Christopher 'Kit' Carson - Continued, Page 3
During the Civil War Kit resigned as Indian Agent to become a Lt. Colonel of the New Mexico Volunteers. Impressed with Kit's abilities with Indians and the Civil War winding down, Kit was ordered to mount a campaign against the Mescalero Apaches. Kit was later sent on a campaign against the Navajo Nation located in the four corners area. General Carleton ordered all captured Indians sent to the Bosque Redondo at Fort Sumner in New Mexico to become farmers and ranchers. Kit was ordered to kill all men that could bear arms, take prisoner all women and children and destroy all crops. Kit had joined the military to fight Confederates not wage war on Indians, but directed by his sense of duty and loyalty he followed orders. The Navajos were rounded up by Kit's troops and the Long Walk to the Bosque Redondo began for thousands of Navajos.
Kit also led expeditions and campaigns against the Plains Indians at the battle of Adobe Walls in the panhandle of Texas.
During the Civil War Kit was promoted to Brevet Brigadier General, but afterwards was routinely reduced to Lt. Colonel. In 1866 he was assigned Commander of Ft. Garland.
When the New Mexico Volunteers disbanded in 1867 Kit and his family moved to Boggsville, CO. In 1868 he was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Colorado Territory. Although in poor health by this time, he made one more trip to Washington, DC to negotiate a treaty for the Ute Nation.
Within weeks of arriving back home, his wife, Josefa, unexpectedly died. A few days later Kit went to nearb Ft. Lyons for medical attention and died there on May 23, 1868, at the age of fifty-eight. Kit and Josefa are buried in Taos, NM at the Kit Carson Park.
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