the great camel experiment

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The Great Camel Experiment

Texas camel corps recalls camels’ frontier duty.

Michael Marks

Written by Lois Rodriguez , Photographs by Will van Overbeek | From the July 2014 issue | Updated: July 10, 2020 | Filed Under: History

Doug Baum’s farm outside of Waco looks like most others in Central Texas. There are a few scattered, scrubby mesquite trees, an old windmill from the Axtell Company in Fort Worth, and a maze of barbed wire fencing to separate the donkeys and the goats from the camels.

Yes, the camels.

Baum has owned camels since 1997, when he worked at the Nashville Zoo as a camel caretaker. When he moved back to Texas, he brought two camels along to start Texas Camel Corps. He has acquired seven more since then.

Camels have a nasty reputation, but it’s largely unearned. The camels on Baum’s farm aren’t aggressive or short-tempered. At worst, they’re indifferent toward visitors. At best, they’re like enormous hay-eating puppies.

“They’re affectionate,” says Baum. “They like to be near you, they’re inquisitive, and they’re curious. They’re better than friends, they’re better than pets. They’re family.”

Baum isn’t the first Texan to extol the virtues of camels. From 1856 to 1866, Texas was home to the U.S. Army’s camel experiment, a short-lived project that used camels to ferry supplies across the deserts of the Southwest. Deemed a success by most standards, the government nevertheless canceled the program, a victim of volatile Civil War-era politics.

It’s a little-known story that Baum loves to tell as he travels the state with his camels—who ride along in a specially designed, eight-foot-tall trailer—guiding treks and participating in historical reenactments to educate people about camels and the obscure role they played in 19th-Century Texas. “I probably see 10,000 school kids a year across all of the events we do,” he says. “And 95 percent of the history teachers will say ‘I had no idea. This isn’t in our textbook.’”

Texas Camel Corps participates in dozens of events throughout the year, including reenactments at Fort McKavett, Fort Davis, and Fort Clark near Brackettville. Baum also takes his camels to schools and community events, and he opens his Valley Mills farm for public visits by appointment. Visitors can expect to learn the Texas camel tale and get an up-close-and-personal experience with the camels—both one-humped and two-humped animals. While camels can live about 40 years, the oldest in Baum’s group is 28-year-old Irenie.

Nine camels currently make up Texas Camel Corps. Two females—Virgie and Marianne, both age 14—are pregnant with due dates in spring 2015. Camels have a 13-month gestation period.

The story that inspired Baum to start Texas Camel Corps begins with Jefferson Davis, a senator from Mississippi who would later become president of the Confederacy. Davis thought that as more Americans moved west, camels could be the ideal pack animal to help them. Cross-country rail systems had yet to be constructed, and mules and horses fared poorly when there was scant access to water. Camels thrive in deserts in nearly every other corner of the world; why would the American Southwest be any different?

Davis pitched the camel concept to the Senate twice in the early 1850s, but both times it was laughed off the floor. Then, in March 1855, Davis found a way to fund a camel experiment in his role as Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. In fine print, he tacked $30,000 to buy camels onto a bill that funded road and bridge repair in Illinois.

Davis charged Major Henry Wayne with leading a voyage to the Middle East and North Africa to purchase the camels. Wayne spent nearly a year acquiring camels in modern-day Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Turkey. In May 1856, 34 camels arrived in Texas, landing near modern-day Port Lavaca at what was then the port of Indianola.

The Army marched the camels from Indianola to Camp Verde, an outpost in the Hill Country, just south of Kerrville. The original 34 camels were later joined by a second shipment of 41 camels, pushing the Camp Verde camel population to 75.

For the next 10 years, the military used the camels to haul military supplies between Camp Verde and San Antonio, which was then the home of the Department of the Army in Texas. The site of old Camp Verde, most of which eventually burned in a fire, is now on private property. Nearby, in the town of Camp Verde, the Camp Verde General Store and Restaurant recalls the local camel history with various camel sculptures on its property.

In addition to their routine day-to-day duties, the camels also took part in three long-distance expeditions. The first was in the summer of 1857, when Edward Fitzgerald Beale was tasked with surveying what came to be known as the 35th Parallel Wagon Road—later known as historic Route 66. The journey stretched from Fort Defiance in western New Mexico all the way to Fort Tejon, north of Los Angeles. Beale employed about two dozen Camp Verde camels during his expedition. His lead driver was a Middle Easterner named Hadji Ali, called “Hi Jolly” by Texan soldiers unaccustomed to Arabic pronunciations.

With their ability to tread over tough terrain and forgo water for long periods of time, the camels were integral to Beale’s passage through the arid Southwest. Beale wrote in his diary that “my only regret is I have not double the number [of camels].”

Another major camel expedition to depart from Camp Verde was an 1859 excursion by Lieutenant Edward Hartz and Lieutenant William Echols, members of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, to the Trans-Pecos region. As residual agitation from the Mexican-American War still simmered along the border, their mission was to survey the region’s trails and scout locations for possible fortifications.

Hartz and Echols headed west from Fort Stockton (known as Camp Stockton in those days, since it was just a few tents), tramping through the hot and rocky expanse of the Chihuahuan Desert. Again, the camels proved to be perfectly suited for the job.

Hartz and Echols brought along feed for the horses and mules, but they carried no such provisions for the camels. The camels seemed content to gnaw on the ocotillo, creosote, prickly pear, and catclaw they found along the trail. And although they hauled barrels of water for the expedition’s other mammals, the camels themselves usually only drank when they came across a stream or a creek.

Camels thrive in deserts in nearly every corner of the world: why would the American Southwest be any different?

At one point, Hartz and Echols had to abandon 30 mules because they had worn through their metal shoes and replacements weren’t available. The camels’ feet also suffered, Echols reported, but they continued on and eventually healed. After two excursions through the desert and hundreds of miles along the old Comanche War Trail—a network of West Texas hunting paths carved out by generations of mounted Comanches—Hartz and Echols returned to Camp Stockton with all of their camels accounted for. “If it were not for the camels, surely our expedition would have failed,” Echols wrote.

But the camel experiment was not meant to last. After the Civil War, most any policy championed by Jefferson Davis was challenged. The govern-ment dropped the camel experiment in 1866 and auctioned the animals to private owners.

Some of the veteran camels helped form a supply train from Laredo to Mexico City; others worked in California for gold prospectors. Here and there, a few camels escaped. Reports of camel sightings continued through the 1950s. Those could have been the descendants of either Army camels or the 400-plus camels that were privately imported during the same period.

Even though the government’s camel experiment was short-lived, Baum doesn’t believe it was a total bust. “The camels were a practical success but a political failure,” he says. Whether on his farm, at historical reenactments, or on camel treks in the spring and fall in the Davis Mountains, Baum finds a receptive audience for the animals of Texas Camel Corps and their pioneering predecessors.

“Anyone who has interacted with the camels turns into a disciple,” Baum says.

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The U.S. Army’s “Camel Corps” Experiment

By Vince Hawkins

In the 1830s America’s westward expansion was being severely curtailed by the inhospitable terrain and climate faced by pioneers and settlers.  This was particularly the case in the southwest, where arid deserts, mountain peaks and impassable rivers were proving to be an almost insurmountable obstacle to men and animals alike. In 1836, U.S. Army LT George H. Crosman hit upon an unusual idea to deal with the situation.  With the able assistance of a friend, E. H. Miller, Crosman made a study of the problem and sent a report on their findings to Washington suggesting that:

“For strength in carrying burdens, for patient endurance of labor, and privation of food, water & rest, and in some respects speed also, the camel and dromedary (as the Arabian camel is called) are unrivaled among animals.  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.  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… “

Their report was disregarded by the War Department.  It was with this rather simple suggestion, however, that Crosman first introduced the concept for what would later become the most unique experiment in U.S. Army history.

The idea lay dormant for several years until 1847 when Crosman, now a major, met MAJ Henry C. Wayne of the Quartermaster Department, another camel enthusiast, who would take up the idea.  MAJ Wayne submitted a report to the War Department and Congress recommending the U.S. government’s importation of camels.  In so doing, he caught the attention of Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, who thought Wayne’s suggestions both practical and worthy of attention.  Davis, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, tried for several years to acquire approval and funding for the project, but to no avail.  It was not until 1853, when Davis was appointed Secretary of War, that he was able to present the idea of importing camels to both President Franklin Pierce and a still skeptical Congress.

In his annual report in 1854, Davis informed Congress that, in the “…. Department of the Pacific the means of transportation have, in some instances, been improved, and it is hoped further developments and improvements will still diminish this large item of our army expenditure.  In this connexion, … I again invite attention to the advantages to be anticipated from the use of camels and dromedaries for military and other purposes, and for reasons set forth in my last annual report, recommend that an appropriation be made to introduce a small number of the several varieties of this animal, to test their adaptation to our country…”

On 3 March 1855, Congress agreed and passed the Shield amendment to the appropriation bill, resolving:   “And be it further enacted, that the sum of $30,000 be, and the same is hereby appropriated under the direction of the War Department in the purchase and importation of camels and dromedaries to be employed for military purposes.”   Secretary Davis would finally get his camels.

Davis lost no time in getting the experiment underway.  In May 1855, he appointed Wayne to head the expedition to acquire the camels.  The Navy store ship USS Supply , was provided by the Navy to transport the camels to the United States.  The Supply was under the command of LT David Dixon Porter, who, on being informed of the mission and its cargo, saw to it that she was outfitted with special hatches, stable areas,  a “camel car,” and hoists and slings to load and transport the animals in relative comfort and safety during their long voyage.

When Wayne inspected the Supply , he was both amazed and greatly impressed with Porter’s meticulous and thorough preparations.  It was decided that while Wayne went to London and Paris to visit the zoos and interview military men and scientists with first-hand knowledge and experience in camel handling, Porter would sail the Supply to the Mediterranean and deliver supplies to the U.S. naval squadron based there.  On 24 July, Wayne joined Porter in Spezzia (La Spezia), Italy and from there they sailed to the Levant, arriving at Goletta (La Goulette) in the Gulf of Tunis on 4 August.

In Goletta, the expedition purchased their first three camels, two of which they later discovered were infected with the “itch,” a form of mange.  Arriving in Tunis they were joined by Mr. Gwynne Harris Heap, a brother-in-law of Porter’s, whose father had been U.S. Consul at Tunis. Heap was familiar with eastern languages and customs and his extensive knowledge of camels proved an invaluable asset to the expedition. During the next five months the expedition sailed across the Mediterranean, stopping at Malta, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt.  Wayne, Porter, and Heap also made a separate voyage on their own to the Crimea to speak with British officers about their use of camels during the Crimean War.  A similar side trip was made to Cairo while the Supply was docked at Alexandria.

After numerous difficulties involving a lack of suitable animals and obtaining export permits, the expedition finally acquired through purchase and as gifts a sufficient number of camels.  In all, they obtained thirty-three animals:  nineteen females and fourteen males.   The thirty-three specimens included two Bactrian (two-humped), nineteen dromedaries (one-humped), nineteen Arabian, one Tunis burden, one Arabian calf, and one Tuili or booghdee camels.  The Arabian dromedaries are renowned for their swiftness and the Bactrians for their strength and burden carrying abilities.  Thanks to Heap’s knowledge of camels and his negotiating skills, the cost averaged around $250 per animal, and most were in good condition.  The expedition also hired five natives–Arabs and Turks–to help care for the animals during the voyage and act as drovers when they reached America.  On 15 February 1856, with the animals safely loaded aboard, the expedition began its voyage home.

The expedition, slowed by storms and heavy gales, lasted nearly three months.  It was Porter’s foresight and diligence in caring for the animals that enabled them to survive the horrendous weather conditions.  The Supply finally unloaded its cargo on 14 May at Indianola, Texas.  During the voyage one male camel had died, but six calves were born, of which two had survived the trip. The expedition therefore landed with a total of thirty-four camels, all of whom were in better health than when they left their native soil.

On 4 June, after allowing the camels some needed rest and a chance to acclimatize themselves, Wayne marched the herd 120 miles to San Antonio, arriving on 18 June.  Wayne planned to establish a ranch and provide facilities for breeding the camels, but Secretary Davis had other ideas, stating, “the establishment of a breeding farm did not enter into the plans of the department.  The object at present is to ascertain whether the animal is adapted to military service, and can be economically and usefully employed therein.”   Despite his objections, Davis did see the advantages in sending Porter on a second trip to secure more camels.  There was over half of the appropriation money remaining and the Supply was still on loan from the Navy. On Davis’ instructions, Porter once again left for Egypt.  On 26-27 August, Wayne moved the herd some sixty miles northwest to Camp Verde, a more suitable location for his caravansary.  He constructed a camel corral (khan) exactly like those found in Egypt and Turkey.  Camp Verde would be the “corps” home for many years.

To satisfy Davis’ concerns about the military usefulness of the camels, Wayne devised a small field test.  He sent three wagons, each with a six-mule team, and six camels to San Antonio for a supply of oats.  The mule drawn wagons, each carrying 1,800 pounds of oats, took nearly five days to make the return trip to camp.  The six camels carried 3,648 pounds of oats and made the trip in two days, clearly demonstrating both their carrying ability and their speed.  Several other tests served to confirm the transporting abilities of the camels and their superiority over horses and mules. Davis was much pleased with the results and stated in his annual report for 1857, “These tests fully realize the anticipation entertained of their usefulness in the transportation of military supplies…. Thus far the result is as favorable as the most sanguine could have hoped.”

Over the next several months, Wayne worked with the civilian drovers and soldiers to accustom them to the camels and vice versa. They learned how to care for and feed the animals, manage the cumbersome camel saddles, properly pack the animals and, most importantly, how to deal with the camel’s mannerisms and temperament.  By nature the camel is a docile animal, but can demonstrate a violent, aggressive temper when abused or mistreated, literally kicking, biting or stomping an antagonist to death.  Camels, like cows, chew a type of cud and when annoyed would often spit a large, gelatinous, foul smelling mass of cud at its detractor.  The most difficult aspect for the men to get used to was the camel’s somewhat pungent smell. Although camels really do not smell any worse than horses, mules or unwashed men, their smell was different and had a tendency to frighten horses unfamiliar with the odor.

