The FReeper Foxhole Profiles "Kit" Carson - Aug. 16th, 2004

www.desertusa.com ^ | Bob Katz

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

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Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson
(1809 - 1868)

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Kit Carson was born the 9th of 14 children on Christmas Eve, 1809, in Madison County, Kentucky. During his long and illustrious career ranging throughout the Desert Southwest, he was a trapper, guide, military scout, Indian agent, soldier, rancher and authentic legend.

KIT CARSON AND THE INDIANS
Cover design of Frank Starr's American Novels, No. 139

Kit spent most of his boyhood in the Boone's Lick district of Missouri (then part of the Louisiana Territory), which later became Howard County. His father was killed by a falling tree limb when Kit was only 9 years old, and the need to work prevented him from receiving an education. He was apprenticed to a saddle- and harness-maker when he turned 14, but grew restless after a year and left home in 1826 with a wagon train heading west to Santa Fe.

From Santa Fe, Kit went north to Taos where he worked as a cook, errand boy and harness repairer. When he was 19, he was hired for a fur trapping expedition to California, where, in spite of his small stature (he never exceeded 5 and a half feet) he soon proved himself able and courageous. Between 1828 and 1840, Carson used Taos as a base camp for many fur-trapping expeditions throughout the mountains of the West, from California's Sierra Nevadas to the Colorado Rockies.



Like other white trappers, Carson traveled and lived extensively among Indians. His first two wives were Arapaho and Cheyenne, one of whom bore a daughter in 1836 and died shortly thereafter. But unlike other trappers, he gained renown for his honesty, courage and unassuming manner. According to one acquaintance, his "word was as sure as the sun comin' up."

In about 1840, he became employed by William Bent as chief hunter for Bent's Fort in Colorado, where his job was to keep the fort supplied with meat. In 1842, while returning from Missouri, where he took his daughter to be educated in a convent, Carson happened to meet John C. Fremont on a Missouri Riverboat. Fremont hired Carson as guide for his1st expedition to map and describe Western trails to the Pacific Ocean. After returning to Taos from California in 1843, Carson married his third wife, Maria Josefa Jaramillothen.



Over the next few years, Carson's service guiding Fremont across the deserts and mountains of the American West -- documented in Fremont's widely-read reports of his expeditions -- made Kit Carson a national hero.

Carson was still serving as Fremont's guide when Fremont joined California's short-lived Bear-Flag Rebellion, just before the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846. Carson also led the forces of U.S. General Stephen Kearney from Socorro, New Mexico into California, when a Californio band led by Andrés Pico mounted a challenge to American occupation of Los Angeles later that year.



On Dec. 6, 1846, these forces were attacked by Mexicans at San Pasqual, about 30 miles north of San Diego. On the third night of this battle, Carson and two others snuck through enemy lines and ran the entire distance to San Diego, where they brought help for Kearny's pinned-down forces.

Carson spent the next few years carrying dispatches to President James Polk Washington, DC. At the end of the war, he returned to Taos and took up ranching. In 1853, he and his Mexican herders drove 6,500 sheep to Sacramento, fetching high prices because of the California Gold Rush.


Kit Carson (standing) and John C.Fremont

In 1854 he was appointed Indian agent at Taos for two tribes of Utes -- a post he held with distinction until 1861 -- and occasionally served the Army as a scout in clashes with warring Apaches.

When the Civil War broke out, Carson resigned as Indian agent and helped organize the 1st New Mexican Volunteer Infantry of the Union Army, which saw action at Valverde in 1862. He was elected a lieutenant colonel and later rose to colonel. It was during his Civil War service when he finally learned to read and write.



Most of Carson's military actions were directed against the Navajo, who had refused to be confined on a distant reservation. In 1863, Carson initiated a brutal economic campaign, marching through Navajo territory destroying crops, orchards and livestock. Other tribes, who for centuries had suffered at the hands of the Navajo, took up arms and joined Carson. After surrendering in 1864, 8,000 Navajo men, women and children were forced to take what came to be called the "Long Walk" of 300 miles from Arizona to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where they suffered in confinement until 1868.



In 1865 Carson was given a commission as brigadier general and cited for gallantry and distinguished service. In the summer of 1866, he moved to Colorado to expand his ranching business and took command of Fort Garland. Ill health forced him to resign the following year, and in 1868 the family moved to Boggsville, near present-day La Junta, Colorado. He died in nearby Fort Lyons on May 23, 1868. The following year, his remains were moved to a small cemetery near his old home in Taos.

[Professional Engineer]

Howdy ma'am

[Professional Engineer]

I received an e-mail from Lt Paul this morning. Seems he's doing more actual engineering for the Army than he did for TXDot.


Marhaba(howdy ya'll),

"YOU GUYS ROCK" is one of the best things I have read in a while.

