Fort Garland (1858–1883), Colorado , United States, was designed to house two companies of soldiers to protect settlers in the San Luis Valley , then in the Territory of New Mexico (1850-1912). It was named for General John Garland (1793-1861), then commander of the United States Army 's Military District of New Mexico.
111-787: Colonel Kit Carson and New Mexico Volunteers were stationed here after the American Civil War (1861-1865), in 1866 and he successfully negotiated a treaty with the local native Utes in 1867. The Ninth U.S. Cavalry ( Buffalo Soldiers ) was stationed here for three years between 1876 and 1879. In 1876, these troops were called to the La Plata region to prevent conflict between the Utes and white mining prospectors. The following year, they helped remove illegal white settlers from Ute reservation lands. In 1879, United States military units from Fort Garland were called upon by Nathan Meeker ,
222-590: A Scots-Irish Presbyterian background. He was a farmer, a cabin builder, and a veteran of the Mexican–American War , American Indian Wars , and American Civil War . He fought Natives on the American frontier and lost two fingers on his left hand in a battle with the Fox and Sauk Indians. The Carson family moved to Boone's Lick, Howard County, Missouri , when Kit was about a year old. The family settled on
333-802: A hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The Ute occupied much of the present state of Colorado by the 1600s. The Comanches from the north joined them in eastern Colorado in the early 1700s. In the 19th century, the Arapaho and Cheyenne invaded southward into eastern Colorado. The Utes came to inhabit a large area including most of Utah, western and central Colorado, and south into the San Juan River watershed of New Mexico. Some Ute bands stayed near their home domains, while others ranged further away seasonally. Hunting grounds extended further into Utah and Colorado, as well as into Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. Winter camps were established along rivers near
444-691: A mountain man and trapper in the West. In the 1830s, he accompanied Ewing Young on an expedition to Mexican California and joined fur-trapping expeditions into the Rocky Mountains . He lived among and married into the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes. In the 1840s, Carson was hired as a guide by John C. Frémont , whose expeditions covered much of California , Oregon , and the Great Basin area. Frémont mapped and wrote reports and commentaries on
555-575: A Baltimore hat maker offered a "Kit Carson Cap", "after the unique style of the domestic one worn by that daring pioneer". A new steamboat, named the Kit Carson , was built for the Mississippi-Ohio river trade, "with qualities of great speed". At the St. Louis Jockey Club, one could bet on a horse "as swift as the wind", named "Kit Carson". Lasting from 1846 to 1848, the Mexican–American War
666-514: A group of Native Americans was planning to attack settlers. Frémont's party set about searching for Native Americans. On April 5, 1846, Frémont's party spotted a Wintu village and launched an unprovoked attack, killing 120 to 300 men, women, and children, and displacing many more in what is known as the Sacramento River massacre . Carson, later stated that "It was a perfect butchery." At Klamath Lake, in southern Oregon, Frémont's party
777-567: A hopeless creature. Over her corpse, we swore vengeance upon her persecutors." Carson discovered a fictional book, possibly by Averill, about himself in the Apache camp. He wrote in his Memoirs : "In camp was found a book, the first of the kind I had ever seen, in which I was made a great hero, slaying Indians by the hundreds, and I have often thought that Mrs. White would read the same, and knowing that I lived near, she would pray for my appearance and that she would be saved." The real Carson had met
888-586: A local newspaper back in Missouri. He wrote that he would give a one-cent reward to anyone who brought the boy back to Franklin. No one claimed the reward. It was a bit of a joke, but Carson was free. The advertisement featured the first printed description of Carson: "Christopher Carson, a boy about 16 years old, small of his age, but thick set; light hair, ran away from the subscriber, living in Franklin, Howard county, Missouri, to whom he had been bound to learn
999-520: A long period of time. This clothing offered some protection against weapons used by hostile Indians. Grizzly bears were one of the mountain man's greatest enemies. In 1834, when Carson was hunting an elk alone, two bears crossed paths with him and quickly chased him up a tree. One of the bears tried, unsuccessfully, to make him fall by shaking the tree, but eventually went away. Carson then returned to his camp as fast as possible. He wrote in his Memoirs , "[The bear] finally concluded to leave, of which I
1110-639: A prolific novelist of sensational romances, wrote an overland trail account where a fictional Carson joins a California bound wagon train. Arriving in bookstores in January 1849, his The Prairie Flower, or Adventures in the Far West exploited the Carson myth, and, like Averill, quickly followed with a sequel. In each novel, the Westering immigrants are in awe of the famous Carson. Both novelists sensationalized
1221-757: A regiment of mostly Hispanic volunteers from New Mexico on the side of the Union at the Battle of Valverde in 1862. When the Confederate threat was eliminated in New Mexico, Carson led forces to suppress the Navajo , Mescalero Apache, Kiowa , and Comanche tribes by destroying their food sources. He was breveted a brigadier general and took command of Fort Garland, Colorado . He was there only briefly, as poor health forced him to retire from military life. Carson
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#17327722962501332-575: A reservation in 1881. Today, there are three federally recognized tribes of Ute people: These three tribes maintain reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah (3,500 members); Southern Ute in Colorado (1,500 members); and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico (2,000 members). The origin of the word Ute is unknown; it is first attested as Yuta in Spanish documents. The Utes' self-designation
1443-674: A total of $ 31 million in a land claims settlement. The Ute Mountain Tribe used their money, including what they earned from mineral leases, to invest in tourist related and other enterprises in the 1950s. In 1954, a group of mixed blood Utes were legally separated from the Northern Utes and called the Affiliated Ute Citizens. Since the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 ,
