If you remember your grade school geography class, you know the capital of Nevada is Carson City, but do you know why? It was named after Kit Carson, an over-the-top figure in the Old West stories told in the then gray industrial East.
Alone He was 16
Christopher “Kit” Carson He was born on Christmas Eve 1809 in Kentucky but with his family Boons Lick, Missouri, the starting point of the Santa Fe Trail. moved to He was only nine years old when his father died, but clashed with his stepfather after his mother remarried. So in 1826 he joined a westbound trade caravan and settled in Taos, New Mexico. While earning his living by doing odd jobs such as cooking, dish repairing and running errands, he honed his hunting and trapping skills, and by the age of 19 he had taken part in fur-hunting expeditions to California. His skill and bravery earned him the respect of his colleagues and some of the most famous pioneers of his time, including Tom “Broken Hand” Fitzpatrick, Jim Bridger, John C. Fremont and Dr. John C. Fremont. and made friends with many of the explorers. Marcus Whitman and Lucien Maxwell later became the owners of New Mexico’s largest land subsidy and Carson’s brother-in-law.
Carson, a man of his family
During this time, Carson lived intermittently in the white world, with various Native American tribes. His first wife, in fact, was an Arapaho woman named Singing Glass, who died while giving birth to her second child. He next married a Cheyenne woman named Making Out Lord, but after she divorced, he married Maria Josepha Jaramillo, a Hispanic woman from the wealthy Taos family. They spent 25 years together until her death and were blessed with eight children. (Carson had his and Singing Glass’s surviving child, Adeline, raised by nuns.) explored the road westward and made a map. His name was featured in reports of the expedition sent back to local newspapers, and he became a national hero. Carson later served in the Mexican-American War of 1846 and played a key role in the conquest of California.
Taos Rebellion
Kit Carson was not at home in Taos in April 1847 when the Taos Rebellion broke out and his friend and brother-in-law, Governor of New Mexico Charles Bent, ordered him and Carson Killed to protect his family. After the mutiny, a distraught Carson vowed to forget his expeditionary days and start a farming and ranching business with Maxwell.
War with the Navajo He
Carson hopes to settle down, but finds himself embroiled in an escalating conflict between the US government and the Native Americans. After the Navajo rebelled against a government order to relocate to a designated reservation, Carson took a “long walk” more than 300 miles from Arizona to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where he harvested crops. were burned and livestock confiscated.
The Last Journey
In 1868, Carson met with the President and the Secretary of Indian Affairs to persuade the US government that it had a moral obligation to better care for the Indian people. When Carson returned to his family, his health deteriorated and he saw little reason to continue working after his wife died while giving birth to his last child. Just one month later, he died of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 58.