A French Cannon in Western Illinois, Part Two (or should I say ‘deux’?)

Santiago de Cuba and Castel del Morro.

L’Effronté was captured at Santiago de Cuba in southeastern Cuba during the Spanish-American War. After victory at the Battle of San Juan Hill—most famous for the actions of future president Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders—the Americans besieged Santiago; the Spanish surrendered and evacuated by 17 July. On that very day, as the Americans occupied the city, the commanding general of the U.S. Army in Cuba, MG William R. Shafter, reported to the Adjutant-General of the U.S. Army, BG Henry C. Corbin, that he had captured 15 bronze cannons that he supposed were for ceremonial purposes; by 22 August, Shafter had shipped most of these guns back to the U.S.¹ There was evidently quite a number of these old cannons around Santiago: George Kennan, a journalist embedded with the Americans, found two French guns in the Morro Castle, located on the eastern side of the entrance to Santiago’s port. Both guns were also made during the tenure of Louis-Charles de Bourbon, one in 1748 and the other in 1755.² Of the Latin motto “ultima ratio regum” inscribed on them, Kennan wrote that “the recent discussions between Morro Castle and Admiral Sampson’s fleet proved conclusively that the ‘last argument of kings’ is much less cogent and convincing than the first argument of battle-ships.” L’Effronté was probably found at Castel del Morro.

Major General William R. Shafter, commanding general of the Fifth Army Corps during the Spanish-American War. His troops captured 18th century French cannons, including l’Effronté, and he ordered them sent to the U.S. as trophies.

An article from the Charlotte Observer on 5 October 1898 details the arrival in the U.S. of 10 French guns, including l’Effronté. These trophy cannons were distributed across the U.S. for display. L’Effronté was given to the Grand Army of the Republic post in Galesburg.³ The Grand Army of the Republic was an organization founded by Union Army soldiers in order to advocate on behalf of veterans. In February 1901, the cannon was unveiled in Central Park;⁴ later, it was moved to the courthouse grounds where it stands today and where I saw it earlier this summer.

A postcard of L’Effronté in Galesburg’s Central Park in the early 20th century. The cannon was later moved to the grounds of the county courthouse.

The mystery that remains is how l’Effronté and its brethren cannons got from France to Cuba. One idea was put forth by Charles Edward Lloyd, the author of the 5 October 1898 article in the Charlotte Observer that I discuss above. He believed that the French cannon in Cuba must have been captured by Spanish forces during the Peninsular War (1807-1814). It is also possible that there was a more peaceful transfer of the weapons to Spain and then onward to Spain’s colony of Cuba. As in France, Bourbon monarchs ruled Spain throughout the 1700s, and therefore these arms may have been given to Spain and then transferred to Cuba at sometime. However, that still leaves 157 years of history between the casting of the l’Effronté and its capture at Santiago unaccounted for.

1Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain, vol. 1 (1902): 158, 249.

2G. Kennan, Campaigning in Cuba (1899): 202-203.

3Annual Reports of the War Department for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1901: Report of the Chief of Ordnance (1902): 81.

4C.R. Robinson, Galesburg, Illinois in Vintage Postcards (2000): 16.

A French Cannon in Western Illinois, Part One

The end of the school year and some travels after that have left me with no time to write anything on this blog. I’m sure the scores of adoring readers out there have been infinitely disappointed over the past three months (that is sarcasm, by the way, in case anyone is in doubt)! But my travels did put me in contact with a very interesting cannon in Galesburg, Illinois. On the grounds of the Knox County Courthouse sits a muzzle-loading, bronze cannon placed atop a stone base shaped like a carriage, which reads “CAPTURED AT SANTIAGO 1898,” during the Spanish-American War. However, at the time, a bronze muzzle-loader was already made obsolete by such innovations as breech loading and steel construction, which had made artillery devastatingly effective. So what was an apparently useless cannon doing in Cuba? And how did it end up in Galesburg—a town of about 30,000, the site of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and hometown of poet Carl Sandburg?

 

The cannon on the grounds of the Knox County Courthouse.

A closer view of the cannon.

Closer inspection revealed the gun to be decorated ornately. Near the muzzle, on the chase, it is marked “L’Effronté.” Then a motto, “Ultima Ratio Regum.” Below that reads “Louis-Charles de Bourbon, Comte d’Eu, Duc d’Aumale” and a coat of arms. The lifting handles come in the shape of dolphins.

“L’Effronté.”

“Ultima Ratio Regum.”

Dolphin lifting handles.

