This Camel Fought In Some of The Civil War’s Most Famous Battles
The Wild Story Of Douglas The Camel
In the 1850s, an odd sight played out on the docks of the port at Mobile, Alabama. Various camels were pulled, snorting and spitting, off of steamers bound from exotic ports. The unique camel stench cloyed the nostrils of the bewildered longshoremen. The camels were part of an odd experiment that gripped the nation following the Mexican-American War. After struggling in the arid climates of Mexico and the American Southwest, many wondered if African camels could be imported and integrated into the United States.
The US Army toyed with the idea of forming an official camel corps that would help patrol the newly conquered American deserts and potentially replace horses as the mount for challenging climates. The plan never saw any real success, but the idea that exotic camels could be helpful in the New World took some time to fade away completely. While the army was attempting to tame and train camels, private citizens were also considering the proposal. The camels being hauled off the docks in Mobile were not bought by the US government but by wealthy plantation owners who were curious about whether camels could be used in Southern agriculture.
But there would be no growth of camel populations in the cotton fields of Alabama…
