Texas Used To Have A Camel Corp

On this day in American military “what were they thinking?” history, the United States Army decided that what the deserts of the Southwest really needed... was camels. Real ones. With humps. In uniform, sort of.

Yes, in 1855, Uncle Sam greenlit a full-blown Camel Corps to patrol the arid wilds of the Southwest. Because apparently, horses just weren't cutting it, and nothing says “frontier dominance” like borrowing your tactical strategy from the Arabian Peninsula.

Get our free mobile app

Why Camels?

Because someone in Washington (hi, Jefferson Davis — yes, that Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederacy) thought importing camels from the Middle East was the military equivalent of a genius life hack. Camels don’t need much water, can carry 600+ pounds, and can spit on command. What’s not to love?

So they shipped in 75 camels from Egypt, Turkey, and other camel-flavored locales, along with experienced Middle Eastern camel handlers because the U.S. cavalry, shockingly, was not certified in camel management.

The camels arrived in Texas (naturally) and got stationed at Camp Verde, which immediately became America's most cursed barnyard.

Get our free mobile app

Camels in Texas: An Overheated Disaster

Turns out, camels were incredible at surviving the brutal desert climate. What they weren’t great at was making friends.

The horses? Terrified. Mules? Mutinous. Soldiers? Covered in spit and trauma. The camels stank, groaned, ran too fast, and generally acted like they knew they were better than everyone else, which, honestly, they kind of were. But morale? Absolutely in the toilet.

Also, the camels didn’t listen to commands, made weird noises at night, and had a tendency to bolt over the horizon for fun. Great for crossing deserts. Less great for sticking to formation.

So... How Long Did the Camel Corps Last?

Longer than it should have, but not nearly long enough to be useful.

Despite a few promising survey missions and the camels absolutely crushing it logistically, the Civil War broke out, and Congress had bigger things to worry about than hump-backed logistics. Jefferson Davis was a little too busy launching a rebellion to advocate for camel infantry.

By the late 1860s, the whole thing had fizzled out. The camels were auctioned off to circuses, zoos, and extremely confused ranchers. Some were just set free into the wild. And for decades after, there were wild camel sightings across the Southwest, including one legend of a ghost camel carrying a headless rider near Yuma. America is never boring.

Get our free mobile app

A Few Fun Camel Corps Facts

• The first ship carrying camels was literally named the USS Supply, because branding is everything.

• Camel saddles had to be custom-made because American saddles just didn’t fit the hump aesthetic.

• The most famous camel handler was Hi Jolly, a Syrian-Greek camel whisperer buried in Quartzsite, Arizona, under a pyramid-shaped tomb. Yes, really.

• The Army tried again with camels during WWII. That lasted about five minutes.

So... What Did We Learn?

Camels? Excellent at desert survival. Terrible coworkers. America’s military? Bold in ideas, short on follow-through.

And now, on this very special day, we remember the time we tried to turn the Texas desert into a low-budget Lawrence of Arabia sequel. It didn’t work, but boy, did we try.