CAMELS IN TEXAS?
Yes, for about ten years there was a rather large herd of camels resident in Texas. It is not just a tall-tale talkative Texans tell.
The idea of adapting the camel to transportation needs of the nation expanding into the southwest was set forth by a man born in Kentucky horse breeding country. Interest in building a railroad across that vast expanse of rough terrain to the prosperous gold fields of California was hampered by political complications and enmities. Nothing was being done, and, he, as the United States Secretary of War ordered Major H. C. Wayne to the Middle East to study and to purchase a herd of camels or dromedaries as they were called in those days.
The plan was to use the “beasts of the desert” to transport vital military supplies the Secretary of War was having trouble supplying to the west coast and the scattered posts along the way.
The Secretary was not a man given to whims. He had a hot temper according to those who had know him at West Point Military Academy, or during his term he served as U .S. Senator - 1847-1861. He was said to have been a man of strong convictions which, some thought, bordered at times on self-righteousness. We know him in a totally different context as Jefferson Davis, President-to-be of the Confederate States of America.
Wright bought thirty-three camels as an initial shipment. They came on a ship called the “Supply” along with several Greek and Turkish drivers. On May 14, 1865 the people of Indianola, Texas, saw the beginning of the U.S. Army's Camel Corps. In San Antonio the camels demonstrated how they could have two bales of Texas cotton affixed to their backs while kneeling and, then stand up with no special effort, and haul the bales elsewhere. They proved to be very impressive in many such tests comparing them to mules.
Texas was not, at that time, exactly over run with experienced dromedary drivers, so it was necessary to train men to manage the beasts. The camel proved to have many positive qualities. It could travel long distances, bearing heavy loads with little need for water and minimum requirements for forage. It could exhibit degrees of exceptional stamina but negative points also became apparent which doomed the project to failure.
A major one, oddly enough proved to be a physical problem. The soft padded feet of the camel were not at all suited to the rocky terrain over which they were expected travel. Sore feet and legs were obvious. The camel is not exactly the most joyful beast of the field to start with and even though someone may well have come up with a “camel-shoe” in time. The second important negative was that men did not take to being camel drivers at all. It is not a pleasant task and most men who trained at it were found to prefer mules. Camels and their drivers mutually detested each other it.
Another negative reason was that the nation itself was rushing quickly into a costly Civil War which would rend the country apart and threaten its very existence.
The Secretary of War had other things on his mind. The camels, at Fort Verda ,Texas, south of Keensville, became part of the Confederate army for a time, but at the end of the war became federal property. The railway builders had awakened to the needs of the west the camels were sold at auction in 1866. A few escaped and took to the western wilds where they were occasionally seen until well into the latter years of the 19th Century.
A.L.M. January 21, 2003 [c615wds]