On 30 January 1857, Porter returned to the U.S. with an additional forty-one camels.  Since by this time five of the original heard had died from disease, the new arrivals brought the total number of camels to seventy.  The animals were landed at Indianola on 10 February and then moved to Camp Verde.

In March 1857, James Buchanan became president and several changes were made which directly affected the camel experiment.  John B. Floyd replaced Davis as Secretary of War and MAJ Wayne was transferred back to the Quartermaster Department in Washington, DC, thus removing in one blow two of the camel experiment’s main supporters.  Nevertheless, Secretary Floyd decided to continue his predecessor’s experiment.

In response to a petition made by some 60,000 citizens for a permanent roadway which would help link the eastern territories with those of the far west, Congress authorized a contract to survey and build a wagon road along the thirty-fifth parallel from Fort Defiance, New Mexico Territory, to the Colorado River on the California/Arizona border.  The contract was won by Mr. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a former Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California and Nevada who held the rank of brigadier general in the California militia.  Beale was a good choice for the survey, having traveled parts of this region during the Mexican War and while surveying a route for a transcontinental railway.

It was only after Beale accepted the contract that he learned of the Secretary of War’s special conditions. Floyd ordered Beale to take twenty-five of the camels with him on the surveying expedition. Beale protested vehemently at being encumbered with the camels, but Floyd was adamant.  Since Wayne had left Camp Verde, the camels had been unused.  The government had gone to some time and expense to test the camels in just this kind of situation and Floyd was determined to see if they would justify the money being spent on them.  Although strongly opposed to the idea, Beale finally consented.

On 25 June 1857, the surveying expedition departed for Fort Defiance.  The party consisted of twenty-five camels, two drovers, forty-four soldiers, twelve wagons, and some ninety-five dogs, horses and mules.  At first, the performance of the camels convinced Beale that his original protests were well founded, as the animals moved slower than the horses and mules and were usually hours late reaching camp.  On the second week of the journey, however, Beale changed his tune and noted that the camels were “walking up better.”  He later attributed the camel’s slow start to their months of idleness and ease at Camp Verde.  It was not long after that the camel’s settled to their task and began outdistancing both horses and mules, packing a 700 pound load at a steady speed  and traversing ground that caused the other animals to balk.  By the time the expedition arrive at Fort Defiance in early August, Beale was convinced of the camel’s abilities. On 24 July he wrote to Floyd, “It gives me great pleasure to report the entire success of the expedition with the camels so far as I have tried it.  Laboring under all the disadvantages ….we have arrived here without an accident and although we have used the camels every day with heavy packs, have fewer sore backs and disabled ones by far than would have been the case travelling with pack mules.  On starting I packed nearly seven hundred pounds on each camel, which I fear was too heavy a burden for the commencement of so long a journey; they, however, packed it daily until that weight was reduced by our diurnal use of it as forage for our mules.”

At the end of August the expedition left the fort on their survey.  Beale was concerned about the dangers inherent in such a journey over such treacherous terrain, but these concerns proved unfounded in regard to the camels. “Sometimes we forget they are with us.  Certainly there never was anything so patient or enduring and so little troublesome as this noble animal.  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.  They are better today than when we left Camp Verde with them; especially since our men have learned, by experience, the best mode of packing them.”

The camels ate little of the forage, content instead to eat the scrub and prickly plants found along the trail.  They could travel thirty to forty miles a day, go for eight to ten days without water and seemed not the slightest bit bothered by the oppressive climate.  At one point the expedition became lost and was mistakenly led into an impassable canyon. The ensuing lack of grass and water for over thirty-six hours made the mules frantic.  A small scouting party mounted on camels was sent out  to find a trail.  They found a river some twenty miles distant and led the expedition to it, literally saving the lives of both men and beasts.  From then on, the camels were used to find all watering holes.

The expedition reached the Colorado River on 17 October, the last obstacle in their journey.  While preparing to cross the river, Beale wrote to Floyd on the 18 October, “An important part of all of our operations has been acted by the camels.  Without the aid of this noble and useful brute, many hardships which we have been spared would have fallen to our lot; and our admiration for them has increased day by day, as some new hardship, endured patiently, more fully developed their entire adaptation and usefulness in the exploration of the wilderness.  At times I have thought it impossible they could stand the test to which they have been put, but they seem to have risen equal to every trial and to have come off of every exploration with as much strength as before starting…. I have subjected them to trials which no other animal could possibly have endured; and yet I have arrived here not only without the loss of a camel, but they are admitted by those who saw them in Texas to be in as good a condition as when we left San Antonio…. I believe at this time I may speak for every man in our party, when I say that there is not one of them who would not prefer the most indifferent of our camels to four of our best mules.”

On 19 October, as the expedition began to cross the Colorado, Beale was concerned about the camels getting across as he had been told they couldn’t swim. He was pleasantly surprised when the largest camel was led to the river, plunged right in fully loaded and swam across with no difficulty.  The remaining camels also crossed without incident, but two horses and ten mules drowned in the attempt.  Their surveying mission completed, Beale led the expedition to Fort Tejon, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, to rest and re-provision.  The expedition had lasted nearly four months and covered over twelve hundred miles.

Floyd was extremely pleased with the results. He ordered Beale to bring the camels back to Camp Verde, but Beale demurred, giving the excuse that if the troops in California became involved in the “Mormon War,” the camels would prove invaluable carrying supplies. Instead, Beale moved the camels  to the ranch of his business partner, Samuel A. Bishop, in the lower San Joaquin Valley.  Bishop used the camels in his personal business, hauling freight to his ranch and the new town arising near Fort Tejon.  During one such venture, Bishop and his men were threatened with attack by a large band of Mohave Indians.  Bishop mounted his men on the camels and charged, routing the Indians. It was the only combat action using the camels and it was performed not by the U.S. Army, but by civilians.

In April 1858, Beale was ordered to survey a second route along the thirty-fifth parallel from Fort Smith, Arkansas to the Colorado River for use as a wagon road and stage line  He was given the use of  another twenty-five camels from Camp Verde for this expedition. It took Beale nearly a year to complete this mission and his report to Floyd again extolled the exemplary performance of the camels.

In his annual report to Congress in December 1858, Floyd enthusiastically stated, “The entire adaptation of camels to military operations on the plains may now be taken as demonstrated.”   He further declared that the camel had proven its “great usefulness and superiority over the horse for all movements upon the plains or deserts” and recommended that Congress “authorize the purchase of 1,000 camels.”   Congress, however, was not convinced and authorized no further funding.  Undeterred, Floyd pleaded his case again in his annual report in 1859, “The experiments thus far made – and they are pretty full – demonstrate that camels constitute a most useful and economic means of transportation for men and supplies through the great desert and barren portions of our interior… An abundant supply of these animals would enable our Army to give greater and prompter protection to our frontiers and to all our interoceanic routes than three times their cost expended in another way.  As a measure of economy I can not too strongly recommend the purchase of a full supply to the consideration of Congress.”   Despite the abundant evidence and sound arguments Congress wouldn’t budge.  Floyd tried again in 1860, but by then the clouds of civil war had Congress’ undivided attention and the idea of purchasing camels was far from their minds.

In November 1859, the Army took charge of the twenty-eight camels on Bishop’s farm and moved them to Fort Tejon. Although the animals were in rather poor physical shape, there were now three more than Beale had originally left on the ranch, demonstrating MAJ Wayne’s theory that the camels – if given the opportunity – could breed on their own.  This herd remained at Fort Tejon until March 1860, when they were relocated to a rented grazing area some twelve miles from the fort.  In September several camels were sent to Los Angeles to take part in the Army’s first official test of camels in California.

The test, under the command of the Assistant Quartermaster, CPT Winfield Scott Hancock, was to see if the camels could effectively be used as an express service.  The camels were tested against the existing service, a two-mule buckboard, in carrying messages some three hundred miles from Camp Fitzgerald to Camp Mohave on the Colorado River.  Two test runs were made and, in both, the camels died from exhaustion, leading the Army to realize what other tests had already shown, that camels were not bred for speed but for transport.  Although the test proved that the “camel express” was significantly cheaper, it was no faster than the mule and buckboard service and was much harder on the camels. This was the only test they had ever failed.

A second Army experiment was run in early 1861 when four camels were assigned to accompany the Boundary Commission on their surveying expedition of the California-Nevada boundary.  The expedition, hopelessly disorganized from the start, was a complete failure and nearly ended in disaster. The expedition got lost and wandered into the merciless Mojave Desert.  After losing several mules and abandoning most of their equipment, it was the steadfast camels that saved the day and led the survivors to safety.

The advent of the Civil War effectively halted the camel experiment.  Rebel troops occupied Camp Verde on 28 February 1861 and captured several of the remaining camels, using them to transport salt and carry mail around San Antonio. The camels suffered greatly at the hands of their captors, who had an intense dislike for the animals. They were badly mistreated, abused and a few of them were deliberately killed.

The herd near Fort Tejon, numbering thirty-one camels, was transferred to the Los Angeles Quartermaster Depot on 17 June 1861.  During the next three years the camels were kept well fed and continued to breed, frequently being transferred from post to post as no one knew what else to do with them.  Several recommendations to use them for mail service were proposed, but never adopted.  The expense of feeding and caring for the unused animals finally became too much and, on the recommendation of the Department of the Pacific, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered them to be sold at public auction.  Apparently unaware of the numerous successful tests performed with the camels, Stanton stated, “I cannot ascertain that these have ever been so employed as to be of any advantage to the Military Service, and I do not think that it will be practical to make them useful.”

On 26 February 1864, the thirty-seven camels from California were sold for $1,945, or $52.56 per camel.  The surviving forty-four camels from Camp Verde were finally recovered at the end of the war.  On 6 March 1866, they too were put on the auction block, bringing $1,364, or $31 per camel.  The Army’s Quartermaster-General, MG Montgomery Meigs, approved the sale, stating his hopes that civilian enterprises might more successfully develop use of the camel and expressing his sincere regrets that the experiment had ended in failure.

The camels ended up in circuses, giving rides to children, running in “camel races,” living on private ranches, or working as pack animals for miners and prospectors.  They became a familiar sight in California, the Southwest, Northwest, and even as far away as British Columbia, their strange appearance often drawing crowds of curious people.  In 1885, as a young boy of five living at Fort Seldon, New Mexico, GEN Douglas MacArthur recalled seeing a camel:  “One day a curious and frightening animal with a blobbish head, long and curving neck, and shambling legs, moseyed around the garrison…. the animal was one of the old army camels.”

Eventually, when the curiosity wore off or their new owners simply did not want or need them anymore, many of the camels were turned loose in the wild to fend for themselves.  They were seen for many years afterward, wandering the deserts and plains of the Southwest.  The last of the original Army camels, Topsy, was reported to have died in April 1934, at Griffith Park, Los Angeles, at the age of eighty, but accounts of camel sightings continued for decades.  Although never officially designated, “U.S. Army Camel Corps,” this is how the Army’s camel experiment has been remembered.  Ignored and abandoned, it was an ignominious and unfortunate end for these noble “ships of the desert.”

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Weird History: The Great Texas Camel Experiment

In the mid-19th century, the United States was engaged in a fierce battle for territory and influence. As the nation expanded westward in the wake of the Mexican Cession of 1848, the U.S. Army faced the daunting challenge of transporting supplies across West Texas’ arid, inhospitable terrain.

With no railroads and few reliable roads, the Army turned to a peculiar solution: camels

A Curious Proposal

The idea of using camels in Texas was not entirely without merit. Having proven their worth as beasts of burden in the deserts of the Middle East, camels were known for their incredible stamina and ability to carry heavy loads over long distances.

In 1855, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis proposed the concept to Congress, which, in turn, approved $30,000 for the acquisition of camels and the establishment of the U.S. Army Camel Corps.

After the Army sent a naval ship to scour North Africa for available herds, the first shipment of 34 camels arrived in Texas in 1856, followed by a second shipment of 41 in 1857. The camels were put to work transporting supplies from San Antonio to Camp Verde, about 63 miles northwest. Another camel trek reached deep into Big Bend.

The Pros and Cons of Camels

Initially, the camels proved to be effective pack animals. They could carry up to 600 pounds of supplies and travel as much as 30 miles per day without the need for water. Their padded feet were better suited for the desert terrain than the hooves of horses and mules, causing less damage to the fragile ecosystem.

However, the camels’ success was short-lived. While they possessed many advantages, the animals also brought numerous problems. Their stubborn, ill-tempered nature made them difficult to handle, and their distinctive odor proved to be a point of contention with both soldiers and local residents. Most problematic of all, the camels terrified the Army’s horses and mules, causing chaos whenever the species crossed paths.

By the end of the 1850s, the experiment began to unravel. The Civil War erupted in 1861, and while 80 camels and two Egyptian camel drivers were conscripted into the Confederate army, the animals soon fell out of favor. Eventually, most were sold off to private owners, while a few were simply set loose to roam the Southwest. Wild camel sightings were reported up until the 1940s.

The Camel Campaign Comes to an End

In the end, the great camel experiment was not completely unreasonable—the French and British armies similarly used camels in some of their campaigns. Despite their effect on the military’s horses, the camels did prove effective for the task they were given.

It’s thought that one reason the military disbanded the camels is that many of their proponents defected to the Confederacy during the Civil War.

But by the time the railroads began to trace their steel lines across the American frontier in the wake of that conflict, the brief era of the Texas camel was destined to persist only as a curious historical footnote.

Camels aren’t the only animals that share a part in Texas’ weird history. Read about the goat mayors of Lajitas to learn a truly fun, and admittedly bizarre, fact about our great state.

© 2023 Texas Farm Bureau Insurance

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Camels in Quartzsite Arizona – Visit the Hi Jolly Monument

What’s up with all the CAMELS in Quartzsite, a tiny desert town in Arizona? It’s hard not to notice all the camels on signs, camel sculptures and even a street sign. Why would there be all these camel symbols in a sleepy little desert town with a population less than 2400 people?