1554-505: A tract of land owned by the sons of Daniel Boone , who had purchased the land from the Spanish. The Boone and Carson families became good friends and worked and socialized together and intermarried. Lindsay's oldest son, William, married Boone's grand-niece, Millie Boone, in 1810. Their daughter Adaline became Kit's favorite playmate. Missouri was then the frontier of American westward expansionism; cabins were "forted" with tall stockade fences to defend against Native attacks. As men worked in
1665-607: A trading expedition to Missouri and back along the Santa Fe Trail . In 1852, for old times sake, he and a few of the veteran trappers made a loop trapping expedition through Colorado and Wyoming. In mid-1853, Carson left New Mexico with 7,000 thin legged churro sheep for the California Trail across Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and into California. He was taking them to settlers in northern California and southern Oregon. Carson had with him six experienced New Mexicans from
1776-650: A western hero in the eyes of the American people. In 1845, Carson guided Frémont on their third expedition (Frémont made a fourth, but without Carson). From Westport Landing, Missouri, they crossed the Rockies, passed the Great Salt Lake, and down the Humboldt River to the Sierra Nevada of California and Oregon. Frémont made scientific plans and included artist Edward Kern in his corps, but from
1887-470: A widower with several children. Kit was a young teenager and did not get along with his stepfather. The decision was made to apprentice him to David Workman, a saddler in Franklin, Missouri . Kit wrote in his Memoirs that Workman was "a good man, and I often recall the kind treatment I received". Franklin was situated at the eastern end of the Santa Fe Trail , which had opened two years earlier. Many of
1998-839: Is Núuchi-u , meaning 'the people'. Ute people speak the Ute dialect of the Colorado River Numic language , which is closely related to the Shoshone language . Their language is from the Southern subdivision of the Numic language branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family . This language family is found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico , stretching from southeastern California, along
2109-531: Is a Colorado River Numic language , part of the Uto-Aztecan language family Historically, the Utes belonged to almost a dozen nomadic bands, who came together for ceremonies and trade. They also traded with neighboring tribes, including Pueblo peoples . The Ute had settled in the Four Corners region by 1500 CE. The Utes' first contact with Europeans was with the Spanish in the 18th century. The Utes had already acquired horses from neighboring tribes by
2220-544: Is a significant problem at Ute Mountain, affecting nearly 80% of the population. The age expectancy there was 40 years of age as of 2000. The culture of the Utes was influenced by the invasion of neighboring Native American tribes. The eastern Utes had many traits of Plain Indians, and they lived in tepees after the 17th century. The western Utes were similar to Shoshones and Paiutes , and they lived year-round in domed willow houses. Weeminuches lived in willow houses during
2331-495: Is suggested by the account of events around the fate of Ann White. In 1849, as he moved to civilian life at Taos and Rayado, Carson was asked to guide soldiers on the trail of White, her baby daughter, and "negro servant", who had been captured by Jicarilla Apaches and Utes . The commanding officer, Captain William Grier of the 1st Cavalry Regiment , ignored Carson's advice about an immediate rescue attempt after catching
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#17327722962502442-559: Is well below that of their non-Native neighbors. Unemployment is high on the reservation, in large part due to discrimination, and half of the tribal members work for the government of the United States or the tribe. The Ute language is still spoken on the reservation. Housing is generally adequate and modern. There are annual performance of the Bear and Sun dances. All tribes have scholarship programs for college educations. Alcoholism
2553-570: The California Gold Rush demand for narratives (fictional or not) on the trail to California. Averill's pioneers were in awe of Carson: "Kit Carson!...the famous hunter and adventurer of the Great West, the hardy explorer of the trackless wilderness...the prince of backwoodsmen" arrives to guide them. When later asked about the book, Carson said "every statement made [by Averill] is false." Similarly, Emerson Bennett (1822–1905),
2664-583: The Colorado River to Colorado and extending south the Nahuan languages in central Mexico. The Numic language group likely originated near the present-day border of Nevada and California, then spread north and east. By about 1000 CE, hunters and gatherers in the Great Basin spoke Uto-Aztecan. They are the likely ancestrors of the Ute, Shoshone , Paiute , and Chemehuevi peoples. Linguists believe that
2775-703: The Domínguez–Escalante expedition (1776). Utes left images of firearms and horses in the 1800s. The Crook's Brand Site depicts a horse with a brand from George Crook's regiment during the Indian Wars of the 1870s. Public land surrounding the Bears Ears buttes in southeastern Utah became the Bears Ears National Monument in 2016 in recognition for its ancestral and cultural significance to several Native American tribes, including
2886-691: The Mesa Verde National Park , Navajo Reservation , and the Southern Ute Reservation. The Ute Mountain Tribal Park abuts Mesa Verde National Park and includes many Ancestral Puebloan ruins. Their land includes the sacred Ute Mountain . The White Mesa Community of Utah (near Blanding) is part of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe but is largely autonomous. The Ute Mountain Utes are descendants of
2997-962: The Old Spanish Trail to Los Angeles. He was dispatched a third time as government courier leaving Los Angeles in May 1848 via the Old Spanish Trail and reached Washington, D.C., with important military messages, which included an official report of the discovery of gold in California. Newspapers reported on Carson's travels with some exaggeration, including that he had been killed by Plains Indians in July 1848. Lt. George Brewerton accompanied Carson on part of this trip and published in Harper's Magazine (1853) an account that added to his now-growing celebrity status. In 1848, as his fame grew,
