Kit Carson (1) (1809–1868)

Originally published in 1966. I saw the documentary on Kit Carson, "Men Who Built America". It was so awesome I thought his biography would be fun to read. Boy, was I ever wrong...what an absolute bore!

This is Kit's story, dictated to a writer, as he was illiterate, as best he could remember, of his struggles with the Indians during his fur trade expeditions in mid-1800 and of his contribution to the Mexican War. This edition, 192 pages, published in 1966, contains super lengthy and super numerous and super annoying footnotes, peppered throughout, with explanations and sources to reference for further reading.

Christopher "Kit" Carson, was a small sized man and orphaned. He was raised in Missouri and worked as an apprentice for a leather worker. Extremely unhappy with the work, he ran away at the age of 16 to chase dreams of wild tales told of the wild, wild West, which he had always heard about, and he never looked back.

Kit jumped from one group to another as he would hear of where the party was headed to do their beaver trapping, which could be anywhere in the west, from the Colorado Rocky Mountain rivers, Los Angeles, California rivers (Mexican territory at that time) or along the Arkansas rivers, or even around the Great Lakes. He traveled them all and really learned the lay of the land. He learned to scout, and he learned to fight the Indians.

Once, he chose a party of 40 men lead by Ewing Young, travelling from Taos, New Mexico, to California. In 1829, licenses were not granted to American men to hunt or trap on Mexican territory, so they had to travel first in a northern direction for about 50 miles through Indian territory, where they were constantly being harassed and had to fight off Indian attacks, then head down a southwestern route sneaking into Mexican territory and trap for beaver for months. They'd return to New Mexico, hide the 2000 pounds of pelts and apply for a license to trade with the Indians, make a quick and prosperous trade and each with several hundred dollars in their pockets, would party it up like sailors before looking for a new trapping expedition heading out. This was pretty much his life until the Mexican War started.

By then he had quite the reputation out on the Western frontier, and was then requested by President Polk to become an Agency of the government, interceding between the Indians and the Americans for peace and release and exchange of prisoners. He accepted the responsibility without the title or status.

In his own words, "...if the service I was performing was beneficial to the public, it did not matter to me whether I was enjoying the rank of lieutenant or only the credit of being an experienced mountaineer. I had gained both honor and credit by performing every duty entrusted to my charge, and on no account did I wish to forfeit the good opinion of a majority of my countrymen merely because the Senate of the United States had not deemed it proper to confirm my appointment to an office I had never sought, and one which, if confirmed, I would have to resign at the close of the war." [p. 125-6]

Wow! This is a far cry from what we see in men and women today! Recognition and big money seems to be our number one concern, or we don't want to do it!… (más)

This book is the reprint of Lakeside Classics, published in 1933.

An interesting little book. Kit Carson was uneducated and dictated these accounts to his friend Jesse B. Turly in 1856.

A little matter of fact and bland, and not much detail. It reads like "Went with this hunting party, fought some Indians came back did it again next year. Even his famous duel with Shunnar was "we rode towrd each other and shot our guns at the last moment". His experiences as guide and hunter for John C. Fremont for three times, which made him famous are only barley talked about.

But I never realized how widely traveled he was, from Mexico to Canada. We tend to think of him only in New Mexico.… (más)