We stay busy here with design work and construction contracting. The money for the fiscal year running out will cause us to miss some deadlines. The US Army is probably the biggest employer here. Most construction and renovation on the old Republican Guard base I am at is done by Iraqi contractors. I do more design work here than my civilian job. I have ended up doing generator sizes, electrical layouts, and structural stuff. I actually wish I had brought some of my old textbooks here. There is one Iraqi engineer that has helped me out on some stuff. He is a member of the Armenian Orthodox church here. He did not get hit in the the recent church attacks. ;

I saw some posters of that punk Sadr on the way down to Camp Victory on a convoy today. We printed some maps for some soldiers going to deal with him this past week. I have been told by an Iraqi that Sadr was a partying womanizer before we got here. Remember that Saddam had Sadr's father killed.

The time here goes quick. We might get home early which would be next spring. I am sure that Bryan's quest to escape from Ablilene and stories of financial woe will will be the same upon my return

Masalama,

Paul

[snippy_about_it]

Wow. Thanks for the sulpher lesson. Our city water back in Ohio always smelled of sulphur, it was drawn from a well before they ran it through the city system. They'd add bleach and then it would just smell like bleach. It was always awful.

[snippy_about_it]

[snippy_about_it]

Good afternoon ct.

[Professional Engineer]

ROFL. I almost posted that one, but it doesn't show the majestic view.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks PE for the news from Lt. Paul.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. I was about to mention how dry it looked and then saw this pic of the snow and had to post it. Yikes.

[GailA]

I'd forgotten about that. These idiots have heard of 50, 100 and 500 year cycles either. Our official temp is taken at the AIRPORT, a known heat engine.........he, he.

[Darksheare]

I am here.
Well, over here now.

[colorado tanker]

Hiya, Snippy.

I guess it's time for me to tell my story, in light of recent events.

After John Fraud Kerry returned to the states and told Congress we were all war criminals, the CIA decided it could no longer rely on the Navy for black ops.

So, they turned to the Armor corps. You know the reputation of tankers, that we're dumb but reliable.

So, we strapped amphibious kits on our Sheridans and began river duty.

We called ourselves the Slothboats. We Slothies were a tight knit band of brothers. We knew what we were doing violated the Geneva Convention Against The Use Of Tanks As Warships, but we followed our orders.

I'll never forget Christmas Eve 1970 when I was five miles inside Cambodia although President Ford denied there were any Slothboats in Cambodia. We were being shot at by everyone, even South Vietnamese celebrating Christmas. Well, on Christmas Day I dropped off undercover agent Valerie Plame, deep in Cambodia. She handed me her briefcase and said, "Take this, I won't be needing it where I'm going. There's a happy hat in the secret compartment." And then she disappeared into the jungle.

A Viet Cong fired an RPG at us. My gunner got him with the main gun, blowing his legs off. He kept crawling back behind a hootch with his launcher. So, I leaped off the boat and got 'im in the back. We ran miles of fire from the shore, but finally got back to base.

I put in for a Congressional Medal of Honor for that mission, but only got a Silver Star out of it.

Finally, the story can be told.

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Hector (AC-7)

Displacement 11,230
Length 403'
Beam 53'
Draw 24'8"
Speed 12 k
Complement 82

USS Hector, a 11,230-ton collier, was built at Sparrows Point, Maryland. Commissioned in October 1909, she was primarily employed in transporting coal for the Atlantic Fleet throughout her brief career. In addition, during early 1915 she carried the small submarines A-3, A-5 and B-1 from the United States to the Philippines. USS Hector was wrecked off the U.S. Atlantic Coast on 14 July 1916.

[snippy_about_it]

ROTFLOL. You're my HERO!!!!

[snippy_about_it]

In Homer's Illiad, HECTOR, one of Pream's fifty sons, was defender of Troy and bravest of all Trojans. He slew Patrocles and in turn was slain by Achilles.

MOTTO (in Greek): through work, the victory

In my extensive thread "Naming Navy Ships" I don't remember seeing ships named after mythical characters. I had to go to the USS Hector website to see why it was named such. Interesting.

[Darksheare]

Cool.

[Samwise]

I'm getting ready to use that gasoline and match on my PC. I warned Hubby that we might be running to Best Buy tonight.

Hubby was not amused.

[SAMWolf]

Doing fine, just wish the temps would stay in the 70's like they are in the mornings.

[SAMWolf]

This is really off-topic but that 'egg water' taste happens when a well is tapped into a coal seam.

Learned something new today then. :-) I just remember some of the farms we stayed at on vacations when I was a kid had that nasty tasting water.

[SAMWolf]

Morning CT.

I wonder how far back the old saying "He's the salt of the earth" goes.

[SAMWolf]

Looks like some rugged country.