3108-556: The Oregon Trail to assist and encourage westward-bound pioneers, and Carson achieved national fame through those accounts. Under Frémont's command, Carson participated in the conquest of California from Mexico at the beginning of the Mexican–American War . During this time, he also participated in the Frémont-led Sacramento River massacre and Klamath Lake massacre against Indigenous peoples. Later in
3219-618: The Plains Indian cultures of the Great Plains . They also became involved in the horse and slave trades and respected warriors. Horse ownership and warrior skills developed while riding became the primary status symbol within the tribe and horse racing became common. With greater mobility, there was increased need for political leadership. The Utes had direct trade with the Spanish at least by 1765 and possibly earlier. The Utes had already acquired horses from neighboring tribes by
3330-661: The Secretary of War in Washington, D.C., Carson took the Gila Trail, but was met on the trail by General Kearny, who ordered him to hand his dispatches to others bound east, and return to California as his much-needed guide. In early 1847, Carson was ordered east from California again with more dispatches for Washington, D.C., where he arrived by June. Returning to California via a short visit with his family in Taos, he followed
3441-581: The Taos , Santa Clara , Pecos and other pueblos. The Ute also traded with Navajo , Havasupai , and Hopi peoples for woven blankets. The Utes were closely allied with the Jicarilla Apache who shared much of the same territory and intermarried. They also intermarried with Paiute, Bannock and Western Shoshone peoples. There was so much intermarriage with the Paiute, that territorial borders of
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3552-890: The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation . The bands included the San Pitch , Pahvant , Seuvartis, Timpanogos and Cumumba Utes. The Southern Ute Tribes include the Muache , Capote , and the Weeminuche , the latter of which are at Ute Mountain . This is also a half-Shoshone, half-Ute band of Cumumbas who lived above Great Salt Lake , near what is now Ogden, Utah . There are also other half-Ute bands, some of whom migrated seasonally far from their home domain. The Utes traded with Rio Grande River Pueblo peoples at annual trade fairs or rescates held in at
3663-547: The White massacre . At the age of 19, Carson began his career as a mountain man. He traveled through many parts of the American West with famous mountain men like Jim Bridger and Old Bill Williams . He spent the winter of 1828–1829 as a cook for Ewing Young in Taos. He joined Young's trapping expedition of 1829. The leadership of Young and the experience of the venture are credited with shaping Carson's early life in
3774-830: The 1810s. The French expedition recorded meeting members of the Moanunts and Pahvant bands. After the Utes acquired horses, they started to raid other Native American tribes. While their close relatives, the Comanches , moved out from the mountains and became Plains Indians as did others including the Cheyenne , Arapaho , Kiowa , and Plains Apache , the Utes remained close to their ancestral homeland. The south and eastern Utes also raided Native Americans in New Mexico, Southern Paiutes and Western Shoshones, capturing women and children and selling them as slaves in exchange for Spanish goods. They fought with Plains Indians , including
3885-559: The 1847 arrival of Mormon settlers . After initial settlement by the Mormons, as they moved south to the Wasatch Front, Utes were pushed off their land. Wars with settlers began about the 1850s when Ute children were captured in New Mexico and Utah by Anglo-American traders and sold in New Mexico and California. The rush of Euro-American settlers and prospectors into Ute country began with an 1858 gold strike . The Ute allied with
3996-583: The 4 million acres (16,185 km ) reservation area. Founded in 1861, it is located in Carbon , Duchesne , Grand , Uintah , Utah , and Wasatch Counties in Utah. Raising stock and oil and gas leases are important revenue streams for the reservation. The tribe is a member of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes . The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation (Northern Ute Tribe) consists of
4107-457: The American flag in 1807, is located about 45 miles southwest of the fort. Kit Carson American Indian Wars American Civil War Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime through biographies and news articles; exaggerated versions of his exploits were
4218-474: The Blackfoot village and killed ten Blackfoot warriors. The Blackfoot found some safety in a pile of rocks but were driven away. It is not known how many Blackfoot died in this incident. The historian David Roberts wrote that "if anything like pity filled Carson's breast as, in his twenty-ninth year, he beheld the ravaged camp of the Blackfoot, he did not bother to remember it." Carson wrote in his Memoirs that
4329-727: The Comanche, who had previously been allies. The name "Comanche" is from the Ute word for them, kɨmantsi , meaning enemy. The Pawnee , Osage and Navajo also became enemies of the Plains Indians by about 1840. Some Ute bands fought against the Spanish and Pueblos with the Jicarilla Apache and the Comanche. The Ute were sometimes friendly but sometimes hostile to the Navajo. The Utes were skilled warriors who specialized in horse mounted combat. War with neighboring tribes
4440-542: The Comanche. The Utes traded their goods for cloth, blankets, guns, horses, maize, flour, and ornaments. Several Ute learned Spanish through trading. The Spanish "seriously guarded" trade with the Utes, limiting it to annual caravans, but by 1750 they were reliant on the trade with the Utes, their deerskin being a highly sought commodity. The Utes also traded in enslaved women and children captives from Apache, Comanche, Paiute and Navajo tribes. French trappers passed through Ute territory and established trading posts beginning in
4551-555: The Four Corners Motorcycle Rally each year. The Ute operate KSUT, the major public radio station serving southwestern Colorado and the Four Corners. The Southern Ute Tribes include the Muache , Capote , and the Weeminuche , the latter of which are at Ute Mountain . The Ute Mountain Reservation is located near Towaoc, Colorado in the Four Corners region. Twelve ranches are held by tribal land trusts rather than family allotments. The tribe holds fee patent on 40,922.24 acres in Utah and Colorado. The 553,008 acre reservation borders
