weight much more than 100lbs. The iron cannon resembles a Scottish carronade. Maybe something from a barge.

Thank you so much! this further detailed information on these guns is so valuable as these are insights from resources far from access here.
Very well noted on this curious term, which seems to be a colloquially used reference to these small guns of Mexican origin.

I had seen esmeril translated as 'emery' which seemed odd, then Fernando noted the loosely applied term 'grinder' which added to conundrum. Adding the 'flint' description of course adds another facet.

With all of this and now realizing there were two cannons at Gonzalez on October 2, 1835 in the notable conflict with Mexican dragoons who were there to retrieve their loaned gun.
The gun they were after was a SIX pounder, of 6 foot length weighing 700 pounds, and of bronze (often the term brass is used incorrectly).

What has completely fouled the mix is the small esmeril which arrived in Gonzalez that day, and was indeed fired in the brief conflict.
Actually this gun had been captured in a battle in 1832 and had been spiked so a new touch hole was drilled.
This gun was of such small size and bore (1/4 pound) it would be inconsequential in any sort of siege or notable combat.

It was noticeably uncharacteristic as far as cannons go, the cascabel was oversized, its shape was more of tube. It seems remarkable that it seems to be the likeness shown on this fabled flag, which is claimed to have been fashioned from the wedding dress of one of the wives. This was then termed the 'old cannon flag' and seems to have been confined to Gonzalez.

When the makeshift carriage was made using handmade boards from local trees to transport it, the 'tube' seemed unusually small in such large mounts and was rather laughed at. Why such an elaborate rig was needed to transport a 70 pound gun being pulled by two oxen seems odd. To make matters worse, the friction from the wheels and final failure of the rig, along with the two oxen being spent rendered the effort useless. With this the gun was buried, as per it seems a standard practice with guns being put out of service in these contexts.

This gun, found in 1936, was placed unceremoniously in the post office in Gonzalez where it was perhaps literally used as a doorstop until the 1960s. At this point local gun collectors began to associate it with the 1835 'battle' and that it may be the famed 'cannon' of Gonzalez.

There is no doubt of the conflict in Gonzales over 'a cannon' in 1835, but the fact that there were apparently TWO cannon, not just one has confused the matter. To compound this, according to the accounts of the actual full sized six pounder of bronze which was one of four later used for metal content thus no longer extant eliminates actual examination possibility.
What remains is the apocryphal history of the small cannon now on display in Gonzalez, which seems logistically improbable as a combat weapon, but profoundly powerful symbolically.

It would seem that the confusion from the misunderstanding of the term esmeril as applied to the cannon in Gonzalez is the issue, as there is no way this term would be applied to a full size 700 pound cannon, six pounder.