Another in the "Landmark" series, this volume focuses on an individual rather than a singular topic or occurrence, although the subject in question certainly saw many historic events over the course of his rough-and-ready life.
As the introduction states, on account of his many admittedly-often-embellished exploits, Kit Carson is almost as much myth as man. He was, in fact, the subject of many late-nineteenth-century dime novels, which is how many Americans of the day became acquainted with this wilderness adventurer.
Carson's renown has admittedly waned over the last several decades, along with that of many of our country's early adventurers. However, if you've ever driven across this great land of ours, or visited the national parks in places like the Rocky Mountains, or ventured across the burning deserts of the American Southwest, you can't help but be impressed with men like Carson's insatiable appetite for adventure, and their strength and willingness to survive.
At the time the book was written (1955), the Old West craze was in full swing, and men such as Carson featured prominently in popular culture. As opposed to the comic-book-like heroes depicted in movies and TV shows, the reality was more complex. What is known about this particular adventurer is that Christopher Houston Carson (1809-1868) was one of the few of his breed who lived to at least moderate old age.
He was, at various times in his life, a frontiersman, fur trapper, miner, explorer, expedition leader, wilderness guide, alternatively an "Indian fighter" and/or agent negotiator, US Army officer, and entrepreneur. Illiterate all of his life, Carson was nonetheless an eyewitness to much of the early history of the American West.
Kit Carson was a famously diminutive man, described by one Civil War Army Colonel, Edward W. Wynkoop, as a man "five feet five and one half-inches tall, weighed about 140 pounds, of nervy, iron temperament, squarely built, slightly bow-legged, and those members apparently too short for his body. But, his head and face made up for all the imperfections of the rest of his person...[he had] mild blue eyes, which could become terrible under some circumstances, and like the warning of the rattlesnake, gave notice of attack. Though quick-sighted, he was slow and soft of speech, and posed great natural modesty."
Born in Kentucky, Carson moved to Missouri in infancy. He left home in in 1826, at age sixteen, after serving only a year as a saddler's apprentice. His family, in fact, had taken up occupancy on land formerly owned by the sons of Daniel Boone, who had in turn purchased it from the Spanish. Essentially having run away from home, Kit joined up with a wagon train headed west, determined, despite his diminutive size, to become a famous "Mountain Man" like Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith. Over the next decade, Kit Carson made his own way, earning the respect of all who knew him, and the fear of not a few.
Carson's first adventure was as a livestock herder on the Santa Fe Trail. He then settled in Taos, but, unable to find work as a small, scrawny youth, he quickly moved on, later serving as a cook, translator and wagoner between 1827-1829. At age nineteen, he finally began his ventures as a mountain man, continuing to serve as a trapper and explorer, including with the Fitzpatrick/Levin expedition. He remained in the region, continuing to hunt and trap in the Rocky Mountains for about ten years.
Carson was serving as an agent to the Ute tribe when the Civil War broke out, as Confederate forces had captured the southern part of the New Mexico Territory. After Union military commander Colonel Canby called for volunteers to defend it, Carson resigned his position as Indian agent and volunteered. The governor, who, by that time, was well-acquainted with his reputation as a fierce Indian fighter, but also as a fair and even-tempered man, appointed him as Lt. Colonel over the First New Mexico Volunteer Infantry. Carson fought several battles over the next several years, including among native American tribes.
Although he had many friends and allies among some indigenous tribes, he warred with many others. It was during this period that he famously chose a site on the Pecos River as a reservation for the confinement of the Navajo and Apache peoples (who were, in fact, notorious enemies) where they were to be perpetually settled, specifically on account of its remoteness and distance from white settlements.
In July, 1863, Carson was ordered to round up any resisters, shoot all the males on sight and to take the women and children captive, to be returned to the reservation. He was instructed to refuse all offers of treaties or peace until all Navajo were confined to the reservation. He then engaged in the campaign and Battle of Canyon de Chelly, in the winter of 1863-64, a sacred site for the Navajo.
This was one of Carson's most shameful exploits, specifically his involvement in rounding up some 3,000 refugees at Fort Canby in March, 1864, and forcing them to walk to Bosque Redondo. Due to the number of deaths which occurred on this forced march, it is sometimes known as the Navajo Trail of Tears, or the "Long Walk of the Navajo." Nor was this arrangement to be long-lasting, as a new treaty was signed in 1868 and the Navajo were allowed to return to their homeland. Thus, it has long been criticized as an utter waste of human life, as the death march to Bosque Redondo did not even result in a long-term solution.
After the Civil War, with a lull in the Indian Wars, Carson was appointed as commander of Fort Garland, Colorado, in the heart of Ute territory, with whom he had retained friendly relations. He later took up ranching, settling at Boggsville. He later traveled to Washington DC, with several Ute chiefs to serve as translator while they met with the US president. However, Carson had been suffering from poor health for some time, and had reportedly been diagnosed with an aneurysm. In fact, he did not live long after returning from this trip.
