Spanish Artillery: San Francisco
The "San Francisco"
National Park Service, GGNRA
Cast in 1679 in Lima, Peru, the 8-pound San Francisco bears the coat of arms of Don Baltasar de la Cueva Henriquez y Saaverdra, 24th Viceroy of Peru. Originally emplaced at the Castillo de San Joaquin to guard the San Francisco Bay, the cannon was subsequently moved to Sonoma at the request of the Mexican Governor of Alta California. On July 20, 1846, Captain Montgomery of the U.S.S. Portsmouth sent a military detachment to retrieve the cannon and return it to the Presidio. The San Francisco is located near the flag pole in Pershing Square. |
Did You Know?
Major Jonathan Letterman--after whom the hospital at the Presidio was renamed in 1911--was the medical director of the Army of the Potomac. A founding father of military medicine, Letterman organized forward first-aid stations, mobile field hospitals, and ambulance services during the Civil War.