How Well Do You Know The History of The Wild West?

How much did the US government allocate to importing camels in 1855?

Camels were quite scarce in the US before 1855 when the US government shelled out $30,000 for the purchase and importation of camels. The officer in charge of that decision was then secretary of war, Jefferson Davis, whose belief at the time was that camels were necessary for the drive to create transportation lines to the west as the transcontinental railroad wasn’t close to being completed then.

75 camels were therefore imported and kept in central Texas from where they were used on supply runs to San Antonio. They were however not used in the army.