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Small Town
Artillery I
The Most Famous Piece of Ordnance in Texas
Gonzales'
Come and Take It Cannon
Gonzales, Texas
by Norman
Conquest |
| Read
four history books about the Texas Revolution and you'll have
four versions of what occurred on October 2, 1835. They've
pretty much settled on the number 18 for the Gonzalans present, but
the numbers of Mexicans varies as does the cannon's composition. Sometimes
the cannon is brass, sometimes it's iron. Sometimes it makes it to
the Alamo where it
was melted with the other cannons after the fall, and sometimes it's
buried en route. One thing is for sure, Dr. Pat Wagner, who
came into ownership of the cannon, spent many many months working
with Doug Kubacek of Hallettsville to verify the pedigree of
the gun, which now sits in the museum
in Gonzales.
The cannon had been lost, but very close to the Texas Centennial (almost
to the day) a flood of the Guadalupe revealed the cannon you can see
today. |
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Dr.
Wagner and Come and Take It Cannon.
Courtesy of Gonzales County Archives |
| X-rayed and magnified,
to the point of using the huge x-ray machine at an airbase in San
Antonio, both Dr. Wagner and Doug Kubacek confirmed that
this was a cannon made by a blacksmith in Gonzales,
since they had access to a detailed diary the blacksmith kept on the
repairs done to the touch hole. |
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Although
it is portrayed in many different forms, a flared barrel, a different
carriage and sizes from small to 2XX, it still is a tidy bit of work.
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Even
if it doesn't measure up to legend, that doesn't take away from
the fact that this was the defiant act that sparked the revolution
and this cannon was the instrument.
Dr. Wagner
passed away early this year, but he generously allowed the cannon
to be shown around the state where it could be seen by a greater
audience. It now resides at the
Gonzales Memorial Museum. |
Drawing of
the "Come And Take It" Cannon
Photo courtesy Sarah
Reveley, 2007 |
Related
Stories:
Dr.
Pat Wagner and the "Come & Take It" Cannon by Murray
Montgomery
"He was determined to prove that the cannon he purchased
from Robert Vance of Refugio was truly the little gun that had
started the Texas Revolution at Gonzales on October 2, 1835."
The
Women of 1836 by Linda Kirkpatrick
... In the midst of preparing to march to San Antonio, the people
of Gonzales decided that they needed a flag. An appointed committee
designed what they considered a flag of support for the cause...
The flag would have a white field without a border and in the
center a picture of the treasured cannon. Over the cannon a single
five-pointed lone star was sewn and under the cannon the words,
“Come and Take It!” ....more
Gonzales
Memorial Museum
Gonzales,
Texas
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Forum:
Subject: The Gonzales cannon
It has a 1½" bore, & at some point it was turned, the vent plugged,
& a new vent bored on the other side. According to Noah Smithwick
in Evolution Of A State, he did the work. The plugged original vent
is what positively identified it as the actual Gonzales cannon when
it was found in the 1930s. - C.F.
Eckhardt, April 04, 2008 |
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|
Jack
"The Knife" Murphy demonstrating the ease with which the
cannon could be concealed.
TE postcard archive |
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