%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Kit Carson http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/kit-carson <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Kit Carson</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1210--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1210.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/last-picture-kit-carson"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/FinalKitCarsonPhoto%5B1%5D_0.jpg?itok=Yr_W20q2" width="455" height="550" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/last-picture-kit-carson" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Last picture of Kit Carson</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>This photo of Carson was taken two months before his death in <strong><a href="/article/boggsville">Boggsville</a></strong>, Colorado.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-03-14T14:16:57-06:00" title="Monday, March 14, 2016 - 14:16" class="datetime">Mon, 03/14/2016 - 14:16</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/kit-carson" data-a2a-title="Kit Carson"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fkit-carson&amp;title=Kit%20Carson"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The life of Christopher “Kit” Carson (1809–68) represents a broad sweep of Western American history in the early-to-mid nineteenth century. Carson was a Rocky Mountain <strong>fur trapper</strong>, a guide and scout for the US Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, rancher, <a href="/article/indian-agencies-and-agents"><strong>Indian agent</strong></a> in New Mexico and Colorado, and finally an officer in the US Army.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson was also a man of contradictions and an agent of genocide. Although he married two Indigenous women and spoke several Indigenous languages, he fought, killed, and starved thousands of Apache and Navajo people during his military campaigns. He was an illiterate person who, in addition to Indigenous languages, mastered Spanish and French; and he was a man of unassuming appearance, short in stature with a quiet voice, who earned a reputation as a ruthless adversary.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Kit Carson’s geographical namesakes are widespread in the West and reflect his historical prominence as well as his wide-ranging travels. In Colorado, Kit Carson town and <a href="/article/kit-carson-county"><strong>county</strong></a>, as well as <strong>Fort Carson</strong> Military Reservation, are named for him, as are Carson County, Texas, and Carson National Forest in New Mexico. In Nevada, the Carson River flows into Carson Sink, an enclosed basin east of Reno, and Carson City, the capital of Nevada, is also named for Kit. And in 1855, the clipper ship <em>Kit Carson</em> was launched in Boston.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Life</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Christopher Carson was born in 1809 in Kentucky (in the same year and state as Abraham Lincoln) and early in life acquired the nickname “Kit.” His family moved to the Boone’s Lick country of central Missouri when Kit was one year old. The large Carson family lived a true backwoods existence, and they were often “forted” against unfriendly Native Americans. Educational opportunities were minimal. As Carson explained years later, when his school came under threat of attack by Indigenous people, he threw down his speller “and thar it lies.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Boone’s Lick country straddled the Missouri River, and the town of Franklin, founded in 1816, became the jumping-off point for the <a href="/article/santa-f%C3%A9-trail-0"><strong>Santa Fé Trail</strong></a>. At fourteen, Kit was apprenticed to a saddlemaker in Franklin but detested the tedious work. Two years later, in 1826, he ran off and joined a caravan on the Santa Fé Trail bound for New Mexico. There he worked various jobs for traders and trappers, even serving as interpreter for a trading expedition to Mexico after having learned Spanish. Not yet twenty years old, he first found work as a trapper in 1829, operating out of Taos, New Mexico, the town he would eventually call home.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Trapper and Trader</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The <a href="/article/fur-trade-colorado"><strong>fur trade</strong></a> was in full swing when Kit Carson signed on with a <a href="/article/beaver"><strong>beaver</strong></a>-trapping party headed north into the Rocky Mountains. In subsequent years he was engaged with various parties between the Southwest and Montana and from the plains of Colorado to the Pacific Northwest. At different times he trapped for the two great competing operators in the region: the <strong>Rocky Mountain Fur Company</strong> and American Fur Company. He also trapped for the Hudson’s Bay Company. When the fur trade era closed he found work as a hunter at <a href="/article/bents-forts"><strong>Bent’s Fort</strong></a> for Bent, St. Vrain and Company, the principal American trading operation on the Santa Fé Trail. He associated with legendary figures of the era such as Jim Bridger, Joe Meek, William Sublette, and Thomas Fitzpatrick.