Much of Carson's personal life is as much fiction as fact. Despite remaining illiterate throughout his life, he reportedly learned numerous indigenous languages, which was almost a necessity as a trapper and trader, but he also had many hostile encounters with natives, most notably the Blackfoot tribe. However, during an encounter with a notorious French trapper, he reportedly won the fair hand of a chief's daughter, Waanibe (Grass Singing) to whom he remained married until her death from an illness after she had given birth to his second daughter, in about 1839. His second daughter died in childhood, but their first, Adeline, lived to adulthood.
Carson later married another Native woman, in 1841, but she divorced him shortly thereafter. In 1842, he met Josefa Jaramillo, the daughter of a wealthy Mexican rancher in Taos. Carson reportedly converted to Catholicism in order to marry the then-fourteen-year-old, with whom he eventually had eight children. She died from childbirth complications just after the birth of their eighth child, shortly after Carson had returned from Washington, DC. His son Charles reported that "he just seemed to pine away after Mother died," and succumbed himself to his many ailments in May, 1868, at age 58, just a month after Josefa had died.
I have traversed a fair amount of the country that Carson and others of his day did, but always by vehicle. That said, each time I pass through the unforgiving desert, in the comfort of an air-conditioned or heated car, equipped with food, water, and other emergency provisions, traveling in relative safety on a paved road, I always think about those great explorers who ventured into the unknown wilderness, who crossed vast oceans of desert, or picked their way, inch by inch, foot by foot, through harsh and rugged mountain terrain, across raging rivers, through hostile territory.
Even now, it's difficult to comprehend that the land we now sail through over the course of an hour or two would take these hardened men weeks to cross, at great risk to their very lives. To that end, I always think about the hardships they endured, all on accord of their own free will. It is also difficult to overstate the strength and endurance of these men, the survivors, who forged the trail that my own ancestors would one day follow, all the way from the land of Carson's birth to the Pacific Ocean, the peaceful place where I now call home.
I wish that the youngsters of my own day were more familiar with the lives and deeds of these long-lost and mostly forgotten adventurers, whose exploits, as in Carson's case, were sometimes far from admirable, but were, at the very least, memorable, and often inspiring. Carson was truly an independent soul, one who forged his own way in life, living by his own rules, and making his own destiny as he sought his fortune in a harsh and unforgiving land.
As the introduction states, on account of his many admittedly-often-embellished exploits, Kit Carson is almost as much myth as man. He was, in fact, the subject of many late-nineteenth-century dime novels, which is how many Americans of the day became acquainted with this wilderness adventurer.
Carson's renown has admittedly waned over the last several decades, along with that of many of our country's early adventurers. However, if you've ever driven across this great land of ours, or visited the national parks in places like the Rocky Mountains, or ventured across the burning deserts of the American Southwest, you can't help but be impressed with men like Carson's insatiable appetite for adventure, and their strength and willingness to survive.
At the time the book was written (1955), the Old West craze was in full swing, and men such as Carson featured prominently in popular culture. As opposed to the comic-book-like heroes depicted in movies and TV shows, the reality was more complex. What is known about this particular adventurer is that Christopher Houston Carson (1809-1868) was one of the few of his breed who lived to at least moderate old age.
He was, at various times in his life, a frontiersman, fur trapper, miner, explorer, expedition leader, wilderness guide, alternatively an "Indian fighter" and/or agent negotiator, US Army officer, and entrepreneur. Illiterate all of his life, Carson was nonetheless an eyewitness to much of the early history of the American West.
Kit Carson was a famously diminutive man, described by one Civil War Army Colonel, Edward W. Wynkoop, as a man "five feet five and one half-inches tall, weighed about 140 pounds, of nervy, iron temperament, squarely built, slightly bow-legged, and those members apparently too short for his body. But, his head and face made up for all the imperfections of the rest of his person...[he had] mild blue eyes, which could become terrible under some circumstances, and like the warning of the rattlesnake, gave notice of attack. Though quick-sighted, he was slow and soft of speech, and posed great natural modesty."
Born in Kentucky, Carson moved to Missouri in infancy. He left home in in 1826, at age sixteen, after serving only a year as a saddler's apprentice. His family, in fact, had taken up occupancy on land formerly owned by the sons of Daniel Boone, who had in turn purchased it from the Spanish. Essentially having run away from home, Kit joined up with a wagon train headed west, determined, despite his diminutive size, to become a famous "Mountain Man" like Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith. Over the next decade, Kit Carson made his own way, earning the respect of all who knew him, and the fear of not a few.
