New Article: The United States Government Experimented With Camels In The 19th Century

(Army Camel Corp training at Menangle Park, c. 1916, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons). It's an Australian photo, but unfortunately, no decent pictures of the American Camel Corps could be found.

George H. Crosman is credited as the first man to suggest that camels could be a valuable asset if utilized by the U. S. military in dry, desert regions of the United States. He first brought up this point in 1836, when he was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He claimed that camels would be unaffected by America’s most arid climates, and would also require less feed or water than the horses and mules already used by the government. Despite these fair points, Lt. Crosman’s ideas were rejected and shelved by the United States for more than a decade.

Continue reading about the United States procurement and experimentation with camels in the 19th century, HERE.