Teamster

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File:ISB Allentown PA pic1.jpg
A modern teamster with his truck

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

Horse-drawn era

File:Manual for farriers, horseshoers, saddlers, and wagoners or teamsters - 1914 (1915) (14770577482).jpg
Wagoner driving a team of four mules (US, 1914)
File:Beverley Gas Works, Old Hull Road 1910 (archive ref DDX1544-1-11) (28284430335).jpg
A carter (England, 1910)
File:Group of teamsters at Walligan siding, 1924 season.jpg
A group of teamsters posing on a loaded wagon (Australia, 1924)

In the horse-drawn era, the term teamster meant a person who drove a team of oxen, horses, or mules pulling a wagon,<ref>Template:OEtymD</ref> replacing the earlier teamer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A person hauling a wagon was sometimes called a wagoner,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and a person operating a horse and cart for haulage was called a carter.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In Australian English, a teamster was also called a bullocker or bullockyTemplate:Citation needed and was sometimes used to denote a carrier.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

References

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Further reading

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