Hi Jolly:
America's first Syrian Immigrant worked for the U.S. Camel Corps. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, the U.S. government gained a significant portion of territory in the West. In 1856, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis had a novel idea to assist in the mapping and road-building projects throughout the region. He planned to transport freight and people across the Arizona desert using camels. Davis introduced a bill in Congress that passed in 1855. He imported 77 camels and six handlers; along with them, a Syrian camel driver, Hadji Ali—whom his American masters called 'Hi Jolly.' In 1857, the first U.S. Army expedition using the animals set out from New Mexico to California to survey the land and create a wagon route; this path later became a significant portion of the iconic Route 66.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, American priorities changed; Jefferson Davis became President of the Confederacy, and the project was abandoned without his support. The camels were set free to fend for themselves in the desert near Quartzsite, Arizona. Hi Jolly remained in Arizona and lived into his seventies. Due to his popularity in the region, after his death on December 16, 1902, the residents of Quartzsite built a special memorial to the man in the pioneer graveyard; a pyramid tomb made of multicolored petrified wood and quartz. A dedication was held on January 4, 1903. Thirty-three years later the Arizona Highway Department refurbished the pyramid using cut stone and added a bronze plaque telling Hi Jolly's unique story. The plaque states, "The last camp of Hi Jolly." A metal camel silhouette was fixed to the top of the pyramid—which points the way to Mecca.
According to an official report, the camels outlived Jefferson Davis, Hi Jolly, and even the cementing of the plaque. The last remaining camel from the original Camel Corps died in a zoo in 1934. The last reported wild camel sighting was in 1946.