The 'Mythical' Camel Corps...

[St. George]

Given the fact that the Army never had a 'Camel Corps' - the history of the affair is still interesting.

It was a short-lived, pre-Civil War experiment - and was carried out on contract.

For your reference:

There are good and bad descriptions of the Camel story.

The 'Good':

'A Bibliography of the Camel', California Historical Society Quarterly, December 1930. '

'Camels in California' - Gray - California Historical Society Quarterly, March 1930.

' Uncle Sam's Camels', the Journal of May H. Stacey, 1929 - Lewis B. Lesley (ed.),

'The Story of El Teion, 1942.' - Woodard - A very incomplete and undocumented work.

'The U.S. Camel Corps, an Army Experiment' - Faulk - Oxford University Press, 1976. A readable but sloppy work. The section an the far west is filled with errors.

'The Camel: its Evolution, Ecology, Behavior, and Relationship to Man' - Gauthiers-Pilters and Dagg - University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1981

'Uncle Sam's Camels: the Journal of May Humphreys Stacey - supplemented by the Report of Edward Fitzgerald Beale' - Lesley - (ed.) - Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1929

'Camels for Uncle Sam' - Yancey - Hendrick-Long Publishing Co., Dallas, TX, 1995

The 'Bad':

'Unique History of Fort Tejon' - Howard - Journal of the West. A mythical account; almost nothing is factual.

'Camels To California' - Fowler - 1950.  A cut and paste rip-off of history published by Stanford University.

'Camels in the West' -  Robertson - 1979. Riddled with errors.
'Drum Barracks and the Camel Corps' - booklet -California History Commission -  hilarious collection of errors, mistakes, and folklore.

The 'Official':

Camel File, Quartermaster Dept., R.G. 92, U.S. National Archives (USNA), Washington, D.C.
Letters Sent and Received, Quartermaster Dept., Dept. of the Pacific
Letters Sent and Received, Hdqtrs., Dept. of the Pacific, in R.G. 92 and 393, USNA.
Letters Received, Sec. of War, 1856-1864, R.G. 107, USNA

And since you're already reading - an interesting tale to go along with the above.

'The Red Ghost'  - Froman - American Heritage, XII (April 1961), pp. 35-37 and 94-98

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Pawnee Bill]

Given the fact that the Army never had a 'Camel Corps' - the history of the affair is still interesting.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

This is intereasting I live about 7 mi from the never really existed so called  Camel barns at old Benecia Arsenel.
It was an old Quartermaster warehouse and had wooden devider bins to pile quartermaster supplys , some local YEHOO decided that they were stalls declared that they were for Camels and ever since you got to fight with the locals if you know the truth and have the nerve to tell it.
Cheers
Pawnee Bill

[St. George]

Those 'Camel Barns' were where they modified equipment to suit mission needs - but that local story's a far better one...

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Knuckles McDaniel]

are you trying to tell me thast the camel corps that were in Texas Never existed. I been to the place where they have a general store  and i even got a t-shirt, and across the highway was the officers quarter. ..you are saying we dream that up.......

[Beans]

Next time I go laughlin nevada I will take a photo of  a state historical marker about the "Camel Corps".  It is right along the highway.

[St. George]

They didn't exist as one might've believed - given their obvious 'tourist appeal' - but they 'did' bring Camels out West - and they 'did' try freighting with them - but it was done under contract and not as a part of an actual element of the Army.

One of the more 'popular' myths of the Frontier West, to be sure...

Read the referenced material for the official version - then, read the other stuff just for fun.

But remember - 'Myth and Fantasy' - no matter how readable or how popular - doesn't equate to 'Reality' - and espousing belief in something does a disservice to the truth.

Scouts Out!

[RattlesnakeJack]

One thing about the British Empire ... with lots of military campaigning in parts of the world where camels are common. they have had Camel Corps and camel regiments ... more than once:

Sudan Campaigns:


WWI:

[RRio]

Given the fact that the Army never had a 'Camel Corps' - the history of the affair is still interesting.

It was a short-lived, pre-Civil War experiment - and was carried out on contract.

Have to agree with St. George.

http://www.outwestnewspaper.com/camels.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/us-camel-corps

http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/Museum/Camel.htm


RRio

[Trailrider]

Howdy, St. George,

When you say, "On contract...", do you mean the entire experiment was conducted by a private freighting firm under contract to the Army, or that the drivers and handlers were Quartermaster Dept. employee, but under command of military personnel?  While the distinction is a fine one, it is pertinent.

During the 1800's, and especially during the Indian Wars (and apparently before the CW), the Army lacked specialized personnel to perform various duties...teamsters, packers, carpenters, scouts (including Buffalo Bill Cody, Frank and Luther North, interpreters, et al.  To make up for this, the Quartermaster Dept. hired civilian personnel to do the jobs required.  These civilians ("citizens" was the term used then) often operated in the field with the troops, and sometimes participated in campaigns, battles, etc.

Without my examining the referenced NARS files, I would suspect, from the referenced QM Dept. reports that this was the case with the "camel corps".  Since the purpose of the camel corps was to substitute for horses and mules for various purposes in the field by use by the troops, I would presume that troops were involved.

Still, this doesn't mean that there was an "official" Camel Corps, just an experiment utilizing QM Dept. employees and the troops in the field.

[St. George]

Post Mexican-American War victories - the United States expanded dramatically in area.

Thus - the Army moved to better provide protection to the looming masses of emigrants to the new territories - deploying the bulk of its forces and equipment across the West.

Those distances were suddenly the cause for financial alarm once Congress and the War Department realized the costs involved in supporting an Army whose Forts and re-supply areas were no longer near convenient rivers - but scattered far and wide - necessitating expensive civilian contracts with local drayage firms, or the even more costly Government-owned rolling stock manned by teamsters and wagoneers as employed by the Government and paid at East Coast wages that were far more than those to be paid 'out West'.

It was like shaking a money tree, then - much as it is, today, since the expense continued to mount.

Animals had to be fed and watered - and if local purchase couldn't do it - then it had to be brought in and stored - an expensive proposition.

Needless to say - the Federal Auditors kept track of the proper spending of the Government's Dollar and logistically - the affair was a nightmare.

Despite the Silver Screen's depiction of the Frontier Army in the West, the biggest problems were not 'wild Indians' or 'renegade Mexican bandits' - they were transportation, forage, live drayage animals and an ever-constant demand for financial economy.

Camels were looked at as a way to beat the system - or make it at least less expensive - so the Secretary of War - John B. Floyd - directed the purchase.

Thus - these fell in to a common use of the time - Government-owned equipment (camels) - operated by civilians under contract.

Periodically - soldiers would become involved on an 'as-needed' basis - but there was no 'assignment' to a designated unit.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Steel Horse Bailey]

So, let me get this straight ...

The movie "Hawmps", starring Slim Pickens, isn't  really true?!!?  

My bubble is now officially burst!  

[St. George]

'Into each life, some rain must fall...'

Try to be strong.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Drip, Drip, Drip ...