The US Camel Corps

During the Second Seminole War (1835-42), George Crossman was a quartermaster for the US Army.  Moving supplies in the hot and inhospitable everglades, Crossman proposed the use of camels to transport cargo.  During the Mexican-American War (1846-48), Crossman was quartermaster for General Taylor in Texas and Northern Mexico.  The difficulty of moving supplies combined with the desert terrain again called up the idea of a camel corps.  Colonel Jefferson Davis of the 1st Mississippi Rifles thought the idea had merit.  When he became Secretary of War under President Pierce (1853-57), he implemented the US Camel Corps.  In May 1856, 34 camels were delivered by the USS Supply to Texas.  More were delivered the following year.  Along with the camels, several cameleers from the Middle East had been hired to take care of the animals and train US soldiers in their use.  Though the camels greatly outperformed mules and horses in the desert terrain of the American Southwest, they were not popular with the troops.  One test saw 6 camels deliver a cargo in 2 and a half days what took 18 mules 5 days to deliver.  That camels could go many days without food or water, didn't need to be shoed, and could carry much more weight made them almost ideal.  That they didn't get along with horses and mules, that the mule lobby didn't want the competition, and that the culture was used to horses and mules pressed against the adoption of camels.  The Civil War interrupted and essentially killed the Camel Corps.  Based in Texas, many of the camels were not used by the Confederacy.  Soon after the Civil War, the camels were sold to private interests - mostly zoos and the like - or freed into the wild.

The book is more a pamphlet.  It is quite brief, covering the highlights of the brief use of camels in the United States.  A good primer for the subject, which may be all one needs for this footnote in American history.