Legends of the Old West - KIT CARSON Ep. 3 | “The Mexican American War”

Episode Date: May 31, 2023

While the largest battles of the Mexican American War happen in Mexico, Kit Carson adds another layer to his growing legend during fighting in California. American units put down an uprising in Taos and Santa Fe that threatens Kit’s family, and Kit transforms himself into a rancher after the war even as another war looms on the horizon. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join Apple users join Noiser+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matters had changed greatly in California since Kit Carson had been sent east by John C. Fremont and Commodore Robert Stockton with the glorious news of an American victory. Fremont's third expedition to the west, led by Kit Carson, had turned into a military campaign. And maybe that's what it was intended to be all along, and Kit just didn't know it. He thought he was leading Fremont's party into Oregon to make maps of the territory. But then Fremont led them down into California. They battled Native Americans and took control of Mexican towns and villages. They united with Robert Stockton's small navy and sailed down to San Diego. From there,

they captured Los Angeles without a shot fired. The thin Mexican army in the area was in full retreat, and Stockton declared himself Governor of California, which he now claimed for America. He and Fremont sent Kit Carson on an overland mission to Washington, D.C. to inform President James K. Polk of their success. But by the time Carson made it into the future territory of New Mexico, the Mexican-American War was in full swing, and the American army was marching into Mexico. Some of the army, anyway. Carson and his small

group of 20 men were intercepted by General Stephen Carney, commander of the Army of the West, and his 300 dragoons, the horse soldiers who would be called cavalry in the Civil War. the horse soldiers who would be called cavalry in the Civil War. Near the Rio Grande River in Socorro, New Mexico, Carney informed Kitt that the war was going well and he had just taken Santa Fe. All of the territory around them was now held by the United States. Carney's orders were to forge ahead to California. Carney was especially pleased to have run into Kit Carson because he had heard of Kit's

scouting abilities. The road ahead looked as bleak and as dangerous to Kearney as the road behind him, and when someone of Kit's ability crossed his path, he was determined to have Kit guide the army. Kit didn't agree. He'd made promises to Fremont and Stockton, and he hadn't seen his wife in nearly two years. He was anxious to return to Taos, even for a brief stop. But, since Kit was now a lieutenant in the army, his orders could be changed by a superior officer, and that's what General Carney did. Carney took the dispatches that Kit was carrying to Washington and gave them to a detachment that would fulfill the mission. Then he ordered Kitt to turn around and guide him to California. Carney, thinking the war was won, sent 200 of his 300 soldiers back to Santa Fe. He forged ahead with 100 dragoons. The journey through the desolate areas of the desert southwest was brutal.

After a few days, Carson advised abandoning the heavy wagons, as they wouldn't make it through the treacherous country. Mules and horses began to die, and the entire group was on the edge of starvation and death when they stumbled into Maricopa Valley and a friendly welcome from the Pima Indians. The men and animals rested and refreshed themselves with the Pima, and then resumed their trek to California. Little did they know what awaited them. While Kit was gone, the Mexican army retook every post and town in California.

Commodore Robert Stockton, who had proclaimed himself governor and had once bragged that his word was the law of the land, was pinned down by the Mexican army near San Diego. The fighting in California and New Mexico was not nearly done. From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this season we're telling the story of one of the original legends of the American West, famed frontiersman and explorer, Kit Carson. This is Episode 3, The Mexican-American War.

When Carney and Carson reached the Colorado River, they met a Mexican Army envoy. After reading the letters he carried, they realized the awful truth. California was far from won. In fact, the Mexican Army had recaptured nearly everything. And here was Carney, with only 100 soldiers on tired horses. But there was nothing to do but press on. When they were 25 miles outside of San Diego, they found Captain Archibald Gillespie and his troop of 40 men. Kit Carson had met Gillespie at the turning point of Fremont's third expedition. Or more precisely, meeting Gillespie was the turning point. When Fremont's company met then-Lieutenant Gillespie's small troop, the expedition

transformed into a military campaign. Now, Gillespie informed Carney and Carson that there was a force of a few hundred Californios camped in a village called San Pesqual. It was directly between them and San Diego. Carney thought a surprise attack was a good idea, and Carson backed him up. After nightfall, the company crept closer to the camp. They sent spies to get a better look, but the spies were detected and the alarm was raised.

