As was the case with many white trappers, Carson became somewhat integrated into the Indian world; traveling and living extensively among them. At one point he married an Arapaho woman named Singing Grass with whom he would have a daughter named Adaline Carson in Sometime later, Singing Grass died while giving birth to a second child. She soon divorced him Indian style, in Carson was evidently unusual among trappers , noted for his self-restraint and temperate lifestyle.
In , while returning from Missouri, where he took his daughter to be educated in a convent, Carson happened to meet John C. Fremont on a Missouri Riverboat. Fremont hired Carson as a guide for his first expedition to map and describe Western trails to the Pacific Ocean. During the early s, Carson established his permanent residence in Taos, New Mexico.
After returning to Taos from California, Carson married his third wife, Maria Josefa Jaramillo, the daughter of a prominent Taos family in February The same year he purchased a home in Taos for his family. Except for its date of construction, little is known about the Spanish-Colonial style residence before the Carson purchased it. Carson would serve in the war, playing an important part in the conquest of California. Carson also led the forces of U. Emerging as the hero of the Battle of San Pascual, many people soon sought him out, but they were invariably surprised to meet the great man himself.
I cannot express my surprise at beholding a small stoop-shouldered man, with reddish hair, freckled face, soft blue eyes, and nothing to indicate extraordinary courage or daring.
In the rebellion, his brother-in-law, Governor Charles Bent , was murdered while protecting Josefa and her sister from a rebellious mob. Afterward, Carson, who was devoted to his young wife, began to be more anxious to stay home, stating:. Through marriage, Maxwell had inherited the largest land grant in U. Situated along the Cimarron River about 65 east of Taos , the two purchased stock and seeds and hired workers to erect buildings on Rayado Creek.
Though the area was exposed to Plains Indian raiders, it was also located along the mountain branch of the Santa Fe Trail. While Maxwell moved his family there in , Carson was reluctant, as Josefa had just given birth to a new baby. However, he did build a small house there. That year, he was called on to guide soldiers on the trail of Jicarilla Apache and Ute Indians who had committed the White Massacre in northeastern New Mexico. After the battle, Mrs. Ann White, her servant, and her baby daughter were kidnapped.
White was later found dead, but the servant and her daughter were never found. By , he and his partner, Lucien Maxwell, were able to drive a large flock of sheep to California , where gold rush prices paid them a handsome profit. He saw the impact of western migration of the white settlers on the Native Americans, and he believed that attacks on white people by Native Americans were committed in desperation.
To prevent these people from becoming extinct, Carson advocated for the creation of Indian reservations. Serving as a lieutenant colonel, he was involved in the bloody clash with Confederate soldiers at the Battle of Valverde in Carson also led campaigns against Native American tribes in the region, most infamously the effort to force the Navajo to relocate to the Bosque Redondo reservation at Fort Sumner.
Carson and his men destroyed crops and killed livestock, their onslaught paving the way for traditional enemy tribes of the Navajo to follow with their own attacks. Starving and exhausted, the Navajo finally surrendered in , and were forced to march about miles to the reservation. The journey, known as the Long Walk, proved to be brutal, costing the lives of hundreds of participants.
Promoted to brigadier general in , Carson moved to Colorado after the war and was appointed the commander of Fort Garland. He negotiated a peace treaty with the Utes during this time before resigning in because of declining health. Carson spent his final months as superintendent of Indian affairs for Colorado Territory.
Following a grueling trip to the East Coast in , he returned to Colorado in terrible condition. After his third and final wife died in April, Carson followed approximately a month later, on May 23, , reportedly delivering the last words, "Doctor, compadre, adios! An icon of the frontiersman days of the American West, Carson is remembered through the designation of such locales as Carson City, Nevada, and Carson Pass in California.
Along with the dime novels that bolstered his legend while he was still alive, he was memorialized in Western-themed movies and TV shows like The Adventures of Kit Carson , which aired from to In early , he was featured in the History Channel's documentary series Frontiersmen. We strive for accuracy and fairness.
