Kit Carson

American frontiersman

• Born: December 24, 1809
• Birthplace: Madison County, Kentucky
• Died: May 23, 1868
• Place of death: Fort Lyon, Colorado

As trapper, guide, Indian agent, and soldier, Carson helped open the American West to settlement. His frontier adventures continue to impress those fascinated by the West’s romantic era.

Early Life

Christopher “Kit” Carson was born into a large Kentucky family. His father, Lindsey Carson, of Scotch-Irish heritage, fought in the American Revolution and had five children before his first wife died in 1793. Three years later, he married Kit’s mother, Rebecca Robinson. The second marriage yielded ten more children, of whom Christopher was the sixth. Before Christopher was two years old, the family moved to Missouri, settling in Howard County. A falling tree limb killed his father when Kit was only nine years old. At fourteen, he was apprenticed to a saddler in Franklin. Kit received little formal schooling and remained illiterate most of his life (many years later, he did learn to write his name). Instead, he earned an education in the American wilderness from men tutored in frontier ways.

Before long, the young apprentice found the saddle trade “distasteful” and vowed to flee his fate at the first chance. Longing to visit new lands, he decided to join the first party headed for the Rocky Mountains. With his master’s apparent connivance, Carson ran away in August, 1826, following a wagon train bound for Santa Fe, New Mexico. Taos then became Carson’s adopted home, where he always returned after his long journeys.

From 1827 to 1829, Carson served as a cook, drove a wagon to El Paso, Texas, interpreted Spanish, and worked for a copper mine near the Gila River. In August, 1829, he joined Ewing Young’s trapping party bound for California. Although not the first trapping venture to cross the continent, the Young expedition provided Carson with invaluable experience and helped shape his life. After trapping beaver along several Arizona streams, the party moved on to California, trapped in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, and finally returned to Taos in April, 1831. Carson once again joined an experienced trapper’s expedition, this time that of Thomas Fitzpatrick, known to Indians as “Broken Hand.” Fitzpatrick’s men headed north to trap in the central Rockies. For the next ten years, Carson roamed the American interior, hunting and trapping in much of present-day Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and Montana.

Carson immediately established a reputation as a reliable trapper and a man useful in a fight. Although later known for his wise counsel, at this point in his life he craved action and adventure. Experience taught him the value of caution; though excitable, he remained firm and determined in dangerous situations. Carson admitted that his most fearful moment came when two angry grizzly bears forced him up a tree. In 1835, an insufferable French trapper goaded him into a celebrated duel at point-blank range—so close, in fact, that Carson’s face received powder burns. Wounded in the arm, the Frenchman gave Carson no more trouble.

Carson and his fellow trappers often fought Indians, particularly the Blackfeet, who struggled with the whites over hunting grounds and supplies of valuable horses. In 1835, a Blackfoot warrior wounded Carson in the shoulder, his most serious injury. Early in life, Carson decided that Indians could not be trusted; subsequent clashes confirmed his view that wayward Indians must be severely chastised. Still, he had no special hatred for Native Americans; he respected and understood them well enough to take two native women as his wives (although the second union ended in divorce).

In the Rockies, Carson traveled with many noted mountain men, including Jim Bridger, “Old Bill” Williams, Richard Owens, and Alexis Godey. Trappers lived a rigorous yet unrestrained life, no sooner trading their beaver pelts than setting off again for the mountains. By 1840, overtrapping brought their days to an end, but not before they began to pacify the frontier. Just over thirty years of age, Carson was left with an uncertain future.

In 1836, Carson married an Arapaho woman, Waanibe(or Singing Grass). She bore him two daughters but died in 1840 or 1841. For a wandering trapper, Carson was considerate of his Indian wife; her death meant that he had to care for two young daughters. In 1842, he decided to leave one daughter with Missouri relatives. Returning westward, he met John C. Frémont on a Missouri River steamer. This chance meeting proved a turning point in Carson’s life.

Despite his fame as a mountain man and Indian fighter, Carson was barely average in height and spoke in a soft, nearly feminine voice. He nevertheless immediately impressed army explorer John C. Frémont, who described the frontiersman in his memoirs as “broad-shouldered and deep-chested, with a clear steady blue eye and frank speech and address; quiet and unassuming.” Others agreed that Carson was a man of rare character: honest, dependable, fierce under fire, and modest. Younger than many experienced trappers, he became their equal and then won greater fame as Frémont’s guide.