In the pre-dawn light, Carney decided to attack anyway. Kit Carson and a small group attacked first, but it was soon obvious the Californios were better mounted and equipped, and disaster ensued. Carson was thrown off his horse, and his rifle was broken. The leader of the charge, Captain Moore, was killed. Carson took a rifle from a fallen soldier and scrambled behind a rock, where he acted as a sniper and picked off Californios one at a time. General Carney and the rest of the party arrived, but they were outmanned and outgunned. And then the Californios used steel lances like medieval warriors.

Carney was lanced and fell with a severe wound. 21 of his 100 soldiers were killed during the attack, and the rest had to hunker down until nighttime. The surgeon patched up the wounded, including Carney, as best he could. When it was dark, Carney ordered the company to move away. During their slow retreat, they were shadowed by the Californios. They knew they would never escape. The only option was for someone to sneak past the Californios and make it to Commodore Stockton's men. Kit Carson, Edward Beale, and a Native American guide volunteered to slip through enemy lines and alert Stockton to their predicament. volunteered to slip through enemy lines and alert Stockton to their predicament.

It was December 1846, and frost sparkled on the desert floor, as well as the labyrinth of thorn bushes. The three men crept through the harsh terrain in the dark of night, so close to the enemy they could smell the smoke from cigarillos and hear conversations. Carson and Beale lost their boots along the way, and they continued barefoot through the scrub and cactus while their feet were stabbed and bloodied. Kit decided they should split up, and he took the longer route. He arrived at Stockton's camp 24 hours later in the middle of the night, having gone without food or water for more than 30 hours. of the night, having gone without food or water for more than 30 hours. Beale and the Native American guide also made it to the camp, and all three needed serious medical attention. Carson and Beale recovered, but most accounts say the guide, sadly, died shortly after arriving.

Stockton's company was able to send reinforcements to rescue Kearney's company, but the mission took days to complete. Carney's men waited, assuming they would be overrun at any moment. But when help arrived, the Americans discovered that the Californios had inexplicably faded away. As for Kit Carson, his midnight crawl, as it was called, became memorialized and his legend exploded, though he couldn't walk for a week afterward. The newspapers crowed, here was a man with near superhuman powers. Kit Carson could do anything. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able

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Go to shopify.com slash r-e-a-l-m now to grow your business, no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash realm. Meanwhile, back in New Mexico, trouble was brewing. General Carney had appointed Kit Carson's friend and brother-in-law, Charles Bent, as governor of New Mexico Territory. His office was in Santa Fe, but his home was in Taos near Carson's. Bent disliked being away from his wife and kids and decided to pay them a visit. He was advised against it as hostility toward

Americans was rampant. The fort was undermanned by green troops. A nun had any idea of what was occurring outside the area with the war in general. The Hispanic settlers in the area were devout Catholics and regarded most of the Americans as godless heathens. The New Mexicans, encouraged by the Spanish Catholic priests, were ready for a fight. They joined forces with the Taos Pueblo Indians, and when Charles Bent rode into Taos, he was immediately accosted. The Pueblo Indians demanded he release two of their own. Bent waved them aside and rode on to his house, tired and hungry. Bent was eager to see his wife and children, and Carson's wife, Josefa, was staying with him as well. He wasn't overly concerned because the Taos Pueblo Indians had always been docile and easy to deal with.

But that changed the next day. Near dawn, Bent's house was attacked by a mob of Taos Indians and New Mexicans. Bent opened the door and asked them what they wanted. When they shouted back they wanted his head, he scrambled back inside and barred the door. But not before he suffered wounds that seemed nearly unbelievable. He was struck in the head by three arrows. They had just enough force to anchor the points in his skull, but not enough to kill him. The women and children inside were terrified. They dug a hole through the adobe wall into the next house using kitchen spoons and knives. They pushed the children through and then Josefa. Charles Bent's wife insisted he go next,

but there was no time to carefully remove the arrows that were still sticking out of his scalp. The procedure was difficult, but he finally got through just as the mob broke down the door. The mob grabbed Bent's wife Ignacia and beat her. They shot a servant and spotted the hole through which the others had escaped. Members of the mob pushed through the hole and discovered Charles Bent. They shot him with guns and arrows and then scalped him as Josefa and the children watched in horror. Satisfied for the moment, they left, leaving Josefa and the children alone. For days the revolt raged.

