In southeastern Colorado
there are a couple of inscriptions on rock displaying the name of Kit Carson.
Both of these are on private property and are jealously protected by the land
owners. My photos in this posting were both taken by Dell Crandall and provided
by him.
Kit Carson inscription. Photo by Dell Crandall.
“Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson (December 24, 1809
– May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left
home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a mountain man and trapper
in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the
Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married into the Arapahoe and Cheyenne
tribes. He was hired by John C. Fremont as a guide, and led ‘the Pathfinder’
through much of California, Oregon, and the Great Basin area. He achieved
national fame through Fremont’s accounts of his expeditions.” (Wikipedia)
Portrait of Kit Carson.
“Carson was a courier and scout during
the Mexican-American war from 1846 to 1848, celebrated for his rescue mission after the Battle of San Pasqual and his coast-to-coast journey from California to deliver news of the war to the U.S. government in Washington D. C.. In the 1850s, he was Agent to the Ute and Jicarilla Apaches. In the Civil War he led a regiment of mostly Hispanic volunteers on the side of the Union at the Vattle of Valverde in 1862. He led armies to pacify the Navajo, Mescalaro, Apache, and the Kiowa an Comanche Indians. He is vilified for his conquest of the Navajo and their forced transfer to Bosque Redondo where many of them died. Breveted a general, he is probably the
only American to reach such a high military rank without being able to read or
write, although he could sign his name.” (Wikipedia)
"When the Civil War ended, and the Indian Wars
campaigns were in a lull, Carson was breveted
a General and appointed commandant of Ft. Garland, Colorado, in the heart of Ute
country. Carson had many Ute friends in the area and assisted in government
relations. After being mustered out of the Army, Carson took up
ranching, settling at Boggsville in Bent County. In 1868, at the urging of
Washington and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Carson journeyed to
Washington D.C. where he escorted several Ute Chiefs to meet with the President
of the United States to plead for assistance to their tribe. Soon after his
return, his wife Josefa died from complications after giving birth to their
eighth child. Her death was a crushing blow to Carson. He died a month later at
age 58 on May 23, 1868, in the presence of Dr. Tilton and his friend Thomas
Boggs. His last words were "Goodbye, friends. Adios, compadres". Carson died from an abdominal aortic aneurysm in the
surgeon's quarters of Fort Lyon, Colorado." (Wikipedia) Kit
and Josefa were originally buried at Boggsville, just a little south of Fort
Lyons in Bent County, Colorado, but were later moved to their current resting
place at Taos, New Mexico.
Now we come
to the question – are the Carson inscriptions genuine? Although he was
functionally illiterate he did learn to write his name because he had to sign
reports when he was in the military. The truth is, however, he is not known to
have ever personally used the nickname “Kit” when signing his name. If these
inscriptions date back to the time of his life they were made by someone else,
perhaps one of the men under his command. The ranch which one of the signatures
is found on has been in the same family for a number of generations and they
are convinced that it has been there all that time. I think that the answer has
to be yes, they are genuine as to that time and place, but were probably not
carved by Carson himself. They do, however, provide a portal to a fascinating
period in the history of the Western United States and Colorado.
REFERENCE:
Wikipedia
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