For a moment, imagine this. You’re a cowboy riding your horse in the hot Arizona desert and Texas Hill Country in the late 1850’s. All of a sudden, amidst the tall Agaves, Saguaros and Ocotillos, a pack of camels crosses your path. And I’m not talking about cigarettes. 

Well, you weren’t imagining it or hallucinating. It wasn’t some desert mirage. What you were witnessing was literally “history in the making”!

A little known historical event took place involving the United States Army, a middle eastern man and a pack of camels.

The historical event was called The Great Camel Experiment . And Quartzsite is the place that honors the man who proved to the U.S. government that camels could transport military supplies across the desert southwest instead of mules.

This blog article contains affiliate links. Full disclosure here .

The Great Camel Experiment: Quartzsite, Arizona

Pilgrimage to the RV Mecca of the World: Quartzsite, Arizona

In January of 2017, we joined about 65 Xscapers  in Quartzsite, Arizona for our first boondocking convergence.

K nown as the R ock Capitol of the World , Quartzsite is also coined as the “RV Mecca of the World” . Its a misnomer that every RVer should make a pilgrimage to Quartzsite at least once in their RV travels.

Like most cities and towns in America, there’s a peculiar looking welcome sign that greets you to the town of Quartzsite. And when I say ‘peculiar’ , you can imagine our curiosity of the pyramid and the three camels.

There’s a reason for the cool pyramid and camels incorporated on the sign. It took a little digging to find out the reasoning behind them. Funny, we actually learned something historically cool that took place there right there in this tiny eclectic desert town. Ironically, as important as it was to our Nation’s military history, it’s something we never learned in elementary or even high school.

Anyways, we towed our fifth wheel along with our Idaho Tote and two dual sport motorcycles in tow off the paved service road onto the rocky desert where our a bunch of our RV friends were corralled. We parked where we could get a decent WiFi signal yet be in close proximity of our friends and their RVs.

We boondocked in Quartzsite with the group for 12 days. After a few days of potlucks, campfires, gatherings, workshops and classes, Dan and I meandered into Quartzsite to explore the town.

Of course, this was also during the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV Show . The dead giveaway is their notorious ‘big tent’ full of ‘everything RV’ from RV component and supply vendors, campground and membership organizations, flea market crap and of course, the outdoor section of RVs for sale.

But, this particular trek into town wasn’t to attend the RV show. We were itching to find out what was up with those dam camels. Now, those who know us can understand Dan and my quest to explore wild, weird and wacky places throughout our travels. And, Quartzsite surely hit this one right out of the park.

As we were driving around Quartzsite, we noticed a brown historical site sign pointing the way to the Hi Jolly Tomb .  We looked at each other and said to each other “who the heck is Hi Jolly?” And, off we went!

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Learning about the significance of camels in quartzsite.

Once we got to the Hi Jolly Cemetery (a whole 60 seconds!) , we walked over to the cemetery sign. And darn if there’s those camels again!

But as we read it, we started to piece this little-known historic event together. What’s odd is this bit of American history was or is not taught in classrooms. So, it’s part of our give-back job to share what we’ve learned.

Located only steps away from the sign is the Hi Jolly Cemetery that had one odd looking pyramid-shaped monument wit rusty steel camel on top looking out to the vast rocky desert.

On one side of the pyramid was a plaque with the inscription: 

“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 1935 by Arizona Highway Department”

And, at the foot of the pyramid rested a newer plaque listing it as one of the National Register of Historic Places by the Department of the Interior.

But, remember I mentioned the sign in the cemetery that has the camel on it? After a closer look, we learned what the camel in Quartzsite symbolizes.

The camel supposedly represents the Red Ghost ; a scary red-haired beast that roamed the desert, terrorizing man and beast with what appeared to be a corpse tied to his back. 

According to Smithsonian Magazine ‘ s account,

“In the 1880s, a wild menace haunted the Arizona territory. It was known as the Red Ghost, and its legend grew as it roamed the high country. It trampled a woman to death in 1883.”

However, others say the camel atop the monument recognizes Topsy , Hi Jolly’s favorite camel and companion. There’s claims that Topsy’s ashes are also placed in the bronze time capsule. So, who really knows?

So, since we knew nothing about who this Hi Jolly is and the U.S. Army Camel Corps’  “Great Camel Experiment” , we’re eager to learn the who, what, where, when, how and of course, why Quartzsite?

Inception of the Great  Camel Experiment

In the 1850’s, the Army transported their supplies to the west using mules. However, this became a logistical nightmare due to the desert’s high temperatures and long stretches of nothingness that the mules weren’t accustomed to. 

Jefferson Davis  had this brilliant idea of transporting supplies across the Southwest desert via camels instead.

So, on accord with the U.S. Government, Jefferson Davis contracted a Syrian Camel Caretaker,  Hadji Ali . Later known as Hi Jolly , he was hired by the government to sail to the United States on the U.S.S. Supply   along with 20some desert camels from the Middle East to conduct a so-called experiment . Thus, the creation of the U.S. Army Camel Corps began.

After arriving in the United States and getting acclimated to the conditions in the American southwest, Hadji Ali and his camels were were transferred to Camp Verde, Texas to begin Jefferson Davis’ project with the U.S. Army Camel Corps . 

A side note, speculation says that Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly) was one of the first Syrian immigrants to come to America (or, so they say) .

♦ TRAVEL TIP ♦ If you get to visit Texas Hill Country, make it a point to Visit Camp Verde, Texas

The great camel experiment commences.

The U.S. Army marched three six-mule teams; each to haul a wagon carrying 1800 pounds of oats from San Antonio back to Camp Verde, Texas. It took nearly five days for the mule drawn wagons to complete their delivery.

At the same time, Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly) and Army Soldiers loaded six camels but with double the load . The object of  The Great Camel Experiment  was to see if camels could do a better job transporting supplies to the designated camps faster without incident.

Well, needless to say, because camels are accustomed to hot desert environments, Jefferson Davis looked like a genius. Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly) and his team of camels accomplished the experimental trip in less than half the time; clearly proving the camels’ tenacity, speed and weight-bearing ability over the mules.

Now, most everyone knows that camels don’t require a ton of daily water or food to survive. Whereas, mules and horses need regular feedings and ample water for daily consumption to survive, not only in the desert environment, but everywhere. Also, camels can withstand the barren heat of over 130 degrees in the summer months in the desert.

Several other exercises were conducted to prove that camels transporting abilities surpassed mules and horses. Jefferson Davis was extremely pleased of his new  pet project . He stated in his annual report:

“These tests fully realize the anticipation entertained for their usefulness in the transportation of military supplies…thus far, the result as favorable as the most sanguine could have hoped.”

The Great Camel Experiment Ends in Quartzsite

However, the U.S. Army Camel Corps Great Camel Experiment didn’t happen without logistical issues. Timing couldn’t be worse to complete the project. 

The Soldiers or civilians wanted nothing to do with the camels as they were strange and odd to ride (one hump or two?). And, the camels required different care than the mules they were accustomed to. Further, they found camels extremely temperamental, sassy and sometimes violent.

A few years after the inception of the The Great Camel Experiment, America’s Civil War broke out. Jefferson Davis had to divert his focus to a different job in the U.S. government.

Due to the war efforts, the U.S. Army’s mission all changed taking all of the necessary support and attention away from the camel mission project. So, the U.S. Camel Corps. was abandoned and defunded and the mission was scrapped.

So, what does the U.S. Army do with the camels? Well, they sold some to zoos and circus’. And, they set the remaining camels free in the desert near Quartzsite to fend for themselves.

After the camels in Quartzsite were displaced, Hi Jolly (later named Philip Tedro) continued to live there until he passed away in 1902. He was very well-liked amongst the locals and reigned as somewhat of a hero.

So, the townspeople honored him by building a tomb out of multicolored petrified wood and quartz in the shape of a pyramid. A year later, the town dedicated his monument.

But then in 1935, a bronze plaque was set on the tomb by the Arizona Highway Department and mounted a metal camel silhouette on the top of the pyramid monument, “A fair trial might have resulted in complete success” .

By the way, it’s been said that the last surviving camel was sighted in 1942. As you’ve just learned, the camels outlasted and outlived the Father of The Great Camel Experiment, Jefferson Davis himself.

So, as history has it, Quartzsite was the Last Camp of Hi Jolly .

If this intriguing piece of American History piques your interests you, check out the U.S. Army’s Camel Corps Experiment .

Wrapping up why there are camels in Quartzsite

As Paul Harvey said, “now you know the rest of the story” . That’s the reason for all the camels in Quartzsite. Who would ever think the U.S. government would take on such an interesting project; hiring a Middle Eastern camel herder and 30 some camels to transport supplies to the West?  As bizarre as it sounds, it certainly doesn’t surprise us. The government does some crazy stuff even back as far as the 1850’s (or earlier).

So, when passing through or visiting this land where time forgot, pay attention to all the camels in Quartzsite. And of course, make it a point to visit the Hi Jolly Monument. And when you’re boondocking out there in the desert, just maybe you’ll see Red Ghost !

How to get to the Hi Jolly’s gravesite?

Hi Jolly Cemetery is located on West Main Street in Quartzsite, Arizona.

To get to the cemetery, take exit 17 on I-10. North side, about a ½ mile east on Business 10/W. Main Street. Turn North at the Hi Jolly Tomb sign. Drive through the flea market to get to the cemetery and monument.  You can’t miss it.  Just look for the pyramid with the camel on top!

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Other good reads.

10 Fun Things to See and Do in Quartzsite, Arizona

Why RVers Go to Quartzsite, Arizona

The Great Camel Experiment: Camp Verde, Texas

AMAZON DISCLOSURE:                                                                                                            This website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

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2 Replies to “Camels in Quartzsite Arizona – Visit the Hi Jolly Monument”

This was a very interesting blog. Enjoyed learning about the camel Hi Jolly! We will have to see about checking this little gem out.

Diane, I think you would like it! There’s so much unwritten history of our Country out there. We are so glad to share what we’ve learned on the road. Thank you for your interest in and following our blog. Safe travels! -Lisa & Dan

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Camels Go West: Forgotten Frontier Story

The U.S. Army’s experiment of 150 years ago to use the cloven-footed, humped creatures on the Southwestern frontier didn’t last long, but camels left their mark in Western lore.

In 1883 stories circulated throughout Arizona Territory of a cloven-footed creature that moved silently through the desert. It was reddish in color and, according to the King- man Mohave County Miner , might be connected to the horrific death of a woman on Eagle Creek. Miners on the nearby Rio San Francisco, not far from Eagle Creek, reported sighting a gigantic horse that left long red hairs in the brush. Its huge hoof prints, however, were not those of a horse but of some cloven-footed beast. They called it the Red Ghost, and though most listeners were skeptical—tall tales being common on the frontier— others soon reported similar sightings. The claims of one observer proved difficult to dismiss.

Cyrus Hamblin, a respected rancher in the Salt River country some 80 miles northwest of Eagle Creek, reported seeing the same strange creature, but he identified it as a gigantic red camel. Hamblin had seen camels in Arizona Territory before and was a reliable witness, but he added a chilling addition to the tale of the Red Ghost, for strapped on the camel’s back were skeletal human remains. Several weeks later, a group of miners shot at the Red Ghost in the Verde River valley, but the beast escaped out of range. The pursuing men saw something fall from its back and rushed forward to investigate. They discovered, according to the Mohave County Miner , “a human skull with a few shreds of flesh and hair still clinging to it.” The Red Ghost, with what was left of its human burden, vanished into the Arizona desert and into the annals of Western folklore.

The story of the Red Ghost was but a remnant of one of the most quixotic and romantic episodes in all of Western history. Even by the time of the Red Ghost sightings, most Americans had long since forgotten the failed experiment by the U.S. War Department in the 1850s to introduce camels into government service in an effort to explore and open up the Far Western Frontier.

The camel experiment was an important part of a larger plan to consolidate the new territories won from Mexico and tie them to the Eastern states. Distance, landscape, native hostility and climate all conspired to block the movement westward into these new lands, until the discovery of gold in California initiated a mass migration of unprecedented proportions. The California Gold Rush forced Eastern politicians to reconsider their dismissal of plans for a transcontinental railroad to bind the nation together. As sectional tension increased between North and South, the necessity of linking the Far West to the rest of the republic became increasingly urgent.

Politicos could not agree on the route for the line, and bitter sectional wrangling ensued, especially between Northerners and Southerners. In March 1853, Congress authorized Western surveys to determine “the most practicable and economical route” and placed the supposedly neutral War Department in charge of conducting them. Not surprisingly, science would not be allowed to trump politics in these surveys, for the stakes were too high.

The Central Route

The able but devious secretary of war, Jefferson Davis, was hardly neutral. In 1853 he selected four potential lines to be surveyed: a northern route as proposed by Asa Whitney running between the 47th and 49th parallels; a central route favored by powerful Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, between the 38th and 39th parallels; a route through New Mexico Territory on the 35th latitude; and the southern route, favored by Davis, Sam Houston, James Gadsden and other Southerners, on the 32nd parallel.

Edward Fitzgerald Beale became involved in this debate as an ally of Senator Benton. Beale was a close friend of Benton’s famous son-in-law John C. Frémont and a frequent guest at the senator’s home. Benton now approached Secretary of War Davis with a proposal that Frémont and Beale head a survey of the central route. Davis, perhaps worried about Frémont’s reputation as “the Pathfinder” to the West as well as his political ambitions, declined. Undaunted, the shrewd Benton, who had secured Beale the appointment as superintendent of Indian Affairs for California, easily convinced his young friend to follow the central route on his way to his California agency. Beale now engaged in a land journey of three months to explore Benton’s route, when he could easily have voyaged by steamer, and across Panama, to California in 30 days. Beale’s cousin, Gwinn Harris Heap, wrote a journal of the expedition, first published in the National Intelligencer and then as a book in 1854, and it was used by Senator Benton to promote his central route.

