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Taos, New Mexico, Kit Carson, Grave and Tombstone, vintage postcard photo

Taos, New Mexico, Kit Carson, Grave and Tombstone, vintage postcard photo

A vintage postcard view of the grave and tombstone of Kit Carson, Taos, New Mexico. Kit was born as Christopher Houston Carson on December 24, 1809 at Richmond, Kentucky. Most of his early years were at Franklin, in Howard County, Missouri. At the age of sixteen, he ran away to the west; he followed the newly founded Santa Fe Trail and settled at Taos, New Mexico. During his life, Carson was a trapper, mountain man, guide and Indian fighter. His relationship with the Native Americans was somewhat controversial. Carson later served as an Indian agent and somewhat softened his views of Native Americans. His first wife was an Arapaho Indian woman and after her death, he married a Cheyenne Indian woman. By the end of his life, Carson was a friend and defender of the Ute Indians. His last occupation in a famed and storied lifetime was as an officer in the Union Army in the west during the Civil War. Carson also served briefly as the commander of Fort Garland, Colorado but poor health forced him to give up his command and he died soon afterward.

Kit Carson died at Fort Lyon, Colorado on May 23, 1868. He was 58 years old. His remains are buried in the Kit Carson Cemetery at Taos, New Mexico. At the left of his grave is the grave of his third wife, Josefa Jaramillo, his wife of twenty five years and the mother of eight children. She had died a month before Kit Carson.

Taos is the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico.

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