An ex-office from the American civil war, going to a developing country in order to help the ruler to build the army. Sounds familiar??
Check out the NY Times dated August 11th, 1878:
Our countrymen in Egypt: American officers out of work. The Khedive’s army disbanded
To know more about this, check out this website: Americans in the Egyptian Army.
When I asked my father about this, he told me that my grandfather (when he was young) met one of them, and that he lived in Maadi. Unfortunately my father doesn’t remember what his father told him about this visit… ma3aleina. I just thought it’s interesting.
On a different note, it shows how the Egyptian Army never depended on Egyptians! First they used Circassians, then Europeans (remember Soleiman Pasha el Faransawi?) and even Americans!
Kaleidoscope 