They are the admiration of the whole camp
Certainly there never was anything so patient or enduring and so little troublesome as this noble animal
Thirty-three camels were purchased from merchants in Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. There were -- by the Army’s count -- 19 females and 14 males, representing both the one- and two-humped variety and costing the military roughly $250 a head. On February 15th, they were loaded up on the USS Supply, setting sail for Texas.
It was a three-month journey across the ocean, beset by strong winds and storms that resulted in the death of one of the males. Six calves were born on the journey, two of whom survived, bringing the number of animals up to 34 by the time the ship arrived Indianola, Texas on May 14th.
The arrival of the camels marked the humble beginnings of the U.S. Camel Corps. The concept was more than 20 years in making, an idea first pitched by Army Lieutenant George Crosman in the 1830s. It was, if nothing else, an innovative approach to tackling the final stretch of Manifest Destiny: a vast, inhospitable desert. Horses and mules weren’t built to traverse such punishing land mass with limited access to water. Camels, on the other hand, were seemingly custom made for the job.
“The ordinary loads for camels are from seven to nine hundred pounds each, and with these they can travel from thirty to forty miles a day, for many days in succession,” Crosman wrote to the U.S. War Department. “They will go without water, and with but little food, for six or eight days, or it is said even longer. Their feet are alike well suited for traversing grassy or sandy plains, or rough, rocky hills and paths, and they require no shoeing.”
The military, it seemed, had little time or interest in the idea – at least until Crosman (since promoted to major) found an ally in Jefferson Davis. The Mississippi Senator penned a letter to President Franklin Pierce, noting,
For military purposes, for expresses, and for reconnoissances, it is believed, the dromedary would supply a want now seriously felt in our service; and for transportation with troops rapidly moving across the country, the camel, it is believed, would remove an obstacle which now serves greatly to diminish the value and efficiency of our troops on the western frontier.
In 1855, Congress approved $30,000 to purchase camels for the experiment. The ranks of the first 34 animals more than doubled with a second journey that delivered another 41. Fueling the project was the Mexican-American War-ending Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — suddenly 500,000 square miles of largely desert terrain was America’s for the taking.
Establishing a base at Texas’ newly-founded Camp Verde, the animals were put through rigorous trials. Time and again, they managed to win over even the staunchest critics.
“Certainly there never was anything so patient or enduring and so little troublesome as this noble animal,” Edward Beale — who had since replaced Davis as Secretary of War — noted. “They pack their heavy load of corn, of which they never taste a grain; put up with any food offered them without complaint, and are always up with the wagons, and, withal, so perfectly docile and quiet that they are the admiration of the whole camp […] [A]t this time there is not a man in camp who is not delighted with them.”
As the Civil War erupted, the project’s supporters attempted to make use of the animals. One proponent suggested they might be employed to deliver mail between New Mexico and California. Ultimately, however, the project never got off the ground. Under the command of Davis (now President of the Confederacy) the Confederate army took control of Camp Verde, and with it, the camels contained therein. Four years later, the Union reoccupied the camp finding 66 camels in its care.
After the war’s end, the military auctioned a number of animals off to Ringling Brothers and other circuses. The rest were released into the wild. In 1935, Arizona’s governor dedicated a monument to lead camel driver, Hadji Ali – “Hi Jolly” to his Camel Corp. colleagues.
A plaque reads,
Last Camp of Hi Jolly Born somewhere in Syria about 1828 Died at Quartzsite December 16, 1902 Came to this country February 10, 1856 Camel Driver - Packer Scout - Over Thirty Years a faithful aid to the US Government.
The last known camel was spotting in roaming the wilds of Arizona in 1891.
Sources:
The U.S. Army's "Camel Corps" Experiment https://www.jstor.org/stable/26357308
The U.S. Army Camel Corps https://www.nps.gov/elmo/learn/historyculture/the-army-camel-corps.htm