1 Like
The Hi Jolly Monument is located at the Hi Jolly Cemetery in Quartzsite, Arizona. Born around 1828 in Ottoman Syria, he was known as Philip Tedro, however after converting to Islam he changed his name to Hadji Ali (English phonetics gave him the name Hi Jolly). Around 1856, he came over to America & became one of the first camel drivers hired by the US Army in this area. From a nearby sign:
Hi Jolly
The famous camel herd with which the name of Hi Jolly is linked constitutes an interesting sidelight of Arizona history.... Jefferson Davis (afterward president of the Southern Confederacy) as Secretary of War approved a plan to experiment with camels for freighting and communication in the arid southwest.... Major Henry C. Wayne of the US Army and Lt. D.D. Porter (later a distinguished admiral in the Civil War) visited the levant with the storeship supply and procured 33 camels which were landed at Indianola, Texas February 10, 1856. Forty-one were added on a second voyage... with the first camels came as caretaker Haiji Ali whose Arabic name was promptly changed to "Hi Jolly" by the soldiers and by this name he became universally known. His Greek (?) name was Philip Tedro.... on the Beale Expedition of 1857 to open a wagon road across Arizona from Fort Defiance to California. The camels under Hi Jolly's charge proved their worth nevertheless. The war department abandoned the experiment and the camels were left on the Arizona Desert to shift for themselves. Chiefly roaming this particular section they survived for many years creating interest and excitement. Officially the camel experiment was a failure but both Lt. Beale and Major Wayne were enthusiastic in praise of the animals. A fair trial might have resulted in complete success.
The pyramid monument was erected in 1935 out of quartz & petrified wood & is today on the national register of historic places. The plaque reads:
THE LAST CAMP
...