Can you imagine seeing a huge monstrous creature that you have never seen before, that has trampled people to death under it's weird cloven hooves? Worst yet, it leaves evidence of red hair at each crime scene, and even worse yet, people swear that they see a headless human riding on it's back! Fantasy you say? No, it was a fact that happened in the United States in the late 1800's… The monster was a camel, the likes of which most westerners may have read about in the Bible, but never actually seen! There wasn't Google, or even too many encyclopedias around in those days with pictures in them… Here is the fascinating story from: www.legendsofamerica.com

In 1848, the importation of camels for military purposes in the southwest was suggested to the War Department by Henry Wayne, a Quartermaster Major. Two years later, Secretary of War and Mississippi Senator, Jefferson Davis, tried to persuade the Senate to look into the use of camels for the U.S. Army.

During this time period, the southwest territory of the United States was greatly expanding and it was thought that camels could be used to carry at least twice the amount of weight as horses or mules, and might also be used in tracking and pursuing Indians, as they could travel without water or rest for much longer than horses. It was also suggested that the camels might carry the mail and that fast camel passenger trains might be developed to run from Missouri River points to the Pacific Coast. 

Initially, the Senators voted the idea down, but after California newspapers began to promote the idea, they finally agreed in 1854, passing a bill to appropriate $30,000 for the camel experiment.

Can you imagine seeing a huge monstrous creature that you have never seen before, that has trampled people to death under it's weird cloven hooves? Worst yet, it leaves evidence of red hair at each crime scene, and even worse yet, people swear that they see a headless human riding on it's back! Fantasy you say? No, it was a fact that happened in the United States in the late 1800's… The monster was a camel, the likes of which most westerners may have read about in the Bible, but never actually seen! There wasn't Google, or even too many encyclopedias around in those days with pictures in them… Here is the fascinating story from: www.legendsofamerica.com

In 1848, the importation of camels for military purposes in the southwest was suggested to the War Department by Henry Wayne, a Quartermaster Major. Two years later, Secretary of War and Mississippi Senator, Jefferson Davis, tried to persuade the Senate to look into the use of camels for the U.S. Army.

During this time period, the southwest territory of the United States was greatly expanding and it was thought that camels could be used to carry at least twice the amount of weight as horses or mules, and might also be used in tracking and pursuing Indians, as they could travel without water or rest for much longer than horses. It was also suggested that the camels might carry the mail and that fast camel passenger trains might be developed to run from Missouri River points to the Pacific Coast. 

Initially, the Senators voted the idea down, but after California newspapers began to promote the idea, they finally agreed in 1854, passing a bill to appropriate $30,000 for the camel experiment.