They broke open jails and freed prisoners. They broke into houses, including Kit Carson's, and stole or destroyed everything they found. Businesses owned by Americans were next, and then the revolt spread beyond Taos. American wagon trains were attacked, ranchers were killed, and homes were burned. The mob headed south to Santa Fe to continue its rampage. The entire territory was aflame, and the Mexican army urged them on at every turn. They had killed at least 20 people and were determined to kill many more. Finally, word of the violence reached American forces. Five companies of soldiers and a company of New Mexico volunteers, led by Charles Bent's business partner, hurried to Taos. They attacked the Taos Pueblo,

killing more than 200 Indians and leveling the Pueblo with howitzers. They went after the rest of the mob and eventually quelled the rebellion. Some weeks later, trials were held for the remaining leaders of the uprising, and all were found guilty. It was the testimony of Kit Carson's wife, Yosefa, and her sisters that sealed their fate. Kit knew nothing of the tragedy until he returned to Taos more than a month later. He was once again on a mission to deliver dispatches to Washington, D.C. from John C. Fremont, now acting governor of California. After Kitt's midnight crawl and the rescue of General Carney's company by Commodore Stockton's

men, the United American forces started driving the Mexican army out of California. The Americans recaptured Los Angeles on January 10, 1847, with Kit Carson acting as a sharpshooter. After that, the California theater of the Mexican-American War was largely done, and Kit began his second trip to Washington. He was in the company of Lieutenant Edward Beale, his companion on his midnight crawl through enemy lines. Kitt spent ten days in Taos with Josefa and mourned the loss of his old friend Charles Bent. Kitt was reluctant to leave again, but he had no choice but to proceed to Washington as ordered. As Carson and Beale headed up the Santa Fe Trail, Kit often had to stop for Beale's comfort. Beale was still not fully recovered from the midnight crawl ordeal, and Kit had to help him on and off his horse, among other things.

Kit was a compassionate man, and he respected Beale beyond measure for his actions at San Pasqual. When they arrived in St. Louis, Kit learned just how much the world had changed while he was isolated in the Southwest. Kit was overwhelmed by the fame and attention he hadn't known he had. The minute he said his name, people flocked to him, waving dime novels and newspapers for him to sign. Many times they would be taken aback, stating that he couldn't be the real Kit Carson because he wasn't a snarling fighter over six feet tall with bloody scalps on his belt. But they soon learned the relatively short, soft-spoken man was just as fierce and as dedicated as his embellished dime novel character. was just as fierce and as dedicated as his embellished dime novel character.

His piercing blue eyes and no-nonsense attitude won over the most derisive of his critics and gained him even more fans wherever he went. From St. Louis, Carson and Beale took trains to Washington, D.C. Senator Thomas Hart Benton told his daughter Jessie to meet Carson at the train station and whisk him away to her father's mansion. Senator Benton was John C. Fremont's mentor and the loudest proponent of manifest destiny. The senator's daughter, Jessie, was married to Fremont, and she was a popular guest at Washington parties. Kit and Jessie hit it off, and she introduced him to the unfamiliar, elaborate food and wine of Washington High Society. She explained who was who, and how things were done in the capital.

Carson soon came to realize that Jesse was instrumental in helping her husband's career. She collaborated on all of Fremont's reports and writings, and it was likely Jessie, as much as her husband, who had made Kit Carson a well-known name. Carson spent a few days taking care of business, and then packed his bags to go home. But then a summons came from President Polk. Carson could hardly refuse, but the president wasn't asking to see him right away. The president's schedule was packed, and Kitt would have to wait weeks for the meeting. So he stayed in Washington and spent time with Jesse Fremont and Lieutenant Beale. Finally, the day came for Kitt, accompanied by Jesse, to meet President Polk.

