PHOTO: ©CORBIS
weeds, prickly, tough-stemmed plants, and scrubby desert brush they found along the way meant that they helped conserve forage. Their ability to go without water was another positive asset. The soldiers marveled as the camels ignored water holes after days of traveling in the searing heat, while the horses and mules were in a frenzy to drink as much as they could hold. The camels crossed rough, volcanic gravel and rock with no difficulty, dispelling the myth about their having tender feet, and when the expedition reached the Colorado River, the camels surprised everyone by swim- ming easily across. Not one camel was lost, but two horses and ten mules drowned in the crossing. Beale went on to proclaim the venture a success, and when reporting on the camels’ performance he was moved to write the following: “The harder the test they are put to, the more fully they seem to justify all that can be said of them. They pack water for days under a hot sun and never get a drop; they pack heavy burdens of corn and oats for months and never get a grain; and on the bitter grease- wood and other worthless shrubs, not only subsist, but keep fat.” Beale concluded, “I look forward to the day when every mail route across the continent will be conducted and worked altogether with this economi- cal and noble brute.”
Despite the scoffing of some people, camels had proven their value in the American Southwest. Once the Beale Road was established, wagons could carry supplies and mail to California and military posts more easily. Camels also proved their worth in civilian enterprises as well. The same year that Edward Beale surveyed the Beale Road, a civilian named John Butterfield used some of Beale’s camels to help establish the routes that the Butterfield Overland Stage Company later used to carry mail and passengers through Texas and Arizona to Los Angeles, California. By 1858, camels were working throughout the American Southwest, and in 1860, the US Army deployed the Camel Corps to survey the Pecos River and Big Bend regions of Texas.
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were left to fend for themselves when attacked by Native Americans. Plans for westward expansion ground to a halt as federal funds were spent on the troops, weapons, and ammunition the North needed to fight the South. Edward Beale offered to keep the army’s camels at his California ranch, but Edwin McMasters Stanton, who was made secretary of war in 1862, rejected his offer and auctioned the animals off. Some were purchased by
In an 1854 report to the US Senate, Sec- retary of War Jefferson Davis urged the US government to use camels to carry supplies to military garrisons scattered throughout the American Southwest.
Edwin McMasters Stanton, who was sec- retary of war under Abraham Lincoln, ordered that the camels of the US Camel Corps be sold at auction in 1862.
Secretary of War John Buchanan Floyd sent the US Camel Corps on crucial over- land surveying journeys starting in 1857.
Secretary of War Floyd asked Con- gress to appropriate money to pur- chase one thousand more camels, but trouble with the Southern states was brewing and Congress put off a decision on the matter.
The End of the Camel Corps Despite the US Camel Corps’ distinct success in the American Southwest, the first shots of the American Civil War, which were fired at Fort Sumter in April 1861, proved to be the outfit’s death knell. As Union soldiers were called back East, forts in the West were abandoned, and settlers
mining companies to transport ore, while others were put to work hauling freight. A few were bought by circuses or zoos, and some are said to have escaped or been released into the wild. Twenty-eight camels were given to the city of Los Angeles to transport mail and move freight and baggage at the harbor, and a short-lived camel express delivered mail between Arizona desert towns.
As for the leader of the US Camel Corps, Edward Beale, he returned to his ranch near Bakersfield, Califor- nia, taking Seid, his favorite camel, plus several other camels, with him. The US government’s experiment with camels officially ended in 1863, but the animals’ contributions to the expansion of America would continue to be felt. Once the American Civil War was over, western migration resumed, and the Beale Road became a major commercial route. Edward Beale later served as minister to Austria-Hungary and, after his return
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PHOTO: ©MEDFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTION/CORBIS
PHOTO: ©BETTMANN/CORBIS
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