Life’s Work

In 1842, John C. Frémont was directed by the United States Army to survey the Oregon route as far as South Pass in Wyoming. Known to be reliable, Carson had traveled the mountains extensively, and thus Frémont hired him as guide and hunter at one hundred dollars a month. Eventually, the two men developed great respect for each other, and their friendship proved of lasting benefit to both. Frémont later swore that “Carson and truth are one.”

Beginning in June, 1842, Carson guided the main party along the Platte River to Fort Laramie. There rumors of Indian reprisals against white travelers compelled Carson to make an oral last will, a trapper custom. Frémont persisted, and the party safely crossed the Rockies. Carson assisted the explorer in planting the American flag atop one of the Wind River peaks, then accompanied him in a rubber raft down the Platte on the return trip. The party escaped injury in an otherwise costly accident, then Carson took his leave at Fort Laramie. In January, 1843, he returned to Taos to marry his third wife, Josefa Jaramillo, who eventually bore him seven children.

Carson again served as guide (along with Thomas Fitzpatrick) for Frémont’s second expedition, in 1843-1844, to Oregon and California. Crossing the Rockies, Frémont and Carson examined the Great Salt Lake in a rubber boat, then continued to the British posts in the Oregon country. Frémont next struck southward to explore the Great Basin, finally deciding to enter California across the high Sierra Nevada in the dead of winter. From a Sierra pass, Carson caught a glimpse of the California Coastal Mountains that he had first seen as a member of the Young party fifteen years earlier. After much hardship, he helped guide Frémont to the familiar Sacramento Valley.

The party encountered further trouble returning on the old Spanish Trail. A band of Indians robbed a Mexican family of their horses and then killed most of the family. Carson and Alexis Godey volunteered to pursue the marauders, expecting others to do the same. When none did, the two guides tracked the offenders for fifty miles and alone attacked the camp of thirty braves. The Indians were caught off guard and fled. Carson and Godey returned with two scalps and most of the horses, earning Frémont’s everlasting praise. Later, another man was killed by Indians, but the addition of famed trapper and guide Joseph R. Walker helped the party to reach Bent’s Fort on the Arkansas River without further injury in July, 1844.

The publication of Frémont’s reports of his first two expeditions in 1843 and 1845 brought Carson to the attention of an American nation eager to create heroes of its drive to the West. In his first report, for example, Frémont wrote that “mounted on a fine horse, without a saddle, and scouring bareheaded over the prairies, Kit was one of the finest pictures of a horseman I have ever seen.” Such descriptions created a frontier legend that helped Carson earn further fame in the service of his nation.

Along with Richard Owens, Carson started a farm in New Mexico but gladly sold their assets at a loss in August, 1845, to serve on Frémont’s third expedition. The party crossed the Rockies and again investigated the Great Salt Lake. Frémont decided to strike straight across the desert to the West, sending Carson and an advance party on a forced march to locate water and grass. Crossing the Great Basin and then the Sierra again in winter, the party arrived in California amid growing turmoil between Mexico and the United States.

In March, 1846, Mexican authorities ordered Frémont’s army of American frontiersmen to leave the province. After a show of defiance, Frémont did pass northward into Oregon. On the route, Carson joined much of the party in attacking an Indian village, leaving more than a hundred dead in their wake. He believed this “butchery” was justified as a deterrent to attacks on American settlers. The same night, a messenger from Washington arrived; Klamath Indians surprised Frémont’s camp, killing three of the party. Carson was angered at the death of his friends, and he led the men in exacting vengeance on a nearby Indian village. In a subsequent encounter with the Klamath, quick action by Frémont and James Sagundai, one of Frémont’s Indian auxiliaries, spared Carson’s life.

Frémont had received messages that induced him to return to California to lead a revolt of American settlers in June, 1846. Although not authorized by the U.S. government, Frémont’s actions earned for him more national acclaim and raised his guide’s renown as well. Carson served in the volunteer California Battalion, assisting in the occupation of San Diego and Los Angeles. Apparently at Frémont’s direction, Carson’s men executed three Mexican prisoners in retaliation for the killing of two Americans. Carson avoided mentioning this grim episode in his memoirs. With California apparently pacified, Frémont sent Carson east in September, carrying news of the conquest to Washington, D.C.

