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Hi Jolly — the camel wrangler of Camp VerdeKerr County | History: Hadji Ali’s adventures led him to the Hill Country and beyondBy Joseph LutherKerr County Historical CommissionSpecial to the TimesIn 1880. Hadii Ali became anwAmencan citizen and used the name Philip Tedro (sometimes spelled Teadrow). In his final years, Ali moved to Quartzsite, Anz., where he mined and occasionally scouted for the government. He is reported to have been with the U.S. Army at Huachuca and other posts until the surrender of Gerommo and the last of the Chiricahua Apaches in 1886.Philip Tedro died on Dec 16,1902. According to local legends, repeated in the Arizona Capital Times in 1995, “The final, sad act of the drama occurred on Dec. 16,1903, when 75-year-old Hi Jolly was sitting in a saloon at Quartzite, Anz. A prospector stumbled in, telling of a huge, red camel wandenng nearby. Jolly rushed outside and was never seen alive again. One legend states that his withered body was found weeks later in the remote desert. There he lay with lifeless arms wrapped around the neck of the last camel in the West. Another legend, published by Robert Froman in American Hentage in 1961, states that Hi Jolly, tied in the saddle, could be seen on a red camel, called the Red Ghost. The appantion appeared frequently during dust storms in the area. The dread of this ghost story has Hi Jolly riding the camel forever more.The Arizona highway department has built a tomb for him ... a pyramid of quartz and petnfied wood topped by a figure of a camel. “The last camp of Hi Jolly, ” a sign says.In death, the legend of Hi Jolly has quite literally saved a townand continues to give thousands of Americans an excuse to visit this historical marker Ali’s spint lives on in the form of “Hi Jolly Daze” each year in Quartzite, Anz. This “Camelmania” celebration features a parade, which starts at the post office and goes west to the rodeo grounds. Camel races follow.Camp Verde is well-known as the site of the United States Army’s Camel Corps. The Americans acquired 33 camels in 1856. Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly) was the lead camel wrangler during the U.S. Army’s experiment in using camels in the dry deserts of the Southwest.Little is known of the men who were hired to care for and “drive” these camels. In “Go West Greek Geoige” by Steven Dean Pastis, which was published (1984) both in Greek and English, these camel drovers were Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly, aka Philip Tedro), Yioigos Caralambo (later known as Greek Geoige), Mimico Teodora (Mico), Hadjiatis Yannaco (Long Tom), Anastasio Coralli (Short Tom), Michelo Geoigios, Yanni niato and Gioigios Cosh.Hi Jolly was bom Philip Tedro and he took the name Hadji Ali when he converted to Islam during his early life after making the pilgrimage to Mecca. He was bom either somewhere in Syria or in Smyrna around 1828 of Greek and Syrian parentage. Hadji Ali was an Ottoman citizen. He worked for the Ottoman armed forces, and he was a breeder and trainer of camels.Hi Jolly later served with the French Army in Algiers before signing on as a camel driver for the U.S. Armv in 1856.By Nov. 25,1856, Hi Jolly is noted as a “camel herder” at Camp Verde, with a salary of $15 a month. Hadji Ali was hired to teach the Camp Verde soldiers how to pack and handle the animals. The troops had a hard time pronouncing Ali’s name, so they nicknamed him Hi Jolly.In early 1861, Texas seceded from the United States and, on Feb. 28, the Texas Confederates seized Camp Verde. Eighty camels and two Egyptian dnvers passed into Confederate hands. The surrender of Camp Verde to the Confederates is detailed in the book,Courtesy photoPhilip Tedro (aka Hi Jolly), Agua Catlente Springs, Arizona 1896.Williams, a Confederate sergeant who was present at the surrender.Williams wrote,... We took possession of the tort, the stores, ammunition, 12 mules, 80 camels and two Egyptian camel drivers, for all of which I had to give a receipt.”The camels soon were widely scattered; some were set loose on the open range near Camp Verde; some were used to freight cotton bales from Kerr County to Brownsville; and one camel found its way to the infantry command of Capt. Sterling Pnce,carry the whole company’s baggage. Although the camels were put to limited use in Confederate Texas carrying salt, supplies and mail, no real plan for them ever was realized.Lt. Eidward Fitzgerald Beale, USA, continued to use Alt’s expertise at handling camels to haul supplies in Southern California and Arizona. After the U.S. Camel Corps, Hadji Alt tried to run a freight business in Anzona using a few camels he kept. Unfortunately, the business failed,and Ali released his camels into the
Newspaper Details
Kerrville Daily Times
Kerrville, Texas, US
Sat, Jul 04, 2009
Page 5
Full Page
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WI, USA 09 Jan 2022
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