Keeping History Alive

The U.S. Army’s most successful experiment in overland transportation before the development of four-wheel drive vehicles powered by internal combustion engines was the Camel Corps. You read that right – camels, the Bactrian two-humped kind, the kind of pack animals that could thrive and survive on the vegetation in the deserts of the American Southwest. The experiment began in May of 1856, at Powderhorn, Texas, and just ten years later it ended, a strange bit of history.

Though the idea of using camels as overland transport was floated around for a few years, it was U.S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who made it an official recommendation. A camel could carry 1,000 pounds and survive on less water than the horses, mules or oxen that were the Army’s only transportation at the time. Camels could survive and even prosper on desert vegetation. And compare that pack load to the 300 pounds of a mule load. The camels were ideal for the purpose of carrying freight across the remote desert frontier. Davis authorized the purchase of 30 camels and their transport after a delegation from the U.S. Army to the Middle East reported on their usefulness. Camel handlers, or “drovers,” were employed, as well.

While at sea, one of the female camels gave birth on the voyage to the United States, so the expedition landed with one extra camel. Upon landing, it was discovered that horses and mules were afraid of the camels, though this was a mixed blessing. While Army horses and mules could be trained to accept them, Indian horses would not. This made camel caravans across hostile territory far safer than wagon trains.

Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale took over the project once the camels left the Navy ship. Hadji [or Haj or Hajj] Ali, nicknamed “Hi Jolly” by Americans who had a hard time pronouncing his name, was hired to teach the soldiers how to pack the animals.

Lieutenant Beale left on a Western expedition in June, 1857, with Hi Jolly along as chief camel driver. Camels were loaded with 600 to 800 pounds each and traveled 25 to 30 miles a day. If the animals fared well, it was thought, a series of Army posts could be set up later along the route to relay mail and supplies across the Southwest. After reaching California, the expedition returned to Texas – a success as far as Lieutenant Beale was concerned.

"The harder the test they (the camels) are put to, the more fully they seem to justify all that can be said of them," Beale wrote. "They pack water for days under a hot sun and never get a drop; they pack heavy burdens of corn and oats for months and never get a grain; and on the bitter greasewood and other worthless shrubs, not only subsist, but keep fat."

Their usefulness was proven time and time again. On one occasion, the camels hauled freight from the supply depot in San Antonio to Camp Verde in a driving rainstorm that would have halted wagon freight operations for days, until the ground dried enough for wagons to move forward without bogging down in the mud. The camels not only carried supplies for the troops but corn and grain for the horses and mules. They were also used for surveying trips and, while in California, rescued a snowbound wagon train high in the Sierras.

They weren’t particularly popular with the soldiers, however. The camels were difficult to manage and bad tempered; they spit; their odor was strong and unpleasant.

Their usefulness to the Army waned with the change in American politics. In 1861 the southern states seceded, and Jefferson Davis was elected President of the Confederacy. The camels, based in Texas, now belonged to Davis’ government and they couldn’t figure out what to do with them. Once the Confederacy surrendered, anything with Davis’ approval was unacceptable to the Union.

What happened next?

Some of the camels were sold at auction. An Austin attorney bought one. He would eat breakfast at Austin’s Driskill Hotel, mount his camel, and arrive in San Antonio in time for the opening of court at 9 AM – 70 miles to the south.

Some camels were used to transport mail and haul harbor baggage in California. Some were sold to circuses, mining companies, or other freight services. Others were released to wander in the deserts and survived for years. In the mid-1870’s one wandered into Fort Selden, New Mexico Territory. The young son of the post commander saw it and ran, terrified, to hide behind his mother. The post commandant was COL Arthur MacArthur. The terrified child grew up to be General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.

Some camels were shot by prospectors and hunters. Legends of phantom camels popped up throughout the Southwest. Prominent among them was that of the "Red Ghost," said to have been sighted several times with a headless corpse strapped to its back. In the mid 20th Century, there was still a law in Nevada fining anyone $100 for using a camel on a public highway. In 1907, a prospector ran into two wild camels in Nevada. In Arizona, a great red camel carrying a worn saddle on its back was seen in the early 1900s.

Most of the imported Arab drovers settled on the coast and turned to other trades. Each one retained at least one camel from the original herd. Hi Jolly remained in Arizona. Once, insulted because he had not been invited to a picnic in Los Angeles, he broke up the gathering by driving into it on a yellow cart pulled by two of his pet camels. In the 1930s, a monument was erected in his memory in Quartzsite, Arizona. One of the Syrian camel drovers, Elias Calles, eventually married in Mexico. His son, Plutarco Calles, served as President of Mexico in the 1920s.

For more information …

The U.S. Army Camel Corps

“Camels West” from Saudi Aramco World