He is buried in Taos, New Mexico next to his third wife, Josefa.ĭuring the late nineteenth century, Kit Carson became a legendary symbol of America's frontier experience, which influenced twentieth century erection of statues and monuments, public events and celebrations, imagery by Hollywood, and the naming of geographical places. He died at Fort Lyon of an aortic aneurysm on May 23, 1868. He was there only briefly, as poor health forced him to retire from military life.Ĭarson was married three times and had ten children. He was breveted a Brigadier General and took command of Fort Garland, Colorado.

When the Confederate threat was eliminated in New Mexico, Carson led forces to suppress the Navajo, Mescalero Apache, Kiowa, and Comanche tribes by destroying their food sources. In the 1850s, he was appointed as the Indian agent to the Ute Indians and the Jicarilla Apaches.ĭuring the American Civil War, Carson led a regiment of mostly Hispanic volunteers from New Mexico on the side of the Union at the Battle of Valverde in 1862. Later in the war, Carson was a scout and courier who was celebrated for his rescue mission after the Battle of San Pasqual and for his coast-to-coast journey from California to Washington, DC to deliver news of the conflict in California to the government. During this time, he also participated in the Frémont-led Sacramento River massacre and Klamath Lake massacre against Indigenous peoples. Under Frémont's command, Carson participated in the conquest of California from Mexico at the beginning of the Mexican–American War. Frémont mapped and wrote reports and commentaries on the Oregon Trail to assist and encourage westward-bound pioneers, and Carson achieved national fame through those accounts. Frémont, whose expeditions covered much of California, Oregon, and the Great Basin area. In the 1840s, Carson was hired as a guide by John C.

He lived among and married into the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes. In the 1830s, he accompanied Ewing Young on an expedition to Mexican California and joined fur-trapping expeditions into the Rocky Mountains. Ĭarson left home in rural Missouri at 16 to become a mountain man and trapper in the West. Although he was famous for much of his life, historians in later years have written that Kit Carson did not like, want, or even fully understand the fame that he experienced during his life. His understated nature belied confirmed reports of his fearlessness, combat skills, tenacity, and profound effect on the westward expansion of the United States. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime by biographies and news articles, and exaggerated versions of his exploits were the subject of dime novels. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. 1st New Mexico Volunteer Cavalry RegimentĬhristopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman.

Fort carson trail map