Caprio, Jason
December 1, 2013
U.S. Army Camel Corps
One
of the strangest sights seen on El Morro took place in 1857. The U.S. Army
decided to try an experiment with transportation of military equipment and
supplies. The new transportation was camels to see if they would be more
efficient than horses or mules. The U.S bought seventy camels for thirty
thousand dollars and was accompanied by three Arab handlers during the trip. In
charge of the journey were Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale and P. Gilmer
Breckinridge on route to Fort Tejon in California.
At
one point during the trip, Lt. Beale sent five men to search for water due to
the running amount. When he noticed they were gone too long he sent one of his
Arabian acquaintances to search for them. Once the Arabian handler found the
five men in mid skirmish with the Indians, he knew he could not go back in time
to call for help, so he charged in with his Arabian sword yelling a foreign
phrase and managed to scare off the Indians. The Indians fled because they had
never seen such an anomaly before, they stated it as a “desert demon flying out
of the sky.” The group reached El Morro during July of 1858. They stayed for a
short time then continued on their journey once more.
After
El Morro they arrived to Fort Tejon without any further delays. Due to the
outbreak of the Civil War the program was cancelled. This would’ve happened
anyways to the disaster of the program. The Camels were amazing in all
challenges, but did not function well with the soldiers or the other animals.
Most of the Camels were set free, auctioned off.etc. Out of all the travelers
that came through El Morro, this truly was a rare sighting and one that will be
memorialized.
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