Rebels at Vicksburg Vowed Revenge Against the Yankee Who Killed Their Camel

Military.com ^ | Blake Stilwell

[nickcarraway]

In the late 1850s, the U.S. Army experimented with using camels as pack animals in the American Southwest, where horses and mules routinely suffered from dehydration. Camels from the Ottoman Empire were shipped to the United States in 1853. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis ordered they be tested on routes across the desert to California.

The camel experiment was a success, but the Army was wholly uninterested in camels. Before there could be an internal struggle about it, the Civil War broke out in 1861. The secretary of war became president of the Confederacy, and the idea died out. The U.S. Army wasn't the only one interested in testing camels; that's how a dromedary -- a one-humped camel -- ended up in the Confederate Army.

Douglas the Dromedary, also known as Douglas the Camel and "Old Douglas," was purchased by planters in Mobile, Alabama, around the same time the Army was sending camels of its own to Texas. Local farmers wanted to see whether they could be effective on their plantations. Long story short: They weren't.

That wasn't the end for Old Douglas, though. He was given to Col. William Moore of the 43rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment at the start of the Civil War. Douglas became a pack animal for the unit as well as a mascot. Douglas got along so well with the men of the unit, the 43rd became known as the "Camel Regiment."

The horses weren't so happy about the camel, however, so Douglas spent much of his time outside of camp, grazing freely and refusing to be leashed. He came when called, and dutifully sat down to be loaded with supplies for the regimental band when the time came. Douglas marched north with the 43rd, fighting at the battles of Iuka, Corinth and at Vicksburg.

[nickcarraway]

You would have eaten him too, admit it.

[Redcitizen]

Some people would go to great lengths to smoke a camel.

[MeganC]

“The camel experiment was a success, but the Army was wholly uninterested in camels.”

160 years later the A-10 is a raging success and the Chair Force is wholly uninterested in the A-10.

[waterhill]

Not sure if Cousin Shotpouch was there when that happened...William Talbot Walker:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._T._Walker

Cousin of mine. There’s a cannon where he fell in Atlanta.

We had the same great grandfather.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I won't eat people, eating people is wrong.

If I am hungry enough, everything else is on the menu.

[Buttons12]

Camels from the Ottoman Empire were shipped to the United States in 1853.

I've read 2 books on the subject, never heard of any camels shipped in 1853. The "experiment" was 1856, iirc.

[Tennessee Nana]

A Yankee smoked their Camel ...