A big issue was John Fremont's refusal to step down as governor, in defiance of General Carney. John Fremont's refusal to step down as governor in defiance of General Carney. Polk had to make a decision, and it became clear he would side with Carney. That evening, Carson had dinner with the president and his wife, who found Kit charming and kind, if a bit shy, which was natural for Kit. Before Kit left Washington, President Polk commissioned him a second lieutenant in the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, complete with a new uniform and a salary. Polk sent him back to California with a heavy bag of dispatches for General Carney. Kitt Carson was glad to be back on the road. While he learned a great deal, especially about the workings of the government he served, he detested city life and was happy to return to the wilds of the West.

After Kitt returned to California, he made another trip to Washington as the saga of Fremont and Kearney continued. Fremont had continued to refuse to step down as governor, and Kearney had arrested him and shipped him to refuse to step down as governor, and Carney had arrested him and shipped him to Washington to stand trial for disobedience and mutiny. Fremont was convicted, but President Polk wanted leniency and ordered him back into military service. Fremont refused and resigned from the Army. And for Kit Carson, after four years of non-stop travel and adventure, he was finally home with his family. It was 1849, and Kit and his wife Josefa had a newborn son. Kit decided his adventuring days were done. It was time to concentrate on his family.

The Mexican-American War was over, and their home in Taos was now officially part of the American territory of New Mexico. Kitt was determined to become a farmer, and to do so, he contacted an old friend whose family name would be forever linked to arguably the most well-known legend of the Old West. Kitt's old friend was Lucian Bonaparte Maxwell, a longtime companion and fellow mountain man who had married into a family with a large land grant in the Riyado Valley. Maxwell offered Kit and a couple other friends parcels of his vast acreage, and Kit decided to buy in. They started a cattle ranch, some say one of the first in the area. Twenty years later, Lucian would buy Fort Sumner from the U.S. Army,

and his son Pete would be asleep in a bedroom of the main house when Sheriff Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid, if that's the version of the story you want to believe. At the time Kit was starting his ranch, the modern-day borders of the United States were nearly set. The U.S. had purchased the Northwest Territories from England that would soon be the states of Washington and Oregon. It had taken millions of miles of territory from Mexico after the recent war. That land would soon be the states of New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, and Nevada. And Texas had been annexed right before the war. The news that gold had recently been discovered in California was sweeping the nation and fueling

migration like nothing else before it. And immigration to the U.S. was rising like never before. The Great Famine was ravaging Ireland and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee to America just to survive. It was the beginning of 50 years of steadily increasing migration to the West. And as settlers moved west, conflicts with Native Americans rose. A trader named James White, with his wife Anne, their daughter, a servant, and three guides, was traveling on the Santa Fe Trail near Carson's Ranch. They were approached by a group that was thought to be Jicarilla Apache. The Apache asked for payment to allow White's party to continue. White was not a patient man, and he told them to go away, and he and his men pulled their guns. The Apache left, but soon returned with a larger force and demanded again.

White refused again, and a gunfight erupted. It didn't last long. White and his men were killed. His wife, his daughter, and their servant were carried off. The bodies were discovered sometime later, and soon after that, reports came into the fort at Taos that a white woman and child had been spotted in an Apache camp. Major William Greer led a company of soldiers to rescue Anne White. On their way, they passed by Kit Carson's ranch, and Major Greer persuaded Carson to come with him since he knew the Apache well. They were a small, poor band, hemmed in by settlers, the Navajo and the Comanche. They were considered pests by other tribes, but they were still dangerous. The site of the attack was now weeks old,

but the debris of broken wagons and scattered trunks of clothing and harness still lay on the ground. Kit Carson was an expert tracker, but this was a cold trail, and he said in his memoirs, it was the most difficult trail I ever followed. The column persisted and eventually came across an article of women's clothing. A few days later, they found another. Carson thought maybe Anne White had been trying to leave a trail. For two weeks, they followed the trail eastward, nearly to the Texas border. Then they spotted smoke rising from a camp of several hundred Jicarilla Apache. Carson knew the value of surprise, and he advocated an

