Columbus
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
U.S.A. unspecified location in United States

Biography
dead elephant ☨ ♂ Columbus  dead elephant
The Elephant Columbus, The Columbian Centinel, 1817. Notice of importation SHS 82.5 Gift of John Walters
The Elephant Columbus, The Columbian Centinel, 1817. Notice of importation SHS 82.5 Gift of John Walters
Identification
Description
Species:Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:Male ♂ 26 years old
Origin
Born:* 1803 wild
Birth place: in India unspecified location
Imported:1817 by Unknown
Freight:by the ship Columbus
Death
Dead: †1829-03-22
Death reason: unknown:
Locations - owners
Present / last location:U.S.A. unspecified location, in United States
Date of arrival
U.S.A. unspecified location
from John Miller menagerie
1821-00-00John Miller menagerie
from Bailey Circus
1817-12-00Bailey Circus
from Black Horse Inn
1817-00-00Black Horse Inn
from Boston Harbour
1817-00-00Boston Harbour
from Port of Calcutta
1817-00-00Port of Calcutta 1817-00-00
from India unspecified location
Record history
History of updates2022-06-25
Latest document update2022-04-10 13:34:45
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† Columbus is a dead Male ♂ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 1829-03-22 at U.S.A. unspecified location, in United States, .

Origin

Columbus was born wild 1803 at India unspecified location. and imported 1817 by Unknown, by the ship Columbus


Comments / pictures

1817: Came to USA with the ship Columbus from Calcutta.

Records about Columbus from Bob Cline

COLUMBUS 1817 - arrived in US owned by Hachaliah Bailey ( 1st Male in US )
Male Asian 1817 to 1824 - exhibited by himself ( owned by Bailey, Isaac Purdy, and George Brunn )
1824 to 1826 - No records available
1826 - Fogg, Quick, and Mead Menagerie in South Carolina
1827 to 1828 - No records available
Died - March 22, 1829 near Salem, N.C.

Bob Cline, author of the book "Americas elephants".


Records about Columbus from A History of the Traveling Menagerie at https://classic.circushistory.org/Thayer/Thayer2b.htm
The fourth elephant to reach America, Columbus, was landed in Boston in December, 1817. He was exhibited as a single attraction until November, 1818, when he was in Cincinnati with a jaguar and a dromedary. The latter might have been one of the pair we mentioned in (7), since the number of camels in the country remained constant at four until 1828. The dromedary went elsewhere after March, 1820, and Columbus and the jaguar toured as a team for the next few years. It was the usual custom to combine these two specimens with other collections in the winter.

1823: In February, 1823, as an example, they were in Philadelphia with a llama and other animals. At this stand the advertisements said that the breath of the llama would cure whooping cough in children. One suspects that any child held up to the breath of a llama would forget any other ills. The jaguar was identified as a South American panther at this same stand. It was the last time it and Columbus were shown together. The great elephant went on as a single exhibit.

1831: Grand Caravan of Living Animals (probably French, Hobby & Co):

The elephants would appear to be Columbus and Timour, one full-grown, the other two years old and three-feet high. With these, this 1831 caravan became the first to exhibit two elephants at the same time.

The presence of Timour may indicate that Zebedee Macomber was involved with this company. It was he who first exhibited the calf we believe was later given the name. However, the animal was said to be two years old when it was imported in December, 1828, and this menagerie advertised him as two years old in 1831. The reader might assume a deception in the notices, but we have not found such to be true as early as this.

Columbus went elsewhere for 1832 and Timour, “the youngest elephant ever imported,” was the only pachyderm on the show.

Stuart Thayer, A History of the Traveling Menagerie



Also in 1817, Hachaliah and his two partners paid $8000 for a six-year-old male elephant, named Columbus for the ship on which he was transported. He was exhibited in Boston on December 13th according to this ad in the Columbian Centinel (13) , which claims it to be the only elephant in America at the time. Columbus later was sold or leased to other traveling shows, including J.R and William Howe of North Salem, and James Raymond of Carmel, both New York towns near Somers. Columbus lived until 1851, when he fell through a bridge in North Adams, Massachusetts.

Beasts and Ballyhoo, The Menagerie Men of Somers by Terry Ariano
http://www.somershistoricalsoc.org/menageries2p2.html
Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2024). Columbus, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at U.S.A. unspecified location in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 18 April 2024 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=5383. (archived at the Wayback machine)

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Categories1829 deaths | 1803 births | Born in India | 1817 imports | Elephants from U.S.A. unspecified location | United States | Asian elephants


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