Carson, Kit

Carson, (Christopher) Kit

(1809–68) guide, trapper, soldier, Indian agent; born in Madison County, Ky. His father died when he was nine and he received no schooling. He was apprenticed to a saddlemaker (1825) but ran away to join an expedition to Sante Fe, N.M. He became an experienced trapper and Indian fighter and around 1836 married an Arapaho woman he called Alice. After her death, he met John C. Frémont and served as the guide for Frémont's first expedition (1842). He married again (1843) and served as a guide on Frémont's second expedition (1843–44). After Frémont's third expedition and the conquest of California (1846–47), he was selected to carry the reports back to Washington. When the Senate refused to confirm a commission in the regular army, he served as an agent for the Ute Indians (1853–61) and dictated the narrative of his life and adventures. During the Civil War he led the 1st New Mexican Volunteer Infantry, mostly in battles against Native American peoples; his most famous episode involved leading captured Navahos on a 300-mile "long walk." Breveted to rank of brigadier general, he remained in the army and was assigned to command Ft. Garland in Colorado (1866–67) but his health soon failed.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.

Carson, Kit (Christopher)

(1809–1868) frontiersman, guide, and Indian fighter in the West and Southwest. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 466]

See: Wild West

Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.