Camels In the US Army

Sometimes when working on a book, the research we do can uncover things that we had never heard of before.  Currently, I’m working on a book with some of the members of my fan group, and I ended up finding out something I’d never heard mentioned before in any of the history I’ve learned over the years.  Perhaps it’s something you knew of, but for any others like me, I thought it was interesting enough to share with you today.

The project I’m working on with my fan club has my readers offering their suggestions and ideas for a book, and then I’m in charge of putting it together into a story.  They have given me so many fun things to include in the book, but one of them was for certain animals to be on a ranch that we’ve created.

Would There Be Camels In US History?

Gwinn Heap's illustration for Jefferson Davis' (at that time Secretary of War) report to the U.S. Congress in 1857. The drawings illustrated the journey of the camels to the United States. Gwinn Heap [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

One of these animals was suggested to be a camel.

Well, I couldn’t figure out how I’d get a camel to the United States (Kansas) in the 1800’s.  But, thanks to the internet…I was able to start researching any possible suggestions to make it work.

I thought it would take some creative thinking to make it happen - so imagine my surprise when I discovered that camels HAD actually been brought over and used by the US army as an experiment to see how useful they could be as pack animals.

And - by some strange twist - after the years of experiments and use of the animals, they were eventually sold off at auctions, with many ending up in circuses and private ranches!

So, being able to write this into my story was surprisingly much easier than I’d anticipated.

While I read through the stories about how they were used, I was so shocked to see how favourable they had been, and how they had actually been very successful at proving their worth.  However, for whatever reason, they didn’t keep using them.

One of the best accounts I read of the animals being used, was found at https://armyhistory.org/the-u-s-armys-camel-corps-experiment/

These animals formed the US Army Camel Corps, and spent years under experiment to see their usefulness.

Thy summed up perfectly how these animals ended up, after being brought over here with such promise, then being abandoned:

Eventually, when the curiosity wore off or their new owners simply did not want or need them anymore, many of the camels were turned loose in the wild to fend for themselves.  They were seen for many years afterward, wandering the deserts and plains of the Southwest.  The last of the original Army camels, Topsy, was reported to have died in April 1934, at Griffith Park, Los Angeles, at the age of eighty, but accounts of camel sightings continued for decades.  Although never officially designated, “U.S. Army Camel Corps,” this is how the Army’s camel experiment has been remembered.  Ignored and abandoned, it was an ignominious and unfortunate end for these noble “ships of the desert.” 

Credit:  armyhistory.org


As for me, I’m still in shock at some of the interesting things I uncover while researching books.  And, another reason why I love history so much - you just never know what you will learn :)

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Blog Tour Tuesday: CELESTRE'S SONG

Today's Blog Tour Tuesday features 

Celestre's Song 

by Danni Roan

About Celestre’s Song:

Leaving behind the dark shadow of her late husband Celestre Smythe strikes out for a new life in Montana: one where security is guaranteed. To her way of thinking she couldn't have asked for a better situation, a simple partnership with taciturn Trevor Wright.

Trevor needs a woman to care for his two young children but wants as little to do with the woman herself as possible. A Montana horse rancher he’s given up on love, God, and anything other than providing for his tiny family. Celestre is a means to an end, a way of meeting the needs of his small son and infant daughter.

Although content with their arrangements for their own reasons Trevor and Celestre soon find that life doesn’t often adhere to our best laid plans. A sweet inspirational story of second chances.

Excerpt:

Jake Smythe had never been a good man. He had been a drunk, a gambler, and a cruel, abusive husband. Yet Celestre sat, even now, holding his hand dutifully; fleetingly he wondered if she were praying for him.

            “Are you praying for me?’ he asked, his voice a hollow wheeze.

            “Yes.” Her answer was simple, direct.

            “I suppose you think your God can still save me,” he scoffed.

            “I know he can.” Her reply was flat, but he knew she believed it.

Turning her head toward her husband, Celestre Smythe looked at him carefully. His cheeks were sunken, his parchment-colored skin pulled tight across the ridges and planes of a once handsome face.

            “Do you really believe that?” the man whispered again, a tiny thread of hope edging his words.

“I can pray with you and show you the way,” she replied. There was no sorrow in her voice, no emotion. He couldn’t blame her.

            “Please,” he pleaded.

“You must admit that you are a sinner first,” Celestre looked into his once green eyes and for the first time saw not arrogance and anger, but fear, doubt and shame.

He nodded silently.

“Then you must accept that Christ died for you, for all of your sins and ask Him to forgive you.” She watched as he swallowed and felt his hand tremble in her own.

She strained to hear his mumbled words as his whole body seemed to shiver. Again, he swallowed and looked at her. “And can you forgive me?” his voice was weak.

“I have to,” was all she said as his last breath left him.

Celestre’s  Song is available on Amazon. CLICK HERE.

Author Biography

Danni Roan, born in rural western Pennsylvania, has always loved the country life. Her first work published under her real name, Paula Liddle-Beem, is a collection of folk essays about childhood in the lush, green mountains of PA. Being a teacher of English and English as a Second Language for the past twelve years has only inspired Danni's love of writing Western Historical Fiction. After receiving her Masters of Education in Teaching English as a Foreign Language she determined to indulge her passion for fiction writing. Teaching both in the USA and abroad has exposed Danni to a wide range of people from all walks of life and she tries to capture that unique character in her work.

Click HERE to reach the Author's Amazon Author Page.