The U.S. Army's Forgotten Camel Corps: When Camels Served in the American Southwest

From the 1830s to the 1840s, studies were done encouraging the military to adopt the use of camels as forms of transportation. This was in part because the arid regions of the Southwest were being populated by more soldiers, and it was thought that camels would have more endurance than horses and mules. In 1855, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis convinced the War Department of his idea to use camels to cross the brutal deserts of the American Southwest, and Congress allocated $30,000 for him to start the project. Major Henry Constantine Wayne was to command the experiment, and 33 camels were purchased in North Africa, Greece, and Turkey, along with saddles and five drivers. On May 14, 1856, the camels arrived by ship to Texas from the Mediterranean, tall, moody, and ready for duty. The camels were stronger than horses and mules, and could carry 600 pounds each. Another plus was that they could go days without water, making them perfect for the harsh, empty terrain of the West. While the camels were marched into Fort Verde, the ship returned to the Middle East to pick up another 40 camels and drivers. The army had no clue how to handle camels, so they hired Middle Eastern experts, such as Haji Ali, to train their soldiers. The camel corps aced the terrain test and were able to carry around 600 pounds, while a pack mule carried half that weight. But they spat, stank, and freaked out the army's horses. The soldiers ended up hating them for this. When the Civil War broke out, the project lost all support. The camels were subsequently used for smaller tasks, such as carrying mail. Eventually, the camels were auctioned off, while others were set loose into the wild. While the camel corps was successful in some aspects, it didn't fit in the army. However, it did highlight a very interesting time in the army's history.