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KIT CARSON by Noel B. Gerson

KIT CARSON

By

Pub Date: Sept. 4th, 1964
Publisher: Doubleday

Kit Carson was a late-blooming buckskin beauty when compared to the earlier heroes, Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, who were also Kentuckians. At seventeen he left home, went West, became a hunter and Indian fighter, a respected leader and glorious marksman. A rather small man, he always shaved and had the unwavering eye of a bank accountant. His ability to find game was phenomenal. He was a mountain man originally and he was often hired as hunter by various expeditions. As his fame spread, so did the myths and he soon was the archetypal hero of the Southwest. At one time he and another man single-handedly attacked thirty Indians, killing three (and scalping them) and routing the others. This became the most famous incident of his career, which he found amazing: it was just another day's work to him! Appointed as Indian agent for New Mexico, he helped establish peace on the frontier. During the Civil War, as a colonel, he saved Union New Mexico from rebel Texas by several brilliantly fought battles, then led 700 troops against the 10,000 braves of the Navajo nation. Quite a man, as this fast-moving biography shows.