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4662-410: The Indian Agent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the White River Agency. Meeker and others were killed, and family members taken captive by unhappy Utes. The captives were released and the Utes were moved once again, which reduced the need for a military fort. The Colorado Historical Society restored the fort and opened the Fort Garland Museum in 1950. Restored and reconstructed buildings include
4773-490: The Jicarillas unaware, but after a shot was fired the order was given to attack, and the Jicarillas had started to flee. As Carson describes it in his autobiography, "In about 200 yards, pursuing the Indians, the body of Mrs. White was found, perfectly warm, had not been killed more than five minutes - shot through the heart by an arrow.... I am certain that if the Indians had been charged immediately on our arrival she would have been saved." Her child and servant were taken away by
4884-513: The Mexican government and declared California an independent republic . The American rebels found the courage to oppose Mexico because they had Frémont, who had written an oath of allegiance , and his troops behind them. Frémont and his men were able to give some protection to the Americans. He ordered Carson to kill an old Mexican man, José de los Reyes Berreyesa , and his two adult nephews, who had been captured when they stepped ashore at San Francisco Bay to prevent them from notifying Mexico about
4995-585: The Red Cedar Gathering Company, which owns and operates natural gas pipelines in and near the reservation. The tribe also owns the Red Willow Production Company, which began as a natural gas production company on the reservation. It has expanded to explore for and produce oil and natural gas in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and in the deep water in the Gulf of Mexico. Red Willow has offices in Ignacio, Colorado and Houston, Texas . The Sky Ute Casino and its associated entertainment and tourist facilities, together with tribally operated Lake Capote, draw tourists. It hosts
5106-501: The Santa Fe Trail to Santa Fe , the capital of Santa Fe de Nuevo México , reaching their destination in November 1826. He settled in Taos . Carson lived with Mathew Kinkead, a trapper and explorer who had served with Carson's older brothers during the War of 1812. Carson was mentored by Kinkead in learning the skills of a trapper and learning the necessary languages for trade. Eventually, he became fluent in Spanish and several Native American languages. Workman put an advertisement in
5217-426: The Southern Numic speakers (Ute and Southern Paiute ), left the Numic homeland first and that the Central and then the Western subgroups later migrated east and north. The Southern Numic -speaking tribes, the Ute, Shoshone, Southern Paiute , and Chemehuevi , all share many cultural, genetic, and linguistic characteristics. There were ancestral Utes in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah by 1300, living
5328-438: The US flag in defiance, before departing north. The party moved into the Sacramento River Valley past Mount Shasta, surveying into Oregon, fighting Indians along the way, and camped near Klamath Lake . Near here, a messenger from Washington, D.C., caught up with Frémont and made it clear that Polk wanted California. On March 30, 1846, while traveling north along the Sacramento Valley, Frémont's party met Americans who said that
5439-406: The United States and Mexico in its war with the Navajo during the same period. Mormons continued to push the Utah Utes off their homelands, which escalated into the Walker War (1853–54). By the mid-1870s, the U.S. federal government forced Utes in Utah onto a reservation, less than 9% of their former land. The Utes found it to be very inhospitable and tried to continue hunting and gathering off
5550-455: The United States made a series of treaties with the Ute and executive orders that ultimately culminated with relocation to reservations: The Uinta and Ouray Indian Reservation is the second-largest Indian Reservation in the US – covering over 4,500,000 acres (18,000 km ) of land. Tribal owned lands only cover approximately 1.2 million acres (4,855 km ) of surface land and 40,000 acres (160 km ) of mineral-owned land within
5661-549: The Ute generally did not - the Southern Utes developed such societies late, and soon lost them in reservation life. Warriors were exclusively men but women often followed behind war parties to help gather loot and sing songs. Women also performed the Lame Dance to symbolize having to pull or carry heavy loads of loot after a raid. The Utes used a variety of weapons including bows, spears and buffalo-skin shields, as well as rifles, shotguns and pistols which were obtained through raiding or trading. The Ute people traded with Europeans by
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#17327722962505772-498: The Ute left petroglyphs in rock along with rock art by the earlier peoples. Some of the images are estimated to be more than 900 years old. The Utes petroglyphs were made after the Utes acquired horses, because they show men hunting while on horseback. The Ute were divided into several nomadic and closely associated bands, which today mostly are organized as the Northern, Southern, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes. Hunting and gathering groups of extended families were led by older members by
5883-557: The Utes and the Southern Paiutes are difficult to ascertain in southeast Utah. Until the Ute acquired horses, any conflict with other tribes was usually defensive. They had generally poor relations with Northern and Eastern Shoshone. In 1637, the Spanish fought with the Utes, 80 of whom were captured and enslaved. Three people escaped with horses. Their lifestyle changed with the acquisition of horses by 1680. They became more mobile, more able to trade, and better able to hunt large game. Ute culture changed dramatically in ways that paralleled
5994-543: The Utes control the police, courts, credit management, and schools. All Ute reservations are involved in oil and gas leases and are members of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes . The Southern Ute Tribe is financially successful, having a casino for revenue generation. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe generates revenues through gas and oil, mineral sales, casinos, stock raising, and a pottery industry. The tribes make some money on tourism and timber sales. Artistic endeavors include basketry and beadwork. The annual household income