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson established himself among the fur trade fraternity as a man of competence, intelligence, and toughness. Still in his twenties, he led trapping parties of up to sixty men and attended numerous mountain man <em>rendezvous</em>, or annual gatherings. Life in the West was dangerous, and Carson had his share of confrontations with Native Americans. Before his life was over, he would be involved in conflicts ranging from skirmishes to pitched battles with the Crow, Blackfeet, <strong>Comanche</strong>, <strong>Apache</strong>, Klamath, <strong>Paiute</strong>, and <strong>Navajo</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>But Carson’s relationships with Indians were not entirely confrontational. Frequent trade was conducted between whites and Indians, and to a great extent the trappers adapted themselves to the Rocky Mountains by assuming aspects of Native American life. There was also a considerable amount of intermarriage. Around 1836 Carson married an <strong>Arapaho</strong> woman named Waanibe, who bore him two children before her death in 1839. Only the older child, a daughter named Adaline, survived early childhood. Adaline was raised by Carson’s family in Missouri. In 1841 Carson married a <strong>Cheyenne</strong> woman named Making-Out-Road. This marriage lasted a few months and produced no children.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Explorer</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson met Captain <a href="/article/john-c-fr%C3%A9mont"><strong>John C. Frémont</strong></a> of the Corps of Topographical Engineers during a chance encounter in 1842 and was immediately hired as guide and scout for Fremont’s first expedition into the Rocky Mountains. Carson would ultimately serve in that role through the second and third expeditions, until 1846. He successfully guided Frémont across what became the Oregon Trail route, as well as through the Pacific Northwest and California. In his widely circulated reports of the first two expeditions, Frémont heaped praise on Carson, who soon became a household name to Americans.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Frémont’s third expedition, ostensibly another exploratory venture, became a cover for the conquest of California, and was incorporated into the Mexican-American War (1846–48). Commissioned an army lieutenant in 1846, Carson fought in that conflict in the Battle of San Pasqual, leading a daring escape when US forces were trapped by Mexican Californians near San Diego. He later made several cross-country journeys carrying dispatches between California and Washington, DC. Regarded as a celebrity in Washington, he twice had audiences with President James Polk.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Indian Agent and Soldier</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson had married Josefa Jaramillo, sister-in-law of Charles Bent, in 1843, and the couple settled in Taos even though Kit was away from home for long periods of time. They had eight children, seven of whom survived childhood. In 1849, with Lucien Maxwell, Carson began developing an old land grant east of the <strong>Sangre de Cristo Mountains</strong> in northeastern New Mexico, and there ranched for a few years while also serving as an army scout. In 1854 he was appointed US Indian agent to the <strong>Muache Utes</strong>, Taos Pueblos, and Jicarilla Apaches. He moved back to Taos, where he served until 1861.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson reenlisted in the Union Army in 1861 at the start of the <a href="/article/civil-war-colorado"><strong>Civil War</strong></a>, and as a colonel he led the 1st New Mexico Volunteers in the Battle of Valverde (1862) in southern New Mexico. Indian raids on Hispanic and Anglo-American settlements intensified as army personnel departed the territory for the war in the East. General James Carleton, Commander of the Department of New Mexico, enlisted Carson to end the “Indian problem” for good by pursuing genocide. Carson refused at first and tried to resign, saying he had rejoined the army to fight Confederates, not Indigenous people, but he finally accepted the job. A fast drive against the Jicarilla Apache in 1862 was followed by a major campaign against the Navajo in subsequent years.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson carried out his responsibilities with deadly effect, essentially starving the Navajos into submission during a scorched-earth campaign in the winter of 1863–64. In the end, about 9,000 Navajos would make “The Long Walk” from their homeland in the Four Corners region to a newly established reservation at Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico, where they joined several hundred resettled Apaches. Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Indigenous people died during the campaign and afterward on the reservation. The Fort Sumner experiment failed miserably, and by 1868 the reservation had been abandoned.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson served briefly as military supervisor at Fort Sumner, then as Carleton’s field representative to Indigenous nations on the Great Plains. In this capacity he led a campaign against the Comanche that culminated in the Battle of Adobe Walls in north Texas in 1865. Carson served as commander of <a href="/article/fort-garland-0"><strong>Fort Garland</strong></a> in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis-valley"><strong>San Luis Valley</strong></a> in 1866, but resigned from the army the following year due to failing health. In May 1868, at the age of fifty-eight, Carson died at <strong>Fort Lyon</strong>, Colorado, from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. His wife, Josefa, had died the previous month, shortly after giving birth to their daughter.