The expedition helped cement Beale’s place as one of the pivotal figures in Western history. Born at Bloomingdale, an estate located but a mile and a half north of Capitol Hill in Washington City, on February 3, 1822, Beale grew up in a privileged family steeped in naval tradition. His maternal grandfather was Commodore Thomas Truxton of Constellation and Barbary Pirates War fame, while his father had performed heroically at the Battle of Lake Champlain during the War of 1812. Beale, called Ned by family and friends, emerged as a promising young naval lieutenant.

On July 15, 1846, Beale sailed into Monterey Bay aboard Commodore Robert Stockton’s Congress . War with Mexico was imminent, and they soon learned that American settlers in California’s Napa and Sacramento valleys had joined with Captain Frémont, supposedly on yet another “exploring expedition,” to raise the Bear Flag in rebellion against Mexico. Joining with Frémont, Stockton began offensive operations against the Mexican military forces, with Beale taking a prominent part. Along with frontiersman Kit Carson, Beale became a hero of the Battle of San Pasqual, near San Diego, in December 1846, and then was selected by Stockton to carry vital dispatches to the Navy Department in Washington.

In February 1847, Beale and Kit Carson followed the Gila River Route—later favored by the South for the transcontinental railroad line—with dispatches on the California conquest for Washington. The journey prejudiced Beale against this arid southern route (they ran out of water and were attacked by Apaches). It also, however, led him to consider the usefulness of camels in crossing such an inhospitable landscape. He was later further influenced by reading Evariste Huc’s Recollections of a Journey Through Tartary, Thibet, and China , published in New York in 1852, which extolled the camel’s virtues.

The Potential of Camels

Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, like Beale, was fascinated by the potential of camels. Their joint interest reflected a unique moment in Western history, for the camel experiment grew out of transportation problems inherent on a pre-steam frontier. Yet the great camel experiment was itself a notable part of the effort to bridge the vast expanse of the West with iron and steam—defeating the tyranny of distance that so inhibited military consolidation, civilian development, economic prosperity and political unity.

The idea of using camels in the American West did not originate with Davis, although he proved to be its most powerful proponent. During the Mexican War, Davis had met Major George H. Grossman, a veteran of the Seminole War in Florida, who had urged the use of camels for military transportation back in 1836. The camel, so storied in the exotic lore read by every American child, had proved its worth in the scorching deserts of the Middle East for centuries.

The logic of using the dromedary (the Arabian camel) in the arid American Southwest seemed self-evident to archeologist George R. Glidden, who sent a lengthy paper on the subject to the Senate Committee on Military Affairs in 1852. Glidden had a high regard for the camel’s ability to carry great loads under the most arduous conditions, noting its superiority to the U.S. Army mule. John Russell Bartlett, U.S. boundary commissioner, was convinced as a result of his labors setting the new boundary line between the United States and Mexico that camels alone could live on the brackish water and scarce foliage in west Texas and the desert Southwest borderland. In particular, Bartlett wrote in his report published in 1854, camels might prove invaluable along the Gila River route to California. Nothing was more certain to arouse Secretary Davis’ interest than this connection between camels and the potential Southern rail line.

Davis, in his annual report for 1853, recommended the introduction “of a sufficient number of both varieties of this animal to test its value and adaptation to our country and our service.” Knowing that a transcontinental railroad might soon be built, He nonetheless felt that the vast extent of the interior West would remain untouched by rails for decades. Using Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign as a sure-fire example to stir his readers’ imagination, Davis extolled the virtues of the hardy dromedary for reconnaissance, supply and communication between isolated military posts in a hostile environment. The Arabs who battled the French, he noted, were not unlike the American Indians of the Southwest. Congress failed to respond to this initial request, but in 1855 Davis finally secured a $30,000 appropriation for his grand camel experiment.

Major Henry C. Wayne of the Quartermaster’s Department had also been an early advocate of camel use by the Army. Along with U.S. Navy Lieutenant David Dixon Porter (a cousin of Ned Beale and later a Union admiral in the Civil War), Wayne was assigned to travel to the Levant and secure the necessary camels for U.S. military service. Porter was Gwinn Harris Heap’s brother-in-law, and both Heap and Beale recommended him for the assignment.

Davis instructed Wayne and Porter to sail to Constantinople and into the Black Sea, although he warned that circumstances related to the Crimean War might force them to divert to Syria. “It is believed that the best breed of camels is to be found in Persia,” Davis wrote Porter. Davis ordered his officers to procure samples of both varieties of camels: the two-humped camel and the one-humped dromedary.

Wayne arrived in England on June 7, 1855, and studied the camels at the London Zoological Garden. He decided to use the term “camel” as generic to describe both species and referred to the animals by their region of origin: the two-humped Bactrian camel and the single-humped Arabian camel. Wayne felt that only the Arabian species would be suitable for riding. He then met Porter at Spezzia, Italy, and they sailed Porter’s ship, Supply , to Tunis to immediately procure a camel for shipboard study.

Arriving in Tunis on August 4, Porter was happily surprised to find his brother-in-law. Gwinn Harris Heap was there to settle the affairs of his late father, Samuel Davis Heap, who had served as U.S. minister to Tunis for several years. Wayne and Porter promptly hired Heap, who spoke several local languages, knew many influential men and was quite familiar with camels.

Within a few days, Wayne had purchased the first camel to be owned by the U.S. government. When news of the camel experiment reached the bey of Tunis, Mohammed Pasha, he graciously sent over two fine specimens from his private herd. Supply then set sail for Constantinople. Wayne reported that the animals ate 8 to 12 pounds of hay a day, along with 6 quarts of oats and three buckets of water every three days. He became convinced that “Americans will be able to manage camels not only as well, but better than Arabs, as they will do it with more humanity and with far greater intelligence.” In this the American officer misjudged the capacity of the foul-tempered camel to fret any human, no matter what his ethnic heritage.

From Constantinople the Americans traveled with British officers to Balaklava, where they discovered that the Crimean War had driven up the price of camels to $50 for a good female and $100 for a superior male. The British army had just purchased 8,000 camels for use in the war. Wayne studied the military uses of the beasts in the war against the Russians, noting the immense burdens carried by Bactrians and the ability of Arabians to carry a soldier up to 70 miles in a single day. The British officers preferred the Arabians because of their versatility in carrying both troops and supply loads (up to 600 pounds).

Supply then headed for Egypt, where, after some difficulty with the local officials, nine camels were purchased and loaded on board. While anchored in Alexandria, Porter discovered a new problem with his precious animal cargo: rutting season. During this season, the male camels became unmanageable by even the best Arab handlers. They next traveled to Smyrna, where Heap, who had traveled there on a civilian steamer, awaited them with 21 animals. With the ship full of camels, they departed Smyrna on February 15, 1856, and headed for the Texas coast.

The Camels Reach Texas

Wayne and Porter landed their camels at Indianola, Texas, on May 14, 1856. Wayne had wisely secured the services of three Egyptians as camel attendants and two Turks from Smyrna as saddle makers to serve his camel corps for one year. The camels were moved to corrals at San Antonio, where they were joined in February 1857 by 41 more animals secured by Porter and Heap from the Levant. Heap also secured the services of two remarkable individuals who would prove crucial to the camel experiment: Hadji Ali and George Caralambo. They agreed to serve the U.S. government for up to six months at a salary of $15 per month. On the American frontier where no one could pronounce their names, they were known as Hi Jolly and Greek George.

The spectacle of the camels passing through the Alamo City en route to pastures at San Pedro Springs can only be imagined. To Major Wayne, however, the main point was how well his charges had weathered the arduous journey. The major favored a five-year breeding program for his animals, but Jefferson Davis wanted them put to immediate use. “The object is at present to ascertain whether the animal is adapted to the military service, and can be economically and usefully employed,” the secretary informed Wayne. “When this is satisfactorily established, arrangements can be made for importing and breeding camels to any extent that may be deemed desirable.”

In August Wayne moved his camels to a new post at Camp Verde, three miles from Bandera Pass and some 60 miles northwest of San Antonio. From this camp he conducted a number of experiments on the stamina and carrying capacity of the animals. The dromedaries excelled in all these tests, so that by December 1856 Major Wayne could honestly report with enthusiasm the success of the experiment. The officer worried, however, about the fate of the camels, who needed knowledgeable care, should the political administration change in Washington and he be reassigned. The tough old veteran had grown rather attached to his imported animals. His concern was well founded, for in February 1857 he met with Davis in Washington to discuss the camel experiment and was soon after reassigned to other duties. Captain Innis N. Palmer of the 2nd Cavalry replaced him at Camp Verde.

Ned Beale had been dismissed as California Indian superintendent on May 31, 1854, by President Franklin Pierce at the behest of Commissioner of Indian Affairs George Manypenny, but then James Buchanan, an old family friend, was elected president. Buchanan appointed Beal superintendent of a government survey for a military wagon road from New Mexico Territory to California. Beale would command 35 to 50 men in his work party, 10 wagons to carry equipment as well as provide proof of the suitability of the route as a wagon road, a surveyor, a doctor and 25 soldiers as escort across the dangerous Navajo country (today’s northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona). Beale was also to take up to 25 camels with him and was authorized to hire as many of the Arab and Turk handlers who had accompanied the animals to Texas as he wished. He was ordered to test the “usefulness, endurance and economy” of the camels.

Beale—accompanied by his cousin Gwinn Heap (the second-in-command) and an old naval friend, Lieutenant C.F. Thorburn—departed for the West in May 1857, reaching Indianola, Texas, on June 6. There, the three men organized their wagon train and were met by May Humphreys Stacey, Hampden Porter and James Bell, the teenage sons of Davis Bevan Stacey, David Porter and Judge Thomas Bell (who were all neighbors of Beale back in Chester, Pa.). Beale allowed the young men to join the expedition, and they proved loyal and diligent, if not always successful, subalterns. The 19-year-old Stacey kept a careful journal that eventually became a classic of Western trail literature. Beale affectionately called them “my boys, May, Ham and Joe,” and they accompanied him to San Antonio, where the immortal David Crockett had fallen at the Alamo but 21 years before. Bell and Porter accompanied Beale to Camp Verde to collect the camels, and upon their return, young Stacey invoked Crockett’s famed motto in noting that the camels represented “the ‘goaheadness’ of the American character, which subdues even nature by its energy and perseverance.”

New Mexico and Beyond

On June 25, the expedition headed westward from San Antonio for New Mexico Territory. Before long Beale learned the art of dromedary riding and led the column aboard his white camel Seid. The expedition was now without its second-in-command, for before reaching San Antonio, Beale and Heap had bitterly quarreled. In 1853 Beale had described his cousin as “the noblest companion in the world, and shines brighter the more he is rubbed.” But he must have rubbed him a bit too hard for Heap resigned in June and departed for home. Heap, like his father, became a diplomat and was eventually appointed American consul general at Constantinople.

Beale’s remarkable caravan consisted of 10 wagons, 25 camels (the pick of the litter from Camp Verde, where 46 camels were left behind with Captain Palmer) and a bright red military ambulance wagon for the commander and his young assistants. Beale was without Arab handlers for his camels, for the Arabs had balked at accompanying his expedition because Palmer had not paid them at Camp Verde. Beale’s men did not know how to properly pack loads on the camels, resulting in morning delays and pack-sore animals. Progress was slow, but Beale’s party finally reached Fort Davis on July 17. Beale was deeply impressed with his exotic animals, noting that they “could travel continuously in a country where no other barefooted beast could last a week.” He felt them far superior to his mules. Ten days later the caravan drew supplies at Fort Bliss, and Beale was delighted to find that several of the “Turks” from Camp Verde had hurried ahead to El Paso to enlist in his company, among them Greek George and Hi Jolly.

As Beale’s command made its way north up the Rio Grande to Albuquerque, crowds gathered in every village and along the trail to gawk at them. It was as if the circus had come to New Mexico Territory. Beale left his party in Albuquerque while he traveled north to Santa Fe to arrange for a military escort. Upon his return on August 12, he found nearly everyone drunk, and one of the men wounded in an altercation at a local fandango. Among those unfit for duty was Hi Jolly, who was becoming rapidly Americanized. He, Beale noted, “had not found, even in the positive prohibitions of the prophet a sufficient reason for temperance, but was as drunk as any Christian in the train, and would have remained behind, but for a style of reason much resorted to by the head of his church, as well as others, in making converts, i.e., a broken head.” On August 15, Beale led his company away from the “fandangos and other pleasures” of Albuquerque toward Fort Defiance, 160 miles to the west (near today’s Window Rock, Ariz.). He now left the comforts of his red ambulance and led them aboard his white camel Seid.

At Fort Defiance, Captain Josiah Carlisle greeted Beale with a flask of red eye and a couple of blocks of ice. This led to another short delay. With 20 soldiers as escort and several Hispanic road workers, the caravan was rolling again on August 27. Beale replenished supplies at Zuni, buying considerable corn and amazing the natives by loading it all on the camels, while Stacey and the boys carved their names in nearby Inscription Rock. Beale’s command then pushed on west across what would later be called Arizona Territory.

With the camels leading the way, the expedition reached the Colorado River on October 17 where they traded for watermelons, pumpkins and cantaloupes with the local Mojave Indians. The crossing of the Colorado proved difficult, and two horses and 10 mules drowned before reaching the California side. The Mojaves retrieved the carcasses and ate them. The camels, however, easily swam the broad river. By crossing the Colorado, Beale had completed his mission in surveying a wagon road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River and in successfully testing the suitability of the camel for frontier service.

Beale later wrote in his journal with only a bit of exaggeration: “A year in the wilderness ended! During this time I have conducted my party from the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, and back again to the eastern terminus of the road, through a country for a great part entirely unknown, and inhabited by hostile Indians, without the loss of man. I have tested the value of the camels, marked a new road to the Pacific, and traveled 4,000 miles without an accident.”

