United States Camel Corps
In 1848 or earlier, Major Henry C. Wayne conducted a more detailed study and recommended importation of camels to the War Department.
Davis found the Army needed to improve transportation in the southwestern US, which he and most observers thought a great desert.
In his annual report for 1854, Davis wrote, "I again invite attention to the advantages to be anticipated from the use of camels and dromedaries for military and other purposes ..."[2] On March 3, 1855, the US Congress appropriated $30,000 (equivalent to $981,000 in 2023) for the project.
[3] In later years, Edward Fitzgerald Beale reportedly told his son, Truxtun, that the idea of using camels came to him when he was exploring Death Valley with Kit Carson.
On June 4, 1855, Wayne departed New York City on board the USS Supply, under the command of then Lieutenant David Dixon Porter.
[1]: 397 Wayne and Porter hired five camel drivers, some Arab and some Turkish, and on February 15, 1856, USS Supply set sail for Texas.
[2] The newly acquired animals joined the first herd at Camp Verde, which had been officially designated as the camel station.
[2] Wayne attempted a breeding program for the camels, but his plans were put aside when Secretary Davis wrote that the animals were to be tested to determine if they could be used to accomplish a military objective.
[1]: 401–402 [5]: 30 In 1857, James Buchanan became President; John B. Floyd succeeded Davis as Secretary of War; and Wayne, who was reassigned to duties with the Quartermaster General in Washington, DC, was replaced by Captain Innis N.
[2] Former Navy lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale won the contract and learned afterward that Secretary Floyd required him to take 25 camels with him.
The expedition left San Antonio on June 25, 1857, and 25 pack camels accompanied a train of mule-drawn wagons.
[1]: 405 [5]: 39–40 On March 25, 1859, Secretary Floyd directed reconnaissance of the area between the Pecos River and the Rio Grande using the camels still available in Texas.
The group remained at Camp Hudson for five days and then departed for Fort Stockton, Texas, arriving on June 12.
On June 15, the expedition set out for the mouth of Independence Creek to test the camels' ability to survive without water.
During this segment of the journey, one of the camels was bitten on its leg by a rattlesnake; the wound was treated and the animal suffered no ill effects.
On May 31, 1860, Lee, who was still a U.S. Army officer and temporary commander of the Department of Texas, ordered Echols on another reconnaissance between Camp Hudson and Fort Davis.
On June 24, the expedition, which was joined by an infantry escort commanded by Lieutenant J. H. Holman, marched from Camp Hudson toward the Pecos River.
On the fifth day, the party reached San Francisco Creek, a tributary of the Rio Grande, with almost no water left.
It is thought that this meeting reestablished a biological relationship that was broken when the American ancestors and relatives of the Arabian camel, such as Camelops, became extinct, making an evolutionary anachronism.
[6] In a February 14, 1861 letter addressed to the Buchanan administration, King Mongkut of Siam referenced the introduction of the camel and offered his collaboration if the US wished to do the same with the Asian elephant.
[7] Buchanan's successor Abraham Lincoln politely declined the offer on February 3, 1862 arguing that "Our political jurisdiction, however, does not reach a latitude so low as to favor the multiplication of the elephant, and steam on land, as well as on water, has been our best and most efficient agent of transportation in internal commerce.