On the reinforce, near the trunnions, is stamped “DE” followed by a figure that looks like a circle with a triangle facing point-down on top of the circle. Then another motto, “Pluribus Nec Impar.” This is followed by an image of a radiant sun and a second coat of arms with fleurs-de-lis. Finally, the cascabel is fashioned into a dragon and around the base ring is inscribed, “Berenger Donincourt fecit Duaci 25 Martii 1741.”

“Nec Pluribus Impar” and the “DE” symbol on the reinforce.

Part of the inscription around the base ring.

So I set about researching the various imagery, phrases, and people inscribed on the cannon. Starting near the muzzle, on the chase, “L’Effronté” is the title of the gun, meaning “Insolence.” The naming of guns was a common practice in 17th- and 18th-century France. Some guns even had quite bizarre names, such as “Le Nasillard,” the one who speaks nasally. The motto “Ultima Ratio Regum” is Latin for “The Last Argument of Kings.” This motto had first been engraved on French cannons during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715).

Then there is the name of a nobleman from the House of Bourbon: Louis-Charles de Bourbon, whose titles on the cannon include Comte d’Eu and Duc d’Aumale. Louis-Charles’ father was Louis-Auguste, the son of King Louis XIV and his mistress. Louis-Auguste held the post of Grand-Maître de l’Artillerie (Grand Master of Artillery), who was responsible for the production of artillery, ammunition, and powder, as well as for the administration of arsenals. The Grand-Maître de l’Artillerie also served as the commander of the royal artillery regiment.¹ Louis-Charles was born in 1701, and in 1710 Louis-Auguste passed the position onto his son, who presumably was only nominally in charge as a 9 year old!² Louis-Charles held the post until 1755, when the position itself was suppressed by King Louis XV. The coat of arms below Louis-Charles’ name features a crown, fleurs-de-lis on a shield, and cannons.

Louis-Charles de Bourbon’s coat of arms.

Detail of a cannon from the coat of arms for Louis-Charles de Bourbon, signifying his position as Grand-Maître de l’Artillerie.

The reinforce of the cannon features symbols of the Bourbon monarch, who was, at that time, Louis XV. The phrase “Pluribus Nec Impar” is emblazoned above the sun symbol. The phrase itself means “To Many Not Unequal,” but it requires a little elucidation. King Louis XIV took it as a motto, and wrote that it meant that he would not be unequal to the task of ruling other empires as the sun was not unequal to illuminating other worlds.³

Engraved above this Latin phrase are the letters “DE” and the figure of a circle with a triangle, point-down, on top. I’m not sure what this is, though I suspect it also indicates the caliber. Anyone who is more knowledgeable can certainly weigh in and clarify.

On the reinforce: the sun symbol and coat of arms of the king of France.

Around the base ring of the cannon is engraved the founder, the place where the cannon was made, and the date it was cast: “Bérenger-Donicourt made [this cannon] at Douai on the 25^th of March, 1741.” Bérenger-Donicourt is the name of the gun founder. François-Simon Bérenger-Donicourt was commissioner ordinary at the foundry at Douai from 1739 until his death in 1747.⁴ Douai, in northeastern France, had been the location of a royal foundry since the reign of Louis XIV; guns continued to be manufactured in the town until the period of World War I.

Finally, the cascabel features a dragon. In the early 18^th century, Jean Florent, Marquis de Vallière and Lieutenant General of the Artillery and Armies of the King, standardized guns by caliber. Caliber was indicated by the representation on the cascabel: 24-pounders, a lion with a mace in the mouth; 16-pounders, a Medusa with torch in mouth; 12-pounders, a rooster; 8-pounders, a dragon; and 4-pounders, a lion with mace again (the sizes of 24- and 4-pounders would be so great that there would not be any confusion). L’Effronté hurled 8 pound projectiles.

The dragon’s head cascabel.

This is the first of two posts in which I will explore this cannon, its markings, and where it came from. Partially, this was an exercise in extracting as much information from this artifact as possible; it was very instructive for me, as I learned a lot about weapons production and army organization in Bourbon France. I also found many resources on military history in general and cannons in particular that I will no doubt refer to often in the future.

1John A. Lynn II, Giant of the Grand Siècle: The French Army, 1610-1715 (1997): 99-100.

2M.A.-L. d’Harmonville (ed.), Dictionnaire des Dates, des Faits, des Lieux et des Hommes Historiques; ou les Tables de l’Histoire, vol. 1 (1842): 273.

3Memoirs for the Instruction of the Dauphin, trans. and ed. P. Sonnino (1970 (1661)): 104.

4 A. de Ternas, Généalogie des Bérenger, commissaires ordinaires des Fontes de l’Artillerie à Douai, de 1695 à 1820, in Souvenirs de la Flandre-Wallonne, vol. 7 (1867): 51.