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Colorado Connections</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Kit Carson’s Colorado associations were many. He trapped throughout Colorado as a young man and later traversed the state during the Frémont expeditions. He had direct connections to Bent’s Fort as well as Forts <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fort-davy-crockett">Davy Crockett</a></strong>, St. Vrain, and <a href="/article/el-pueblo"><strong>El Pueblo</strong></a>. As Indian agent his area of responsibility included southern Colorado, where he later took charge at Fort Garland. He regarded <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/park-county"><strong>South Park</strong></a> as the finest hunting ground in the Rockies. It was an injury from a hunting accident in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-mountains"><strong>San Juan Mountains</strong></a> that, years later, led to his fatal aneurysm. He lived the final year of his life in <a href="/article/boggsville"><strong>Boggsville</strong></a> near present-day <strong>Las Animas</strong>, and it was near there that he died.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/zier-christian-j" hreflang="und">Zier, Christian J. </a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/indian-agent" hreflang="en">Indian Agent</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/fur-trapper" hreflang="en">fur trapper</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/nineteenth-century-fur-trade" hreflang="en">nineteenth century fur trade</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/bents-fort-0" hreflang="en">bent&#039;s fort</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/fort-garland" hreflang="en">Fort Garland</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boggsville" hreflang="en">boggsville</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/santa-fe-trail" hreflang="en">Santa Fe Trail</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mexican-american-war" hreflang="en">Mexican-American War</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/civil-war" hreflang="en">Civil War</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/navajo-long-walk" hreflang="en">Navajo Long Walk</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Lynn R. Bailey, <em>The Long Walk</em> (Tucson, AZ: Westernlore Press, 1988).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Tom Dunlay, <em>Kit Carson and the Indians</em> (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Hampton Sides, <em>Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West</em> (New York: Anchor Books, 2006).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Bernard DeVoto, <em>Across the Wide Missouri</em> (New York: Bonanza Books, 1947).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://cabin-rentals.net/santafetrailscenicandhistoricbyway/boggsville/">Boggsville</a>,” Santa Fe Trail Scenic &amp; Historic Byway—Mountain Branch, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> Lawrence Kelley, <em>Navajo Roundup: Selected Correspondence of Kit Carson’s Expedition against the Navajo, 1863–1865</em> (Boulder: Pruett Publishing Company, 1970).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Legends of America, “<a href="https://www.legendsofamerica.com/nm-kitcarson/">Kit Carson: Legend of the Southwest</a>,” last modified May 2015.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Rocky Mountain PBS, <a href="https://video.rmpbs.org/video/2365573330/">"Boggsville,"</a> <em>Colorado Experience</em>, October 1, 2015.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Edwin L. Sabin, <em>Kit Carson Days, 1809–1868</em> (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>UNM-Taos Development, “<a href="http://kitcarsonmuseum.org/">Kit Carson Home and Museum</a>.”</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>The life of Christopher “Kit” Carson (1809–68) represents a broad sweep of Western American history. Carson was a Rocky Mountain <strong>fur trapper</strong> and an officer in the US Army.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson was also a man of contradictions. He married two Indigenous women and spoke several Indigenous languages. He also fought, killed, and starved thousands of Apache and Navajo people during his military campaigns.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In Colorado, Kit Carson town and <strong>county</strong> are named for him. Carson City, the capital of Nevada, is also named for Kit. And in 1855, the clipper ship <em>Kit Carson</em> was launched in Boston.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Life</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Christopher Carson was born in 1809 in Kentucky. He was nicknamed “Kit” early in life. His family moved to central Missouri when Kit was one year old. The large Carson family lived a true backwoods existence. They were often “forted” against unfriendly Native Americans. Education was minimal. When Carson's school came under threat of attack by Indigenous people, he threw down his speller “and thar it lies.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The town of Franklin, Missouri became the jumping-off point for the <strong>Santa Fé Trail</strong>. In 1826, Carson joined a caravan on the Santa Fé Trail bound for New Mexico. He found work as a trapper in 1829, operating out of Taos, New Mexico.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Trapper and Trader</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The fur trade was in full swing when Kit Carson signed on with a beaver-trapping party headed north into the Rocky Mountains. Over the years, he trapped from the Southwest to Montana and the Pacific Northwest. When the fur trade era ended he found work as a hunter at <strong>Bent’s Fort</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson was seen as a man of intelligence and toughness. Still in his twenties, he led trapping parties of up to sixty men and attended mountain man gatherings. Life in the West was dangerous. Carson had his share of fights with Native Americans.