The Great Camel Experiment

Seventy-five camels came ashore at Indianola in 1856 and 1857 from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Turkey after years of interest among politicians, diplomats, and the military in importing camels for North America’s desert regions. In 1853, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis proposed to Congress that camels be used as pack animals in the desert Southwest, and Congress approved the request on March 3, 1855. After a three-month voyage from the Mediterranean, the Fashion entered Matagorda Bay on May 13, 1856, and landed thirty-four camels at the wharf at Powder Horn, including Bactrians, Arabians, and a hybrid cross between the two. Residents of Indianola recalled the unusual sight of the camels being led through the streets, and by February 1857 a second government shipment of forty-one camels arrived. Military camel caravans carrying supplies became more common in the Texas Hill Country between Camp Verde and San Antonio, and in the summer of 1857 the camels, along with traditional livestock, were used to survey the great wagon road between Arizona and California, now known as Route 66. The camels were also used in 1859 and 1860 for reconnaissance in west Texas, surveying routes to the U.S./Mexico border. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, all U.S. military assets, including the camels, came into possession of Confederate troops, and after the war the camels were auctioned off.

Texas · United States