Funeral For a Leg

A Mexican president once held a funeral for his own leg. The president, Antonio de Santa Anna, was the general who in 1836 led Mexican troops to victory over Texan rebels at the siege of the Alamo. American frontiersmen James Bowie - after whom the Bowie knife was named - and Davy Crockett died in the siege. Santa Anna’s leg was amputated below the knee after he was wounded during a battle with French troops in December 1838. Santa Anna kept the leg at his hacienda near Veracruz for four years, during which he rose to become effectively dictator of Mexico and the centre on an adoring political cult. On September 26, 1842, his supporters solemnly paraded the leg through the streets of Mexico City to the accompaniment of bands and orchestras, then laid it to rest in a national shrine known as the Pantheon of Saint Paula. Two years later, however, the leg was stolen during the riots that surrounded Santa Anna’s fall from power. Santa Anna died in 1876 at the age of 62 - poor, blind and ignored. The fate of his leg remains unknown.