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.
.

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

...................................................................................... ...........................................

.

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

.

.

Our Mission:

The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.

The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer.

If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions.

We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.

To read previous Foxhole threads or
to add the Foxhole to your sidebar,
click on the books below.

.

.

.

Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson
(1809 - 1868)

.

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.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on August 16:
1397 Albrecht II von Habsburg, king of Bohemia/Hungary/Germany
1828 Joseph Bradford Carr, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1831 Edward Payson Chapin, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1862 Amos Alonzo Stagg football pioneer, (developed wing back principle, quick kick, onside kick, double flankers, pass-run option play, man in motion)
1868 Bernard MacFadden publisher (Physical Culture, True Romances)
1874 Arthur Meighen Canada, PM of Canada (1920,1,6)
1884 Hugo Gernsback sci-fi writer (1960 Hugo)
1892 Harold Foster cartoonist (created "Prince Valiant")
1894 George Meany NYC, labor leader (headed AFL-CIO)
1897 Robert Ringling circus master
1899 Glenn Strange Weed NM, actor (Sam the Bartender-Gunsmoke)
1902 Georgette Heyer England, novelist (Friday's Child)
1904 Wendell Stanley biochemist, 1st to crystallize a virus (Nobel '46)
1910 Mae Clarke Phila, actress (Frankenstein, Nana, Parole Girl)
1913 Menachem Begin Israeli PM (1977-83, Nobel 1978)
1925 Fess Parker Fort Worth Texas, actor (Davy Crockett, Old Yeller)
1928 Ann Blyth Mt Kisko NY, actress (Kismet, Mildred Pierce)
1929 Bill Evans, US jazz pianist
1930 Frank Gifford Calif, NFL halfback (NY Giants)/ABC sportscaster
1930 Robert Culp Berkley Calif, actor (I Spy, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice)
1930 Ted Hughes England, poet laureate (1984- )
1932 Edie Gorme Bronx NY, singer (Tonight Show, Bossa Nova)
1933 Stuart A "Smokey" Roosa Durango Colo, Col USAF/astronaut (Apollo 14)
1935 Julie Newmar Hollywood Calif, actress (Catwoman-Batman, Living Doll)
1938 Ketty Lester Hope Ark, actress (Hester-Little House on the Prairie)
1939 Valeri V Ryumin cosmonaut (Soyuz 25, 32)
1940 Bruce Beresford, Australian film director whose films include Breaker Morant, Tender Mercies, Driving Miss Daisy.
1946 Lesley Ann Warren NYC, actress (Cinderella, Mission Impossible)
1947 Carol Moseley-Braun, (EX-Sen-D Illinois)
1953 James Taylor rocker (Kool & The Gang-Joanna)
1953 Kathie Lee Gifford Paris Fla, hostess (Live with Regis & Kathie Lee)
1958 Madonna (Ciccone) Bay City Mich, singer/actress (Like a Virgin)
1960 Timothy Hutton actor (Turk 182, Ordinary People)
1969 Ben Coates, NFL tight end (NE Patriots)

---

Deaths which occurred on August 16:
1675 Bogdan Chmilnicki, cosack leader/murderer of 300,000 Jews, dies
1705 Jean/Jacobus Bernouilli, Swiss mathematician, dies at 50
1854 Duncan Phyfe furniture maker, dies
1864 John Randolph Chambliss Jr, planter/Confederate, dies in battle at 31
1920 Norman Lockyer editor of NATURE, discoverer of helium in Sun, dies
1938 Robert Johnson, US Delta-blues singer/guitarist, poisoned at 27
1940 Billy Fiske, US RAF-pilot/2nd lieutenant, dies of injuries
1940 Henri Desgrange, French cyclist/founder (Tour de France), dies at 75
1948 Babe Ruth Baseball legend, dies in NY at 53
1956 Bela Lugosi, actor (Dracula), dies of heart attack at 73
1959 William "Bull" F Halsey, US vice-admiral
1977 Elvis Presley dies of heart ailment at Graceland at 42
1989 Amanda Blake actress (Gunsmoke), dies at 60
1991 Shamu the Whale dies at 16, from respiratory failure
1995 John Cameron Swayze, news anchor (NBC), dies at 89

