Christopher Carson

Christopher Carson

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Title: Christopher Carson
Author: John S. C. Abbott
Release Date: December 3, 2004 [eBook #14243]
Language: English
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CHRISTOPHER CARSON
Familiarly Known as Kit Carson
The Pioneer of the West
by
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT
With Illustrations by Eleanor Greatorex
New York: Dodd & Mead, No. 762 Broadway
1874

[Illustration]

Pioneers and Patriots of America
By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT
Each one volume, 12mo, illustrated, $1.50.
DANIEL BOONE
MILES STANDISH
FERDINAND DE SOTO
PETER STUYVESANT
KIT CARSON
DAVID CROCKETT.

Other Volumes in preparation

[Illustration]

PREFACE
It is a prominent object of this volume to bring to light the wild
adventures of the pioneers of this continent, in the solitudes of the
mountains, the prairies and the forests; often amidst hostile Indians, and
far away from the restraints and protection of civilization. This strange,
weird-like life is rapidly passing away, before the progress of
population, railroads and steamboats. But it is desirable that the
memory of it should not drift into oblivion. I think that almost every
reader of this narrative will be somewhat surprised, in its development
of the character of Christopher Carson. With energy and fearlessness
never surpassed, he was certainly one of the most gentle, upright, and
lovable of men. It is strange that the wilderness could have formed so
estimable a character. America will not permit the virtues of so
illustrious a son to be forgotten.
JOHN S.C. ABBOTT.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Early Training.
Birth of Christopher Carson.--Perils of the Wilderness.--Necessary
Cautions.--Romance of the Forest.--The Far West.--The
Encampment.--The Cabin and the Fort.--Kit an Apprentice.--The
Alarm.--Destruction of a Trading Band.--The Battle and the
Flight.--Sufferings of the Fugitives.--Dreadful Fate of Mr.
Schenck.--Features of the Western Wilderness.--The March.

CHAPTER II.
Life in the Wilderness.
A Surgical Operation.--A Winter with Kin Cade.--Study of the
Languages and Geography.--Return towards Missouri.--Engagement
with a new Company and Strange Adventures.--The
Rattlesnake.--Anecdote of Kit Carson.--The Sahara.--New
Engagements.--Trip to El Paso.--Trapping and Hunting.--Prairie
Scenery.--The Trapper's Outfit.--Night Encampment.--Testimony of an
Amateur Hunter.
CHAPTER III.
Among the Trappers.
The Discomfited Trappers.--The New Party Organized.--A Battle with
the Indians.--Trapping on the Colorado.--March to the
Sacramento.--The Friendly Indians.--Crossing the Desert.--Instinct of
the Mule.--The Enchanting Valley of the Colorado.--The Mission of
San Gabriel.--Vast Herds of Cattle.--The Mission of San
Fernando.--Adventures in the Valley of San Joaquin.--The Meeting of
two Trapping Bands.--Reasons for Kit Carson's Celebrity.--A Military
Expedition.--The Indian Horse Thieves.--The Pursuit and Capture.
CHAPTER IV.
Conflicts with the Indians.
The American Trapper.--The Trapper of the Hudson's Bay
Company.--The Return Trip.--Polished Life in the Wilderness.--The
Spanish Gentlemen.--Council of the Trappers.--Self-possession of Kit
Carson.--The Camp Cleared of Intruders.--Robbing the Robbers.--Sale
of the Furs.--Mr. Fitzpatrick's Expedition.--Pains and Pleasures of
Rocky Mountain Life.--Pursuit of Indian Horse
Thieves.--Extraordinary Battle.

CHAPTER V.
Marches and Encampments.
The Encampment Among the Rocky Mountains.--The Attempted
Stampede.--Retreat and Pursuit by the Savages.--The Alarm.--Loss of
the Horses.--Their Recovery.--Enterprise of Kit Carson.--Fight with the
Indians.--The Litter for the Wounded.--Union of the two Trapping
Parties.--Successful Return to Taos.--Carson joins a Trading
Party.--Chivalric Adventures.--Attacked by Bears.
CHAPTER VI.
The Rendezvous.
Fair in the Wilderness.--The Encampment.--Dispersion of the
Trappers.--Hostility of the Blackfeet.--Camp on the Big Snake
River.--The Blackfeet Marauders.--The Pursuit.--The Calumet.--The
Battle.--Kit Carson wounded.--The Rencontre with Shunan.--The
Defeat and Humiliation of Shunan.--Remarkable Modesty of
Carson.--Testimony to Mr. Carson's Virtues.
CHAPTER VII.
War with the Blackfeet Indians.
Unsuccessful Trapping.--Disastrous March to Fort Hall.--The Feast
upon Horse-flesh.--The Hunting Expedition.--Its Rare
Attractions.--Dogged by the Blackfeet.--Safe Arrival at the Fort.--All
their Animals Stolen by the Indians.--Expedition to the Blackfeet
Country.--Winter Quarters with the Friendly Indians.--Sufferings of the
Animals.--Return to the Blackfeet Country.--Battle with the
Indians.--Incidents of the Battle.
CHAPTER VIII.
Encampments and Battles.

The Renewal of the Battle.--Peculiarities of the Fight.--The
Rout.--Encampment in the Indian Village.--Number of Trappers among
the Mountains.--The New Rendezvous.--Picturesque Scene of the
Encampment.--The Missionary and the Nobleman.--Brown's
Hole.--The Navajoes.--Kit Carson Purveyor at the Fort.--Trapping at
the Black Hills.--Again upon the Yellowstone.--Pleasant Winter
Quarters.--Signs of the Indians.--Severe Conflict.--Reappearance of the
Indians.--Their utter Discomfiture.
CHAPTER IX.
The Trapper's Elysium.
Trapping on the Missouri.--Attacked by the Blackfeet.--The
Battle.--Persevering Hostility of the Indians.--The Trappers driven from
the Country.--Repair to the North Fork.--Cheerful
Encampments.--Enchanting Scene.--Village of the Flatheads.--The
Blessings of Peace.--Carson's Knowledge of Languages.--Pleasant
Winter Quarters on the Big