Per the following: If I understand correctly, when Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War for the United States he had aquired some camels for use by the U.S. Cavalry. Was Old Douglas from this stock or is there another answer as to how and why a camel showed up in the Grand Old Mistress of the South. From Jamie Roberts.

I would suspect that the Mississippi Camel did not come from the southwest US herd. For your inforation, the following is a short summary of the camels used by the Government - Source is the Fort Tejon, California web site.
HOWEVER (there is always an however) at and about this time, exotic animals were imported into the US for display and circuses and such (Like PT Barnums 'JUMBO' the elepant which was on display in New York and else where - perhaps a camel was 'adopted' by this unit.

THE MYTHICAL FORT TEJON "CAMEL CORPS"

At Fort Tejon, camels were NOT an essential element of the Fort's history. Camels were at the Fort for only 5-1/2 months, from Nov. 17, 1859 to mid April 1860. The camels were never used by the soldiers at Fort Tejon. They were government property and were kept here only a short time during the winter of 1859/60 before being moved to the Los Angeles Quartermaster Depot on their way to Benicia where they were auctioned off at a loss to the Government in 1864.

Fort Tejon was never any "Terminus" for the camels. There was never a "U.S. Camel Corps" as has been stated by so many authors; it was just an experiment. E.F. Beale was a civilian under contract to survey a road from New Mexico to California by the U.S. Government. He was never in command of Fort Tejon, the camels or any soldiers.

JIM Tebbetts