The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958 Page: 21

Operation Camel

grass were abundant along the way. In the plains country, how-
ever, the traveler must regulate his march on the location and
availability of water. In this arid land the animals must travel
from water hole to spring in one day's journey or the camp would
be a dry one. Dry camps required packing of water for man and
beast on the backs of the animals.
Another serious problem on the new frontier was a different
kind of Indian, a fierce fighter mounted on a horse, who could
travel faster than the frontiersmen and strike before a pursuit
could be organized. Particularly alarming was the mobility of
the plains tribes, which was greater than that of any Indians the
Americans had previously encountered. Wild, treacherous, cour-
ageous at times, they were the dreaded Comanche of the northern
plains and the Apache of the western deserts, two tribes that
could fight as well on horseback as they could on foot.
A highly mobile force was required on this frontier, not only
to protect the settlers in isolated sections, but to break up raids
on villages and haciendas across the Rio Grande. The Indians
had plenty of hiding places to head for and unknown trails to
follow. They knew the terrain, the water holes, and the mountain
passes; they could strike and then withdraw on swift-footed, sea-
soned horses faster than pursuers could follow.
By the terms of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United
States assumed responsibility for protecting the boundary and
the crossings into Mexico. The United States Army thus acquired
the task of policing the border in addition to protecting settlers,
guarding wagon trains and emigrant parties, and interfering with
hostile Indian movements. These tasks required a better system
of movement than the army possessed.
In the twelve years following the close of the Mexican War, the
United States inaugurated and conducted an extensive program
of exploration in western Texas. The activities formed a phase
of the general work carried on by the government over the entire
Trans-Mississippi country in the interest of the settler, the immi-
grant, the soldier, the merchant and trader. Westward movement
in the late 1840's necessitated the adoption of a definite policy
for the Great Plains. The government acted promptly, for it
contemplated the opening of the lands to trade and settlement,
the location of routes for a transcontinental railroad, the survey