The Great Camel Experiment

Duane's take

The marker on this one comes straight from the Texas Historical Commission, and I'm just the voice they gave it. Now settle in, because this story starts with something that should not exist in Texas — and yet, it did. You know, Indianola saw its share of unusual arrivals over the years.

Ships pulling into Matagorda Bay carrying settlers, cargo, ambition. But nothing — nothing — that came ashore at that wharf could hold a candle to what stepped off the Fashion on May 13, 1856. Thirty-four camels.

Bactrians with their two humps, Arabians with their one, and hybrids that were something in between. Just walking through the streets of Indianola like it was the most natural thing in the world. The residents, bless them, remembered the sight.

Now, this didn't come out of nowhere. As far back as 1836, politicians, diplomats, and military minds had been turning the idea over — what if you brought camels to North America's desert wastelands? It took a while for that notion to find its champion, but in 1853, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, a man who knew something about harsh desert conditions, stood before Congress and made the case: use camels as pack animals in the desert southwest.

Congress approved the request on March 3, 1855. Two years later, that approval was standing on a wharf in Texas, spitting and staring. The Fashion had made a three-month voyage from the Mediterranean — pulling from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Turkey — before it ever saw Matagorda Bay.

And those thirty-four camels were just the beginning. By February of 1857, a second government shipment arrived in Indianola. Forty-one more.

Seventy-five camels total, on Texas soil, in two years. They put them to work. Military camel caravans hauling supplies through the Texas Hill Country, running between their home at Camp Verde and San Antonio.

In the summer of 1857, the camels were out alongside traditional livestock, helping survey the great wagon road between Arizona and California — the road now known as Route 66. Then in 1859 and 1860, they were back in the field for reconnaissance in west Texas, surveying routes all the way to the U.S.-Mexico border. And then came 1861.

The Civil War broke out, and just like that, all U.S. military assets came into possession of Confederate troops. The camels included. Whatever experiment the government had been running, whatever future those animals might have had on American trails — it got swallowed up by the war.

And after the war ended, the camels were auctioned off. Seventy-five camels. From the shores of the Mediterranean to the streets of Indianola to the desert trails of the American southwest.

The Great Camel Experiment, they call it. And it wasn't legend — it was federal policy, walking on four legs and two humps right through the heart of Texas.

What the marker says

No immigrants arriving in Indianola were quite as exotic as the seventy-five camels that came ashore in 1856 and 1857 from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. As early as 1836, politicians, diplomats and the military were considering the importation of camels for use in North America's desert wastelands. In 1853, secretary of war Jefferson Davis, a man familiar with harsh desert conditions, proposed to congress the use of camels as pack animals in the desert southwest. Congress approved the request on March 3, 1855. After a three-month voyage from the Mediterranean, the Fashion entered Matagorda Bay on May 13, 1856 and landed the camels at the wharf at powder horn. Thirty-four camels, ranging from Bactrians (two-humped variety), Arabians (one-hump variety) and a hybrid-cross between the two, came ashore. Many residents of Indianola recalled the unusual sight of the camels being led through the streets. By February 1857, a second government shipment of forty-one camels arrived in Indianola. Military camel caravans carrying supplies became more common in the Texas Hill Country between the camels" home of Camp Verde and San Antonio. The camels, along with traditional livestock, were used in the summer of 1857 to survey the great wagon road between Arizona and California, now known as Route 66. The camels were also used in 1859 and 1860 for reconnaissance in west Texas, surveying routes to the U.S./Mexico border. In 1861, upon the outbreak of the Civil War, all U.S. military assets, including the camels, came into possession of confederate troops and, after the war, the camels were auctioned off.