Camels! Ho!

   There have been many consequences both good and bad of the Civil War. One little known consequence is that the U.S. Army has no camels in its equipage. The army still has several horses and even a few mules, but not a single camel, though at one time it had over a hundred.

   Back in the early 1850s, a Major Henry Wayne made a study of the practicality of  the Army using camels for transport in difficult terrain. Senator Jefferson Davis heard about the study and liked the idea, but could not convince Congress to buy any camels. In 1853 Davis became Secretary of War, and on this day in 1855 Major Wayne was on his way to the Mediterranean to buy some camels.

   In North Africa he acquired two Bactrian camels (two humps) 29 dromedaries (one hump), and one booghdee (a cross between a Bactrian and a dromedary) camel. Wayne realized he probably wouldn't find camel saddles back in the U.S. so he purchased some locally. His other important local acquisition was native camel handlers. Most of these handlers were Greeks. You have to love the Greeks. Like the Chinese, they're an enterprising people.

   The camel transport ship landed in Texas and the camels were marched to a camp west of San Antonio. The ship immediately headed back to the Mediterranean for more camels. The U.S had recently acquired great swaths of barren lands from Mexico and Congress wanted a road between Texas and California. Camels were to be used in the survey expedition to test their efficiency. Horses and mules also went along which was the beginning of the end for the camels. 

   The mules and horses panicked at the sight of the big camels. The soldiers didn't like the smell of the camels and never took over handling them from the Greeks. The camels proved themselves to be much tougher than the mules and horses and even saved the expedition from disaster at one point.

   Then the Civil War came along. The confederates took over the camels, but there was not a lot of desert warfare and the camels sat the war out. The whole camel experiment collapsed with Davis's career.

   The leader of the Greek teamsters, a fellow nicknamed Hi Jolly, decided to stay in the U.S. after the war, and when the Army auctioned off the camels, he bought a few and started a transport business. His business was not profitable so he switched to mining and occasional scouting for the Army. There's a story about the time a bunch of Germans were having a party and neglected to invite Hi Jolly. He broke up the party by driving his camel cart through the middle of the gathering as a reminder that camels and their handlers are not to be taken lightly.

Grave of Hi Jolly aka Philip Tedro 1828-1902 Quartzite, AZ