---

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1968 BLEVINS LURAL LEE III PHILADELPHIA PA.
[06/69 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1968 ELBERT FRED BRENTWOOD NY.
[03/16/73 RELEASED BY PRG
1968 MC ELHANON MICHAEL O. FORT WORTH TX.
1968 OVERLOCK JOHN F. SPRINGFIELD MA.
1971 KENNEDY JOHN W. ARLINGTON VA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 1992/1993 ID'D 06/25/96]
1975 SIMMONS WILLIE E.
[RELEASED 10/01/75]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

---

On this day...
1513 Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian defeat the French at Guinegatte, France, in the Battle of the Spurs.
1691 Yorktown Va founded
1743 Earliest boxing code of rules formulated in England (Jack Broughton)
1777 Americans defeat British in Battle of Bennington, Vt
1777 France declares a state of bankruptcy.
1780 British decisively defeat Americans in Battle of Camden, SC
1812 Gen Hull surrenders Detroit & Michigan territory to England
1819 Manchester Massacre; English police charge unemployed demonstrators
1829 Siamese twins Chang & Eng Bunker arrive in Boston to be exhibited
1858 U.S. President James Buchanan and Britain's Queen Victoria exchange messages inaugurating the first transatlantic telegraph line.
1861 Pres Lincoln prohibits Union states from trading with Confederacy
1863 Emancipation Proclamation signed
1864 4th day of battle at Deep Bottom Run Virginia, Federal assault
1864 Battle of Front Royal VA (Guard Hill)
1870 Fred Goldsmith demonstrates curve ball isn't an optical illusion
1876 The opera "Siegfried" is produced (Bayreuth)
1890 Alexander Clark, journalist/lawyer, named minister to Liberia
1896 Gold discovered in the Klondike, found at Bonanza Creek, Alaska
1898 Roller coaster patented
1920 Ray Chapman, of the Indians is hit in the head by Yanks' Carl Mays pitch; he dies next day, only major league fatality
1934 US ends occupation of Haiti (been there since 1915)
1934 US explorer William Beebe descends 3,028' (1922 m) in Bathysphere
1936 11th Olympic games close in Berlin
1946 Great Calcutta blood bath - Moslem/Hindu riot (3-4,000 die)
1948 Arabs blow up Latrun pumping station in Jerusalem
1948 The Israeli pound becomes legal tender
1954 Sports Illustrated publishes it's 1st issue
1955 Fiat Motors orders 1st private atomic reactor
1956 Adlai E Stevenson nominated as Democratic presidential candidate
1959 USSR introduces installment buying
1960 Britain grants independence to crown colony of Cyprus
1960 Joseph Kittinger parachutes from balloon at 31,330 m (84,700')
1960 Republic of the Congo (Zaire) forms
1962 Ringo Starr replaces Pete Best as Beatle drummer
1963 Independence is restored to Dominican Republic
1965 AFL awards its 1st expansion franchise (Miami Dolphins)
1984 LA federal jury acquits auto maker John Z DeLorean on cocaine charges
1984 Largest harness racing purse ($2,161,000-Nihilator wins $1,080,500)
1985 The last episode of the tv show Dukes of Hazard aired
1986 Madonna's "True Blue," album goes #1 for 5 weeks & her single "Papa Don't Preach," goes #1 for 2 weeks
1987 156 die as Northwest Flight 255 crashes at take off in Detroit
1987 Astrological Harmonic Convergence-Dawn of New Age
1988 IBM introduces software for artificial intelligence
1988 Jailed black nationalist Nelson Mandela struck with tuberculosis
1988 Mayor Koch says he plans to wipe out street-corner windshield washers
1989 Roger Kingdom of USA sets the 110m hurdle record (12.92) in Zurich
1990 Iraq orders 4000 Britons & 2500 Americans in Kuwait to Iraq

---

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

National Aviation Week Begins
Weird Contest Week Begins
Elvis International Tribute Week Ends
Cyprus : Independence Day (1960)
Dominican Republic : Restoration Day (1963)
Liechtenstein : Prince Franz-Josef II Day
Vermont : Bennington Battle Day (1777)
Hawaii : Admission Day (1959) ( Friday )
Mich : Montrose-Blueberry Festival ( Friday )
Yukon : Klondike Gold Day (1896) ( Friday )
Don't Wait...Celebrate Week Ends
National Parks Month

---

Religious Observances
old RC : Feast of St Joachim, father of Mary, confessor
RC : Memorial of St Stephen, apostle of Hungary (opt)

