Kit Carson

Kit lived in Taos when he wasn't trapping, scouting, delivering messages to Washington DC or carrying out  various military assignments.  Some of these tasks took several months, so he didn't spend much time at home - which is now a museum.  We visited the museum today and watched a History Channel film on Kit.

   This Taos street is named Kit Carson Road.

Remove the asphalt and concrete and you've got a great set for a western movie.

Kit Carson's home is on the far right.

He was married 3 times.  His first wife, an Arapaho woman, died young, but bore him 2 daughters. Wife number 2, A Cheyenne, decided early on that Kit wasn't her soul mate and chucked his stuff out of their tent.  Game over!  That's the way it was done in that culture at that time.  At age 33, he married again, this time to the 14-year old daughter (Josefa) of a prominent Taos couple.  Kit fathered 8 more children with Josefa, not bad for a guy who was gone most of the time.

The Carson courtyard was the 'family room' and also the kitchen except in severe cold weather.

I've read extensively about the mountain men, voyageurs and fur trappers of the early 19th century.  They were a singularly tough, adventuresome breed and Kit, although a mere 5' 5" tall, was no exception.  My reading included Kit's autobiography, which was dictated because he was illiterate.  It was fascinating, his own story in his own words, straightforward, modest and simple, like the man himself.  Kit was one hell of a guy: absolutely fearless, tough as nails, smart, quick-witted and a natural leader.  He was embarrassed by his fame, and especially the misuse of his name and fame by hack western fiction writers.

The kitchen, only used for cooking in dead of winter. 

The Navajo don't think much of Kit due to The Long Walk: 9,000 Navajo were forced to walk 400 miles to an eastern NM reservation and an estimated 3,000 natives died along the trail.  Kit, still in the military following his Civil War duty, was ordered to round up the Indians and move them.  He refused twice, but finally had to do the job.  He was also ordered to kill all the Navajo men but would not do it.

 Moving the Navajo was a bad decision, and Kit lobbied Congress at length to allow the Navajo to return to their homeland.  Congress finally agreed to do so.  Kit was a strong advocate for Native Americans and was an Indian Agent in his later years.  He treated the natives fairly and did the best he could for them, whereas many Agents, the majority I think, were dishonest and short-changed the Indians at every opportunity.