Civil War spelled end of wild camels in Arizona

PHOENIX  Do you realize that if it hadn't been for the Civil War, there might be herds of wild camels roaming Arizona's deserts today?

Of course, if it hadn't been for the Civil War, lots of things would be different, but that's neither here nor there. Arizona's adventure with camels began in 1855 when Jefferson Davis, then secretary of war and later president of the Confederacy, was sold on the idea of importing camels to build and travel on a wagon road through the Southwest.

He pitched the idea of the Camel Military Corps to Congress, telling members, "For military purposes and for reconnaissance, it is believed the dromedary would supply a want now seriously felt in our service."

Congress bit, and appropriated $30,000.

A buyer was dispatched to the Middle East where he bought 33 camels - supposedly at exorbitant prices - then loaded them on a ship modified to accommodate their bulk and sailed to Indianola, Texas. Another batch of 44 of the beasts followed.

When the camels disembarked and were led through the port city, they were an immediate sensation. Crowds thronged to see them. One woman knitted a pair of stockings made of camel hair and sent them to President Franklin Pierce. He sent her a silver goblet in return.

The problem was that the camels didn't understand English, or at least not the English employed by Army mule skinners. So the authorities sent to the Middle East for men who spoke camel, and that's where Hadji Ali comes into the story.

He and another camel driver, Yiorgos Caralambo (who came to be called Greek George), were hired to teach the soldiers how to deal with the animals. Soldiers couldn't pronounce Hadji Ali, and he became known as Hi Jolly.

In Texas, Lt. Edward Beale, one of the Southwest's great explorers, took over the camels and set off in 1857 on an expedition to map a possible southern route for a transcontinental railroad.

The camels were a great success. They could carry two or three times as much as Army mules. They could go without water for much longer than could horses or mules, and most of the desert forage was fine with them.

One member of the expedition recalled a group of horses gathered around a water cask, trying to lick drops of water from the cask's hole while the camels rested nearby, placidly chewing their cuds or whatever it is camels do when they are placid.

When the expedition reached the Colorado River and prepared to cross into California, some thought the camels would balk and be unable to swim. The camels waded right in and went across easily. Two horses drowned during the crossing.

After the expedition returned to Texas, Beale wrote of the camels, "The harder the test they are put to, the more fully they seem to justify all that can be said of them. They pack water for days under a hot sun and never get a drop. They pack heavy burdens of corn and oats and never get a grain, and on greasewood and other worthless shrubs not only subsist but keep fat."

Beale imagined the day when "this noble beast" would carry mail back and forth across the country, and Congress was urged to send off for another 1,000 camels.

Congress had other things on its mind. The Civil War was brewing and, when it finally broke out, spelled the end of the Camel Military Corps as troops went back East to do battle.

Some of the camels were sold; others escaped into the wild.

Hi Jolly bought two of them and operated a freight route between the Colorado River and the mining towns of eastern Arizona for two years. In 1880, he became a U.S. citizen, started calling himself Philip Tedro and married Gertrudis Serna of Tucson. They had two children. Later, when he retired, he moved to Quartzsite and prospected around the region using a mule. He died in 1902.

The camels thrived for a while, but eventually died out. The last one in Arizona was shot in 1893 by a farmer who found it grazing in his garden.

However, the legends lived on. As late as the 1930s and 1940s there were unsubstantiated reports of camels spotted in the wild. One story was that of the Red Camel, which roamed the desert with a headless human skeleton on its back. It reportedly stormed through a mining camp and trampled a woman to death.

As for Hi Jolly, he is still remembered in Quartzsite, a popular haven for winter visitors and the site of many swap meets and gem and mineral shows this time of year.

In the town cemetery, there is a stone pyramid topped by a camel and bearing a plaque in the intrepid camel driver's memory.

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