AHC/WI: Hannibal and his elephants cross the Appalachians

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Drizzt

Byzantion said:
Maybe there are Cavalry Westerns with War Elephants.
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Well AFAIK Westerns with a Civil War Veteran as main character were quite common in the heyday of the genre. Perhaps in TTL there would be one with a Veteran who's brought his trusty War Elephant home after the War, intending to use him as a beast of burden on his farm. So when he picks up his old rifle again to fight bandits he also.....
 

Byzantion

Jackson Lennock said:
In 1862, Abraham Lincoln politely rejected an offer by the King of Siam for a contribution of War Elephants.

During the Civil War, Vice President Hannibal Hamlin was an advocate for arming Black Americans. He also starting in 1860 was a member of the Maine State Guard. He proceeded to get called up in the summer of 1864 and opted to serve despite his being allowed not to take part (being Vice-President and all). The only perk he wasn't able to refuse (he wanted to be treated like any citizen-soldier) was being quartered with the officers. He would proceed to rise to the rank of Corporal.

So here's a what if: Have Hannibal Hamlin and his African-American Legion cross the Appalachians with their War Elephants.
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Problem is, wouldn' t elephants be pretty vulnerable to 1860es standart riffles ? They could be useful for transport though.
 

Kerney

In April 1861, in Camp Verde, Texas, the entire stock of the US Army's Camel Corps was captured.

I think the Confederate Camalry vs US Elephants Corps, while impractical for a lot of reasons, is a cool mental picture.
 
Driftless

Driftless

Donor
Elephants towing a series of supply wagons - a road train if you will... Then some bright spark thinks to create a steam traction engine to do the same thing.
 

dartingfog

What about circus elephants? Doing a little research, it seems the 1860s are too late for Old Bet and too early for Jumbo. However, there was a common phrase used at the time called seeing the elephant, which has its origins in an incident that makes me think that perhaps there were at least a few elephants in America at that time (bolding mine):

A Washington D.C. newspaper article in 1848 mistakenly gives an alternate origin for seeing the elephant. This article, entitled "Seeing the Elephant," says the phrase came from a Philadelphia theatre "a few years" earlier. A play their theater was putting on was in need of an elephant but the few circulating circus elephants were not available and so they made a makeshift elephant and put a man inside to control the few movements the animal had to make. The audiences loved it and were extremely responsive.
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