Crossing New Mexico, Carson encountered General Stephen Watts Kearny commanding a force of United States dragoons. With great reluctance, the famous guide agreed to lead the general to California. Arriving in December, 1846, the small American army clashed with determined Californians at San Pasqual. Riding in an advance party, Carson barely escaped death when his horse tumbled and his gun was broken. Many of the soldiers were killed, and Kearny was wounded. The command urgently needed help, so Carson, Navy Lieutenant Edward F. Beale, and a Delaware Indian crept away at night and ran barefoot to San Diego. Despite the hardship and heroism of their actions, a relief force had already been dispatched to rescue Kearny. Carson was again present to see Los Angeles occupied by American forces.

In 1847 and 1848, Carson traveled twice across the continent carrying government dispatches. In the spring of 1848, George Brewerton accompanied Carson from California to New Mexico. The young lieutenant later wrote of his ride with the famous scout. Carson arrived in the East with early news of the California gold strike. At the capital, he and Jessie Benton Frémont urged President James K. Polk to assist her husband in a dispute over authority with General Kearny. Carson had another meeting with the president and was appointed first lieutenant in the United States Army. The Senate, however, refused to confirm the nomination, because of hostility toward the Frémont family. Informed of the rebuff, Carson nevertheless fulfilled his duty in carrying dispatches overland to California. Late in 1848, he returned to private life.

Carson did not accompany Frémont on his ill-fated final expeditions, but he did succor the exhausted explorer in Taos after his fourth expedition had ended in disaster in the San Juan Mountains. For the next several years, Carson engaged in various pursuits, often aiding government parties. In 1849, he guided soldiers seeking to rescue Mrs. James White and her child, who had been taken by Apache. Carson was saddened when the commander hesitated to follow his instructions; the Indians killed the mother and escaped with the child. In 1853, he took part in a great drive of sheep to California. Early in 1854, he began a new career as an Indian agent, primarily for the Ute.

From his office in Taos, Carson distributed government supplies to the Ute and took part in numerous efforts to pacify other tribes. In 1855, he helped government troops defeat hostile bands in battles at Saguache and Ponca Pass in Colorado. Despite the handicap of illiteracy, Carson proved an effective Indian agent. His facility with Spanish and many Indian languages offset his inability to read and write. Moreover, he knew and respected Indian customs. His hope was to see Indians removed from harmful contact with whites, where they could learn to provide their own support. Sometime in 1856, he dictated his memoirs, probably to his secretary. In 1860, a fall from his horse left Carson in declining health.

Until June, 1861, Carson continued in his post as Indian agent. Then the Civil War came to New Mexico Territory, bringing him a new career as military leader. Born a Kentuckian, Carson sided with the Union, helping to erect a United States flag in Taos after secession sympathizers raised the Confederate banner. He was commissioned a colonel in a New Mexico volunteer regiment. In February, 1862, his troops engaged invading Confederates at Valverde, New Mexico. Later action forced the rebels to withdraw.

For the remainder of the war, Carson sought to pacify several southwestern Indian tribes. Most notable was his 1863-1864 campaign against the Navajo, a large and proud nation. Following the orders of General James H. Carleton, he fought essentially a scorched-earth campaign, destroying crops and seizing livestock. His efforts to force the Navajo to surrender earned for him the name “Rope Thrower.” In January, 1864, his troops drove the Navajo from their Canyon de Chelly stronghold. Relatively few were killed in the conflict; cold and starvation forced the defeated people to move to the Bosque Redondo, a remote reservation. Hundreds of Navajo died on the journey, however, because of inadequate provisions. Carson had not been responsible for the harsh policy and urged that more food be provided. His campaign helped settle the government reservation system, but in 1868 the Navajo were allowed to return to their tribal lands.

Carson’s largest battle took place at Adobe Walls along the Canadian River in Texas. In November, 1864, he led more than three hundred troops (and seventy-five Ute and Apache) against a large force of Kiowa and Comanche. His troops destroyed an Indian village before perhaps as many as three thousand Indians forced him to withdraw. Carson was not beaten; his caution and experience prevented a potential disaster similar to General George A. Custer’s defeat. Carson’s foray inaugurated a long campaign to pacify the Kiowa and Comanche. In March, 1865, he was breveted brigadier general of United States Volunteers for his valuable service in New Mexico.

