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.

[Color-Copycat]

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

[EnglishCanuck]

Originally Posted by Color-Copycat

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

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

[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]

Originally Posted by EnglishCanuck

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

Indeed.

[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.