Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 201, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1911 — EL CAMILO OF WEST POINT [ARTICLE]

EL CAMILO OF WEST POINT

Ancient Spanish Cannon That Was Captured by the American Troops. at Monterey. Among the old guns from past wars on Trophy Point there is one that is fondly remembered by every graduate of the West Point military academy. It is “El Camilo,” literally” “The Camel,” a relic of the Mexican war, but dating far back of that. This antiquated piece of ordnance, which is three parts silver and painted a light green, bears its name and the royal coat of arms of Spain over an inscription relating that it was the property of the Regiment of the Golden Fleece, commissioned under Ferdinand and Isabella at the time when Columbus set out on his famous voyage to discover a new world. It would be interesting to know what the Spanish grandees would have thought if they could have foreseen that the very cannon which probably thundered Godspeed to the explorer would one day be captured by the unborn nation of the undiscovered continent to which Columbus was bound. The ancient gun was probably brought to Mexico as part of the armament of a Spanish ship, and many years later was pressed into service in the Mexican army, where the “sinews of war” were always at a premium. It was taken at Monterey by the Americans and sent to West Point as the most appropriate place for such an interesting relic. In former years it was mounted and pointed its tapering, old-fashioned muzzle out over the glassy Hudson just as wickedly as It did when the gunners of the old Spanish regiment used to send the fire leaping from its throat, but lately it has been dismounted and laid with other trophy guns in a long row on the grass, where it affords a seat for the tired excursionist.