Beale sent most of the party on to Fort Tejon, which was conveniently near his own ranch, while he proceeded to Los Angeles with Hi Jolly and eight others. Beale rode Seid while Hi Jolly sat astride a camel named Tuili, and the others rode horses over Cajon Pass to San Bernardino and then into the fledgling city of Los Angeles on November 9, 1857.

Secretary of War John B. Floyd, in his annual report for 1858, reported, “The entire adaptation of camels to military operations on the plains may now be taken as demonstrated.” He recommended that Congress purchase 1,000 more camels for military use. No action was taken on his recommendation. In his 1859 report, Floyd again praised the usefulness of the camels. An additional camel expedition was undertaken in Texas in May 1859 with 24 animals. Lieutenant Edward Hartz and Lieutenant William Echols were to make a topographical survey of the Big Bend Country while testing the packing capacity of the camels. “The patience, endurance, and steadiness which characterize the performance of the camels during this march is beyond praise,” Hartz reported as he neared the Rio Grande on July 17, 1859. He was wasting ink, for General David Twiggs, the Army commander in Texas who would soon become infamous for his treason against the Union, hated the whole camel experiment.

Camels After the Experiment

The army in California also had little use for the camels and found them to be a great expense to feed. In September 1860 Captain Winfield Scott Hancock experimented with the camels as a sort of “pony express,” assigning Hi Jolly to ride a camel with dispatches from Los Angeles to Fort Mojave on the Colorado River. Two camels died under Hi Jolly, for the animals were not suited for short rapid trips, but rather for slow trips, carrying great burdens over long distances. At the end of that month, Hancock dropped both Hi Jolly and Greek George from the military payroll. In a few months, they were rehired to look after the camels, which were moved to Camp Latham (in present-day Culver City in Los Angeles) in December 1861. While at Camp Latham, Beale’s favorite, the white camel Seid, fought with Hi Jolly’s Tuili during rutting season and was killed by a crushing blow to the head. Seid’s bones were sent east to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Beale, appointed U.S. surveyor-general for California and Nevada, used many of the camels on his California ranch, and when the Civil War erupted he offered to keep all the Army’s camels on his property. Union Secretary of War Edwin Stanton turned him down, even though the military had no more interest in the animals. On September 9, 1863, Stanton issued an order that all the California camels were to be sold. The animals were gathered at Benecia Barracks, north of San Francisco, and in 1864 were sold at public auction. The government received $1,945 for the 36 camels. Their new owner, Samuel McLaughlin, wanted them to pack freight to the Nevada mines. He also staged several camel races in the mining camps, but he faced hostility wherever he took the beasts, because they so terrified the local livestock. McLaughlin died on an 1865 journey to Fort Yuma, where he planned to sell the camels for work in the Mexican mines. His two new employees, Hi Jolly and Greek George, simply turned the camels loose to range free over southern Arizona. The famed Red Ghost may well have been one of these camels.

The California dromedaries were dispersed throughout the West, some as far north as British Columbia, usually into horrific labors for mining operations. In Texas, Confederate troops captured 80 camels and two Egyptian camel drivers at Camp Verde in 1861. The Rebels had no idea of what to do with this prize, and many of the animals simply wandered off into the hill country. When Union troops reoccupied Camp Verde in 1865, they found more than 10 camels at the post. The Army, however, had no further interest in an animal that had been imported by Jefferson Davis. In 1866 the herd was sold off to the highest bidder, former Confederate officer Bethel Coopwood of San Antonio, who in turn sold the unfortunate beasts to circuses and to mining interests in Mexico. He paid but $31 per camel, and those he could not resell he simply set free.

The camels now entered into Western lore, the quixotic adventure that had brought them to America long forgotten. It is apparent that fugitive camels roamed the West for another generation after the Civil War. In 1875 a camel wandered into Bandera, Texas, and was captured by a sentimental old-timer who remembered the days of Camp Verde. In 1885 no less an eyewitness than young Douglas MacArthur, then a boy stationed with his family at Fort Selden, New Mexico Territory, saw a camel brought in by hunters. There were many sightings in Arizona, although not usually as colorful as the tale of the Red Ghost. Officers attached to a U.S.–Mexico boundary survey reported camels along the border in 1901. In 1913 a Santa Fe Railroad crew sighted a camel near Wickenburg. The last reported Arizona sighting was at a waterhole near Ajo in 1931.

Hi Jolly, who had liberated McLaughlin’s camels near Fort Yuma in 1865, was discharged from the Quartermaster Department of the U.S. Army at Camp McDowell in 1870. But he was eventually rehired by the Army and in 1885 signed on with Brig. Gen. George Crook as a packer during the Geronimo campaign. He had by this time become an American citizen, naturalized in Tucson in 1880, and had married Gertrude Serna of that city with whom he had two daughters.

The remarkable frontiersman followed mining booms into northern Arizona Territory, often using camels as pack animals in his prospecting adventures. These extended trips did not sit well with his wife, and when he returned to Tucson penniless in 1898, he received only a cold shoulder. Alone and impoverished, he applied for a military pension based on his many years of service but was denied. He moved north to barren Quartzsite, where he survived off the kindness of old prospector pals.

A story circulated at the turn of the century that old Hi Jolly was bumming drinks in a Quartzsite saloon when a prospector told a tale of a great red camel roaming near town. The old man rushed outside never to be seen alive again. His body was discovered weeks later in the desert, next to the remains of a red camel. The story was not true, but rings with the authenticity of Western legend as Hi Jolly joins the Red Ghost in a final embrace.

The old Syrian died at Quartzsite on December 16, 1902. In 1935 the state of Arizona honored him by marking his grave with a pyramid-shaped tombstone of stone topped by the metal figure of a camel. There, in a distant corner of the American West, still stands a unique monument to a remarkable pioneer and the forgotten camel experiment that marked the beginning of a new epoch in Western history.

Paul Andrew Hutton is a University of New Mexico distinguished professor, executive director of Western Writers of America and author of Phil Sheridan and His Army . Suggested for further reading: Noble Brutes: Camels on the American Frontier , by Eva Jolene Boyd; Three Caravans to Yuma: The Untold Story of Bactrian Camels in Western America , by Harlan D. Fowler; Uncle Sam’s Camels: The Journal of May Humphreys Stacey, Supplemented by the Report of Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1857- 1858) , edited by Lewis Burt Lesley; and The U. S. Camel Corps: An Army Experiment, by Odie B. Faulk.

Originally published in the December 2007 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here . 

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Texas’s Role in the Great Camel Experiment

While camels do not naturally exist in the United States, once, the U.S. Army decided to change that. You may have noticed a camel on the symbol of Camp Verde’s restaurant and general store. This camel alludes to the important role the Hill Country played in the Great Camel Experiment, which resulted in tragedy for the camels and failure for the plan. Discover who thought camels in the American Southwest would be a good idea and why the Great Camel Experiment happened.

Camels in the United States?

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Though not indigenous to the United States, camels did roam wild in the southwestern United States for a while. These camels descended from several the U.S. Army brought to Texas in the years before the Civil War. Texas served as the entry point for these exotic beasts, and many of the four-legged participants in the Great Camel Experiment stayed at Camp Verde, Texas.

Why Camels?

Photo: Facebook/Camp Verde General Store and Restaurant

In the mid-1850s, the United States continued to expand westward over the great deserts, but travel proved difficult. A transcontinental railroad had yet to be completed, and standard horses did not do well in the hot, arid environment. In 1855, U.S. Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis (Yes, the same Jefferson Davis who would go on to become president of the Confederacy.) lobbied Congress for funding for the Great Camel Experiment. He posited that camels could be used as pack animals across the desert, which would more easily connect the distant Army outposts.

Camp Verde’s Role in the Plan

This funding provided the means for Major H.C. Wayne to travel to the Middle East to acquire the necessary animals. He gathered 33 camels, which arrived in Indianola, Texas, in 1856. This herd marched to Camp Verde, where they remained until the army could put them to use. The following year, an additional 40 camels joined them. By June 1857, 24 camels went on an expedition to California, while the rest remained in Camp Verde. After five months, the California group successfully arrived just north of modern-day Los Angeles, completing a trip of 1200 miles. The Camp Verde camels continued to work as pack animals around Texas.

What Happened to the Camels?

The result of the Great Camel Experiment was a failure. Not because the animals could not perform as expected. In fact, the camels outpaced any expectations. But those who raised and sold mules saw their businesses in jeopardy, and vocally opposed the camels’ use. Furthermore, the Civil War brought the Great Camel Experiment to a halt. After the Confederates took over Camp Verde, the camels scattered. Some died. Some were sold, and others retreated into the wilderness.

References:

Texas Highways: The Great Camel Experiment

National Museum of the United State Army: The U.S. Army’s “Camel Corps” Experiment

Texas State Historical Association: Camels

Smithsonian Magazine: Whatever Happened to Wild Camels of the American West?

Lone Star Junction: Camels in Texas 1856

Camp Verde General Store: History

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THE CAMEL EXPERIMENT

June 24-august 15, 1860.

From Lieutenant William H. Echols, "Report," in United States, Thirty-sixth Congress, Second Session, Senate Executive Document, No. I (Washington, I861), 37-50.

After his proposal to build a transcontinental railroad along the line of the thirty second parallel had been blocked by sectional politics over slavery in the territories, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, an experiment to solve the need for transportation across the "Great American Desert" to the new state of California and to the intervening army post, introduced in 1856 and 1857 seventy five camels into Texas. Although many Congressmen considered the camel plan unrealistic and fantastic, an appropriation of thirty thousand dollars had been made for the purpose. After all, were not camels the logical beast of burden with which to cross the desert?

The first of two shipments was landed in Indianola on May 14th 1856, and then was moved to Camp Val Verde, the eastern terminus of the projected camel route, located just south of the preset day Kerrville. Test were begun immediately to determine whether the camels or the tried and true mules pack mules were superior modes of transportation in the Southwest. One test was the reconnaissance expedition of Lieutenant William H. Echols in the summer of 1860 into the perilous Big Bend Country. Echols' journal of the expedition appears below not only because of the interest in the camel experiment but because of its description of that part of Texas. There were also other trips, some extended as far as California; but with the outbreak of the Civil War the military personnel were recalled from the Texas frontier, and within a few years the abandon camels had vanished.

June 24, 1860

I left San Antonio on the 11th instant with orders to resume the reconnaissance commenced last year of that portion of northwestern Texas lying between the San Antonio or El Paso road, the Rio Grande and Pecos rivers, with twenty camels and twenty five pack mules, with an escort under the command of Lieutenant Holman, first infantry, of twenty infantry men, reinforced by eleven from Camp Hudson on my arrival at that post. The camels are in fine condition; and with some improvements, which my experience with them last wear taught me to suggest to be made, respecting the packing of them, such as iron loops on the water barrels to prevent them from shifting, and larger water barrels, which are the most important changes, I hope to be freed of a great deal of delay and vexation which I encountered the previous year. The male camels were all left, with the exception of one. Although much stouter and more serviceable than the females, they occasion a deal more trouble and attention from their belligerent propensities to one another. The command now consists of thirty-one men, exclusive of the herders and camel attendants, with the twenty camels and fifteen mules for packing, the remainder being left at Camp Hudson , with the exception of two mules that strayed on the road, and not recovered. We have capacity for carrying nearly 500 gallons of water, and are rationed from Camp Hudson for twenty days. Camped two miles from the wood at Bearn lake, near the head of Rio San Pedro, known more generally as Rio Diablo, or Devil's river ; from which point I set out to-morrow directly to the Pecos, thence to Fort Davis , intending to cross the country in a more southerly direction than my last trail to that post. Another improvement in measuring distances I have succeeded in contriving, consisting of shafts, two light wheels on an axle three and a half feet long, a chest on a spring, answering for a scat for the driver, all very light, and attaching the odometer, and the machine is complete.

Left camp this morning at six o'clock, being somewhat retarded in our preparations for departure by having to soak our water barrels in the lake till morning, and, being the first time they had been filled for transportation, to distribute and adjust the loading accordingly; but after setting out, I was much pleased with the manner in which the command was able to move, without the hindrance so frequently occurring before the improvements, mentioned yesterday as having been made, were made. I think not a pack has fallen to day; and if such success attend our movements, even in this respect, how much trouble will we he relieved of. After leaving our camp ground this morning, we reached the main road in about 1.5 mile, and in 2.8 miles left it in an attempt to approach the Pecos; but the cañon proved to be very short and rugged, and headed by precipices by which we were turned again to the road, and having marched 3.6 miles, in which short distance the odometer upset, breaking one of the shafts; which, however, was soon temporarily repaired by a rope. I followed the road, on a lookout for a prospect of leaving it on a new trail; but all were bad, till we reached the place upon which we are now dry camped, fifteen miles from the point at which we returned to the road, and within thirty miles of Howard's spring , and a few miles of Johnson's run, where, within a few months past, several trains have been attacked by Indians, and to-day saw their tracks in the cañon where we left the road. Our camp is well supplied with grass, but no water from Beaver Lake to Howard's spring. The mail coach passed our camp this afternoon, and reported that twenty-eight mounted Indians made their appearance at the mail station at Howard's spring day before yesterday, and filled up the spring, which is a small hole below the surface, with rocks, and carried off one horse. Watered our mules from the barrels this afternoon, giving each two and a half gallons.

Left the road this morning at camp, taking about a northwesterly course; in about two miles entered the head of a cañon, in which we are now camped dry. Plenty good grass, wood, and indications of water, such as animals, birds; &c., but none yet found; country exceedingly rugged, and bad prospect for maintaining our course. Make a good deal of westering for about nine miles, when the cañon turned to the south; marched 16.1 miles. A rain water hole was found by one of the camel herders about a quarter of a mile from camp late in the afternoon, containing a good supply of water. All the animals watered. Lieutenant Holman rode a short distance from camp, and reported on his return some Indian signs.

