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U.S. Army Camel Corps
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What was the U.S. Army Camel Corps?
The U.S. Army Camel Corps was an experiment by the U.S. Army in the mid-1800s to use camels as pack animals in the American Southwest. It was hoped that camels would be more effective than horses and mules in the region's extreme temperatures.
In 1855 Congress budgeted \$30,000 to purchase camels from the Mediterranean. The USS Supply, with alterations for the camels, traveled to multiple countries and purchased 33 camels. The ship returned to Texas in 1856 with the camels and hired Arab and Turkish camel drivers to train the American military personnel.
The camels carried packs twice as heavy as horses or mules, tolerated the desert heat, and traversed streams and mountains easily. However, the experiment failed because soldiers disliked the camels due to their odor and habit of biting and spitting. The Civil War ended the experiment, and the camels were sold off.
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Why did the U.S. Army decide to use camels?
The U.S. Army Camel Corps was a mid-1800s experiment to use camels as pack animals in the American Southwest, replacing horses and mules that struggled with the extreme temperatures.
In 1848, Maj. Henry C. Wayne sought support from Sen. Jefferson Davis, securing congressional funding in 1855. The USS Supply, led by David Dixon Porter, transported camels from the Mediterranean to Texas. Despite their ability to carry heavy loads, tolerate heat, and navigate difficult terrain, the camels proved unsuitable for war due to breathing issues during exertion and their large size. Soldiers disliked them because of their odor and aggressive behavior.
Although Robert E. Lee found them effective, the Civil War halted the experiment, and the army sold the camels, ending the Camel Corps.
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Where and when did the Camel Corps operate?
The U.S. Army Camel Corps was an experiment in the mid-1800s to use camels as pack animals in the American Southwest. In 1855, Congress allocated \$30,000 to purchase camels from the Mediterranean. The USS Supply brought 34 camels to Indianola, Texas, on May 14, 1856, and returned six months later with 41 more. The camels were stationed at Camp Verde, Texas, and Camp Tejon, California. Though the animals performed well as pack animals, the Civil War disrupted the experiment, and the army sold the camels by 1866.
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How were camels different from horses and mules for the army?
The U.S. Army Camel Corps aimed to replace horses and mules with camels in the American Southwest due to the region's extreme temperatures. Camels proved superior as pack animals, carrying twice the load of horses or mules, tolerating desert heat, needing less water and food, and navigating streams and mountain trails easily.
However, camels failed as war animals because their noses impeded breathing during exertion, reducing speed, and their large size was ineffective in close quarters. Soldiers disliked their odor and habit of biting, spitting, or explosively defecating when disciplined. Constant care was needed to prevent contagious mange.
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What challenges did the Camel Corps face in the United States?
The U.S. Army Camel Corps faced several challenges that led to the failure of the experiment. The camels' noses impeded breathing during hard exertion, reducing their sustained speed, and their large size made them ineffective in close-quarter situations. Soldiers disliked the camels because of their odor and habit of biting, spitting, or explosively defecating on anyone who tried to discipline them. Constant care was needed to prevent a contagious form of mange from developing.
Despite their excellence as pack animals, the Civil War interrupted the experiment, and the army found no effective use for them. New owners, ranging from circus proprietors to ranchers, often lacked the knowledge to train or care for the animals, leading to many being abandoned.
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What was the outcome of the Camel Corps experiment and what happened to the camels?
The U.S. Army Camel Corps experiment, intended to replace horses and mules in the American Southwest, ultimately failed. Camels excelled as pack animals, carrying heavier loads, tolerating heat, and navigating difficult terrain better than horses or mules. However, soldiers disliked them due to their odor, biting habits, and susceptibility to mange.
With the onset of the Civil War, the Confederate forces captured the Texas caravan, though they never used the camels. The Union army sold off the camels by 1866, and new owners, lacking proper training, often abandoned them. Some camels adapted to the wild, with sightings in the American Southwest reported as late as the 1940s.
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U.S. Army Camel Corps, a failed experiment in the mid-1800s by the United States Army to introduce camels as beasts of burden in desert regions of the American Southwest. It was hoped that camels would be an effective replacement for horses and mules, which were adversely affected by the region’s extreme temperatures. Although the Camel Corps was never officially constituted as a U.S. Army unit, this is the name by which the experiment is most commonly known.
