Statewide County NcArchives Military Records.....Elliot, Edwin Elvin 1947
Mexican 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Guy Potts http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00017.html#0004214 February 22, 2008, 10:37 pm

Santa Ana's Cork Leg
Charlotte Observer
13 Sep 1907

Got Santa Ana's Cork Leg - Man Who Captured It in the Mexican War Tells How He 
Did It.

The man who captured Gen. Santa Ana's cork leg, the most interesting relic of 
the Mexican War, is yet living. He is Edwin Elvin Elliot, who now lives at San 
Rafael, Cal. From Mr. Elliott comes the first authentic account of the capture.

In the course of his narrative Mr. Elliot describes the scene when the Mexican 
batteries were attacked by the American troops charging across the open plain. 
The Fourth Illinois advanced rapidly to the Jalapa road, in which stood the 
luxurious and gayly caparisoned coach of General Santa Ana harnessed and ready 
to leave. The coach, however, had been rendered unserviceable by the artillery 
fire, one of the mules having been killed. The saddle mule on which an 
outrider usually rode was being cut out of the harness as the American troops 
came up. The latter noticed the Mexicans mounting an officer upon this mule, 
but they did not know until later that this officer was no less a perosanage 
than Santa Ana himself.

Companies B and H charged down the hill, and Private Edward Elliot was the 
first soldier to reach the carriage. He jumped inside and secured the cork leg 
of the general and passed it out to the soldiers who followed.

It was sent to the rear as a prize of war and eventually was placed in 
Memorial Hall at Springfield, Ill., where it is yet on exhibition.

Elliot also found a basket of lunch, consisting mostly of chicken, which had 
been put up for the general. The food was quickly devoured by the hungry 
soldiers. Continuing his search, Elliot found a bag of gold under the seat. 
The coin was kept under guards until an aid of General Twiggs came up, when it 
was turned over to the commander-in-chief as a prize of the government. The 
sack contained in all $10,000.

Mr. Elliot's regiment, the Fourth Illinois, saw much hard service in the 
ensuing month, but the war ended in September, 1847, and the soldiers were 
mustered out in the following year. 

The capture of the leg was productive of much merriment at the time, and many 
accounts of the incident have been published, but the story of the man who 
secured the leg is probably the only authentic account.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/statewide/military/mexican/other/elliot582gmt.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/

File size: 2.9 Kb