JEFFERSON DAVIS'S CAMEL EXPERIMENT 143 



the animal, but Davis convinced him that camels were useful in parts 

 of Asia where the extremes of heat and cold were greater than in the 

 west. Senator Eantoul objected that the proposition was extravagant 

 and others that it was ludicrous. The appropriation was not made.^ 



A year later, when Davis had returned to Mississippi, Bissell, of 

 Illinois, introduced into the House a bill carrying a $20,000 appro- 

 priation for the purchase of camels. Both Evans, of Maine, and 

 Shields, of Ohio, who supported the measure, spoke of it as originating 

 with Davis. The remarks made show that the War Department had 

 considered the matter carefully and favored the measure. The house 

 passed the camel bill but it was lost in the senate.* 



By this time the public was becoming familiar with the proposal 

 to import camels and numerous suggestions were made to the govern- 

 ment. John Eussell Bartlett, the author and etlinologist, who for 

 three years (1850-1853) had worked on the southwestern boundary, 

 was of the opinion that camels should be used in that region. George 

 Eobins Gliddon, the archeologist, who had lived in Egypt for twenty- 

 three years, wrote a memorial to congress declaring that the project 

 was feasible. Another eminent person, who was exerting himself to 

 get the government to make the experiment, was George Perkins 

 Marsh, the philologist and diplomat, who had lived in the Levant and 

 who was acquainted with the camel in Turkey and Italy. To help the 

 cause he delivered a lecture in 1854 at the Smithsonian Institution and 

 also wrote a little book which was published in 1856 : " The Camel, his 

 Organization, Habits and Uses, considered with reference to his Intro- 

 duction into the United States."^ The general interest in the camel 

 project caused the organization of " The American Camel Company," 

 of New York, which proposed to import burden camels for use in the 

 west. About 1857 the company landed one shipment in Texas, but 

 nothing is known of further activities. 



In 1853 Jefferson Davis returned to Washington as secretary of 

 war and at once took up the question of importing and experimenting 

 with camels. He had already made extensive researches into the his- 

 tory and habits of the camel when a member of the senate committee 

 on military affairs. !N"ow Major Wayne, of the Quartermaster's Depart- 

 ment, and Lieutenant Beale and Captain Adams, of the Fort Yuma 

 post, were directed to prepare information with reference to the use of 

 camels on the western deserts. In his report at the end of the year* 



« House Ex. Doc, No. 1, 33 Cong., 1 Sess., p. 24. 



^ Cong. Globe, 31 Cong., 2 Sess., March 3, 1851. See Marsh, chap. 17, and 

 Leonard, p. 15, in regard to Napoleon's camel corps and Wayne's translation of 

 Columbari's Zemboureks about the Persian dromedary artillery. 



* Cong. Globe, 32 Cong., 1 Sess., August 28, 1852. 



"Marsh, "The Camel," chap. 17, on Introduction into the United States, 

 and chap. 17, on Military Uses of the Camel. 



