Page 33 - 2003 DT 12 Issues

Wha t’ s Insi d e !

Featured Articles
The Legendary Kit Carson.......................... 1
Boot Tracks.................................................5
Special

Western History Facts................................7
Departments
May 2003 News & Notes............................................2
Programs & Hikes........................................4
Desk Schedule............................................6
Bulletin Board.............................................8

The Legendary ○ ○ Indian girls. After his first wife, an ○ throughout the war with Mexico and he
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○ Arapaho, died, he married a Cheyenne, ○ ○ led the Kearny forces that captured Los
Kit Carson ○ ○ but they were “divorced” Indian-style. ○ ○ Angeles.
○ Then he married for a third time; a fif- ○ With the close of the war, Carson
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by Chuck Kleber ○ teen-year-old Taos girl. ○ returned to Taos, New Mexico where he
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As the 1840’s opened, Kit Carson’s ○ took up ranching. The gold rush in Cali-
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ctober 6, 1826. The following breakthrough to fame began with a ○ fornia was on and prices were sky high,
notice appears in the Missouri chance encounter. He met a young Cap- ○ including the demand for sheep. Carson
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OIntelligencer: ○ tain John C. Fremont on a Missouri ○ drove a large herd there and made a big
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“Christopher Carson, a boy about 16 ○ ○ riverboat. They hit it off, and Fremont ○ profit. It was at this time that he was ap-
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years old, small of his age, but thickset; ○ told Carson that he needed a guide for pointed as Indian Agent for Ute tribes.
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light hair, ran away from the subscriber, ○ an upcoming expedition And here, there is a
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living in Franklin, Howard County, Mis- ○ to the Rockies in 1842. paradox of sorts for
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souri, to whom he had been bound to ○ Kit was a modest and lik- this famous Ameri-
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learn the Saddler’s trade . . . One cent ○ able man, and both can. He had a
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reward will be paid to any person bring- ○ Fremont’s wife Jessie, genuine liking for
ing back the said boy.” ○ and her father, Senator much in Indian life,
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It wasn’t a promising beginning for ○ Thomas Hart Benton of but he was also a
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a man who became a true legend of the ○ Missouri, took to him. devastatingly effec-
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West and whose name would be given to ○ Also, his integrity and tive enemy. When
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Nevada’s capital. But Kit Carson had that ○ courage were never the Civil War broke
inborn something that leads to great ○ questioned. As one ac- out, Kit organized
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achievements; and he covered an amaz- ○ quaintance put it, his volunteers for ser-
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ing spectrum of experiences in doing so. ○ “word was as sure as the vice with the Union.
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The year after he ran away, Kit (he short- ○ sun comin’up.” Carson As Colonel of the
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ened his own name while still a boy) was ○ accompanied Fremont “First New Mexico
in Taos where he worked as both a cook ○ on three expeditions Volunteers,” he led
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and teamster. By 1829 he was a trapper ○ throughout the West. Fremont’s reports ○ his men into action. But it was not so
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and joined various expeditions. He was ○ received enormous publicity throughout ○ ○ much against Confederate forces; it was
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becoming a “mountain man,” but the fu- ○ the nation, and with them the name of ○ against the Indians. At the Battle of
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ture certainly did not seem very bright ○ Kit Carson. He was becoming a folk hero. ○ Adobe Walls, he destroyed the lodges of
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for this young man who had to give up ○ He was still with Fremont during ○ the Comanche and Kiowa. Then, in 1864,
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an education and work after his father ○ California’s “Bear-Flag Rebellion” ○ ○ he was given command of one thousand
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was killed by a falling tree. Indeed, Kit ○ against Mexico, his life in danger as it ○ ○ men to put an end to Navajo raiding
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Carson was nearly illiterate for much of ○ would be during most of his career. In a ○ parties. He struck at their redoubt in Can-
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his life . . . like many of the mountain ○ battle just north of San Diego, Kit snuck ○ yon De Chelley in northeastern Arizona,
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men. He finally learned to read and write ○ through enemy lines to ger help for Gen-
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during the Civil War. And like so many ○ eral Stephen Kearny’s men, who were ○ ○
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of the mountain men, he also married ○ pinned down. He served the United States ○ Kit Carson, continued on page 7
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