6105-447: The Utes. Members of the Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah and Ouray Reservations sit on a five-tribe coalition to help co-manage the monument with the Bureau of Land Management and United States Forest Service . The Ute appeared to have hunted and camped in an ancient Ancestral Puebloans and Fremont people campsite in near what is now Arches National Park . At a site near natural springs, which may have held spiritual significance,
6216-467: The Weeminuche band, who moved to the western end of the Southern Ute Reservation in 1897. (They were led by Chief Ignacio , for whom the eastern capital is named). Prior to living on reservations, Utes shared land with other tribal members according to a traditional societal property system. Instead of recognizing this lifestyle, the U.S. government provided allotments of land, which was larger for families than for single men. The Utes were intended to farm
6327-448: The Williamson River in what was called the Klamath Lake massacre . The entire village was razed and at least 14 people were killed. There was no evidence that the village in question had anything to do with the previous attack. In June 1846, Frémont and Carson participated in a California uprising against Mexico, the Bear Flag Revolt . Mexico ordered all Americans to leave California. American settlers in California wanted to be free of
6438-409: The abundance of game. Cañon Pintado , or painted canyon, is a prehistoric site with rock art from Fremont people (650 to 1200) and Utes. The Fremont art reflect an interest in agriculture, including corn stalks and use of light at different times of the year to show a planting calendar. Then there are images of figures holding shields, what appear to be battle victims, and spears. These were seen by
6549-452: The adobe Commandant's Quarters, where Kit Carson and his wife once lived, the cavalry barracks with exhibits of Hispanic traditional arts and 19th century transportation artifacts, and officer's quarters. Permanent exhibits focus on Kit Carson and Buffalo Soldiers. The museum is administered by History Colorado organization. Pike's Stockade , the reconstructed stockade site where Western explorer and Army officer Zebulon Pike raised
6660-399: The area driving the Mexicans away. Kearny was in San Diego on December 12. After the Mexican–American War transferred California and New Mexico to the United States, Carson returned to Taos to attempt to transition into a career as a businessman and rancher. He developed a small rancho at Rayado, east of Taos, and raised beef. He brought his daughter Adaline from Missouri to join Josefa and
6771-447: The battle was "the prettiest fight I ever saw". His last rendezvous with trappers was held in 1840. At that time, the fur trade began to drop off as beaver hats went out of fashion and beaver populations across North America were declining rapidly from overexploitation. Carson knew that it was time to find other work. He wrote in his Memoirs , "Beaver was getting scarce, it became necessary to try our hand at something else." In 1841, he
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#17327722962506882-448: The care of relatives. On the return trip, Carson met John C. Frémont aboard a steamboat on the Missouri River . Frémont was a US Army officer in the Corps of Topographical Engineers who was about to lead an expedition into the West. After a brief conversation, Frémont hired Carson as a guide at $ 100 a month, the best-paying job of Carson's life. Frémont wrote, "I was pleased with him and his manner of address at this first meeting. He
6993-407: The central Rocky Mountains . Carson hunted and trapped in the West for about ten years. He was known as a reliable man and a good fighter. Life for Carson as a mountain man was not easy. After collecting beavers from traps, he had to hold onto them for months at a time until the annual Rocky Mountain Rendezvous , held in remote areas of the West like the banks of the Green River in Wyoming . With
7104-413: The children sent to boarding school in Albuquerque died in the mid-1880s, due to tuberculosis or other diseases. There was a dramatic reduction in the Ute population, partly attributed to Utes moving off the reservation or resisting being counted. In the early 19th century, there were about 8,000 Utes, and there were only about 1,800 tribe members in 1920. Although there was a significant reduction in
7215-447: The country. Charles E. Averill (1830–1852), "the youthful novelist", published a magazine article for Holden's Dollar Magazine in April 1848 that he expanded into a novel advertised as Kit Carson, the Prince of the Gold Hunters; or the Adventures of the Sacramento; a Tale of the New Eldorado, Founded on Actual Facts , an even more fantastic tale exploiting Carson's rising fame. It arrived on bookstore shelves by May 1849, in time for
7326-423: The customers at the saddle shop were trappers and traders from whom Carson heard stirring tales of the West. Carson found work in the saddlery not to his taste: he once stated that "the business did not suit me, and I concluded to leave." In August 1826, against his mother's wishes, Kit ran away from his apprenticeship. He went west with a caravan of fur trappers and tended their livestock. They made their trek over
7437-405: The desert. Carson wrote in his Memoirs , "Finally got through, but had the misfortune to lose our shoes. Had to travel over a country covered with prickly pear and rocks, barefoot." By December 10, Kearny believed that reinforcements would not arrive. He planned to break through the Mexican lines the next morning, but 200 mounted American soldiers arrived in San Pasqual late that night. They swept
7548-422: The domain of the Utes. Pikes Peak was a sacred ceremonial area for the band. The mineral springs at Manitou Springs were also sacred and Ute and other tribes came to the area, spent winters there, and "share[d] in the gifts of the waters without worry of conflict." Artifacts found from the nearby Garden of the Gods, such as grinding stones, "suggest the groups would gather together after their hunt to complete
7659-472: The early 19th century including at encampments in the San Luis Valley , Wet Mountains , and the Upper Arkansas Valley and at the annual Rocky Mountain Rendezvous . Native Americans also traded at annual trade fairs in New Mexico, which were also ceremonial and social events lasting up to ten days or more. They involved the trading of skins, furs, foods, pottery, horses, clothing, and blankets. In Utah, Utes began to be impacted by European-American contact with