Carson's first adventure was as a livestock herder on the Santa Fe Trail. He then settled in Taos, but, unable to find work as a small, scrawny youth, he quickly moved on, later serving as a cook, translator and wagoner between 1827-1829. At age nineteen, he finally began his ventures as a mountain man, continuing to serve as a trapper and explorer, including with the Fitzpatrick/Levin expedition. He remained in the region, continuing to hunt and trap in the Rocky Mountains for about ten years.
Carson was serving as an agent to the Ute tribe when the Civil War broke out, as Confederate forces had captured the southern part of the New Mexico Territory. After Union military commander Colonel Canby called for volunteers to defend it, Carson resigned his position as Indian agent and volunteered. The governor, who, by that time, was well-acquainted with his reputation as a fierce Indian fighter, but also as a fair and even-tempered man, appointed him as Lt. Colonel over the First New Mexico Volunteer Infantry. Carson fought several battles over the next several years, including among native American tribes.
Although he had many friends and allies among some indigenous tribes, he warred with many others. It was during this period that he famously chose a site on the Pecos River as a reservation for the confinement of the Navajo and Apache peoples (who were, in fact, notorious enemies) where they were to be perpetually settled, specifically on account of its remoteness and distance from white settlements.
In July, 1863, Carson was ordered to round up any resisters, shoot all the males on sight and to take the women and children captive, to be returned to the reservation. He was instructed to refuse all offers of treaties or peace until all Navajo were confined to the reservation. He then engaged in the campaign and Battle of Canyon de Chelly, in the winter of 1863-64, a sacred site for the Navajo.
This was one of Carson's most shameful exploits, specifically his involvement in rounding up some 3,000 refugees at Fort Canby in March, 1864, and forcing them to walk to Bosque Redondo. Due to the number of deaths which occurred on this forced march, it is sometimes known as the Navajo Trail of Tears, or the "Long Walk of the Navajo." Nor was this arrangement to be long-lasting, as a new treaty was signed in 1868 and the Navajo were allowed to return to their homeland. Thus, it has long been criticized as an utter waste of human life, as the death march to Bosque Redondo did not even result in a long-term solution.
After the Civil War, with a lull in the Indian Wars, Carson was appointed as commander of Fort Garland, Colorado, in the heart of Ute territory, with whom he had retained friendly relations. He later took up ranching, settling at Boggsville. He later traveled to Washington DC, with several Ute chiefs to serve as translator while they met with the US president. However, Carson had been suffering from poor health for some time, and had reportedly been diagnosed with an aneurysm. In fact, he did not live long after returning from this trip.
Much of Carson's personal life is as much fiction as fact. Despite remaining illiterate throughout his life, he reportedly learned numerous indigenous languages, which was almost a necessity as a trapper and trader, but he also had many hostile encounters with natives, most notably the Blackfoot tribe. However, during an encounter with a notorious French trapper, he reportedly won the fair hand of a chief's daughter, Waanibe (Grass Singing) to whom he remained married until her death from an illness after she had given birth to his second daughter, in about 1839. His second daughter died in childhood, but their first, Adeline, lived to adulthood.
Carson later married another Native woman, in 1841, but she divorced him shortly thereafter. In 1842, he met Josefa Jaramillo, the daughter of a wealthy Mexican rancher in Taos. Carson reportedly converted to Catholicism in order to marry the then-fourteen-year-old, with whom he eventually had eight children. She died from childbirth complications just after the birth of their eighth child, shortly after Carson had returned from Washington, DC. His son Charles reported that "he just seemed to pine away after Mother died," and succumbed himself to his many ailments in May, 1868, at age 58, just a month after Josefa had died.
I have traversed a fair amount of the country that Carson and others of his day did, but always by vehicle. That said, each time I pass through the unforgiving desert, in the comfort of an air-conditioned or heated car, equipped with food, water, and other emergency provisions, traveling in relative safety on a paved road, I always think about those great explorers who ventured into the unknown wilderness, who crossed vast oceans of desert, or picked their way, inch by inch, foot by foot, through harsh and rugged mountain terrain, across raging rivers, through hostile territory.
Even now, it's difficult to comprehend that the land we now sail through over the course of an hour or two would take these hardened men weeks to cross, at great risk to their very lives. To that end, I always think about the hardships they endured, all on accord of their own free will. It is also difficult to overstate the strength and endurance of these men, the survivors, who forged the trail that my own ancestors would one day follow, all the way from the land of Carson's birth to the Pacific Ocean, the peaceful place where I now call home.
I wish that the youngsters of my own day were more familiar with the lives and deeds of these long-lost and mostly forgotten adventurers, whose exploits, as in Carson's case, were sometimes far from admirable, but were, at the very least, memorable, and often inspiring. Carson was truly an independent soul, one who forged his own way in life, living by his own rules, and making his own destiny as he sought his fortune in a harsh and unforgiving land.