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson’s dealings with Indians were not always confrontational. There was trade between whites and Indians. There was also intermarriage. Around 1836 Carson married an <strong>Arapaho</strong> woman named Waanibe. She bore him two children before her death in 1839. Only the older child, a daughter named Adaline, survived. Adaline was raised by Carson’s family in Missouri. In 1841 Carson married a <strong>Cheyenne</strong> woman named Making-Out-Road. This marriage lasted a few months and produced no children.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Explorer</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson met Captain <strong>John C. Frémont</strong> of the Corps of Topographical Engineers in 1842. Carson was hired as guide for Fremont’s first expedition into the Rocky Mountains. He would serve in that role through the second and third expeditions. Carson guided Frémont across what became the Oregon Trail route, and through the Pacific Northwest and California. In reports of the first two expeditions, Frémont heaped praise on Carson. Carson became a household name.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Frémont’s third expedition became a cover for the conquest of California. It was part of the Mexican-American War (1846–48). Carson became an army lieutenant in 1846 and fought in the Battle of San Pasqual. He made several cross-country journeys carrying dispatches between California and Washington, DC. Carson was a celebrity in Washington.  He met with President James Polk twice.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Indian Agent and Soldier</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson married Josefa Jaramillo in 1843. The couple settled in Taos. They had eight children. Seven survived childhood. In 1849, Carson began developing an old land grant in northeastern New Mexico. He ranched for a few years while also serving as an army scout. In 1854, he was appointed US Indian agent to the <strong>Muache Utes</strong>, Taos Pueblos, and Jicarilla Apaches. He moved back to Taos, where he served until 1861.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson reenlisted in the Union Army in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. As a colonel, he led the 1st New Mexico Volunteers in the Battle of Valverde (1862) in southern New Mexico. Indian raids on Hispanic and Anglo-American settlements increased as army personnel left the territory for the war in the East. General James Carleton enlisted Carson to end the “Indian problem” for good. Carson refused at first. He tried to resign, but he finally accepted the job. A fast drive against the Jicarilla Apache in 1862 was followed by a major campaign against the Navajo.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson essentially starved the Navajos into submission during a scorched-earth campaign in the winter of 1863–64. About 9,000 Navajos made “The Long Walk” from their homeland in the Four Corners region to a newly established reservation at Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico. There they joined several hundred resettled Apaches. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Indigenous people died during the campaign and on the reservation. The Fort Sumner experiment failed. By 1868, the reservation was abandoned.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson served as military supervisor at Fort Sumner and as Carleton’s field representative to Indigenous nations on the Great Plains. In this capacity he led a campaign against the Comanche. The campaign culminated in the Battle of Adobe Walls in north Texas in 1865. Carson served as commander of <strong>Fort Garland</strong> in the <strong>San Luis Valley</strong> in 1866. He resigned from the army the following year due to failing health. In May 1868, at the age of fifty-eight, Carson died at Fort Lyon, Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Colorado Connections</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Kit Carson had many Colorado connections. He trapped throughout Colorado as a young man. He had direct links to Bent’s Fort as well as Forts <strong>Davy Crockett</strong>, St. Vrain, and <strong>El Pueblo</strong>. Carson regarded South Park as the finest hunting ground in the Rockies. He lived the final year of his life in <strong>Boggsville</strong> near present-<strong>day Las Animas</strong>. It was near there that he died.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>The life of Christopher “Kit” Carson (1809–68) represents a broad sweep of Western American history. Carson was a Rocky Mountain <strong>fur trapper</strong>, a guide and scout for the US Army Corps, rancher, <strong>Indian agent</strong>, and an officer in the US Army.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson was also a man of contradictions. He married two Indigenous women and spoke several Indigenous languages. However, he also fought, killed, and starved thousands of Apache and Navajo people during his military campaigns.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Kit Carson’s namesakes are widespread in the West. They reflect his historical prominence as well as his wide-ranging travels. In Colorado, Kit Carson town and <strong>county</strong>, as well as <strong>Fort Carson</strong> Military Reservation, are named for him. In Nevada, the Carson River flows into Carson Sink, an enclosed basin east of Reno. Carson City, the capital of Nevada, is also named for Kit. And in 1855, the clipper ship <em>Kit Carson</em> was launched in Boston.