Teamster

A teamster is a truck driver or a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union.

Horse-drawn era

In the horse-drawn era, the term teamster meant a person who drove a team of oxen, horses, or mules pulling a wagon, replacing the earlier teamer. A person hauling a wagon was sometimes called a wagoner, and a person operating a horse and cart for haulage was called a carter.

The term teamster was common by the time of the Mexican–American War (1848) and the Indian Wars throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries on the American frontier.

Another name for the occupation was bullwhacker, related to driving oxen. A teamster might also drive pack animals, such as a muletrain, in which case he was also called a muleteer or muleskinner. Today this person may be called an outfitter or packer.

In Australian English, a teamster was also called a bullocker or bullocky^{[citation needed]} and was sometimes used to denote a carrier.

From the Revolutionary War at least through World War I, United States Army enlisted personnel responsible for transporting supplies by wagon and for the upkeep of those draft animals were called wagoners.

See also

• Hostler

Further reading

Look up teamster in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Damerow, Gail; Ainsworth, Brandt; Edmunds, Bill (2001). Driving Draft Horses (DVD). Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Rural Heritage Video. ISBN 978-1-893707-31-3.
• Damerow, Gail; Rice, Alina (2008). Draft Horses and Mules: Harnessing Equine Power for Farm & Show. North Adams, Massachusetts: Storey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60342-081-5.
• Elser, Smoke (1980). Packin' in on Mules and Horses. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing. ISBN 0-87842-127-0.
• Gebhards, Stacy V. (2000). When Mules Wear Diamonds: Mountain Packing with Mules and Horses. McCall, Idaho: Wilderness Skills. OCLC 47630999.
• Telleen, Maurice (1977). The Draft Horse Primer: A Guide to the Care and Use of Work Horses and Mules. Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press. ISBN 0-87857-161-2.