Confederate Camel

[lupaglupa]

It's been a while since I read the book, which I recommend. The hope was that camels could replace horses in the desert Southwest. They would be used for patrols and as pack animals. The whole story of how they went and got the camels and brought them to the US to start the camel experiment is really fascinating. The book about it is:

The Last Camel Charge: The Untold Story of America's Desert Military Experiment: Johnson, Forrest Bryant: 9780425253502: Amazon.com: Books

The Last Camel Charge: The Untold Story of America's Desert Military Experiment [Johnson, Forrest Bryant] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Last Camel Charge: The Untold Story of America's Desert Military Experiment

www.amazon.com

 

[Trooper "D"]

It's been a while since I read the book, which I recommend. The hope was that camels could replace horses in the desert Southwest. They would be used for patrols and as pack animals. The whole story of how they went and got the camels and brought them to the US to start the camel experiment is really fascinating. The book about it is:

The Last Camel Charge: The Untold Story of America's Desert Military Experiment: Johnson, Forrest Bryant: 9780425253502: Amazon.com: Books

The Last Camel Charge: The Untold Story of America's Desert Military Experiment [Johnson, Forrest Bryant] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Last Camel Charge: The Untold Story of America's Desert Military Experiment

www.amazon.com

I'm well versed on the camel experiment and they never intended to replace horses with camels. They were used in building the wagon road that is now basically Hwy 66 and the railroad cutting across the desert. Lt. Beal put them to use. They were stationed all over the place from Texas to California. Hijolly has a pyramid monument off Hwy 10 at Quartzite, AZ. He was the camel wrangler for the experiment.
We used to have a painting at the Pioneer Museum in Flagstaff, AZ that showed a U.S. Dragoons on the back of a camel with info copy on the sign. We had to retire it because it was not accurate since no Dragoons, nor any other military unit rode camels. They were for pack animals in the rugged SW desert area.
I think the contract stipulated that they didn't work on Wednesdays but I may be mistaken about that. (grin)
Cheers!