Had four of the twenty gallon barrels filled at the water hole this morning, with which we will have an abundance of water for two more dry camps. About a mile passed another good rain water hole, and five miles further another very fine one. The animals were watered at least it was offered them whenever found. The cañon in which we traveled yesterday appeared to take us to Devil's river , and we left it at camp, taking up a side cañon bearing a little south of west about six miles. Then going out on a rolling land, crossed the heads of several cañon, marching a northwestern direction about 4.5 miles before taking the one we are in now, which carried us to the north of west about four miles, then turning southerly to our camp, struck one of my former trails. Country very rough. Grass not good for want of rain. No indications of water whatever. The odometer machine has overturned several times no harm done. Made 21.2 miles. Gave the mules two and a half gallons of water from barrels.

Continued down the cañon this morning on my old trail about six miles. I have been almost forced to take this trail for want of an outlet from the cañon. Following the main cañon nearly south four miles, it then turned to the west to the Pecos about 3.5 miles. One and a half miles from the river, we discovered in the cañon a large, line, limpid, running stream of fresh water, which is named Piscas creek, abounding in fish of various kinds, which we could see running about in every direction. This afternoon we went fishing. I suppose the command has caught about a dozen fine ones, weighing from twelve to fifteen pounds each. Lieutenant Holman caught two of them. Command in fine order. Wood and grass plenty. Marched 13.5 miles. Cañon rough. The mountains here gradually grown larger higher rougher, and more rocky since entering the cañon which is generally, I am sorry to say, characteristic of, every one which you may descend, and of them this whole region is an interminable succession, all of them barren and bleak.

Left camp and proceeded up the east bank of the Pecos, ascending the side of the mountains several hundred feet above the river, to avoid an immense jungle lying along the base. The camels performed well also the mules. The odometer upset and turned a complete summersault, with the mule, down the side of a precipitous rocky slope, after which the machine was drawn by hand the remainder of the mountainous road, as a high bluff lay immediately under the trail. On this trail we saw a corn sack and Indian tracks. Three of the men crossed the jungle, and came across an Indian camp but two or three days old, composed of about a half dozen, the men on foot. A great deal of game on the river bear, deer, antelope, and turkey. We passed three live oak mats in the mouths of cañon. At one had to cut through a jungle. At 7.4 miles from camp we passed Makin's spring, a very fine one, and 3.5 further we crossed the river and camped, and made preparations for long dry march toward Fort Davis . The camels succeeded remarkably well, better than usual in crossing without difficulty but; they are lightly laden, the water barrels being empty. We have had no delay by the falling of packs, as last year, attributable to the improvements. I do not think a single one has dropped today. The mules are never turned out without hopples, nor picketed without them at them, to prevent a stampede which is likely to occur at any moment. Made to-day 10.9 miles. Wood and tolerable grass.

Left the Pecos at camp this morning with intention of making our way across the country to Fort Davis . Proceeded up a cañon which in two miles proved to be an unfavorable one for our purpose. Came to a head in a very few miles. Very rugged high bluffs on the sides, and may he classed among the innumerable impassable ones which abound in this region. We retraced our steps to the river, took up it about 1.5 miles, when we came to the mouth of another presenting more favorable features, which we took for our route, and arrived at its head this afternoon and dry camped on the table land ten miles from the Pecos. General course west six miles, northwest four. Grass very dry; brushwood. Whilst ascending to the Mera two camels fell and bursted two of the kegs and injured several others, wasting about forty gallons of our most appreciated loading. The animals I believe are not injured. One of them lost its foothold, fell, and pulled the others from the trail by the rope attaching the train. Others might have suffered the same fate but for the timely assistance of Lieutenant Holman, who cut the lead line. During the ascent they had to resort to their feat of walking on their knees, which they do when the inclination of the trail is very great and heavily laden, to throw tin' center of gravity equally over the four legs, or on a slipping trail when their feet slip from under them. Marched 15.4 miles.

Did not get as early a start this morning as desired, and again delayed by vain endeavors to proceed on our march across cañons too huge to attempt, retraced our steps after a march of more than two miles, and took all Indian trail passing near our camp to the south, on which one of the men picked up a butcher knife, not long lost. Followed it 2.1 miles, then changed our course westwardly about four miles, northwest 3.5, 'west and southwest 3.2, being obliged to keep on the divide between the cañons where we set out. Country very rough, rocky, barren, dry apparently no rain on the region over which we passed to-day for a year. Every blade of grass dry and dead, not of this year's growth. Our mules will not fare well no forage and a very limited supply of water. The camels have performed most admirably to-day. No such march as this could be made with any security without them. It is with difficulty that the mules can be kept from the water barrels, particularly when the water is being issued. I might say the same of men. Grass bad; brushwood about the size of a finger. Made 27.2 miles. Gave the mules two and a half gallons of water.

Marched westwardly most of the day, and after a long march of 29.4 miles over rough, camp dry with out any prospects of finding water, in about the poorest prospect of making progress I have ever been situated. We are all very uneasy, not to say a little frightened, for our welfare. The mules must go without water to-night, are broken down now, and some are expected to be abandoned on the march to-morrow. We have only water sufficient for the men thirty hours. The Pecos, Rio Grande, and Fort Stockton , are too distant to reach, and the water on the Cammanche trail. San Francisco Creek , or Willow Spring which we expected to attain, we may be unable to reach from this impassable region. Our march to-day has been rough, and too rough to-morrow, I fear, for many lives that are now with us to stem. The animals go to the barrels and draw the bungs with their teeth and knaw at the bung holes. The second time in my life I have seen a quart of water priceless, almost. We have sent a man to search for water, to he paid liberally if he succeeds; if not, all the mules we expect to lose. A canteen of water was issued to the men with enough to make a cup of coffee. This is the fourth day since the camels drank, which was at the Pecos, brackish water, the same that we have, not only brackish, but when the bung is taken from a barrel a stench proceeds; it contains so much filth and impurity, and being barreled so long. The camels display quite a thirst.

Continued our march over very rugged country, retaining our course a little south of west, marched all day with much hope at heart, but very little sign or prospect of success of our only object in life to-day, that of reaching water. The whole command is very uncomfortable with regard to its future prospects. The animals of burden are almost ceased to be talked of, and the topic has become one of self interest alone. Drought depresses the most buoyant spirit, and keeps the mind in full operation and anxiety. Some of the men are very weak, and have several times reported about to give up and no water to drink. All 'we can tell them is, if they stop, they must risk the consequences, that not a moment can be lost for my one. We have some apprehensions for the safety of the command, and to-morrow a dispersion must take place in small parties to look for water according to individual judgment, to seek one another, if successful if not, never to meet again but by chance. The men have a quart of water issued to-night, and have enough for two drinks to-morrow, but they are so feeble and thirsty that it all would not last them an hour if they could get to it. The mules have stood it most admirably, much to the wonder of everyone. All are in camp to-night, but cannot graze for the thirst. The camels are continually bellowing, which I suppose, as it is unusual, a sign of a want of 'water. A part of our quartermaster and commissary stores were abandon at camp this morning. The mules were too feeble to be laden; and, fearing it too much for our camels, marched thirty miles, good grass region, bleak and dreary.

Although the command was very weary last night, it did not rest as well as I have seen it; the whole conversation was "something to drink." We had to use our canteens for pillows to secure our water, as none of the most thirsty show much reluctance in emptying any one they may come across at a draught. This morning brought forth many serious and despondent countenance in the command as they prepared to march with their two drinks of water, not knowing when or where the next was to be had, if at all. After marching four miles one of these was given out, when serious thoughts of dispersion, everyone to do the best that he could for himself and comrade. When ascending a little rise, to my delight, I recognized looming up in the distance, about fifteen miles, Camels Hump Mountain, at whose base the head of San Francisco Creek lies, and all pushed eagerly on to taste the sparkling treasure. No one can imagine the feelings of a thirst man till he sees one. I would not describe it by a vain attempt, as vain almost as that would be which I might use in describing the region of country just passed over which made them so; a region in its original chaotic state, as if the progress of civilization was too rapid for the arrangement of chaos; a picture of barrenness and desolation, when the scathing fire of destruction has swept with its rabid flame mountains, cañons, ravines, precipices, cactus, soap weed, intense reflection from the limestone cliffs, and almost every barrier that one can conceive of to make an impossibility to progress. Thus, and most joyfully, too, have we celebrated this memorable day; if it ever would have been, now, never will it escape having its anniversary remembered; the camp resounds with "hurrah for the 4th." The animals exhibited a remarkable knowledge of approaching water some time before reaching it, particularly the camels, which made a remarkable change in their speed ten miles from it. They had to be held back to keep them with the mules that before had been leading them. This is the fifth day since leaving the Pecos; the men are on foot, with half allowance of water; marched 120 miles, thermometer about 100° in shade, intense reflection, no wood, over the most rugged country known, the last days made about thirty miles. The mules were watered only twice on half allowance and on the sixth day from water. The camels stood it well. To-day, however, four mules gave out before reaching camp, two of which managed to reach camp after the command; the others abandoned. It was strange to see how eagerly they would seize a canteen whenever they were near it, and try to tear it to pieces. I saw one take a cork from one that was hanging up, and was drinking water from it by turning it about and catching the water as it was spilled. The men were cautioned about permitting them to drink too much at a time, as it sometimes proves fatal. After marching four miles, we encountered one of the highest, roughest, and most difficult descents we have met, which required a long while to overcome. One of the camels fell, not withstanding great caution was taken with them, but not hurt. The odometer machine was abandoned, but will be sent for to-morrow; also the mules. Camped at a water hole about a mile before reaching the creek, which stands in pools from ten to twenty-five feet deep, good water, we found fine grass in the Creek valley, which presents comparatively a refreshing appearance. Crossed my trail in 1859 going north from the Rio Grande about ten miles from camp. Marched 17.5 miles.

Remained in camp to recruit; sent out to get the mules abandoned, but could not find them; water was carried for them on the camels; the machine was brought in. One of the mules in camp died last night; several of the men complaining of sickness.

In camp still; the mules look badly; one of the men very sick last night, but a great deal better this morning, walking about camp.

This morning packed up and went down San Francisco Creek about a mile to a large fine water-hole to fill up our barrels, which occupied a good portion of the best traveling part of the day, but we only intended to make a short march and camp at water, not very good, nor a great deal of it, so we filled up before starting. After making our second start, marched toward " Camel Hump ," about five miles from our camp, and accidentally crossed the Camanche trail without seeing it, perhaps when it had been almost washed away. Ascertaining the fact, we soon gained it and marched up it 10.3 miles to Willow spring , where we find a supply of water, also some rain water. We have no guide, and I have been guiding, but not being a very experienced one, after having crossed the Camanche trail unnoticed, lost it again after having found it; but, knowing about the location of Willow Spring in directing my course accordingly, soon recovered it. Camped at the spring; good grass, little wood; marched 16.4 miles. The camels perform admirably. I never hear the eternal "hold on, a pack is down" of last year. Our improvements are perfection. The mules are not doing so well. A good many of them are worthless to us, with sore backs, &c., and a perfect encumbrance, drinking our water. The odometer goes very well, but has broken two shafts. This spring is about one fourth of a mile west of the trail in a small ravine, among rushes, immediately above a large rock, strata inclined about 45°, crossing the bed-several such are passed before reaching the spring; willows growing.

Set out early this morning, as usual, about sunrise, and left the Camanche trail at camp for Fort Davis ; marched about W. 20° N. all day; pretty good trail, but large mountains on every side, and camped among them this evening. We are making more westing than we like, but it cannot be prevented. At Camel's Hump we first reached the primitive rocks, and have been on the line of demarkation since leaving that mountain; found large herds of antelope on our route to-day, killed one. The mules have two and a half gallons of water this evening, some of them looking badly; command well. The herder, late yesterday afternoon, reported that he saw an Indian mounted, within a mile of camp, but we were not disturbed. The mornings are very cool, indeed; overcoats and blankets come freely into use. The water in our canteens almost as cold as ice water, at noon the thermometer is generally not much over 100°. Pretty good grass at camp; wood scarce; marched 22.1 miles.

Soon after leaving camp this morning, I endeavored in vain to cross the mountain range north of us, after expending a march of about four miles. Afterward returning to the valley, prolonged our trail, and in a few miles were fortunate in finding that the cañon made a turn N. 40° W., and then opened into a broken region of country to the west, several miles; and in the distance stood Mitre Peak , sixteen miles from Fort Davis . After marching twenty miles, found a rain water hole; five miles further found another very large, where we camped, having marched twenty-five miles. About thirteen miles from last camp, passed a very large grove of cedars, about two miles long. Antelopes very numerous. Country passed over to-day, very dry. Very little grass at camp, and no wood at all.

Less than half a mile from camp this morning, we crossed a new road to Presidio del Norte , from Fort Stockton , leaving the El Paso road at Leon Hales; proceeded on our course toward Mitre Peak , and after 8.8 miles, our nearest point to it, turned towards the north, and in about a half mile struck the trail on which I went to Fort Davis last year, which has been worked by Mexicans, and has become a traveled and passable road for Mexican carates, several have already passed over it to the post. From the nearest point of the trail to Mitre Peak , to Fort Davis , is 15.7 miles, and from Musqueir ranch, to Fort Davis , is 7.4 miles. In the cañon where this ranch is located, and in which the trail runs, is a small creek, and water to be found from the ranch to Mitre Peak . About two miles from the post it began to rain and hail heavily, which continued till after we went into camp on the Limpia; good camping ground; marched 24.5 miles. Found Colonel Seawell preparing to move the headquarters of the eighth infantry to San Antonio, with Lieutenant Dye, quartermaster, and Lieutenant Jones, adjutant, and will leave to-morrow morning. Lieutenant Van Horn will also leave to-morrow morning, with about ten prisoners for El Paso, to be tried for a case of hanging, by the civil authorities, which occured here a few months since. Colonel Seawell also takes five with him to San Antonio, accomplices in the same. We will remain at Fort Davis several days to recruit; several men and mules will have to be left here, unable to proceed. Command generally pretty well. Camels doing finely, no indication of having undergone any severities.

