The Bawdy Cloister

Camp Verde Monument


The only known picture of a U.S. Army Camel (Credit: Chris Emmett, Texas Camel Tales, 1932).

This weekend Mrs. Theologian and I headed back to one of our favorite picnic spots, located in Camp Verde, Texas. There's not much left of the place. It was home to the U.S. Army Camel Corps way back when. And according to J. Marvin Hunter's history of the place, Gen. Johnson launched his expedition against the Mormons in Utah from here in 1857. Today there's only the old general store/post office still standing (about a mile down the street from the ruins of the fort itself.) Also nearby is Bandera Pass, site of one of the bloodiest Indian attacks on Texas Rangers in Hill Country history. Don't worry the Indians are gone now, but so are the camels.