7770-454: The family in a period where family life settled the frontiersman. Josefa loved to sew, and he bought her an early sewing machine, one of the first Singer models, a resourceful tool for their expanding family. She managed the household, in the tradition of the Hispanic women of New Mexico, while he continued shorter travels. In the summer of 1850, he sold a herd of horses to the military at Ft. Laramie, Wyoming. The following year, he took wagons on
7881-564: The fictional Carson and was deeply upset at his inability to have saved White, for he had failed to live up to the growing myth around himself. He was sorry for the rest of his life that he had not rescued White; the dime-novel Carson would have saved her. Ute Indians Ute ( / ˈ j uː t / ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah , western Colorado , and northern New Mexico . Historically, their territory also included parts of Wyoming, eastern Nevada, and Arizona. Their Ute dialect
7992-422: The fictional Carson as an "Indian fighter", with gruesome trashy accounts as "red-skins" "bite the dust" (Averill, Gold Hunter ). For example, of one victim, Averill wrote, "blood gushed in a copious stream from his nostrils"; while Bennett wrote "Kit Carson, like an embodied spirit of battle, thundered past me on his powerful charger, and bending forward in his saddle, with a motion quick as lightning itself, seized
8103-540: The fields, sentries were posted with weapons to protect the farmers. Carson wrote in his Memoirs , "For two or three years after our arrival, we had to remain forted and it was necessary to have men stationed at the extremities of the fields for the protection of those that were laboring." In 1818, Lindsay Carson died instantly when a tree limb fell on him while he was clearing a field. Kit was about eight years old. Despite being penniless, his mother took care of her children alone for four years. She then married Joseph Martin,
8214-639: The five-month trouble-free mission was accomplished, Frémont wrote his government reports, which made Carson's name known across the United States, and spurred a migration of settlers westward to Oregon via the Oregon Trail. In 1843, Carson agreed to join Frémont's second expedition. Carson guided Frémont across part of the Oregon Trail to the Columbia River in Oregon. The purpose of the expedition
8325-499: The fleeing Jicarillas and killed shortly after the attack, according to an 1850 report by James S. Calhoun , the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in New Mexico. A soldier in the rescue party wrote: "Mrs. White was a frail, delicate, and very beautiful woman, but having undergone such usage as she suffered nothing but a wreck remained; it was literally covered with blows and scratches. Her countenance even after death indicated
8436-604: The following groups of people: The Southern Ute Indian Reservation is located in southwestern Colorado, with its capital at Ignacio . The area around the Southern Ute Indian reservation are the hills of Bayfield and Ignacio, Colorado. The Southern Utes are the wealthiest of the tribes. The Tribe holds a triple A credit rating with all three primary rating agencies. Oil & gas, and real estate leases, plus various off-reservation financial and business investments, have contributed to their success. The tribe owns
8547-529: The gold-rich San Juan area, which was followed in 1879 by the loss of most of the remaining land after the " Meeker Massacre ". Utes were later put on a reservation in Utah, Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation , as well as two reservations in Colorado, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Southern Ute Indian Reservation . Following acquisition of Ute territory from Mexico by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo 1848,
8658-477: The government to set aside lands called reservations for their use. As an Indian agent in his later life, he saw to it that those under his watch were treated with honesty and fairness and clothed and fed properly. The historian David Roberts believes his first marriage, to an Arapaho woman named Singing Grass, "softened the stern and pragmatic mountaineer's opportunism". In April 1842, Carson went back to his childhood home in Missouri to put his daughter Adaline in
8769-820: The haciendas of the Rio Abajo to herd the sheep. Upon his arrival in Sacramento, he was surprised to learn of his elevation, again, to a hero of the Conquest of California; over the rest of his life he was recognized as a celebrated frontiersman, an image developed by publications of varied accuracy. Carson's fame spread throughout the United States with government reports, dime novels, newspaper accounts, and word of mouth. The first accounts published for popular audiences were extracts from Frémont's explorations reports as reprinted in period newspapers. Frémont's journals, modified by Jesse Benton Frémont into romantic accounts of
8880-543: The land, which also was a forced vocational change. Some tribes, like the Uintah and Uncompahgre were given arable land, while others were allocated land that was not suited to farming and they resisted being forced to farm. The White River Utes were the most resentful and protested in Washington, D.C. The Weeminuches successfully implemented a shared property system from their allotted land. Utes were forced to perform manual labor, relinquish their horses, and send their children to American Indian boarding schools . Almost half of
8991-594: The late 17th century. During this time, few Europeans entered Ute territory. Exceptions to this include the Spanish Domínguez–Escalante expedition of 1776. The Utes traded with other tribes who were part of the deerskin and fur trade with the Spanish in New Mexico in the 18th century. The Utes, the main trading partners of the Spanish residents of New Mexico, were known for their soft, high-quality tanned deerskins, or chamois, and they also traded meat, buffalo robes, and Indian and Spanish captives taken by
9102-589: The late 17th century. They had limited direct contact with the Spanish but participated in regional trade. Sustained contact with Euro-Americans began in 1847 with the arrival of the Mormons to the American West and the gold rushes of the 1850s. Utes fought to protect their homelands from invaders, and Brigham Young convinced U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to forcibly remove Utes in Utah to an Indian Reservation in 1864. Colorado Utes were forced onto
