The Last Camel Charge

The title is misleading.  This book is so much more than the last, and only, camel charge in the United States.  Here we have the aftermath of the Mexican-American War, the California Gold Rush, the clash of cultures between whites and Indians, between Mormons and non-Mormons, and even between North and South when the Civil War intrudes.  Fact is stranger than fiction when Edward Beale, a Navy Lieutenant, was chosen to lead an expedition across the American southwest on camels.  Coincident with his 1857 camel expedition from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California, there was the threat of war between the United States and the Mormons.  This combination created a shift from the California Trail - which passed through Mormon territory - to Beale's newly established (barely) trail.  It turned out the trail was not yet safe as the Mojave Tribe did not appreciate trespassers.  In 1858, a wagon train of migrants were attacked on the banks of the Colorado River, survivors fleeing back toward Santa Fe while leaving most of their belongings to the Mojave.  In 1859, the Army planned to subdue the Mojave by marching north from the mouth of the Colorado.  By happenstance, Edward Beale was working on improving the trail and had sent news to his colleague in California, Sam Bishop, to bring supplies to the Colorado River.  Bishop arrived well ahead of either Beale or the Army.  He had around 50 men, several mule-drawn wagons, and 20 camels.  The Mojave refused passage across the river and skirmishes ensued.  All efforts to cross the river were repulsed and the number of Mojave grew to 1500.  Unwilling to turn back, Bishop called for volunteers.  At dawn on April 7, 1859, Sam Bishop led a camel charge into 700 waiting Mojave braves!  Pistols blazed and the Mojave sought to dodge out of the way of this most unusual attack.  Amazingly, none of Bishop's men were lost and they successfully swam the camels across the river to meet Beale in the Arizona desert.

There is so much more to this book.  It covers everything found in the US Camel Corps, details the mythology of the Mojave, the persecution, migration, and settlements of the Mormons, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the various explorers who crossed the Southwest before Beale, The Rose-Baley Wagon Train, and much more.  One of the most surprising things about the tale is how close we were to having a camel corps in the deserts of the Southwest.  If not for the Civil War, it was quite possible that troops in that region would have been mounted on camels.  However, some of the biggest camel supporters had sided with the South.  Jefferson Davis had purchased the first bunch of camels while he was Secretary of War.  His successor, John Floyd, sought to purchase a thousand camels.  Both of these men joined the South, one as president and the other as a major general.  Is it any wonder their pet project was not revived after the war?

Forrest Bryant Johnson has written a truly terrific book that reads like an action-adventure novel.  Highly recommended.