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Life</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Christopher Carson was born in 1809 in Kentucky and was nicknamed “Kit” early in life. His family moved to central Missouri when Kit was one year old. The large Carson family lived a true backwoods existence. They were often “forted” against unfriendly Native Americans. Education was minimal. When Carson's school came under threat of attack by Indigenous people, he threw down his speller “and thar it lies.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The town of Franklin, Missouri became the jumping-off point for the <strong>Santa Fé Trail</strong>. At fourteen, Kit was apprenticed to a saddlemaker in Franklin. He didn't enjoy the work. In 1826, he joined a caravan on the Santa Fé Trail bound for New Mexico. There he worked various jobs for traders and trappers. He even served as interpreter for a trading expedition to Mexico after learning Spanish. Not yet twenty years old, he first found work as a trapper in 1829, operating out of Taos, New Mexico.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Trapper and Trader</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The <strong>fur trade</strong> was in full swing when Kit Carson signed on with a beaver-trapping party headed north into the Rocky Mountains. Over the years, he trapped from the Southwest and Montana to the Pacific Northwest. When the fur trade era closed he found work as a hunter at <strong>Bent’s Fort</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson was seen as a man of competence, intelligence, and toughness. Still in his twenties, he led trapping parties of up to sixty men and attended numerous mountain man gatherings. Life in the West was dangerous, and Carson had his share of fights with Native Americans.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>But Carson’s dealings with Indians were not always confrontational. Frequent trade was conducted between whites and Indians. There was also intermarriage. Around 1836 Carson married an <strong>Arapaho</strong> woman named Waanibe, who bore him two children before her death in 1839. Only the older child, a daughter named Adaline, survived early childhood. Adaline was raised by Carson’s family in Missouri. In 1841 Carson married a <strong>Cheyenne</strong> woman named Making-Out-Road. This marriage lasted a few months and produced no children.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Explorer</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson met Captain <strong>John C. Frémont</strong> of the Corps of Topographical Engineers during a chance encounter in 1842. Carson was hired as guide and scout for Fremont’s first expedition into the Rocky Mountains. He would serve in that role through the second and third expeditions, until 1846. He successfully guided Frémont across what became the Oregon Trail route, as well as through the Pacific Northwest and California. In reports of the first two expeditions, Frémont heaped praise on Carson. Carson soon became a household name.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Frémont’s third expedition became a cover for the conquest of California, and was part of the Mexican-American War (1846–48). Commissioned as an army lieutenant in 1846, Carson fought in the Battle of San Pasqual. He led a daring escape when US forces were trapped by Mexican Californians near San Diego. Carson later made several cross-country journeys carrying dispatches between California and Washington, DC. Carson was seen as a celebrity in Washington.  He met twice with President James Polk.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Indian Agent and Soldier</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson married Josefa Jaramillo, sister-in-law of Charles Bent, in 1843. The couple settled in Taos. They had eight children, seven of whom survived childhood. In 1849, Carson began developing an old land grant east of the <strong>Sangre de Cristo Mountains</strong> in northeastern New Mexico. He ranched for a few years while also serving as an army scout. In 1854 he was appointed US Indian agent to the <strong>Muache Utes</strong>, Taos Pueblos, and Jicarilla Apaches. He moved back to Taos, where he served until 1861.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson reenlisted in the Union Army in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. As a colonel he led the 1st New Mexico Volunteers in the Battle of Valverde (1862) in southern New Mexico. Indian raids on Hispanic and Anglo-American settlements intensified as army personnel left the territory for the war in the East. General James Carleton, Commander of the Department of New Mexico, enlisted Carson to end the “Indian problem” for good using genocide. Carson refused at first and tried to resign, but he finally accepted the job. A fast drive against the Jicarilla Apache in 1862 was followed by a major campaign against the Navajo.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson essentially starved the Navajos into submission during a scorched-earth campaign in the winter of 1863–64. About 9,000 Navajos made “The Long Walk” from their homeland in the Four Corners region to a newly established reservation at Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico. There they joined several hundred resettled Apaches. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Indigenous people died during the campaign and on the reservation. The Fort Sumner experiment failed. By 1868, the reservation was abandoned.