9213-408: The mid-17th century. Activities, like hunting buffalo and trading, may have been organized by band members. Chiefs led bands when structure was required with the introduction of horses to plan for defense, buffalo hunting, and raiding. Bands came together for tribal activities by the 18th century. Multiple bands of Utes that were classified as Uintahs by the U.S. government when they were relocated to
9324-411: The money received for the pelts, the necessities of an independent life, including fish hooks , flour and tobacco , were bought. As there was little or no medical access in the regions in which he worked, Carson had to dress his wounds and nurse himself. There was also sometimes conflict with Indians. Carson's primary clothing then was made of deer skins that had stiffened from being left outdoors for
9435-533: The mountains. In addition to furs and the company of other mountain men, Carson sought action and adventure. Carson probably killed and scalped a Native for the first time when he was 19, during Young's expedition. In August 1829, the party went into Apache territory along the Gila River . The expedition was attacked, giving Carson his first experience of combat. Young's party continued on to Alta California ; trapped and traded in California from Sacramento in
9546-437: The naming of geographical places. In recent years, Kit Carson has also become a symbol of the United States' mistreatment of its indigenous peoples. Christopher Houston Carson was born on December 24, 1809, near Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky. His parents were Lindsay Carson and his second wife, Rebecca Robinson. Lindsay had five children by his first wife, Lucy Bradley, and ten more children by Rebecca. Lindsay Carson had
9657-475: The north to Los Angeles in the south; and returned to Taos, New Mexico, in April 1830 after it had trapped along the Colorado River . Carson joined a rescue party in Taos searching for the perpetrators of an attack on a wagon train, although the perpetrators managed to escape. Carson joined another expedition, led by Thomas Fitzpatrick and William Levin, in 1831. Fitzpatrick, Levin, and his trappers went north to
9768-617: The number of Utes after they were relocated to reservations, in the mid-20th century the population began to increase. This is partly because many people have returned to reservations, including those who left to attain college educations and careers. By 1990, there were about 7,800 Utes, with 2,800 living in cities and towns and 5,000 on reservations. Utes have self-governed since the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Elections are held to select tribal council members. The Northern, Southern, and Ute Mountain Utes received
9879-420: The outset the expedition appeared to be political in nature. Frémont may have been working under secret government orders, since US President Polk wanted Alta California for the United States. Once in California, Frémont started to rouse the American settlers into a patriotic fervor. The Mexican general José Castro at Monterey ordered him to leave. On Gavilán Mountain, Frémont erected a makeshift fort and raised
9990-489: The present-day cities of Provo and Fort Duchesne in Utah and Pueblo , Fort Collins , Colorado Springs of Colorado. Aside from their home domain, there were sacred places in present-day Colorado. The Tabeguache Ute's name for Pikes Peak is Tavakiev , meaning sun mountain. Living a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, summers were spent in the Pikes Peak area mountains, which was considered by other tribes to be
10101-469: The reservation. In the meantime, the Black Hawk War (1865–72) occurred in Utah. In 1868, the U.S. federal government established reservation in Colorado. Indian agents tried to get the Utes to farm, a dramatic lifestyle change which lead to starvation due to crop failures. Their lands were whittled away until only the modern reservations were left. A large cession of land in 1873 transferred
10212-509: The saddler's trade." Between 1827 and 1829, Carson worked as cook, translator, and wagon driver in the southwest. He also worked at a copper mine near the Gila River , in southwestern New Mexico . In later life, Carson never mentioned any women from his youth. Only three specific women were mentioned in his writing: Josefa Jaramillo, his third and last wife; a comrade's mother in Washington, DC ; and Mrs. Ann White, killed by Natives after
10323-466: The scalp lock of my antagonist in one hand, and with the other completely severed his head from his body, which he bore triumphantly away" (Bennett, Prairie Flower , p. 64). The novelists' gruesome, gory and sensationalized woolly West descriptions would keep readers turning the pages, and buying more buckets-of-blood fictional accounts of Carson, especially during the coming age of dime novels. Carson's reaction to his depiction in these first novels
10434-445: The subject of dime novels . His understated nature belied confirmed reports of his fearlessness, combat skills, tenacity, as well as profound effect on the westward expansion of the United States. Although he was famous for much of his life, historians in later years have written that Kit Carson did not like, want, or even fully understand the fame that he experienced during his life. Carson left home in rural Missouri at 16 to become
10545-541: The success of having recovered our horses and sending many a redskin to his long home, our sufferings were soon forgotten." Carson viewed the Blackfoot Nation as a hostile tribe and the greatest threat to his livelihood and safety. He hated them and killed them at every opportunity. The historian David Roberts wrote: "It was taken for granted that the Blackfeet were bad Indians; to shoot them whenever he could
10656-484: The tanning of hides and processing of meat." The old Ute Pass Trail went eastward from Monument Creek (near Roswell ) to Garden of the Gods and Manitou Springs to the Rocky Mountains . From Ute Pass, Utes journeyed eastward to hunt buffalo. They spent winters in mountain valleys where they were protected from the weather. The North and Middle Parks of present-day Colorado were among favored hunting grounds, due to
10767-460: The uncharted West, appeared in the early 1840s. Newspapers throughout the US and England reprinted excerpts about wild tales of buffalo hunts, vast new landscapes, and indigenous peoples. Carson's heroics enlivened the pages. In June 1847, Jesse Benton Frémont helped Carson prepare a brief autobiography, the first, published as an interview in the Washington, D.C. Union, and reprinted by newspapers across
