This little bit of history of Kit comes from the folks at Listverse. Nice to have a source for some extra knowledge of our early heroes.
Kit Carson
Kit Carson was the prototypical frontiersman of his day, despite the fact that he looked and acted nothing like you would expect. He was clean-shaven and well groomed, had an unassuming manner, but showed implacable courage when the need arose. He was known for being a man of his word and maintained friendly relationships with various Native American tribes, even taking native wives on two separate occasions.
Most of his fame was attained after 1842, when John C. Fremont hired him as a guide. Fremont was a politician who would go on to become the first presidential candidate for the newly formed Republican party. Before this, he led several expeditions into the American West and used Carson as guide for all of them. Afterward, Fremont would speak highly of Carson in his reports, which is what gained him the image of an American folk hero who would go on to appear in numerous Western novels.
While on such a journey, the Mexican-American War broke out and Fremont decided to join the Bear Flag Revolt. His group lent assistance to the American settlers in the area, and Carson was the one who led them into battle. After a victory, Fremont asked Carson to return to Washington to deliver the news of their success. He only made it as far as New Mexico before being recruited again, this time by General Stephen Kearny, who required his services as a guide in order to defeat the Mexican forces.
Pretty clean cut looking guy for the profession he was in, don't you think?
Coffee out on the patio before the storm gets here later. Sound good?
His picture doesn't fit the mental image projected by the life he led as you said. Interesting... I have some homemade banana bread to go along this morning....I'll meet everyone on the patio :))
ReplyDeleteI guess the old saying of never judge a book by it's cover is true!
ReplyDeleteBanana bead sounds wonderful, Mamahen!
As Mamahen said - the picture doesn't fit the mental image. I learned some new info about Kit Carson today that I didn't know. See you all on the patio. It is cold up here in WI with temps of 34 degrees. Thanks for the banana bread.
ReplyDeleteHe was a great man while he is well known he doesn't get enough credit.
ReplyDeleteNice 50 degrees here this morning but will get up into the 90's later :( I'll have some coffee with you all on the patio.
Like Chickenmom said, you can't judge a book by the cover. But some book covers give away a lot of what is in the book, don't you think?
ReplyDelete