The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 5, Issue 4, Fall 2016 | Page 27

Other nations’ history of success using the camel, not just in
transportation but also in actual combat, would be the greatest selling point of the
Camel Corps. In promoting his amendment, Davis alluded to the degree to which
several countries in Asia and Africa used camels as beasts of burden. He specified
that the English used camels in the East Indies to move army provisions and to
carry light artillery. In addition, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte used camels
in his Egyptian operations in dealing with a culture that the French considered
“wild”—much like the America power structure considered the Comanche and
Apache of the American Southwest. Davis supposed that the army could
effectively use camels against the Native Americans on the Western frontier.
“Consuming enough water before they start to last for one hundred miles; traveling
continually without rest at a rate of ten or fifteen miles an hour, they would
overtake these bands of Indians, which our cavalry cannot do,” claimed author
J.M. Guinn. 7
Congress warmed to the idea. On 3 March 1855, the U.S. Congress
appropriated $30,000 for the project. 8 Secretary Davis appointed Major Wayne to
obtain the camels. On 4 June 1855, Wayne departed New York City on board the
USS Supply, under the command of Lieutenant David Dixon Porter. After arriving
in the Mediterranean Sea, Wayne and Porter began the process of acquiring
camels. Stops included Malta, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. They took possession of
thirty-three animals: two Bactrian two-humped camels, twenty-nine one-humped
dromedaries, one dromedary calf, and one booghdee (a cross between a male
Bactrian and a female dromedary). They also employed five camel drivers. On 15
February 1856, USS Supply put out to sea for Texas. 9 They arrived at Indianola and
unloaded the camels on 14 May 1856. 10 During the journey across the Atlantic, one
male camel perished, but two calves were born. The excursion consequently
landed with a net gain of one camel. 11
Naturally, their arrival was a spectacle. When the camels sauntered into
Houston, they generated quite an impression. People observed, engrossed, as the
obedient animals knelt and rose on command. Miss Mary A. Shirkey of Victoria,
Texas, crocheted a somewhat malodorous pair of socks for President Franklin
Pierce from the coat of a government camel. For this civility, she received suitable
thanks—Pierce sent her a silver goblet in return. 12 Major Wayne believed that
perchance camel hair would prove to have monetary worth. 13 Immediately the
Army put the camels to work. Throughout the initial days of summer in 1856,
soldiers loaded them up and drove them to Camp Verde via Victoria and San
Antonio. 14 News from early tests was optimistic. The camels demonstrated that
they were exceptionally resilient, and were able to move speedily across the desert
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