European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 28, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse Stripes daily Magazine Mountain Man kit Carson an american original �. 4 army Surveyor Fremont seated made Carson standing american Folk hero. By Jules Loh the annual changing of the Flag inthe Plaza of Taos ., will have a special significance memorial is 100 years since the death of the Man who nailed the Banner to Taos firs Cottonwood staff and quietly suggested that no one dare Lay his treasonous hands on it again. No one did. T the audacious Patriot was kit Carson. With the death May 28, 188, of the explorer trapper Indian fighter scout Soldier rancher there died a Breed Ofman that was an american original the Mountain Man. R to the Mountain Man rugged individualism was no Mere Shibboleth per Sonal Independence no myth. None typified the Breed or added More to its Romance than kit a dozen or so of kit car son s descendants will gather in the Tao Plaza. One of them probably kit Carson Iii a retired trader from Alamosa colo.,will lower the tattered old Flag that has flown Day and night since last memorial Day and replace it with a new one. A Small Centennial Celebration More family reunion will follow. The Taos Flag is one of the few in the country permitted by Congress to re main aloft continuously a privilege granted in recognition of kit Carson s caring Defiance. U., r 11gincy lived among and i Indian a staff writer the incident happened in the sum Mer of 1861 when news of the outbreak of the civil War reached new Carson was 51. His Frontier exploits already had made him a National was embarrassed by All the fuss Over him wanting Only to put both adventure and limelight aside and retire quietly to his ranch. Sentiment in new Mexico was largely on the Side of the confederacy. The territory had been a part of Mexico up until a scant 12 years before and Man citizens still viewed the conquering Blue Coats with less than total View of kit Carson however was one of undiluted respected him As a Friend and also respected his reputation with the Rifle he held cocked and primed As he stood at the base of the sympathizers had ripped the Flag from its staff the previous kit Carson said leave it alone it was left people of Taos had known the slight 5-foot-6 frontiersman with the steel Gray eyes and Rusty hair Ever since he arrived in the old Adobe town in 1826. He was 17 then hell Bent for excitement. Taos an ancient Spanish settlement which was a thriving Community eve before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth was at that time the southwestern head quarters for the booming fur Trade. Young Christopher Carson known from infancy As kit had heard about the swashbuckling Beaver trappers who gathered in Taos and ached to join them. He signed on As Cook with a trapping party headed by Ewing Young a frontiersman of the first rank and headed for the the party returned word got around that the leathery freckled Green Horn had shot three indians during an attack. His hand was steady his aim True. He had proved himself. And from Border to Border. As hta experience grew so did his reputation among fellow courage his skill in the Woods his boldness in Battle soon earned the re Spect of even the veterans men like Jedediah Smith Jim Bridger Tom Fitz Patrick Joe Meek men who marked the trails that became the roads that late bore endless caravans of wagons West were the Mountain men. The Eastern intellectuals called them natural men and so they were. They lived among indians and too Indian ways and Indian wives and spoke a strange patois punctuated by wild sounds like Wagg and Sirree the Mountain men lived by their wits a Day at a time and prize their free Dom above All else. They were a fraternity of individualists. A Man might hire out to one fur company disappearing the night and join another. Or strike out on his own. They skinned their beavers and traded the pelts for one big Midsummer fling and enough powder and Lead to see them through the next Winter. Trappers and sailors Are Simi Lar in regard to Money kit Carson one important respect kit Carson departed from the Mountain Man stereo Type. Unlike his boisterous yarn spinning companero Carson was quiet self effacing laconic. His deeds spoke for themselves. The less he said about himself themore others said about Bim. Still it is unlikely his name would have becomes widely known his exploits so romanticized had it not been for a Chanc meeting aboard a Missouri River Steamboat in 1842. Carson had been in St. Louis to visit his daughter who was staying with relatives. The girl was the Only child of his first wife a Cheyenne who died in childbirth. There is no Trace of his daughter s descendants. On the Steamer heading Back car son met John c. Fremont the army Surveyor. Fremont needed a guide someone who knew the Western Wilder Ness he planned to Survey. He tried kit s official report of his two expeditions became a Best seller. The government printed More than 250,000 copies. In the report Fremont extolled it Carson recounting feats of daring and courage. Congress commended car son publicly. Writers embellished his deeds. Kit Carson became a hero Over night and grist for the pulp Maga Zines. The limelight annoyed Carso but did not change him. He remained genuinely unconvinced that he was extraordinary. During the War with Mexico kit car son carried dispatches to Washington for Gen. Stephen w. Kearny. While there president Polk personally offered him a temporary army commis Sion. Carson had longed to be a Soldier. He returned to Taos proudly in first lieutenant s uniform Only to Dis cover that Congress had not got around to confirming his commission before the War ended and it was therefore null. Carson said it was his bitterest the civil War however every Man in the 1st new mexican Volun Teers petitioned the War department to make kit Carson their commander. The army complied giving Carson the rank of colonel. V-4 arson led his regiment in one successful Battle against the confederates then was Given an assignment he regretted the rest of his life. He was told to round up the Navajo tribe whose raids on new mexican settlements had become most irritating and March them off to what amounted to a concentration Camp. Reluctantly Carson followed burned the crops and slaughtered the sheep herds of the Navajo tribes men. Destitute they surrendered. Four years later Carson s second wife in one of her few recorded state ments told the Man who had Burne Atlanta Gen. William t. Sherman that the misery of the Navajo was eve present in her husband s mind. Eventually the tribe was allowed to return to its own lands. After the War kit Carson served a commander of it. Garland colo., and later was an Indian an inspection trip of the fort a Rattlesnake spooked his horse. Carso was hurled Over an embankment injuring his neck. The injury plagued him for months. At length the Man who had tempted danger and death in the wilderness so Many times died in his sleep. He was 58. A pm. Or the next 16 years kit Carson trapped the Mountain streams of the american West All the Way to the Pacific youths still pause to remember kit at his graveside in Taos The Day May 28, 1968 the stars and stripes Page u
