Confederate Camel Corp.Button - Wadhams & Co. ~ 1840s

[mevanwylen]

I found what this button was in a forum and I am wondering if anyone knows the value.

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

If authentic it's older than the Confederacy. Here's a similar one attributed to the US Army Camel Corps. VERY speculative link to the camel corps.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/86476-camel-button.html


Here's a Wadhams & Co button with an elephant but I don't believe we had an Elephant Corps.



http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/172844-elephant-button.html


You would need a button expert for certain to make that connection to the military.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

charlie, good sluething work on that link. I've read a lot about the short-lived experiments with camels in the SW states. Some genius thought that perhaps camels would work better in desert terrains, since .... afterall .... they'd been used for thousands of years for this terrain in parts of Europe, north africa, etc.... desert regions So the military had some shiploads of camels brought over, for experimental usage like movement of mail, military transports, and other such usages at the SW state's forts (AZ, TX, NM, CA, etc...) desert areas. But the experiment was a failure. The camels didn't get along well besides horses, and the they were too difficult to train, etc.... Then the outbreak of the CW caused Uncle Sam to get sidetracked to more important things. So the camels were never pursued further.

But of the several hundred brought over, some continued to be corralled for years longer at various military posts. others were set free (or escaped on their own). And still others were auctioned off (to zoos, circuses, etc...) in Calif.

I never knew there was an actual button issued to the handlers/corp's people. If it's real, then I wonder if it's got value ?

My grandfather moved to the Imperial valley (by the salton sea, El Centro area) in the 1920s. And as a boy, I recall him telling us grandkids stories (that perhaps he'd heard from earlier settlers in that region) that camels still roamed the deserts there, and that there were still occasional sightings. This was born out of the fact that, for a few decades, it was true that some of the escaped or set-free camels did indeed continue to live in a wild state (since their lifespan can be 60 to 70 yrs.) in the deserts. Or that perhaps they had off-springs that continued their presence. There is debate on when the last true sighting of a camel was. Sometime around the the turn of the century. But rumors persisted into at least my grandfather's time that there still some out in the hills

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Tom in CA:

That "genius" was Jefferson Davis. Yes, the same Jefferson Davis. He was Secretary of War at the time. Camels are much better suited for desert travel than horses, mules, donkeys, burros, etc. As I recall, they carried enough food and water not only for themselves but for the other pack animals, as well.

That's one serious problem with using pack animals - they eat and drink. The German army discovered in Russia that wasn't a formula for success (of course, so did Napoleon - although recently I read that disease may have been a bigger factor in the demise of his army than cold and hunger).

There are a couple of excellent books on the US Camel Corps. And Lost Mines and Buried Treasures by "Leland Lovelace" has the "Lost Gold at the Camel's Tinaja" story - a camel is a central character. "Gold at Tiinajas Altas" in Some Western Treasure Trails, by "Jesse E. Rascoe" (1973) lacks a camel.

In Benicia, California, are some old buildings that some call Camel Barracks. I don't think that is correct. It does appear the camels were here for at least a while, however.

Here is some background:

http://www.forttejon.org/camel.html


Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

The classic book on the subject is Uncle Sam's Camels; The Journal of May Humphreys Stacey Supplemented by the Report of Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1857-1858) by Lewis Burt Lesley, M.A. (Cambridge: 1929), reprinted by The Rio Grande Press, Glorieta, New Mexico: 1970 (with appendix, bibliography [books, magazine articles, government documents, newspapers], and a new index).

"The little known Camel experiment during the 1850's under Jefferson Davis who was secretary Of War in President Pierce's Administration and the attempt to form a United States Military Camel Brigade. This story is brought together in the journal of May Humphreys Stacey supplemented by the report of Edward Fitzgerald Beale. "

There is also The Last Camel Charge; The Untold Story of America's Desert Military Experiment by Forrest Bryant Johnson (2012). I haven't read it yet - although I do wonder how much of the story hasn't been told by now.

I believe Ed Bartholomew reprinted this one: Old Camp Verde; the Home of the Camels: A Romantic Story of Jefferson Davis' Plan to use Camels on the Texas Frontier, by J. Marvin Hunter (Bandera, Texas: 1948)

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

No question the Camel Corps existed (there was even a movie: Hawmps! Hawmps! (1976) - IMDb . With Slim Pickins, no less!)

But what do we have that would authenticate a button to that unit?

 

[Tejaas]

Confederate Camel Corp.Button - Wadhams & Co. ~ 1840s

Subscribed... Definitely want to see how this turns out.

Wouldn't hurt to look up Harry Ridgeway... If it's a military button, he is -the- leading authority.


~Tejaas~

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Without a U.S. Camel Corps there probably wouldn't be a U.S. Camel Corps button - or a Confederate Camel Corps, because Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War of the US of A and not President of the C.S.A. at the time.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

Some more camel history - fascinating!

http://tatteredandlostphotographs.blogspot.com/2012/08/deconstructing-old-west-part-6.html

 

[maipenrai]

Yes, they were Real camel barns in the Benicia Arsenal. I lived a couple blocks from there.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

maipenrai:

I think it is correct to state that camels were kept at the Benicia Arsenal for a short period of time. The "Camel Barn" was a converted warehouse - it was there before the camels arrived and it is still there, long after the camels are gone.

This reminds me of John's Grill in San Francisco. It is mentioned in one line of Dashiell Hammett's classic Maltese Falcon, and almost ninety years later the restaurant is still dining off the story.

However, I live close to that location and I haven't visited in quite some time. This will inspire me to take a drive over there!

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[Tom_in_CA]

As the elephant button shows, that any # of silly animals could be depicted on buttons. In fact, there is what's known as "sportsman" buttons, popular in the late 1800s, that depicted hunting dogs, horses, water fowl, and other such hunting scenes. So the mere showing of a camel doesn't mean that it was necessarily military. I guess it'd depend on the back-mark, and if examples can be shown to have existed for this corp's.

If it is a real military issue for the camel workers, I bet it might bring some good $$ from the right collector