The notion of camels as American desert pack animals dates back as far as the 1830s, but the army did not officially start considering the idea until 1848, when Maj. Henry C. Wayne of the Quartermaster Corps reached out to Mississippi Sen. Jefferson Davis seeking support. Davis, who had spent time in the Southwest during the Mexican-American War (1846–48) was intrigued but was unable to convince Congress to provide funding for the experiment until 1855.
A total of $30,000 was budgeted by Congress to purchase camels from sellers in the Mediterranean, with Wayne being authorized to make the purchase. The USS Supply, commanded by David Dixon Porter, who, as the son of a diplomat, had spent time in the Middle East as a child and was familiar with camels, was assigned to bring the camels back to the United States. Porter made extensive alterations to the Supply to accommodate the camels, including the construction of a 60-foot (18.3-meter) camel barn with stalls and a unique ventilation system that forced air from the ship’s sails into and out of the stalls. A special harness system was also devised to keep the animals safe during bad weather.
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While Porter first took the ship to Italy on a separate supply mission, Wayne visited various European cities to learn more about the animals, including a trip to the Royal Zoological Society in London, a camel caravan in Pisa, Italy, and on to Paris to discuss the military use of camels with the French Camel Corps, which had relied extensively on camels in Algeria. Once reunited, Wayne and Porter visited Turkey, Malta, Egypt, and Crimea, where they talked with British officers regarding their use of camels during the Crimean War and elsewhere. A total of 33 dromedary and Bactrian camels were purchased in Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey, along with saddles and other equipment. One Bactrian camel was so large that a hole had to be cut in the Supply’s deck to accommodate its humps. Five Arab and Turkish camel drivers were also hired to show American military personnel how to train and ride the balky beasts.
After a relatively uneventful journey, the USS Supply arrived in Indianola, Texas, on May 14, 1856, with 34 camels—one adult camel died during the voyage from Smyrna (now İzmir), Turkey, but six calves were born, two of which survived. The camels had been acquired for a total of just $8,000, so Porter was immediately ordered back to the Middle East to purchase more. He returned six months later with an additional 41 camels. While Porter had been away, the first caravan of camels was taken to Camp Verde, Texas, approximately 60 miles (96.6 km) north of San Antonio, where Wayne immediately began evaluating their capabilities as animals of war and transportation. On the former, they failed miserably, primarily because the structure of their noses impeded breathing during hard exertion, reducing their sustained speed. Their size also made them ineffective in close-quarter situations. But most importantly, the camels were greatly disliked by soldiers and other animals because of their odor and their disturbing habit of biting, spitting, or explosively defecating on anyone who tried to discipline them. They also required constant care to prevent a very contagious and difficult to treat form of mange from developing.
As pack animals, however, the camels excelled. During numerous experiments, they successfully carried packs twice as heavy as could be carried by horses or mules, more easily tolerated the desert heat, required less water and food, and were able to traverse deep streams and mountain trails with ease. In October 1856 Wayne wrote: “The usefulness of the camels in the interior of the country is no longer a question here in Texas among those who have seen them at work, or examined them with attention.”
One of the first military officials to work with the camels was Lieut. Col. Robert E. Lee, who drove a small caravan on a long-range patrol in 1860. He found them effective and declared their benefits, but his admiration was lost with the start of the American Civil War (1861–65). The caravan of camels stationed at Camp Verde, Texas, was captured by Confederate forces early in the conflict, though the Confederates never employed the animals as part of their war effort. A second caravan, stationed at Camp Tejon, California, remained in Union hands but was transferred to various posts over the course of the war because no one could conceive of an effective use for them. Union Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton thought the camels worthless and finally ordered them to be sold. The U.S. Army found new homes for the camels stationed in California by the war’s end; those in Texas were recaptured by Union forces and sold in 1866.
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The new owners ranged from circus proprietors to gold prospectors to ranchers, most of whom had little idea how to train or care for the animals. As a result, many camels were simply abandoned. A good number acclimated to living in the harsh wilds of the American Southwest and found a permanent home there, roaming the desert unbothered. Camel sightings were reported in the region as recently as the 1940s.