Greetings to all my Volunteer Compatriots on this list! Wish I could visit more often, but I'm up to my Confederate neck in research on several Southern fronts. I specifically need help on "the camel question", and think that some of my Tennessee brothers may be able to help me, as Tennessee was at Vicksburg!

The 43rd MS Infantry had a camel named "Old Douglas" who was with them at Iuka, Corinth, and Vicksburg, where he was killed by a sniper and eaten (!) by a portion of the starving garrison. I am looking for additional quotes about this animal as part of my research on the 43rd MS, known early in the war as "the Camel Regiment"!

I have the two Confederate Veteran accounts, the MO account of Bevier, and the TX account of Barron, Jim Miles' account from "A River Unvexed," and T.T. Smith's 43rd MS diary account of a man killed when the camel stampeded the regiment's horses. I am looking for any other accounts -- manuscript, regimental, magazine, etc. Still looking for data from all states, including MS, MO, and TX. All data welcome.

I know that Kitchens referenced the camel in Chapter 5, page 33, of "Rosecrans Meets Price," but I haven't been able to find that book yet. I also know that Albert Casteel wrote about the camel in an article for Civil War Times Illustrated entitled "The Diary of Gen. Henry Little, C.S.A.," which I also don't have.

I am sure that there must be a dozen or more other accounts out there! Since TN was at Vicksburg, some Volunteer historian may have seen a Tennessee veteran's account of "Old Douglas."

If you know of one, please contact me! Happy to share what I already have with any interested person. Many thanks, my Compatriots!