If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. His farewell show in drew 50 million viewers.
Rachel Carson was a marine biologist, environmentalist and writer who alerted the world to the environmental impact of fertilizers and pesticides. The Indians of the region respected Carson. Why his integrity is simply perfect. They know it, and they would believe him and trust him any day before me. By all accounts it was a big, happy family.
Kit Carson adored children and was an indulgent and doting parent. His children would then jump on top of him and take the candy from his pockets. Family members say Kit Carson was shy.
He was embarrassed and a bit humiliated by his fame, which was growing exponentially. Writers from the East incorporated his name and embellished his exploits, making him the hero of dozens of dime novels. Carson never received a cent from these books for the use of his name. VIPs traveling in the Santa Fe region would look for him. Strangers would come up to him on the street and want to shake his hand. Writers came to interview him.
Jesse B. Turley was in charge of the autobiography Carson dictated in Carson apparently provided few details and failed to make his adventures sound dramatic.
The manuscript was turned over to Dr. De Witt C. Carson signed a certificate stating that Peters was his only authorized biographer. Carson continued as the Ute agent until , when things changed dramatically for him and most other Americans. The United States was at war with itself. He moved his family to Albuquerque, where he was charged with training the New Mexico recruits. In October, he was promoted to colonel. Carson took part in the February 21, , Battle of Valverde, the first major Civil War engagement on New Mexico soil, but he spent most of the war dealing with Indians.
Major General James H. Carleton, who had been given command of the Department of New Mexico in September , was intent on pacifying the Navajos and Mescalero Apaches. Carson was ordered to subdue both tribes as soon as possible and then take them to their new reservation at the Bosque Redondo in eastern New Mexico Territory. In recent years he has been accused of actions that were not his own. Although he did his best to keep order within his ranks, the fact was that his best soldiers were back East fighting the war.
Many of his volunteers drank heavily and were disreputable. It can be argued that he failed to maintain military discipline. Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer would face similar bad odds at the Battle of the Little Bighorn a decade later. Unlike Custer, however, Carson, with the help of 10 mountain howitzers, successfully fought off the enemy. Carson eventually headed back to New Mexico with most of his force intact. Whoever heerd of sich doins among christians!
Well, here come along that durned Chivington and his cusses. So they just pitched into these friendlies, and massa-creed them…in cold blood…. And ye call these civilized men Christians and the Injuns savages, du, ye? In March , Kit Carson was brevetted a brigadier general, but by then, his health was rapidly failing.
He was pale, haggard and obviously in pain. There was another Indian problem. He is personally known and liked by every Indian…no man is so certain to insure it as Kit Carson. Carson was mustered out of the army in November By then, it was apparent that he was quite ill. He moved his family to Boggsville near present-day Las Animas, Colo. In January , General Kit Carson, frontiersman, was appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs for Colorado Territory, and he soon traveled to Washington with a group of Ute chiefs to negotiate a treaty.
He also consulted with a number of doctors on the East Coast about chest pains and other health problems. Kit Carson returned home in time for the birth of his seventh child, Josefita, in April It was a difficult birth, however, and his beloved Josefa died within two weeks. The general lost the will to live. Theirs had been one of the great love stories of the American frontier, and their final resting place was near their old home in Taos. Over the years, biographers have made a blanket statement that Carson could do little more than sign his name, but near the end of his life at Boggsville, he was observed both reading and writing.
Captain Smith H. But from the time when he went out as an Army officer with other Army officers, by association and by application he learned more, so that when I last was with him he was a fair reader and writer. No such combination ever existed in a man before.
With a heart as tender as the most sensitive woman, a loving and trusting disposition, the most child-like innocence, he united the courage of a Coeur de Leon, the utmost firmness, the strongest will, and the best of common sense. He could weep at the misfortunes or sufferings of a fellow creature, but could punish with strictest rigor a culprit who justly deserved it. This article by S. Reidhead originally appeared in the April issue of Wild West magazine.
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