Henry Constantine Wayne

9/18/1810  3/15/1883

WAYNE, Henry Constantine, soldier, was born in Savannah, Ga., Sept. 8, 1815. He attended the schools at Northampton and Cambridge, Mass., and was graduated from the U.S. military academy in 1838. He was promoted in the army 2d lieutenant, 4th artillery, July 1, 1838; was transferred to the 1st artillery, July 12, 1838: served on the northern frontier, and during the Canada border disturbances, 1838-41, was assistant instructor of artillery and cavalry at the U.S. Military academy, 1841-43; and quartermaster, 1843-46. He was promoted 1st lieutenant, May 16, 1842. He served in the war with Mexico as assistant quartermaster-general, 1846-47; was promoted captain of staff and assistant quarter, master, May 11, 1846, and was brevetted major, Aug. 20, 1847, for gallant conduct at Contreras and Churubusco, Mex. He was in the quarter-master-general's office, Washington, 1848-55; purchased camels in Asia and Africa for use in army transportation in the west, and tested their adaptability in Texas, 1855-58. He resigned his commission, Dec. 31, 1860, and joined the Confederate States army as adjutant and inspector-general of the state of Georgia. He organized the militia and state officers into companies, regiments and two brigades, and their services were tendered to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, and under General Wayne they were directed to guard the crossings of the Chattahoochie river from Roswell to West Point. In order that General Wayne might resume his duties as adjutant-general, he was succeeded by Gen. Gustavus W. Smith, June 1, 1864, and returned to Georgia. He received a first-class medal from the "Société Imperiale Zoölogique d'acclimatation" of Paris, for the successful introduction and acclimation of the camel in the United States in 1858. He is the author of: The Sword Exercise Arranged for Military Instruction (1850). He died in Savannah, Ga., March 15, 1883.

Camels in Texas -- 1856

Following the California gold rush of 1849, there became an increasing need to protect and supply the growing population of Americans in the southwest. After attempts to build a transcontinental railroad succumed to sectional politics, U. S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis decided to experiment with camels as a means for transporting military provisions across west Texas and the "Great American Desert."

As a result, Major H. C. Wayne was dispatched to the middle-East in 1855 to study and procure the first group of dromedaries. He returned the following year with thirty-three animals. They disembarked, together with several Greek and Turkish drivers, at Indianola, Texas on May 14, 1856. The curious looking caravan stopped in San Antonio, where it was demonstrated that one of the "beasts of the desert" could rise from its knees with two bales of Texas cotton tied on its back. The herd was then moved to more permanent quarters at Camp Verde, just south of the present town of Kerrville. Another herd of 41 camels arrived the following year.

CAMEL COURIER. In 1856, Henry C. Wayne (left) procured and transported 33 camels to Texas aboard the USS Supply. Over the next several years, the camels were put to further tests, in which they were used alongside mules on extended trips throughout west Texas and as far west as California. In many ways, the camels proved themselves as superior transport animals. They were able to carry loads over long stretches without water and with very little forage--trips in which most mules would have perished. Ultimately, however, the camels failed. Their soft-padded feet were unsuitable for travel over much of the rocky southwestern terrain. They frightened horses and they were detested by their handlers, who were accustomed to more docile mules. The camels fell into Confederate hands at the beginning of the Civil War, then back to the Union Army in 1865. Most were sold at auction in 1866. A few escaped into the west Texas desert and are known to have survived until late in the nineteenth century.

Wayne, Henry DC WASHINGTON, D.C. WASHINGTON CITY 1STWARD 257 1860

U.S. Camel Corps remembered in Quartzsite, Arizona From Out West #18, April, 1992, By Chuck Woodbury

QUARTZSITE, Ariz. -- One of the most interesting military experiments of the American West involved 77 camels and a Syrian named Hi Jolly. His real name was Hadji Ali, and he's remembered today at a pyramid-shaped monument in the Quartzsite cemetery. The story of Hi Jolly began in 1855 when Secretary of War Jefferson Davis was told of an innovative plan to import camels to help build and supply a Western wagon route from Texas to California. It was a dry, hot and otherwise hostile region, not unlike the camel's natural terrain in the Middle East. Davis, convinced of the idea, proposed a Camel Military Corps to Congress. "For military purposes, and for reconnaissances, it is believed the dromedary would supply a want now seriously felt in our service," he explained. Congress agreed and appropriated $30,000. Major Henry Wayne was sent to the Middle East where he bought 33 of the animals. With much difficulty, they were loaded onto a Navy ship (with part of its deck modified to accommodate the large creatures) and transported to Texas. There Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale took over. Forty-four more camels arrived later. Hadji Ali and another foreigner were hired to teach the soldiers how to pack the animals. The Americans had a hard time pronouncing Ali's name so they nicknamed him Hi Jolly.

Beale left on a Western expedition in June, 1857, with Hi Jolly along as chief camel driver. Camels were loaded with 600 to 800 pounds each and traveled 25 to 30 miles a day. If the animals fared well, a series of Army posts could be set up later along the route to relay mail and supplies across the Southwest.

After reaching California the expedition returned to Texas, a success -- at least to Beale."The harder the test they (the camels) are put to, the more fully they seem to justify all that can be said of them," Beale wrote. "They pack water for days under a hot sun and never get a drop; they pack heavy burdens of corn and oats for months and never get a grain; and on the bitter greasewood and other worthless shrubs, not only subsist, but keep fat." He concluded, "I look forward to the day when every mail route across the continent will be conducted and worked altogether with this economical and noble brute."

But perhaps he was too optimistic. What he didn't say was that the camels didn't take to the West's rocky soil. And prospectors' burros and mules -- and even Army mules -- were afraid of the odd-looking creatures and would sometimes panic at their sight. Still, in 1858, then-Secretary of War John Floyd told Congress, "The entire adaptation of camels to military operations on the Plains may now be taken as demonstrated." He urged Congress to authorize the purchase of 1,000 more camels. Congress didn't act, however, as it was preoccupied with trouble brewing between the North and South.

With the first shots of the Civil War, the Camel Military Corps was as good as dead. Most of the animals were auctioned off, although a few escaped into the desert where most were shot by prospectors and hunters as pests. Hi Jolly kept a few and started a freighting business between the Colorado River ports and mining camps to the east. The business failed, however, and Jolly released his last camel in the desert near Gila Bend. Years later, after marrying a Tucson woman and fathering two children, Hi Jolly moved to Quartzsite where he mined with a burro. He died in 1902 at age 73 and was buried in the Quartzsite Cemetery. To his dying day, Hi Jolly believed that a few of the camels still roamed the desert. Some people think the ghosts of some still do.

 

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  1. Facts on General Anthony Wayne .......................... Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne

  2. The Battle of Fallen Timbers................................... Battle of Fallen Timbers

  3. Plantations of Georgia............................................. Anthony Wayne In Georgia

  4. Saint David's ........................................................... St. David's Church

  5. Wayne's of Savannah Georgia............................... Savannah Wayne's

  6. Henry Wayne..........................................................  Henry C. Wayne

  7. Family Arms............................................................ Coats of Arms

  8. History of  Heraldry............................................... Heraldry  

  9. Coats of Arms........................................................  Armory

  10. Descendant Report................................................  Descendants of Richard Wayne

  11. Family Documents.................................................. Wills, Documents and Letters

  12. Sources....................................................................  Authorities

  13. Photo Album...........................................................  Photo Base Web Album

  14. English History of Waynes.....................................English Ancestory

  15. Index of Names Must have ADOBE Acrobat to read!!  Index of Individuals

  16. Wayne Home Page................................................. Wayne Home Page

 

 

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