Beale, Edward Fitzgerald, 1822–93, American frontiersman, b. District of Columbia. During the Mexican War, Beale was in California, where he aided Stephen W. Kearny in the battle of San Pasqual by crawling through the lines with Kit Carson to get help. Later, during one of several trips across the continent, Beale was the first to bring east the news of the California gold strike. Appointed (1852) superintendent of Indian affairs in California and Nevada, he served well. In the Southwest, he is best remembered for an experiment in 1857 with camel transportation while doing one of many surveys. Beale was briefly (1876–77) also minister to Austria-Hungary.
See biography by S. Bonsal (1912); L. B. Lesley, ed., Uncle Sam's Camels (1920).
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