immediate attack. Major Greer said no and wanted to try to negotiate first. While they talked back and forth, the Apache saw them and began to pack up. Greer still waited until an Apache picked up a rifle and shot him in the chest. The wound was just a bruise, but Greer was in shock. Finally, he gave the order to attack, but by the time they reached the camp, the Apache had mostly dispersed. As Carson searched the camp, he found the body of Anne White, shot through the heart with an arrow. Her body was still warm. Carson was furious with Greer, firmly believing if they had charged when he wanted to, Anne White would still be alive. They buried her in a grave on the prairie. Later that day, the soldiers found a book in Anne's belongings. It was a paperback novel called Kit Carson, The Prince of the Gold Hunters.

The soldier read it aloud that evening, and Carson was stunned, then amused, then sad. that evening, and Carson was stunned, then amused, then sad. A thought crept into his mind. Maybe Anne White, knowing he lived nearby, had kept herself alive in hope he would rescue her. He regretted that he had not been able to do so for the rest of his life. Kit Carson returned home to the Riyado Valley. Maxwell and Carson's ranching business was prospering. Kit ventured out occasionally, at one point running 7,000 head of sheep up into Oregon and another time a herd of 1,000 mules into Missouri, but they were relatively short trips because Kit was serious about staying close to his family. He vowed no trips like the Fremont expeditions, though Fremont himself had no interest in the settled life. Even after his controversy in

California, he led a fourth expedition. That one went badly, and the men were caught in blizzards in the mountains of Colorado. Kit Carson was recruited to rescue them, and he did his best, but not everyone survived. Fremont was deathly sick and recuperated at Carson's house before returning east. By now, Kit's daughter Adeline was 16, and Kit decided it was time she came home. Twelve years earlier, he had taken her to Missouri to be raised by his family. Twelve years earlier, he had taken her to Missouri to be raised by his family. His first wife, an Arapaho woman named Singing Grass, had died giving birth to their second child. They were living in the rugged outpost of Bent's Fort in southern Colorado,

and Kit didn't think it was a good place for a girl to grow and receive an education. Now, he collected Adeline from Missouri. As they traveled back west in a small caravan of maybe a dozen people, they passed through Kansas and ran into a band of Cheyenne who seemed unusually hostile. Carson didn't know that the group had been deeply humiliated by U.S. Army soldiers who had flogged one of the men over a minor offense. The Cheyenne were angry and wanted to take revenge on any white person they saw. Nevertheless, Carson invited them over for a smoke and a talk. The Cheyenne were unaware that Carson understood and spoke Cheyenne. He smiled and nodded as he heard them discussing how they were going to kill everyone in his caravan.

He turned to the Cheyenne and asked them why they would want to kill him and told them they had to leave. If they returned, they would be shot. They were surprised and slunk away, but Carson knew there would be trouble. Carson's group packed up and set off in the dark, and Carson sent a messenger to the army garrison near his ranch asking for help. The next morning, they were confronted by hundreds of Cheyenne warriors. Carson talked to them again, saying he'd sent for help, and when the soldiers got there, if Carson and his party were killed, the soldiers would never rest until they were avenged. The Cheyenne backed off, but continued to follow them from a short distance. A few days later, Major James Carlton and his cavalry showed up, having ridden hard to cover a hundred miles. It was likely Carlton and his troops saved Kitt's caravan,

and it was another fateful meeting in the American West. Kitt Carson and James Carlton would work together in the future, and their orders and actions would affect the lives of thousands of people, mostly the tribes of the Southwest. Next time on Legends of the Old West, the Civil War begins, and Kit Carson is called into action in New Mexico. Then, when the war ends, Kit works with now-Brigadier General James Carlton on Carlton's dream of a reservation system for the tribes of the Southwest. But one man's dream is another man's nightmare. That's next week on Legends of the Old West. Members of our Black Barrel Plus program

don't have to wait week to week to receive new episodes. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials. And they also receive exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month. This series was researched and written by Kathleen Morris.

Original music by Rob Valliere. I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com for more details and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And all of our episodes are on YouTube. Just search for Legends of the Old West Podcast. Thanks for listening.