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson served briefly as military supervisor at Fort Sumner and as Carleton’s field representative to Indigenous nations on the Great Plains. In this capacity he led a campaign against the Comanche. The campaign culminated in the Battle of Adobe Walls in north Texas in 1865. Carson served as commander of <strong>Fort Garland</strong> in the <strong>San Luis Valley</strong> in 1866. He resigned from the army the following year due to failing health. In May 1868, at the age of fifty-eight, Carson died at <strong>Fort Lyon</strong>, Colorado, from an aneurysm. His wife, Josefa, had died the previous month after giving birth to their daughter.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Colorado Connections</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Kit Carson’s Colorado associations were many. He trapped throughout Colorado as a young man. He had direct connections to Bent’s Fort as well as Forts <strong>Davy Crockett</strong>, St. Vrain, and <strong>El Pueblo</strong>. As Indian agent his area of responsibility included southern Colorado, where he later took charge at Fort Garland. He regarded <strong>South Park</strong> as the finest hunting ground in the Rockies. It was an injury from a hunting accident in the <strong>San Juan Mountains</strong> that led to his fatal aneurysm. He lived the final year of his life in <strong>Boggsville</strong> near present-day <strong>Las Animas</strong>. It was near there that he died.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>The life of Christopher “Kit” Carson (1809–68) represents a broad sweep of Western American history. Carson was a Rocky Mountain <strong>fur trapper</strong>, a guide and scout for the US Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, rancher, <strong>Indian agent</strong> in New Mexico and Colorado, and an officer in the US Army.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson was also a man of contradictions and an agent of genocide. Carson married two Indigenous women and spoke several Indigenous languages. However, he also fought, killed, and starved thousands of Apache and Navajo people during his military campaigns. He was an illiterate person who, in addition to Indigenous languages, mastered Spanish and French. He was short in stature with a quiet voice. Carson earned a reputation as a ruthless adversary.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Kit Carson’s geographical namesakes are widespread in the West. They reflect his historical prominence as well as his wide-ranging travels. In Colorado, Kit Carson town and <strong>county</strong>, as well as <strong>Fort Carson</strong> Military Reservation, are named for him, as are Carson County, Texas, and Carson National Forest in New Mexico. In Nevada, the Carson River flows into Carson Sink, an enclosed basin east of Reno, and Carson City, the capital of Nevada, is also named for Kit. In 1855, the clipper ship <em>Kit Carson</em> was launched in Boston.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Life</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Christopher Carson was born in 1809 in Kentucky and early in life acquired the nickname “Kit.” His family moved to the Boone’s Lick country of central Missouri when Kit was one year old. The large Carson family lived a true backwoods existence. They were often “forted” against unfriendly Native Americans. Educational opportunities were minimal. As Carson explained years later, when his school came under threat of attack by Indigenous people, he threw down his speller “and thar it lies.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Boone’s Lick country straddled the Missouri River, and the town of Franklin, founded in 1816, became the jumping-off point for the <strong>Santa Fé Trail</strong>. At fourteen, Kit was apprenticed to a saddlemaker in Franklin but detested the tedious work. Two years later, in 1826, he ran off and joined a caravan on the Santa Fé Trail bound for New Mexico. There he worked various jobs for traders and trappers. He even served as interpreter for a trading expedition to Mexico after learning Spanish. Not yet twenty years old, he first found work as a trapper in 1829, operating out of Taos, New Mexico.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Trapper and Trader</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The <strong>fur trade</strong> was in full swing when Kit Carson signed on with a <strong>beaver</strong>-trapping party headed north into the Rocky Mountains. Over the years, he worked with various parties between the Southwest and Montana and from the plains of Colorado to the Pacific Northwest. At different times he trapped for the two great competing operators in the region: the <strong>Rocky Mountain Fur Company</strong> and American Fur Company. He also trapped for the Hudson’s Bay Company. When the fur trade era closed he found work as a hunter at <strong>Bent’s Fort</strong> for Bent, St. Vrain and Company, the principal American trading operation on the Santa Fé Trail. He associated with legendary figures of the era such as Jim Bridger, Joe Meek, William Sublette, and Thomas Fitzpatrick.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson established himself as a man of competence, intelligence, and toughness. Still in his twenties, he led trapping parties of up to sixty men and attended numerous mountain man gatherings. Life in the West was dangerous, and Carson had his share of confrontations with Native Americans. Before his life was over, he would be involved in conflicts ranging from skirmishes to pitched battles with the Crow, Blackfeet, <strong>Comanche</strong>, <strong>Apache</strong>, Klamath, <strong>Paiute</strong>, and <strong>Navajo</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>But Carson’s relationships with Indians were not entirely confrontational. Frequent trade was conducted between whites and Indians. To a great extent, the trappers adapted themselves to the Rocky Mountains by assuming aspects of Native American life. There was also a considerable amount of intermarriage. Around 1836 Carson married an <strong>Arapaho</strong> woman named Waanibe, who bore him two children before her death in 1839. Only the older child, a daughter named Adaline, survived early childhood. Adaline was raised by Carson’s family in Missouri. In 1841 Carson married a <strong>Cheyenne</strong> woman named Making-Out-Road. This marriage lasted a few months and produced no children.