Artillery
El Criollo
The cannon built to fire enemy shells back.
- Year
- 1867 ‡
- Material
- Bronze ‡
- Ammunition
- Whitworth shells recovered from the enemy
- Today
- In front of the National Congress, Asunción
The Paraguayans collected thousands of Brazilian Whitworth shells that had landed without exploding and cast a cannon of their own to fire them back. Thompson recalled “a beautiful casting” made “on the Whitworth principle”. It fired at the ironclads on the Paraguay River. After the war it was taken to Buenos Aires as a trophy; it came back in 1954.
‡ Disputed.Where it was cast: Asunción, according to Thompson, or Ybycuí, according to Última Hora. Also who took the cannon away: Brazilians who later handed it to Argentina, or Argentines. It should not be confused with El Cristiano, which is in Rio de Janeiro.
Sources: “70-pounder Whitworth naval gun”, English Wikipedia, quoting Thompson; Telemetro (2019); Última Hora, “La historia de una letrina” (2018).
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