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The leadership at the Illinois State Military Museum is tiptoeing away from its most famous artifact.
Yes, we are talking about the ultimate war booty: Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s artificial leg.
During the Mexican-American War, a regiment of Illinois soldiers captured the cork appendage and brought it back to the Prairie State. And for 173 years, it’s been on display in Illinois.
Unlike the stovepipe hat obtained by another Springfield museum, there has never been a question of whether a national leader wore it or its path to coming into the state’s hands.
Here’s the story of how it ended up moving 1,700 miles north to the Prairie State: