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Teamster

For the labor union, see International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Teamster driving a team of six horses at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany
Lydia Vargo and Teamster with delivery wagon in Toledo, Ohio c. 1920

A teamster in American English is a truck driver; a person who drives teams of draft animals; or a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union. In some places, a teamster was called a carter, the name referring to the bullock cart.[1]

Look up teamster in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Originally the term teamster meant a person who drove a team, usually of oxen, horses, or mules, pulling a wagon,[2] replacing the earlier teamer.[3]

This term 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.[4]

In Australian English, a teamster was also called a bullocker or bullocky[citation needed] and was sometimes used to denote a carrier.[5]

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.[6]

  1. ^ Gunasekera, Jayantha (9 February 2014). "How Kotelawala (Snr) got young brother-in-law killed". The Sunday Times. Sri Lanka.
  2. ^ Harper, Douglas. "teamster". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. ^ "teamster, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press. December 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  4. ^ Shemanski, Frances (1984). "Mule Days Celebration". A Guide to Fairs and Festivals in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-313-21437-9.
  5. ^ "The Late Mr. T. Williams". Adelong and Tumut Express. 29 March 1912. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  6. ^ "The American Revolutionary War (1776)". U. S. Army Transportation Museum. Retrieved 22 May 2017.

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