Il Lugano, a cannon forged in Naples in 1763 and weighing 800 pounds, was used in battle against the Austrians. Napoleon, who visited Italy in 1796 and again in 1800, dragged the cannon over the Alps and eventually back to France, then sent it to his brother Joseph, the ruler of Spain. In 1808 the Duke of Wellington's troops captured the cannon from Joseph and returned it to England. It was then used in Canada during the War of 1812, when American colonists captured it in 1814 in Plattsburg, New York. After the war, the United States government declared the cannon surplus and sold it to Salem County to supply the county militia. During the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, the Pole Tavern militia used the cannon in preparation for battle. Since 1913 the cannon has been in the Pole Tavern area.