Remained at Fort Davis till this morning spent a most pleasant visit. Colonel Bomford, from Fort Quitman, with a detachment of his company in command, set out for Presidio del Norte, with 160 gallons of water, expecting to find some water, about forty miles from the post, found a little rain water at nineteen miles. Left nine mules it the post, and one of the men lame; the others who were complaining of ophthalmia had sufficiently recovered to march; took in a supply of new shoes for the men, expecting to be out about thirty days before reaching another post, we have taken rations for that period. Made a march of twenty-five miles, all on foot; camped dry; no wood; grass not very good. We have not yet been able to obtain a guide to suit our wishes. Had some fine water melons, musk melons, and some small apples and pears at Fort Davis , usually brought from Mexico.

July 15 Passed the San Estaban to-day, about ten miles from camp It was off the road to the east a mile or two, and we did not go to it. One of the men went out to the water and reported it unfit for drinking. Eight miles from camp passed a spring in the bed of arroyo Rancherillo spring, made by digging, splendid water, and now camped on fine permanent water called Pealagos, 18.9 miles from last camp; good grass; no wood; command in fine order. We have been traveling on the Fort Davis and Presidio del Norte road, and so far it is magnificent one. Country rather open. About 25 miles north and east of us there was a fine rain this morning, and we bad a slight sprinkle. Very warm this morning, but a fine breeze this afternoon. At the lone cedar off the road, to the right, is frequently found rain water; seven or eight miles from San Estaban.

Marched to-day 25.9 miles, and camped at __________. There were water holes in the bed of an arroyo; perhaps permanent water; found the greatest abundance of fine water along the road to-day in the bed of an arroyo, each place having its name; six miles reached the Penitas; about three miles another water; four and eight another; at eleven the Varras, very fine large holes an hundred feet long, very deep, and running stream; the last hole is called the "Punta del Agua;" country mountainous, but road fine; camels performing beautifully and heavily laden. In addition to their almost unlimited variety of food-bushes, briars, and grass-I can add the thistle and several species of the cactus, the prickly pear is one. Another circumstance has occurred to-day to make me mention the old song of "the falling of packs," which I had forgotten, being not reminded of it for some time till to-day, when we had to stop twice for their readjustment, as unusual now as to have marched two hours without it last year; country very dry; wood, but little grass. A wagon load of watermelons passed us this afternoon for Fort Davis from Presidio del Norte .

Came to the Alamo spring 4.1 miles from camp; fine running water in abundance in a cluster of a half dozen large alamos; crossed a steep range of mountains immediately after leaving camp; surface quite rolling and uneven till we came about eleven miles, where we found water in a cave, scarcely accessible by a man; from there to Fort Leaton surface very curiously broken; ravines in cañons and on table lands; hills in the bottom of cañons, isolated and dotted about; soil loose; road tolerably good, however, but rendered quite heavy by loose, deep sand for twelve miles before reaching Presidio del Norte ; reached the Rio Grande at Fort Leaton 4.1 miles from the town-an old ranche established for a trading post, &c., on a grant from the Mexican government, made about twenty-five years ago; several fine ranches along the river before reaching the town owned by Americans; camped on the river bank in a coral, good camp; marched 24.9 miles.

Remained camped at Presidio del Norte till this morning; made visits to the city on the 18th and 19th; called on the Alcalde; saw a good deal of the place, but found very little worth seeing. All the buildings are of adobe, and present much the appearance of a large dirt-dauber's nest. The population is 3,100, according to the Alcalde; but about half, or less, are a den of thieves. The few Americans settled around the place seem to be gentlemen, and treated us with much cordiality. The Alcalde came into camp and spent about an hour, admiring the camels. Visits from the Mexicans have been numerous; saw the Mexican women carrying ollas of water on their heads, weighing about seventy pounds. Leaving Presidio del Norte, we intend marching eastwardly, if possible, and it has always been reported an impossibility to reach the San Carlos trail, and made to-day 7.8 miles, camped on the Rio Grande; stopped to dine with Mr. Leaton, and had a magnificent dinner, and abundance of water melons; plenty of them and musk melons; in the vicinity.

Left the river at camp this morning, and tank up a cañon, making a little northing, country very mountainous, or rather all mountains. At 13.5 miles, reached a fine spring in a narrow deep cañon, splendid running water in abundance; about a mile further up the cañon we came to the first water of the spring, which is about ten feet deep and large. Fine alamos grow along the water which is named Ternesa spring. Here we filled our barrels for camping; had a little rain about noon; marched 21.7 miles; camped; dry brush and grass.

Had a rough road four miles and a half after leaving camp this morning; a better one for about ten miles, and then the most rugged, roughest, most tortuous and cragged one I have ever seen for about eight miles to camp, rougher than any I saw between the Pecos and the Camanche trail for the same distance. I never conceived that there could be such a country. The guide says he could have brought us a little nearer route, but that it would have been rougher. I cannot conceive it possible. I cheerfully concur with all who regard this region as impassable. At 10.4 miles from camp, we reached a beautiful spring, splendid water in abundance A few very large alamos grow along the water. Here we found a large bear; wounded and chased it, but to no avail, the country was too rough; and I have called it Bear spring. The odometer had several severe falls, and broke both of the shafts which have been several times replaced by saplings, and damaged a little otherwise, but not seriously. We are tonight camped at the most beautiful water I have ever seen in the State; very, very cold, flowing from the base of a precipice, projecting about 15°, and about 600 feet high, on the face of an immense mountain about twice the height of the precipice; the guide says it has no name, and I have called it Icy Branch. Marched 22.8 miles; wood and grass; had a shower to-day.

We went into camp so late yesterday, after a hard day's march, that we remained about two hours later than usual at camp, and turned out the animals to graze; made a very short march, only 12.9 miles; the country exceedingly rugged. Marched 4.9 miles., and reached the Lates Lengua, and have continued down the arroyo since; found rain water holes in its bed continually, brush and good grass. Saw another bear to-day. Some of the camels' backs are sore. The odometer requiring the services of three men to progress over this country.

Continued our march down the arroyo Lates Lengua, and found the road rugged several miles. At 6.5 miles, reached the Camanche trail to the Lahita crossing, and to San Carlos; followed it about 6.5 miles, where it crossed a mountain insurmountable for the camels-so Lieutenant Holman regarded it and we retraced our steps to the base, and attempted to pass around by an arroyo to the east, but were again turned back by too great a dissention by offsets in the bed; passed by another a little further to the north, and by circuituous route, found a passable road to where we are camped, within a few miles of the river, on the Lates Lengua. In this arroyo we have found plenty water since we first reached it, bushes, but little grass. From where the trail came into the Lates Lengua to camp, a road can be made, but not to follow the trail over the mountain that turned us back. We hope to reach the crossing to-morrow, if we can gain the trail again. Marched, twenty-one miles. On the last twelve miles, great many hills of loose sliding earth, resembling sand hills very much in appearance, perfectly made, and a good deal of selenite on the surface of some.

Went to the river this morning, 6.3 miles from camp, to see a wonderful curiosity, which the guide told us of; a place where the stream runs through a mountain precipice, about 1,500 feet high. The opening is just the width of the stream, perhaps a little narrower than usual, the precipice springing vertically from the water to its summit. Velocity, not as great as ordinarily at other points. From here, we took up the river at a distance from it, and reached the San Carlos Camanche trail at about seven miles, and found it tolerably good; the remainder of the route to the Rio Grande, by this and the circuit which I made, a road can be built. At 6.3 from the river is a watering place called the Lahita, but now dry. The camels are getting on pretty well. We have only sixteen mules in the command, for riding purposes only; one or two of them are very slow. The arroyo Lates Lengua empties into the river immediately at the pass through the mountains. I have called this pass, "The Grand Puerta;" found a water hole seven miles from this pass. There is not a good site here for a post, there is nothing very attractive about the spot whatever; a few bushes and small willows grow on the bank of the stream; not more than a half dozen trees to be found in the flat which is not large, and confined up and down the river by bluffs, against which the water flows, the intermediate space between two and three miles, and back from the river about a mile. The surrounding mountains, large. There is no moderately elevated spot sufficiently large for a post. Very little wood. There is a great deal of dry grass, not good now, but indicates plenty, in a good season, in the cañon and in the little hills leading to the river. The place is not very prepossessing.

Left the crossing of the San Carlos Camanche trail, by the Lachita, this morning, and followed our trail of yesterday to the Lates Lengua, which we crossed, and continued down the river in search of a location for a post. The alcalde of Presidio del Norte told us of a most beautiful one known as the Los Chiras crossing, where another branch of the great Camanche trail crosses the Rio Grande-Los Chiras is on some large mountains which terminate in a range on the river at this point. We were told by every one that no one had been or could go to it on this side of the river. Marched about four miles from the Grande Puerta down the river, and camped at a spot which attracted my attention very much for a post. Very pretty; plenty of timber; abundance of wood; grass plenty; building sites. Have found about what I was in search of; but will go further to-morrow, and see how the valley appears further down the stream.

After marching a few miles down the river this morning, I turned back without going to Los Chiras, satisfied that there is no better place on the river for building a post of any dimensions than that I had found. The river has a fine valley on each side, about twenty-five miles down; more timber and wood than a post can use. I saw one or two good sites on moderately elevated gravel mesas, easily accessible from the river and bottom, elevated just sufficiently for the purpose; plenty grazing for animals; some small canebrakes in the bottom; in a word, the location is well adapted for the purpose of building a post. This location is about twenty miles below the Camanche crossing, and is within a few miles of where the road would have to run to reach that place, and is well situated for accomplishing the purpose of establishing a post at the crossing. There is sufficient valley land to cultivate on either side of the river to supply any post and settlements, both of Americans and Mexicans, would render it as economical as posts generally. The Mexican population are anxious about the establishment of this post. Fort Davis and others of our posts receive many of their supplies from Mexico. Presidio del Norte furnishes to Fort Davis corn, vegetables, &c.; and from San Carlos, a great fruit and vegetable country, many supplies could be obtained; and from Presidio del Norte there is a road to the crossing, and but little work from there to the site. Returning from the location, I took a different route from the one going down, both of which can be very easily rendered wagon roads, and struck the Lates Lengua several miles higher up; also made a cut-off of several miles by leaving the arroyo when I reached it, and marching due north to camp, where we found rain water and most excellent grass. Marched twenty miles. Thus far a wagon road can be built readily at no great expense.

After a march of two and one fifth miles, reached the trail, and four miles further it left the Lates Lengua, going more to the east; then, at five miles, encountered a bad hill; road a little rough for four miles further; remainder to camp a fine road; but little work, however, will make it all good. About six miles before reaching camp this afternoon we passed a pretty good rainwater hole, and about two miles nearer passed a spot in which rushes grow; perhaps water can be had by digging. We are camped dry in a large valley; brought a supply of water in expectation of it. Marched 19.5 miles.

Continued up the trail, and found the road good until at twelve miles, when it ascended a mountain, riot very large, however, nor very rugged, but requiring work; from there to within one and one half miles of camp, the road will also require some; and here we have unfortunately encountered a descent, very rugged and steep, which, I fear, may ruin the so far good prospects for a road. The trail is impracticable at this point without very much labor, and the vicinity appears no better. A further examination will be made. Just before descending this mountain, we discovered from the top, in a deep cañon, very narrow, with precipitous sides about a thousand feet high, a beautiful water, which we could not reach; we descended, went to the mouth of the cañon, which we could not enter, and encamped. From here none of the animals can be taken to the water by any assistance that men are able to give them; it is a severe trail to reach it on foot. The animals have been without water two days, as we would not provide it for them with so much labor as to make the men bring it for them in small quantities, nearly a mile, over the most cragged road. The water appeared from the mountain top about three feet in diameter, but we find it to be about thirty, and deep; another water, about fifty yards further up the cañon, was found; it is very fine and cold; the sun has never shone on it; I have called it the "Inaccessible Tank." Marched 18.9 miles.

This morning I rode down the precipice, at whose base we were encamped, to look for a place to cross the precipitous mountain of yesterday. I went down four or five miles, from where I could see about six further, where it was smaller and more broken, but yet presented a formidable obstacle; but not so bad as at the trail. In going up the precipice, as far as I could examine, several miles, it appeared to increase in height. Proceeding up the trail six and a half miles we entered a rough cañon, but short and passable. One and one fifth miles further, we arrived opposite the Sierra Santiago, on whose side is reported a sulphur spring, upon which we had placed much dependence, but, to our sad disappointment, it was dry, which prevented making a halt to examine for another route around the mountain. We had only to push ahead and seek water, and found a nice spring or creek at 7.4 miles from Sierra Santiago. I have named it "Forked Branch." The camels were without water three days; the mules also, except a very limited supply last night; both are beginning to show exhaustion; the mules are lame and halt; the camels have several sore feet; their soles have actually been abraded off to the quick by the sharp cragged rocks, and others have very sore backs, indeed; holes in the humps are large enough to thrust in both fists; these sores do not injure them so much, being in the fleshy part of the hump, so long as they can be kept from the bones. Camped at Forked branch. Marched 15.8 miles. I would recommend to any one using the camels over rough country, in case of tender feet, to shoe them with a piece of (circular) raw hide, gather around the leg by a slipping cord; this will be found an absolute necessity in some instances. One of the men left the command a short distance yesterday, and has not been seen or heard of since.

Remained camped at Forked Branch yesterday to rest the animals; fine water and good grass. After making a further examination of the water, we find many large water holes six feet deep up and down the arroyo; permanent water. To-day, having filled our kegs, proceeded up the trail, and 16.4 miles struck the Camanche trail a few miles north of " Camel's Hump ," at a water hole which last year and also a month ago indicated permanency, but now dry. A few miles further passed another rainhole with water. Camped at Willow Spring; dry but muddy; got water by digging a foot; a mile from camp in the same bed found water; route good; marched 25.5 miles; saw fresh mule track on the trail to-day, perhaps of one we abandoned.

