Blount and Beyond Online Magazine - Magazine - Page 114
Hargrove and he gave the camel to Colonel W. H. Moore. Moore gave Douglas to the Forty-Third
Mississippi Infantry to serve as a mascot. Douglas was then assigned to the regimental band to carry
instruments and knapsacks.
The United States Camel Corps was an experiment in using camels as pack animals in the Southwestern
United States. The camels were imported from the Middle East by a U.S. Navy ship. The camels proved to
be well suited to the land but the Civil War interfered with the experiment, mainly because Jefferson Davis,
the former United States Secretary of War had supported the experiment. The Army declined to use them
for military use. The war interfered with the experiment, and it was eventually abandoned. The camels were
sold at auction.
The Iuka campaign, under General Sterling Price, was the first time Old Douglas saw
active service. He also served in the 1862 Battle of Corinth. Old Douglas was at the
Siege of Vicksburg, he was killed in battle from bullets fired by union soldiers.
The
Confederate soldiers swore to avenge the death of Old Douglas. Cedar Hill
Cemetery, in Vicksburg, Mississippi is the final resting place of Old Douglas. He has
his own grave marker.
To learn more about camels in the Civil War and to see pictures, just google