Mules: An appreciation

Horses are quick to grab the lion’s share of history’s glamour and glory, but certain old-timers have always been partial to mules.  

“A lot of people never think about it, but mules made the United States,” says Clements W. “Speedy” Duncan in the book Harder Than Hardscrabble, an oral history about growing up on the lands now occupied by Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood). 

“They (mules) built all the railroads and they did all the farmin, and they pulled them wagon trains across the country. They don’t get their just credit, the mule don’t. He’s the most unappreciated thing that ever happened to this country— the cotton picking ol’ mule.”

That hasn’t always been the case. Christopher Columbus appreciated mules enough to take some on a 1493 voyage to what is now Haiti. George Washington bred horses but started the mule industry in this country when the King of Spain gave him a mule as a gift. Washington felt that horses “ate too much, worked too little and died too young” to be of much use on the farm. He grew to really like his mules. 

The mountain men recognized the value of a good mule, especially in treacherous terrain. “Trust your mule,” they said, meaning that if your mule didn’t want to take a particular route you shouldn’t either. 

To early Texas farmers the buying of mules was as important as buying a car or truck today, maybe more so because mules did not come with a 100,000-mile warranty or cash back rebates. Mules were big business wherever work was being done. 

Mules also served in every American conflict that occurred between 1820 and 1945. They were essential to both the North and the South in the Civil War, when every 1,000 marching soldiers required at least 25 wagons to carry supplies and haul heavy artillery from one battle site to another; most of those wagons were pulled by mules. 

When told that Confederate soldiers had captured 40 mules and a Union general, Abraham Lincoln responded, “I’m sorry to lose those mules.” 

In Shavetails and Bell Sharps: History of the U.S. Army Mule author Emmett M. Essin writes that the Army found mules to be stronger and more agile than either a horse or donkey, able to carry heavier loads longer distances over more difficult terrain. 

“Mules are also sensitive, intelligent animals, more so than their parent stock. They quickly recognized approaching danger and knew by instinct how to avoid it,” he wrote. 

On the battle lines, however, mules often became conscientious objectors, recognizing the high probability of death the battlefield presented. You never saw a lot of mules charging into battle the way horses did. 

Texas led the country for a few years in the production of mules, producing 1,240,000 of them in 1926, about the time that newfangled internal combustion engine really started catching on and people stopped counting mules. 

The last mules were decommissioned from the United States Army in December of 1953. Tractors had replaced mules on the farm, and they weren’t often welcomed into the polite company of cities. That left the loyal and noble mule with nothing more than a bad reputation for being stubborn. But some places remember what the animal did for the country and homage is paid. 

Texas is one of those places. The National Mule Memorial is in— where else? — Muleshoe and was financed with private donations, including 25 cents from a mule driver in Uzbekistan. The mule gets its due in Muleshoe. 

The mule is also recognized also in the Coryell County town of Topsey, which is named for an early farmer’s favorite mule. Mule Ear Peaks, in the Chisos Mountains of West Texas, is an easily recognizable geographic feature and most observers agree, aptly named. 

Still, even with its own monument and towns and landmarks named in its honor, the mule remains in many quarters the Rodney Dangerfield of the animal world. To make matters worse, it is often confused with other equine critters, like donkeys.

Remember, a donkey is just a donkey. A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey, usually a male donkey and a female horse, but not necessarily. A cross between a male horse and a female donkey is called a hinny. 

Just don’t be a jackass and call a mule a donkey. Mules deserve more respect than that.