10878-496: The uprising. Frémont worked hard to win California for the United States, for a time fashioning himself as its military governor until he was replaced by General Stephen W. Kearny , who outranked him. From 1846 to 1848, Carson served as courier traveling three times from California to the East and back. Frémont wrote, "This was a service of great trust and honor... and great danger also." In 1846, dispatched with military records for
10989-441: The village of San Pasqual, California . Kearny was outnumbered. He knew that he could not win and so ordered his men to take cover on a small hill. On the night of December 8, Carson, a naval lieutenant, Edward Fitzgerald Beale , and an Indian scout left Kearny to bring reinforcements from San Diego, 25 miles (40 km) away. Carson and the lieutenant removed their shoes because they made too much noise and walked barefoot through
11100-580: The war, Carson was a scout and courier who was celebrated for his rescue mission after the Battle of San Pasqual and for his coast-to-coast journey from California to Washington, D.C. , to deliver news of the conflict in California to the government. In the 1850s, he was appointed as the Indian agent to the Ute Indians and the Jicarilla Apaches. During the American Civil War , Carson led
11211-507: The women travelers were staked to the ground, sexually mutilated, and killed. The murderers then stole the Mexican's 30 horses. Carson and a mountain man friend, Alexis Godey , went after the murderers. After two days they found them, rushed into their camp, and killed and scalped two of the murderers. The stolen horses were recovered and returned to the Mexican man and boy. That deed brought Carson even greater fame and confirmed his status as
11322-487: Was a man of medium height, broad-shouldered, and deep-chested, with a clear steady blue eye and frank speech and address; quiet and unassuming." In 1842, Carson guided Frémont across the Oregon Trail to South Pass, Wyoming . It was their first expedition into the West together. The purpose of this expedition was to map and describe the Oregon Trail as far as South Pass. A guidebook, maps, and other paraphernalia would be printed for westward-bound migrants and settlers. After
11433-447: Was a mountain man's instinct and duty." Carson had several encounters with the Blackfoot. His last battle with the Blackfoot took place in spring 1838. He was traveling with about one hundred mountain men led by Jim Bridger. In Montana Territory , the group found a teepee with the corpses of three Indians who had died of smallpox inside. Bridger wanted to move on, but Carson and the other young men wanted to kill Blackfoot, so they found
11544-473: Was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico. After the war, Mexico was forced to sell the territories of Alta California and New Mexico to the United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . One of Carson's best-known adventures took place during this war. In December 1846, Carson was ordered by General Kearny to guide him and his troops from Socorro, New Mexico , to San Diego, California . Mexican soldiers attacked Kearny and his men near
11655-472: Was heartily pleased, never having been so scared in my life." Carson's Memoirs are full of stories about hostile Indian encounters. In January 1833, for example, warriors of the Crow tribe stole nine horses from Carson's camp. Carson and two other men sprayed the Crow camp with gunfire, killing most of the Crow. Carson wrote in his Memoirs , "During our pursuit for the lost animals, we suffered considerably but,
11766-587: Was hired at Bent's Fort, in Colorado, at the largest building on the Santa Fe Trail. Hundreds of people worked or lived there. Carson hunted buffalo, antelope, deer, and other animals to feed the people, paid one dollar a day. He returned to Bent's Fort several times during his life to provide meat for the fort's residents. Carson's views about Indians softened over the years. He found himself more and more in their company as he grew older, and his attitude towards them became more respectful and humane. He urged
11877-400: Was hit in a revenge attack by 15 to 20 Indians on the night of May 9, 1846. Two or three men in camp were killed. The attackers fled after a brief struggle. Carson, angry that his friends had been killed, took an ax to a dead Indian and, according to Frémont, "knocked his head to pieces". In retaliation for the attack, a few days later, Frémont's party massacred a village of Klamath people along
11988-595: Was illegal and dangerous because California was Mexican territory. The Mexican government ordered Frémont to leave. Frémont finally went back to Washington, D.C. The government liked his reports but ignored his illegal trip into Mexico. Frémont was made a captain. The newspapers nicknamed him "The Pathfinder". During the expedition, Frémont trekked into the Mojave Desert . His party met a Mexican man and boy, who both told Carson that Native Americans had ambushed their party of travelers. The male travelers were killed;
12099-414: Was married three times and had ten children. He died at Fort Lyon of an aortic aneurysm on May 23, 1868. He is buried in Taos, New Mexico , next to his third wife, Josefa. During the late nineteenth century, Kit Carson became a legendary symbol of America's frontier experience, which influenced twentieth century erection of statues and monuments, public events and celebrations, imagery by Hollywood, and
12210-497: Was mostly fought for gaining prestige, stealing horses, and revenge. Men would organize themselves into war parties made up of warriors, medicine men, and a war chief who led the party. To prepare themselves for battle Ute warriors would often fast, participate in sweat lodge ceremonies, and paint their faces and horses for special symbolic meanings. The Utes were master horsemen and could execute daring maneuvers on horseback while in battle. Most plains Indians had warrior societies , but
12321-635: Was to map and describe the Oregon Trail from South Pass, Wyoming, to the Columbia River. They also made a side-trip to Great Salt Lake in Utah , using a rubber raft to navigate the waters. On the way to California, the party suffered from bad weather in the Sierra Nevada Mountains but was saved by Carson's good judgment and his skills as a guide; they found American settlers who fed them. The expedition then headed to California, which
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