The Secret U.S. Camel Corps of the 1850s
Few know the U.S. Army once imported camels, hoping they would shape the future of transport across the American Southwest.
In the mid-19th century, the United States faced a unique challenge: as settlers pushed westward, vast arid deserts made transportation difficult. Horses and mules struggled under the relentless sun, so a curious idea was born in Washington. In 1855, at the urging of then-Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, Congress allocated $30,000 for an experiment—import camels from the Middle East and North Africa to test their capabilities in the American desert.
Major Henry C. Wayne and naval officer David Dixon Porter led the expedition, eventually acquiring more than 70 camels from Egypt, Turkey, and Tunisia. They were shipped across the Atlantic and introduced near Camp Verde in Texas. Soldiers dubbed the project the U.S. Camel Corps, and by 1857, the camels were assisting wagon trains, carrying supplies, mail, and surveying equipment across Texas, California, and New Mexico.
Despite Americans’ skepticism, the camels excelled at their tasks. They required less water than horses, could carry heavier loads—up to 600 pounds—and were unfazed by prickly desert plants. The animals’ loud, unfamiliar noises, however, unnerved the horses and mules, while many handlers struggled with the camels’ reputed stubbornness. Still, a successful demonstration trek over 1,200 miles led by Lt. Edward Beale—now known as the Beale Camel Trail—proved their impressive endurance.
Had the Civil War not intervened, the camels might have become a staple on western trails. But Texas, key to the experiment, fell to the Confederacy, and the Union Army lost interest. Surplus camels were sold at auction or left to roam wild. For decades, there were sporadic sightings of camels wandering Oklahoma, Arizona, and California, known as “Red Ghosts” to startled locals and sometimes featured in tall tales of the Old West.
Although most Americans are unaware, the experiment showed early government creativity in tackling frontier challenges. The U.S. Camel Corps faded into obscurity, but a few historical markers and museum exhibits still recount this chapter—when the country briefly imagined camels, not horses, dominating the roads to the West.
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