Abelard Carmichael

Dr. Abelard Carmichael was a businessman and restaurateur best known as the spiritual leader and founder of the carnatarian advocacy group Folks for the Eating of Meaty Animals (FEMA). Remembered for the near militancy with which he preached his ideas, his followers were fiercely loyal to him and his cause, and their descendants still look to his writings for guidance. In order to further spread his pro-meat agenda, he purchased an ailing restaurant operated by the Indiana Spiced Meat Consortium.

Birth and Early Life

Abelard Carmichael was born on September 18, 1822 in Bramble Brook, Indiana. His father, Abeodan, a wealthy New York farmland owner. His mother, Rowena, kept the home. When Rowena and Abeodan were married in 1821, they decided to take an adventurous honeymoon in a covered wagon to The West for a year. Leaving his brother in charge of the farm, they departed in March of 1822. By May, during their travels, it became clear that Rowena was pregnant, despite the precautions taken to prevent such an occurrence. Therefore, they settled into a temporary life in the frontier town of Bramble Brook, Indiana. On September 18, Rowena gave birth to a boy, named Abelard. Rowena did not immediately recover and Abelard was a weak child, so it was decided they would remain in Bramble Brook until mother and son were strong enough for the trek home. Abeodan sent word to his brother that all was well but that they would remain in the frontier until Rowena and Abelard were well enough to come home.

Medical Education

MedEd

Union Military Service During Civil War

At the inception of the civil war, Carmichael excitedly joined the Union Army and became a front line medic, treating all manner of wartime injuries as well as the variety of illnesses common on the battlefield. His patients and fellow soldiers affectionately called him "Dr. Abe". An avid observational scientist, Dr. Abe treated the battle fields and medic tents as informal laboratories, observing as he treated the wounded and dying. The nature of a drafted army during a war ensured that he saw men from all walks of life. The United States being a mainly aggrarian society at the time, many of his fellow soldiers came from farms, either animal or crop. Dr. Abe himself was the son of the overseer of a large cattle ranch in New York State; and, as such, grew up on a diet rich in cow meats. During the war, he observed that soldiers coming from similar environments as that in which he was raised seemed to thrive more than those raised on crop farms. He also observed that their recovered more rapidly from injuries sustained in battle. Making note of such observations, he requested that rations for ailing soldiers be comprised of 90% meats and 10% crop-derived food products. The request was rejected without explanation. Feeling that this rejection came from failing to fully make his case, he wrote On The Consumption of Meats and Fruits, a report on his observations and opinions on the the most effective diet for soldiers along with support for the practices of Fletcherism and daily onanism. Due to wartime shortages of food, his request could not be approved. He subsequently spoke frankly of his opinions to his commanding officer in a desperate last attempt to have his request granted. In the ensuing argument, the commanding officer told Dr. Abe that his opinions were not only "lack-witted" and "dangerous" but indicative of a mind addled by buggery. Sadly, Dr. Abe lost his temper and delivered a firm, open-handed slap about the officer's face. Dr. Abe was summarily discharged from his duties in the military, being branded unstable. That he was so roundly liked by all who met him kept him from being brought up on much more serious charges since the United States was in a state of conflic at the time.

Post Civil War Writing/Early Movement

For the remainder of the Civil War, Dr. Abe practiced medicine at the ranch has father oversaw, caring for both people and animals alike, and then frequently eating the animals. In that time, and for two years after the war, Dr. Abe was disillusioned and fell into a depression. His father, worrying for his son, suggested he visit Battle Creek Sanitarium, in Michigan, administrated by John Harvey Kellogg. To support his case, Dr. Abe's father provided a pamphlet outlining the virtues of visiting the Sanitarium including Kellog's famous low protein, high fiber, high nut diet regimen. After reading the pamphlet, Dr. Abe's spirits were buoyed, not by thoughts of visiting The Sanitarium, but by the realization that his ideas were not failed. He could not convince his superior officers or others in the scientific community of his ideas about meat consumption because of the ubiquity of "plant product propagandists." He began working in earnest to expand his writing from his days as an army doctor. He released his work The Ten Virtues for a Healthier Life in the form of Ten Pamphlets.