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Arizona Once Had a Camel Army

In the 1850s, the U.S. Army actually experimented with using camels as military pack animals in the Arizona desert.

The program was launched in 1856 under Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who believed camels would be better suited than horses or mules for the harsh deserts of the American Southwest.

Dozens of camels were imported from the Middle East and North Africa and stationed in what is now Arizona, Texas, and California.

The animals actually performed extremely well. Camels could:

• Carry 600+ pounds of supplies
• Travel long distances without water
• Move easily across rough desert terrain

However, the project ended when the American Civil War began, and the military lost interest in the unusual program.

Some of the camels were sold, while others escaped or were released into the wild. For decades afterward, travelers in the Southwest reported sightings of wild camels roaming the deserts of Arizona and neighboring states.