01Biography
Christopher 'Kit' Carson ran away from a saddler's apprenticeship in Missouri in 1826, at 16, and became a trapper and trader in the Southwest and the Rockies. He learned Spanish and several Native languages. He guided John C. Frémont's expeditions of 1842, 1843 to 1844 and 1845 to 1846, and Frémont's reports made him famous across the country. He also took part in the 1846 attacks on Native villages on the Sacramento River and at Klamath Lake.
02Why they matter
Guided the Army's mapping expeditions over the trail in the 1840s, and their published reports made him famous nationwide.
03How they died
During the Civil War he commanded New Mexico volunteers. In 1863 and 1864 his troops burned Navajo homes and crops and forced the Navajo onto the Long Walk to the Bosque Redondo, where many died. He died of an aortic aneurysm at Fort Lyon, Colorado, on May 23, 1868, aged 58, about a month after the death of his wife, Josefa.
04Legacy
Carson City, Nevada, is named for him. Many Navajo (Diné) people remember him for the Long Walk rather than as the hero of old frontier stories.