Marched 19.2 miles up the Camanche trail to-day and camped dry. No wood; grass very dry. Went about a mile down the arroyo this morning, to fill some kegs at the water, and 7.5 miles up the trail passed a water hole. At 3.6 miles another where Captain Brockett camped last year; several others with water, most of it not very good, and drying away very rapidly. The country very dry. Where we are camped is about the point at which I wished to leave the trail last year for the Pecos, but the condition of the animals was too bad to undertake it, and our water too scarce. Now the condition of the animals is even worse, nearly every mule barefooted and lame, or exhausted, several of the camels almost unable to march at all from tender feet. We have water in our barrels, but to attempt the trip would be at the expense of several, both mules and camels. We will have to go to Fort Stockton to leave those that cannot go and have the mules shod. One of the men has the opthalmia; another wounded himself in the hand this afternoon by the accidental discharge of his pistol; the one who was lost on the 29th ultimo has not appeared.

Marched 19.7 miles on the trail; found no water; the grass little green. Camped dry, near where we left the camel last year; no tidings of him, nor of the lost man. Several camels have sore backs, but fit for use; three have tender feet, and march slowly; make about two miles an hour on good road; have to take them to Fort Stockton to save them; one has not browsed for two days; feet too sore to move about.

Went into Fort Stockton . Marched 16.4 miles with some difficulty. Some of our rations are short also. Discharged our guide. Will remain here two days and fit up that portion of the command able to resume the reconnoissance.

Came into Camp Hudson to-day, and regret to say that I had to lose that portion of the reconnoissance which I had all the while intended to make from Fort Stockton across the country to this post, and came by the road. Lieutenant Holman stated that the escort was no longer capable of performing more work in the field. Very little water on the road; no grass. Left one man at Fort Lancaster , and one camel, with a man to attend to it, at Fort Stockton, and two mules. Have not yet heard of the man who was lost on the trail.

WILLIAM H. ECHOLS , Brevet Second Lieut. Topographical Engineers.

• HISTORY & CULTURE

The sinister reason why camels were brought to the American West

Slaveholders wanted to expand slavery westward. But first they needed to dominate the southwestern deserts.

In the spring of 1851, Jefferson Davis, a U.S. senator and the future president of the Confederacy, proposed to import 50 African and Asian camels—“the ship of the desert,” he called them—into the American Southwest. He wanted federal funding to support his globetrotting project; he got only derision .

For Davis, however, camels were no laughing matter. And as whimsical as his pet project may appear today, camels in fact belong to a dark chapter in American history when they were used as instruments of colonial conquest and slaveholding expansion.

Rebuffed in 1851, Davis continued advocating for his camel project. He argued that the animals would become a staple in military operations in the American Southwest, used by soldiers to hunt down Indigenous people in the region, thus asserting U.S. control across the continent. Once safe passage could be secured from Texas to Southern California, he expected white Southerners to begin moving west in large numbers, bringing their slaves with them. Although he denied it, camels were part of his broader fantasies for the westward extension of slavery.

After four years of lobbying, Davis finally won funding for his camel operation in 1855—at which point he was Secretary of War and could oversee the project. His handpicked agent soon set off on a world tour, with stops in Tunis, Constantinople, Cairo, and Smyrna, collecting a variety of “ camels and dromedaries ,” as well as Turkish and Arab handlers, as he went. A cargo of 34 animals landed in Indianola, Texas, in April 1856. Nine months later, an additional 41 camels arrived in the United States. ( Discover why camels are disappearing in India .)

The U.S. military soon set them to work, often drawing crowds of wide-eyed spectators. One camel successfully hauled 1,200 pounds of hay, delighting those who gathered to observe the feat. Between 1857 and 1859, Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale employed dozens of camels in several high-profile expeditions across the Southwest.

The list of American camel enthusiasts was growing. The animals, as observers noted, offered several advantages in desert travel: They could survive without water for long stretches of time, manage heavy loads, travel more than 30 miles a day, and do so while consuming less food than horses and mules. ( See the close relationship between Somali herders and their camels .)

Nevertheless, camels never became a fixture in the U.S. military, as Davis had hoped. Critics pointed to a litany of unpleasant personal habits : sneezing, shedding, acute halitosis, general bad odor, and a tendency to regurgitate on passersby. Perhaps even more damaging, rumors circulated that the camel corps was part of Davis’s thinly veiled proslavery plot. Congress refused to appropriate funds for the animals in 1858, 1859, and again in 1860. At that point, more than 80 camels were scattered across forts in Texas and California.

And yet, the story of American camels, and their curious connection to slavery, doesn’t end here. What started as a military project soon caught the eye of deep-pocketed civilians. Once again, slaveholders led the way.

By the late 1850s, camels had created a minor frenzy among planters in the South. None other than Davis’s camel importer, Henry Wayne, sparked the fad by writing a widely republished letter , enumerating the merits of camels in plantation labor. They could be used in lieu of mules for a number of tasks, Wayne argued, such as the transport of large quantities of baled cotton.

Slaveholders began clamoring for camels. “I want one of the ‘critters,’” wrote a correspondent to the Southern Cultivator,   “and must beg you to tell me how I can get one, transported or shipped to Macon, Geo[rgia].” In 1858, a cargo of 89 camels docked in Galveston, Texas. Several months later, a further 21 camels arrived in Mobile, Alabama.  

The relationship between camels and slaveholders runs even deeper. As historian Michael Woods has convincingly argued, camels were likely used as a smokescreen to help smuggle African captives to North America.

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The United States had outlawed the African slave trade—though obviously not slavery itself—in 1808. So, transatlantic slave traders devised various ruses to avoid detection. One of those dodges involved transporting camels in the same cargo in which captive Africans were secretly stored in a slave ship’s hold. It’s no coincidence that John A. Machado, the main importer of camels to the United States, was also a notorious slave trader .

Camels provided Machado with a cover. Slave ships were generally detectable by a few signs: large water tanks, substantial food supplies, and the stench caused by the unsanitary conditions in which the captives were kept. Yet any ship carrying a large number of camels also required an abundance of supplies and gave off similarly strong smells. With camels aboard, Machado could explain away these tell-tale signs, so often associated with slavers.

Machado had an additional decoy in his beguiling business partner, Mary Jane Watson, who acted as promoter and saleswoman once the camel cargos were unloaded. The press tracked Watson across the South, never suspecting—or at least never reporting on—Machado’s illicit payload.

The Civil War brought an end to the Machado-Watson partnership, and to this particular chapter in American camel history. Machado enlisted his ship in the Confederate war effort—until it ran aground while attempting to break the Union blockade of Charleston in October 1861. The next year, Mary Jane Watson drank herself to death in Spain. The fate of the enslaved people who arrived with Machado’s camels is unknown.

Although camels made cameo appearances in Union and Confederate armies during the war, they weren’t widely employed. They made better mascots than military mounts. By the end of the war, most had been auctioned off or simply set loose. Some found their way into zoos and circuses—five went to the Ringling Brothers—while others disappeared into the wild. For decades to come, startled travelers reported sightings of strange beasts moving across the desert landscape of the Southwest.

Such sightings contributed to a subculture of American camel lore, including the story of the “ Red Ghost ,” who purportedly rampaged across the West with a headless rider on his back. Hollywood took some of these stories to the silver screen with Southwestern Passage   (1954) and Hawmps!   (1976). Inland , a bestselling novel about this historic interlude , ended up on Barack Obama’s summer reading list. A memorial to camel handler Hadji Ali—or Hi Jolly , as his name was mispronounced—still stands in Quartzsite, Arizona. The historic mining town of Virginia City, Nevada, holds camel races every year.

Yet Western apocrypha, however amusing, obscures the most important element of this peculiar history. Transplanted camels were more than mere curiosities. They were tools in a conspiracy to entrench and expand the institution of slavery, beginning with the Secretary of War and continuing with individual planters and slave traders. The senators who snickered at Jefferson Davis in 1851 when he unveiled his pet project had little notion of how deep the plot would run.

Kevin Waite is an assistant professor of history at Durham University in the UK, and the author of  West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire  (UNC Press, 2021).

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The Great Camel Experiment of the Old West Paperback – August 4, 2015

• Reading age 1 - 12 years
• Print length 126 pages
• Language English
• Dimensions 5.5 x 0.29 x 8.5 inches
• Publication date August 4, 2015
• ISBN-10 1612444075
• ISBN-13 978-1612444079
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Halo Publishing International (August 4, 2015)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 126 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1612444075
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1612444079
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 1 - 12 years
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.4 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.29 x 8.5 inches
• #912 in Children's American Local History
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Sherry alexander.

Sherry Alexander is a native Northwestern. She was born in Montana but grew up in rural Oregon. An author of both fiction and non-fiction, she writes for both adults and children, and describes herself as someone who has had many passions and who has walked in many shoes. Recently retired from a career in emergency services, she is a freelance writer, blogger, child advocate and a history buff which she says she comes by honestly. Her great grandparents were pioneers who traveled the Oregon Trail. She lives with her husband of 47 years on a small SW Washington ranch with their two horses, two dogs, and the occasional pack of coyotes. Visit her online at www.sherryalexanderwrites.com

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Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) https://www.tshaonline.org

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/camels

By: Chris Emmett and Odie B. Faulk

Published: 1952

Updated: August 1, 1995

In 1836 Maj. George H. Crosman urged the United States War Department to use camels in Indian campaigns in Florida because of the animals' ability to keep on the move with a minimum of food and water. The matter came to the attention of Senator Jefferson Davis , whom President Franklin Pierce later appointed secretary of war. Davis's first problem was that of coping with Indians and with transportation in Texas, but the enormous expense of the Mexican Cession of 1848 had seriously depleted available army resources. Davis firmly accepted the currently prevalent "Great American Desert" thesis, which held that much of the western United States was virtually uninhabitable. He urged Congress to appropriate money to test the value and efficiency of camels in the Southwest as a partial solution to pressing needs. At the insistence of the War Department, Congress passed, on March 3, 1855, the Shield amendment to the appropriation bill, which made $30,000 available "under the direction of the War Department in the purchase of camels and the importation of dromedaries, to be employed for military purposes."

On May 10, 1855, Maj. H. C. Wayne received the special presidential assignment. The naval storeship Supply , in command of Lt. D. D. Porter, was placed at Wayne's disposal. Wayne traveled ahead to study continental use of camels. After trafficking down the North African coast and spending $12,000 for desirable beasts, he returned with thirty-three camels, three Arabs, and two Turks. Thirty-two of the camels, plus one calf born at sea, arrived at Indianola, Texas, on April 29, 1856, but because of bad weather and shallow water were not unloaded until May 13. On June 4 Wayne started his caravan westward. They stopped near Victoria, where the animals were clipped and Mrs. Mary A. Shirkey spun and knit for the president of the United States a pair of camel-pile socks. The animals were finally located at Camp Verde, where several successful experiments were made to test the camels' utility in the pursuit of Indians and the transportation of burdens. Wayne reported that camels rose and walked with as much as 600 pounds without difficulty, traveled miles without water, and ate almost any kind of plant. One camel trek was made to the unexplored Big Bend.

The first camel importation was followed by a second, consisting of forty-one beasts, which were also quartered at Camp Verde. In the spring of 1857 James Buchanan's secretary of war, John B. Floyd, directed Edward Fitzgerald Beale to use twenty-five of the camels in his survey for a wagon road from Fort Defiance, New Mexico, across the thirty-fifth parallel to the Colorado River. After this survey, the drive continued to Fort Tejon, California, where the camels were used to transport supplies and dispatches across the desert for the army. Eventually some of the animals were turned loose, some were used in salt pack-trains, and others even saw Texas again after Bethel Coopwood , Confederate spy and Texas lawyer, captured fourteen from Union forces. During the Civil War eighty camels and two Egyptian drivers passed into Confederate hands. The camels soon were widely scattered; some were turned out on the open range near Camp Verde; some were used to pack cotton bales to Brownsville; and one found its way to the infantry command of Capt. Sterling Price, who used it throughout the war to carry the whole company's baggage. In 1866 the federal government sold the camels at auction; sixty-six of them went to Coopwood. Some of the camels in California were sold at auction in 1863, and others escaped to roam the desert.

The failure of the camel in the United States was not due to its capability; every test showed it to be a superior transport animal. It was instead the nature of the beasts which led to their demise-they smelled horrible, frightened horses, and were detested by handlers accustomed to the more docile mules. Two private importations of camels followed the government experiment. On October 16, 1858, Mrs. M. J. Watson reported to Galveston port authorities that her ship had eighty-nine camels aboard, and claimed that she wanted to test them for purposes of transport. One port official, however, felt that she was using the camels to mask the odor typically associated with a slave ship and refused her petition to unload the cargo. After two months in port, Mrs. Watson sailed for the slave markets in Cuba after dumping the camels ashore in Galveston, where they wandered about the city and died from neglect and slaughter around the coastal sand dunes. A second civilian shipment of a dozen camels arrived at Port Lavaca in 1859, where it met a similar fate.

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Time Periods:

• Antebellum Texas

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style , 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Chris Emmett and Odie B. Faulk, “Camels,” Handbook of Texas Online , accessed July 31, 2024, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/camels.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

TID : QUC01

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Chronicle of the Old West - The Great Camel Experiment

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Episode 3, Season 3 / May 4, 2023

The Camel Experiment: The Legend of Hi Jolly

Camels, a legendary muslim immigrant, and u.s. soldiers intersect in an unlikely celebration, the prologue.

In this episode, Marfa Public Radio’s Annie Rosenthal and Points South producer Christian Adam Brown revisit the unusual history found at the sites of OA contributor Sasha von Oldershausen’s essay, “The Camel Experiment.” Travel to Texas and meet Doug Baum and his Texas Camel Corps, survey the remnants of a mid-19th century military experiment that helped pave the way for the U.S.’s westward expansion. Follow along as Christian and Annie visit Quartzsite, Arizona, to learn about Hadji Ali, a Muslim immigrant who served as a military camel driver and is now memorialized as a folk hero.

Beyond The Prologue

Read sasha von oldershausen’s original essay.

“The Camel Experiment” first appeared in Issue 104 of the Oxford American. Read the full story here .

Meet Doug Baum and his Texas Camel Corps

A short film by rick jacques, browse filmmaker rick jacques's striking photos from the camel trail.