abe lincoln and war elephants

[wtw]

Is it true that Abraham Lincoln was offered War Elephants by the king of Siam?

[Color-Copycat]

I believe so. It was a gesture of goodwill from Siam, with which the US had just opened up a diplomatic mission/embassy, iirc.

[EnglishCanuck]

ASB but the image of Sherman riding an massive war elephant into Richmond at the head of a column of elephant towed artillery and proud Federal troops is just to awesome for me to not think about. :p

[Color-Copycat]

Lincoln should've put Vice President Hannibal Hamlin in charge of the US Army's Tenth Elephant Corps :D

[EnglishCanuck]

Lincoln should've put Vice President Hannibal Hamlin in charge of the US Army's Tenth Elephant Corps :D

The historic awesomeness is just to much! They could celebrate his crossing of the Appalachians :D

[eliphas8]

Unfortuneately they where offered as pack animals, which is so non-creative that it requires real imagination to come up with. I mean come on, the confederates would have surrendereed to an oncoming charge of elephants in no time!

[abc123]

The historic awesomeness is just to much! They could celebrate his crossing of the Appalachians :D

Indeed.
:D:D:cool:

[Color-Copycat]

Lol, crossing the Alp-palachians... there's just too much fun to be had here!

[EnglishCanuck]

The possibilites for parody from future comedians are endless. Maybe it could be the reason the Republicans adopt the elephant as their party animal ;)

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

John Sedgwick: They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance. Oh. I guess they could (Whew, that was close)

[MerryPrankster]

War elephants in an age of artillery aren't really that useful--they panic and trash their own side, among other things.

However, for small-unit type stuff in which there wouldn't be much artillery, they might come in handy. Plus I get the impression elephants scare horses--one reason the Mongols ran into trouble in SE Asia.

Hmm...send them to places vulnerable to raiders like Quantrill?

[CandyDragon]

Abe Lincoln could use the elephants to peddle massive war bicycles to capture Richmond!

BAM. CIVIL WAR ENDED BY BICYCLE-USING ELEPHANTS.

[pieman97405]

I can see it now...

"Umm, General Grant, just how much whiskey did you give that poor creature?"

[King Gorilla]

The war elephants would probably be used for a war bond campaign. A young Thomas Nast will undoubtedly find the whole affair inspiring.