The country was in the throes of civil war in 1885 when General Ricardo Gaitán Obeso laid siege to Cartagena, a city in terrible decline after the Siege of Morillo and the cholera epidemic.
Gaitán Obeso settled in the abandoned and ruined Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas with this Armstrong cannon, which he called El Vigilante. Coming from the American Civil War, the cannon had abundant ammunition. However, when firing day and night over the city at precise intervals, its explosive bullets, loaded with metallic fragments, did not explode, either due to the ignorance of the gunners or because the gunpowder, more than 20 years old, had lost its effectiveness.
Cartagena did not surrender, as the besieger expected, since the harmless bullets only broke roofs. Running out of ammunition, Gaitán Obeso decided to attack the old city walls with his infantry, but was repulsed; his army was dismantled, and Gaitán Obeso himself was taken prisoner days later. The cannon was left abandoned on the slopes of the castle, without ammunition, like a bitter memory that nobody wanted to evoke.
Had El Vigilante’s bullets exploded, Cartagena would have fallen, and the outcome of the civil war would have been favorable to Gaitán Obeso and his followers, who promoted the disintegration of the country. Instead of the current Republic of Colombia, today there would be nine small countries.