The Wooden Leg Caper: The Theft of General Santa Anna's Wooden Leg

By Charles L. Harris

The Wooden Leg Caper; The Thief of General Santa Anna’s Wooden Leg; is a light hearted adventure about four senior citizens that belong to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. They learn the wooden leg of Santa Anna, the General responsible for the massacres at the Alamo and Goliad, is in a museum in Springfield, Illinois. The ladies fe

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles L. Harris
• Release date: Mar 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781944887315

Charles L. Harris

Charles L. Harris, hails from south Texas, his career as a construction manager has taken him around the world and back. Using his travels as backdrops for his literary characters and stories, he was able to bring culture and history to life in his last Novel, Proof of Atlantis, Records from the Past; but in his latest novel, Visions of Evil, The Whitehouse Conspiracy, he goes back to his single digit years where he live on what had been an old slave Plantation in South Texas. Harris has three children (two sons, a daughter), six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He lives on a lake house in South Central Texas where writes, spoils grandchildren and raises miniature breeds of donkeys.

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The Wooden Leg Caper

The Theft of

General Santa Anna’s Wooden Leg

Charles L. Harris

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Copyright © 2018 by Charles L. Harris

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISNB: 978-1-944887-32-2

eISBN: 978-1-944887-31-5

Preface

It’s mid-day April the 18th, 1847 a few miles south of Xalapa, Vezacruz, Mexico, when Captain Robert E. Lee, the company commander a company of the 4th, Infantry of the Illinois was engaged in the Battle of Cerro Gordo. Within minutes his forces had surrounded General Santa Anna’s Command post and captured or killed most of his men but Santa Anna was able to get away. In his haste to escape Santa Anna left behind all of his possession including his silk wardrobe, his Gold leafed carriage, $18,000 dollars in gold coins as well as both of his wooden legs.

It was also reported that Santa Anna had just set down to eat lunch when the attack on his camp commenced. The first soldiers to enter the Generals tent found a table beautifully set with sterling silver utensils, porcelain dishes, linen table cloth and napkins. Santa Anna’s noon day meal was untouched and consisted of a baked chicken, a bottle of champagne, bowls of fresh vegetables and a platter of Leche Quemada cookies.

The soldiers that entered the Generals tent didn’t rejoin the battle until they had consumed the bounty they found on his table. As General Santa Anna’s troops watched their commanding officer flee the battleground those that hadn’t been killed or captured followed his lead.

With the battle quickly coming to an end Captain Lee’s men turned their attention to ransacking the Generals camp. A soldier opened the door of General Santa Anna’s carriage and found trunks filled with fancy clothes.

Captain Lee sat on his horse and watched as his men collected discarded weapons and assembled abandon canons.

Captain, this here General is a little fellow, a private shouted as he held up a pair of pants that looked like they might fit a small boy.

They say he’s about five-foot-two, Lee responded.

I saw him hopping over to a soldier on a horse and shouted something to him and the soldier jumped off his horse and helped the little fellow in the saddle. I was going to shoot him but I thought he was a little crippled boy and I didn’t want to shoot no crippled kid. Another one of Captain’s Lee’s soldier shouted out. Just think I could have shot me a General, he continued.

We’ve all had the inspiration to shoot a general from time to time and they weren’t always the enemy but don’t get no urge to start shooting captains. Lee chuckled.

"No sir, captain, you’re the best." The men shouted back to the Captain Lee.

Captain Lee started to ride off when a corporal rushes up to him carrying two wooden legs. Here is why the little man was limping; he wasn’t wearing his wooden legs.

He lost a leg when he was fighting the French about ten-years ago, Captain Lee informed the assembled men.

You mind if I keep them, Captain, they’ll make good souvenirs? The Corporal asked.

Why not. You go home and tell how you took them off Santa Anna yourself. Captain Lee said laughing. You’ll be a hero.

Thanks Captain. The Corporal said as he admired his trophies.

Lieutenant Abner Doubleday dismounted his horse and led it up to where Captain Lee was talking to the soldiers. Captain, you mind if have the peg leg, I have an idea what to do with it.

It belongs to the corporal now you have to make a deal with him Lieutenant, Captain Lee responded.

The Lieutenant turned to the corporal who was showing off new possessions to fellow soldiers. How about it Corporal?

The corporal eyes the Lieutenant for a moment not sure how to handle the predicament he was put in. He knew he would have to give the Lieutenant what he wanted but wanted to get something out of it in exchange. The Corporal finally mustering up enough courage to test the water. Sir, what do I get out of it if I give you this here peg leg?

The lieutenant figured the corporal would want to try to work some kind of trade and he was prepared. Why corporal, you won’t have to spend the next week digging privies.

The soldiers that had been witnessing the exchange burst out laughing and the corporal got a musty grin on his face realizing he had just been had.

Corporal, you ought to take the deal, it hadn’t rained in weeks and this Mexican dirt is hard as rocks. Giving up a wooden stump would save you a handful of blisters. Captain Robert E. Lee said as he spurred his horse and moved off through the assembled soldiers.