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Explorer</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson met Captain <strong>John C. Frémont</strong> of the Corps of Topographical Engineers during a chance encounter in 1842. Carson was hired as guide and scout for Fremont’s first expedition into the Rocky Mountains. He would serve in that role through the second and third expeditions, until 1846. He successfully guided Frémont across what became the Oregon Trail route, as well as through the Pacific Northwest and California. In widely circulated reports of the first two expeditions, Frémont heaped praise on Carson. Carson soon became a household name to Americans.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Frémont’s third expedition became a cover for the conquest of California, and was incorporated into the Mexican-American War (1846–48). Commissioned as an army lieutenant in 1846, Carson fought in that conflict in the Battle of San Pasqual. He led a daring escape when US forces were trapped by Mexican Californians near San Diego. Carson later made several cross-country journeys carrying dispatches between California and Washington, DC. Regarded as a celebrity in Washington, he twice had audiences with President James Polk.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Indian Agent and Soldier</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson married Josefa Jaramillo, sister-in-law of Charles Bent, in 1843. The couple settled in Taos even though Kit was away from home for long periods of time. They had eight children, seven of whom survived childhood. In 1849, with Lucien Maxwell, Carson began developing an old land grant east of the <strong>Sangre de Cristo Mountains</strong> in northeastern New Mexico. He ranched for a few years while also serving as an army scout. In 1854 he was appointed US Indian agent to the <strong>Muache Utes</strong>, Taos Pueblos, and Jicarilla Apaches. He moved back to Taos, where he served until 1861.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson reenlisted in the Union Army in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. As a colonel he led the 1st New Mexico Volunteers in the Battle of Valverde (1862) in southern New Mexico. Indian raids on Hispanic and Anglo-American settlements intensified as army personnel departed the territory for the war in the East. General James Carleton, Commander of the Department of New Mexico, enlisted Carson to end the “Indian problem” for good by pursuing genocide. Carson refused at first and tried to resign, saying he had rejoined the army to fight Confederates, not Indigenous people, but he finally accepted the job. A fast drive against the Jicarilla Apache in 1862 was followed by a major campaign against the Navajo in subsequent years.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson carried out his responsibilities with deadly effect, essentially starving the Navajos into submission during a scorched-earth campaign in the winter of 1863–64. In the end, about 9,000 Navajos would make “The Long Walk” from their homeland in the Four Corners region to a newly established reservation at Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico, where they joined several hundred resettled Apaches. Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Indigenous people died during the campaign and afterward on the reservation. The Fort Sumner experiment failed miserably, and by 1868 the reservation had been abandoned.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carson served briefly as military supervisor at Fort Sumner, then as Carleton’s field representative to Indigenous nations on the Great Plains. In this capacity he led a campaign against the Comanche that culminated in the Battle of Adobe Walls in north Texas in 1865. Carson served as commander of <strong>Fort Garland</strong> in the <strong>San Luis Valley</strong> in 1866, but resigned from the army the following year due to failing health. In May 1868, at the age of fifty-eight, Carson died at <strong>Fort Lyon</strong>, Colorado, from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. His wife, Josefa, had died the previous month, shortly after giving birth to their daughter.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Colorado Connections</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Kit Carson’s Colorado associations were many. He trapped throughout Colorado as a young man and later traversed the state during the Frémont expeditions. He had direct connections to Bent’s Fort as well as Forts <strong>Davy Crockett</strong>, St. Vrain, and <strong>El Pueblo</strong>. As Indian agent his area of responsibility included southern Colorado, where he later took charge at Fort Garland. He regarded <strong>South Park</strong> as the finest hunting ground in the Rockies. It was an injury from a hunting accident in the <strong>San Juan Mountains</strong> that, years later, led to his fatal aneurysm. He lived the final year of his life in <strong>Boggsville</strong> near present-day <strong>Las Animas</strong>, and it was near there that he died.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 14 Mar 2016 20:16:57 +0000 yongli 1209 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org