Show Camel Test in 1856 Recalled in Texas V Daughters of Confederacy Mark Site With Plaque San Antonio Texas Texas Texas-In In a remote and still sparsely settled section of Kerr county Texas stands an old stone ranch house In the shadow ot of winch whIch a simple ceremony recently re- re revived an almost forgotten chapter inthe In Inthe the military and economic history ot of the United States Iho old ranch house was not always such Once It was the officers head head- headquarters headquarters quarters building at Camp Verde an Important military post on the Texas frontier Reputedly laid out by Robert Rob Rob- Robert ert IJ E Lee later commander In chIef of the Confederate army but then a United States colonel of ca In Texas Te Camp Verde became famous as the home of the government camel herd imported from the Levant during the administration ot of Jefferson Davis as United States secretary of war Crumbling ruIns ot of the camel of whose lobe dobe khan or pen part walls were sixteen feet high remain near the ranch house as evidence ot of the experimental use ot of humped beasts from the Near Last In n mill- mill tary and commercial transport Dedicate PI Plaque In the recent ceremony the United Daughters ot of the Confederacy dl- dl Islon ot of Texas dedicated a bronze marker commemorating what Is left of Camp Verde whose hallowed walls are linked w rth ith the past presence of such men as the illustrious Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston History records that Camp Verde or ort Verde as It also was called was established as a military post on July 8 1830 It is sixty five miles north north- northwest we west t of San Antonio The old fort was as captured by Con Con- Confederate federate troops on 28 r As quoted In Tc Texas ns Camel Tales written by Chris Emmett of Sin An Lieutenant ot of the Con Con- Confederate Confederate federate forces reported that among other things captured at the post were ere eighty camels and two Ig- Ig drivers Jefferson Davis when secretary secre- secre secretary tary of war ar In 1855 1835 obtained a congressional appropriation for the camels and Maj Henry Constantine Wayne who went to the Levant for forthe forthe the anImals brought the first ship ship- shipload shipload load via old PO Powder POder der Horn Texas Tetas 75 Were Imported The first cargo of thirty four camels seventy fi the fie e were Imported In two was shipments unloaded on May 1 13 1830 1530 at the Te Tes ts s port which long ago was swept a away ay by a gulf storm Although employment of the army camels actually Included use In the pursuit or of Indians their outstandIng uses were ere In W H Echols reconnaissance of the Texas DIg Big Bend sectIon near the RIo Grande with witha ith itha a camel train In 1860 and prior to that E F Beale s e ex- ex expedition expedition to California In 1837 1831 to sur surey sursey sey ey the Great Wagon Road oser o a southern route Incidentally the Southern Pacific railroad later was wai built bulIt practically along that route and the advance of the steam locomotIve that dis- dis discouraged discouraged was one of the developments continuance and extension of camel transport nut But during the Civil war camels carried Confederate two cotton bales to the camel to the Mexican border at Brownsville re- re returning returning turning with salt from salt lakes Inkes near the Gulf coast After the war private owners acquired ac- ac acquired the government camels Bethel COOP Coopwood buying Ing sixty SIX at 31 a ahead ahead head at San AntonIo In 1866 1860 Use ot of the animals In private transportation enterprises however dId not prove profitable Eventually many of the camels found their way to circuses others strayed off or were turned loose |