ILLINOIS STATE MILITARY MUSEUM

Home of Santa Anna's Leg and Much,Much More

- Peter Suciu

The British Museum in London is home to the Rosetta Stone, while the Mona Lisa hangs on the walls of the Louvre in Paris, but on the outskirts of Springfi eld, Illinois, is an object that might almost seem at home in TV’s The Simpsons’ hometown of Springfi eld, State Unknown. It’s an object that was actually fictionalized in another animated TV series, King of the Hill.

It’s the prosthetic cork leg worn by Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón — more commonly known as Santa Anna, the Mexican politician, and general who fought to defend royalists in New Spain and later for Mexican independence, before fighting against Texas Revolutionaries and then the French and finally the United States.

During the brief Pastry War with France in 1838, Santa Anna was hit in the left leg by cannon fire, and this required the amputation of much of his leg — which he ordered to be buried with full military honors. He recovered from the wounds and used the prosthetic cork leg during the Mexican-American War when it was “captured” by members of the 4th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Santa Anna was eating lunch during a battle and members of the unit raided his camp and absconded with the leg. Another leg, which was only a peg, was also captured by the unit — and both returned to Illinois after the war. The peg leg is on display at the home of Illinois Governor Richard J. Oglesby, as he had served in the regiment; while the cork leg, which had been exhibited at state fairs, is now in the collection of the Illinois State Military Museum.