The Corporal turned to Lieutenant Doubleday, Why, Lieutenant, I’ll be more then honored to give you this peg leg, and good-naturedly he handed the leg to the Lieutenant.

Several days later Lieutenant Doubleday organized the first baseball games ever played in Mexico and used General Santa Anna’s peg leg as the bat.

Five months later the 4th Infantry returned to Illinois and was disbanded. General Santa Anna’s peg leg was given to the Governor of the State. The corporal spent the next ten years going to fairs and carnivals charging people ten cents for a peep in a box at General’s prosthetic leg. Upon the Corporal’s death his family kept the prosthetic leg in several locations until 1922 when they donated the wooden legs to the Illinois National Guard Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

Chapter One

It was late spring 2018 in room 237 of Shady Pines Rest Home. Cornelius Whitman sat before the window in her room as she did most mornings drinking coffee and watching the community outside come alive. She was drinking her second or maybe the third; she couldn’t remember how many she had drunk, and it really didn’t matter. It was a pleasant way for her to start a day, a day that would be much like the day before and the day before that. Nothing really changed at the senior citizens rest home except the new face that appeared to take the room of a person that had passed.

For Cornelius, enjoying a good cup of coffee while she watched the community come alive just beyond the boundaries of her room, breathed a bit of life back in her and gave her the strength to endure the boredom of the long hours that would follow. She sipped her coffee and watched the joggers out for a morning run, secretaries hurrying to the office building down the street and the squirrels play in the pecan trees that lined William Carl Avenue. For the last fifteen minutes, she had been watching a van from the local television station that was parked in front of the nursing home. There were two men in the van, and they obviously were waiting for something to happen or someone to meet them.

After watching the men a few minutes, cogs begin to slowly turn in her mind. She began to wonder if they might be there to see her. She quickly dismissed the idea as being ridiculous and turned her attention back to people hurrying along the street. A nice looking young man out for morning jog come into view. He’s too good looking, she thought; he’s probably gay, then smiled. Why do such thoughts come into her mind, she wondered? It had to be from all those years she had been friends with Pepper, God rest her soul. There were things you just couldn’t discuss about Pepper because she filled her life with so many questionable adventures.

Her mind forgot about Pepper for the moment and flashed back to the two men in the van. Was it time? Maybe the envelope had been opened. She couldn’t remember the exact date, but twenty-five years should be up sometime this year. Spring! If her mind didn’t fail her, yes, she remembered it was spring. So, has time for the reckoning come? If it was THE envelope, they would surely be searching for anyone that might still be alive, she speculated.

Cornelius could hear Peaches, the black lady they serviced her room behind her changing the sheets on her bed.

What day is it? Cornelius asked without taking her eyes from the news van.

It’s Wednesday, Ms. Cornelius. You know I always change your sheets on Wednesday."

I know its Wednesday, what day of what month?

It’s the 17th of May. Is it someone’s birthday?

Cornelius was silent for a long moment as she counted on her fingers, then smiled. It’s not anyone’s birthday I know of, but it might be a kind of anniversary, I’m just not sure. She said and smiled to herself.

Peaches didn’t understand what the old woman was talking about so she chose to not respond and continued making the bed. She had worked at the old folk’s home for five years and had often seen the aging minds play tricks with names, dates and events in their life. Some would have conversations with people that lived only in their mind or a dimension she could not see or hear, but she never doubted their existence.

A big black car pulled behind the news van and two men wearing suits and ties stepped out of their car and approached the van. After a brief conversation, the men in the van got out. The four men started up the sidewalk toward the front door of Shady Pines Rest Home. One of the men was carrying a camera like she had seen news men use. The tallest man of the four seemed to look familiar, but she couldn’t place where she might have seen him. He was stylishly dressed from what she could see and carried himself well. The others were more generic in appearance and followed the tall man toward the building, leading her to believe he was the leader of the pack. The tall man stopped about halfway to the building and turned to those following as if he thought of something he needed to share with them before they had gone any further. Whatever they were discussing had something to do with a large tan envelope the tall man had in his hand. Peaches, will you be so kind as to hand me my binoculars from the top drawer of my night stand?

Ms. Cornelius, you know you got no business window peeping at them good looking fellows out for a morning stroll, Peaches playfully scolded the elderly lady as she handed her a pair of opera glasses.

Not these, but my bird watching glasses and hurry.

You see a bird Miss Cornelius? Peaches wanted to know.

Maybe, but they’re not song birds; these are more like buzzards. Cornelius informed her while painfully snapping her arthritic fingers indicating for Peaches to hurry.

Peaches quickly exchanged the binoculars, and Cornelius hurried to get a closer look at the envelope before the men disappeared from her view. Just as I thought, Cornelius said to herself. There was a red spot about the size of a quarter on the envelope flap. Before she could see any other details, the men entered the building. But she had seen enough to satisfy herself that she might have seen the envelope before. She was sure there were other