In 1866, Carson commanded Fort Garland in Colorado. The next year, he resigned his military position and was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs for the Colorado Territory. In poor health, he accompanied several Ute chiefs on a tour of eastern cities, hoping to negotiate a favorable treaty. He also visited his old friends the Frémonts and sought medical help. On his return to Fort Lyon, Colorado, his wife died after giving birth to another child. A month later, on May 23, 1868, the famous scout succumbed to death from an aortic aneurysm. Buried initially at Boggsville, Colorado, both Carsons were later moved to Taos, New Mexico, their beloved home. A river, a mountain pass, and the capital city of Nevada bear the Carson name.

Significance

Kit Carson was an ideal representative of the American frontiersman. Unlettered but resourceful, he and his fellow mountain men lived a brief, romantic existence before decline of the beaver population brought their way of life to an end. Forced to become guides, traders, or Indian agents, former trappers continued to facilitate the West’s settlement, but in roles subordinate to the more powerful agents of American expansion. As Frémont’s guide, Carson surpassed all the mountain men and emerged as a legendary figure of the American frontier. At the same time, his judgment and experience contributed to the success of Frémont’s ventures. Through such former trappers as Carson, geographical knowledge of the West passed into the hands of army explorers such as Frémont. As an Indian agent, Carson sought to end Indian-white conflict, while his Civil War service helped protect the Southwest from Confederate attack and Indian unrest.

Carson’s adventures require little embellishment, yet writers created a fictional Kit Carson, familiar to most Americans as a loyal army scout and Indian slayer. An early example of the Western hero, the Carson figure linked earlier eastern woodsmen (such as Daniel Boone) to the Indian fighter of the Western mountains and plains. Barely civilized himself in these fictional accounts, the famous scout assisted in the spread of American civilization to barren Western lands. More than most legendary heroes, however, the historical Kit Carson approaches his fictional reputation. Several brutal encounters with Indians and Mexicans mar his otherwise impressive career. Carson was nevertheless a man of simple courage and devotion to duty. He remains an American character deserving regard.

Bibliography

Brewerton, George Douglas. Overland with Kit Carson: A Narrative of the Old Spanish Trail in ’48. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993. A republication of one of the few accounts of Carson written by a man who knew and rode with the famous guide.

Carter, Harvey Lewis.“Dear Old Kit”: The Historical Christopher Carson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968. This authoritative work provides a richly annotated edition of Carson’s memoirs, virtually the only source of information for his life to 1856. Includes a survey of works on Carson and assesses his character and later life.

Dunlay, Tom. Kit Carson and the Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. In recent years, the old image of Carson as romantic hero has been replaced by the image of a brutal Indian slayer. Dunlay provides a balanced view of Carson’s relations with the Indians, showing him capable of using violence but also able to denounce injustice against, and forge friendships with, Native Americans.

Estergreen, M. Morgan. Kit Carson: A Portrait in Courage. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962. Inaccurate in some respects, this helpful account is based partly on Carson family memories.

Guild, Thelma S., and Harvey L. Carter. Kit Carson: A Pattern for Heroes. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Readable and generally reliable, this biography is based primarily on Carson’s memoirs.

Jackson, Donald, and Mary Lee Spence, eds. The Expeditions of John Charles Frémont. 3 vols. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970-1984. The widely read reports of John C. Frémont’s first two expeditions (in volume 1) made Carson a national hero.

Kelly, Lawrence C., ed. Navajo Roundup: Selected Correspondence of Kit Carson’s Expedition Against the Navajo, 1863-1865. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett, 1970. Generally favorable to Carson, this source contains many valuable documents covering his Navajo campaign.

Roberts, David. A Newer World: Kit Carson, John C. Frémont, and the Claiming of the American West. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. An account of Frémont’s expeditions in the western United States from the early 1840’s until the beginning of the Civil War. Describes Carson’s role in the expeditions and the relationship of the two men.

Sabin, Edwin Legrand. Kit Carson Days. Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1914. Rev. ed. New York: Press of the Pioneers, 1935. Dated and flawed in parts, this standard biography is still useful for Carson’s later career. Includes his agent and military reports.

Simmons, Marc. Kit Carson and His Three Wives. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003. Simmons has spent four decades researching Carson’s personal life, resulting in the publication of this book about Carson’s relations with his family, wife, and children.

Trafzer, Clifford E. The Kit Carson Campaign: The Last Great Navajo War. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. This work examines Carson’s 1863-1864 campaign from the Navajo perspective.