---

Religious History
1815 Birth of St. John Bosco, Italian educator. Poverty among the children in the city of Turin led him in 1859 to establish the Society of St. Francis of Sales (the Salesians). Bosco was canonized by Pius XI in 1934.
1852 Birth of Adolf von Schlatter, Swiss Protestant New Testament scholar. His 1921 History of Christ maintained that the success of any systematic theology had to be based on a foundation of solid biblical exegesis.
1875 Death of early 19th century Presbyterian revivalist Charles G. Finney, 82. Converted at 29, he led revivals for several years before affiliating with Oberlin College in 1835, where he spent the rest of his professional life.
1942 Birth of Don Wyrtzen, contemporary Christian songwriter. Among his most enduring sacred compositions are "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" and "Worthy is the Lamb."
1972 African-American Methodist clergyman from Dominica, West Indies, Philip A. Potter, 51, was named general secretary of the World Council of Churches. Serving until 1984, Potter gave strong spiritual guidance to the work of the WCC.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

---

Thought for the day :
"Fame is proof that people are gullible."

---

Excuses For Missing Work...
I set half the clocks in my house ahead an hour and the other half back an hour Saturday, and spent 18 hours in some kind of space-time continuum loop, reliving Sunday (right up until the explosion). I was able to exit the loop only by reversing the polarity of the power source exactly e*log(pi) clocks in the house while simultaneously rapping my dog on the snout with a rolled up Times. Accordingly, I will be in late, or early.

---

You Might Be An Engineer If...
The term "sanitation engineer" actually bothers you

---

Doggie Dictionary...
BATH: This is a process by which the humans drench the floor, walls and themselves.
You can help by shaking vigorously and frequently.

---

Dumb Laws...
Hawaii:
Coins are not allowed to be placed in one's ears.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

CAMBRIDGE, England -- More than 3,800 American World War II veterans were remembered during Memorial Day here at the Madingley American Cemetery on May 31. The cemetery was first established on Dec. 7, 1943, and construction was completed in 1956. This area, known as East Anglia, was used extensively during World War II, and many airfields were built over its flat landscape. The area is also where many American casualties occurred during the war. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Tony R. Tolley)

[Samwise]

G'morning PE!

[Soaring Feather]

Good Monday morning everyone.

[Lee Heggy]

Good morning Sam and Snippy!

For those who would care to know why 'Booneslick' is named thus I will elucidate. West of the Mississippi salt was an expensive and rare commodity. It was a neccessary ingredient in the preservation of foodstuffs and in curing hides along with supplimenting a heathy diet for people and livestock. Naturally occuring saline springs are quite rare and the places where they do occur are commonly called 'licks' since wildlife would frequent these places to obtain the salt. Booneslick was one of these places and the springs there produced a high quality salt in amounts that made their commercial operation viable. I have been there several times and the springs are still as active as they were in Daniels day. The stone evaporation pans are still in situ as well as one can see the foundations of the storehouses and coummuity structures. You can see the general layout of this very important center of pioneer commerce. The setting is fairly rugged but it is a typical Missouri landscape, lush and forested. The springs number at least four fairly large outlets. and are at the bottom of a deep cool hollow. The plants there are of the sort that thrive in a salty microenvionment (pitcher plants, sundews etc.) and are protected by law due to their rarity. If you are traveling thru Missouri I encourage you to take the time to visit this place.

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Cannoneer!

[SAMWolf]

Morning alfa6.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the history of the Mountain Howitzer during the Indian Wars.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Mayor.

I'm close to being a geek and not old enough to be a geezer. ;-)

[SAMWolf]

Among them was a powerful Frenchman known as Captain Shunan. He had won his title by hard fighting, possessed a magnificent physique, was brave and skilled in the use of arms, and was the most quarrelsome individual in camp.

Sure doesn't describe any frenchmen of the last two centiries. :-)

It is impossible to picture a more irascible and disagreeable personage than Captain Shunan

I think Kerry can give Captain Shunan a run for his money.

[SAMWolf]

Morning GailA.

Don't remind them, they'll start the "New Ice Age" craze of 3 years ago again.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Good Monday morning, Foxhole!

Fine reading to start my week :)

[SAMWolf]

Morning stand watie.

A month in DC?? Think you can stand it?

Free Dixie!

[The Mayor]

I think we're in the same boat..

[SAMWolf]

1925 Fess Parker Fort Worth Texas, actor (Davy Crockett, Old Yeller)

Ok, Fess up. Who had a coonskin cap as a kid?

Who cried at the end of "Old Yeller"?

[SAMWolf]

Morning PE. A somber Flag-O-Gram this morning.

[SAMWolf]

Hey Samwise.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather.