The Pursuit and Attack--Two O'clock.
When Kit Carson and the other scouts found the main trail, they eagerly
took up the pursuit. They had not gone far when all doubt was removed:
they were upon the track of a large hostile body of warriors and were
gaining steadily; but so rapid was the flight of the marauders that it
was not until the sixth day that the first glimpse of the Indians was
obtained. They were encamped on a mountain peak, devoid of trees, and
seemingly beyond the reach of danger; but such was the energy of the
attack that they reached camp before the Indians could collect their
animals and make off. The fight was a hot one for a few minutes during
which quite a number of warriors were killed and wounded.
When night came a squad of men hid themselves near the camp, from which
the Indians had fled, in the expectation that some of them would steal
back during the darkness to learn what had been done. The dismal hours
passed until near midnight, when one of the soldiers made the call which
the Apaches use to hail each other. The sound had hardly died out, when
two squaws and two warriors appeared and began groping silently around
in the gloom. The soldiers were cruel enough to fire upon the party, but
in the darkness only one was killed.
Dr. Peters states that on the morning of the day when the Apache
encampment was discovered Kit Carson, after diligently studying the
trail, rode up to Major Carleton and told him that if no accident
intervened, the Indians would be overtaken at two o'clock in the
afternoon. The officer smiled and said if the Agent proved a genuine
prophet, he would present him with the finest hat that could be bought
in the United States.
The pursuit continued for hours, and, when the watches in the company
showed that it was two o'clock, Carson triumphantly pointed to the
mountain peak, far in advance where the Indian encampment was in plain
sight. He had hit the truth with mathematical exactness.
Major Carleton kept his promise. To procure such a hat as he felt he had
earned, required several months; but one day the Indian Agent at Taos
received a superb piece of head gear within which was the following
inscription:
AT 2 O'CLOCK.
KIT CARSON, FROM
MAJOR CARLETON.
Dr. Peters adds that a gentleman who was a member of the expedition
subjected Carson some years later to a similar test, and he came within
five minutes of naming the precise time when a band of fugitives was
overtaken.
Having done all that was possible, Major Carleton returned with his
command to Taos and Carson resumed his duties as Indian Agent. Some
months later, another expedition was organized against the Apaches but
it accomplished nothing. In the latter part of the summer Carson started
on a visit to the Utahs. They were under his especial charge and he held
interviews with them several times a year, they generally visiting him
at his ranche, which they were glad to do, as they were sure of being
very hospitably treated.
This journey required a horseback ride of two or three hundred miles,
a great portion of which was through the Apache country. These Indians
were in such a resentful mood towards the whites that they would have
been only too glad to wrench the scalp of Father Kit from his crown; but
he knew better than to run into any of their traps. He was continually
on the lookout, and more than once detected their wandering bands in
time to give them the slip. He was equally vigilant and consequently
equally fortunate on his return.
Carson found when he met the Indians in council that they had good
cause for discontent. One of their leading warriors had been waylaid
and murdered by a small party of Mexicans. The officials who were
with Carson promised that the murderers should be given up. It was the
intention of all that justice should be done, but, as was too often the
case, it miscarried altogether. Only one of the murderers was caught and
he managed to escape and was never apprehended again.
To make matters worse, some of the blankets which the Superintendent had
presented the Indians a short while before, proved to be infected with
small pox and the dreadful disease carried off many of the leading
warriors of the tribe. More than one Apache was resolute in declaring
the proceeding premeditated on the part of the whites. The result was
the breaking out of a most formidable Indian war. The Muache band of
Utahs, under their most distinguished chieftain, joined the Apaches in
waylaying and murdering travellers, attacking settlements and making off
with the prisoners, besides capturing hundreds and thousands of cattle,
sheep, mules and horses. For a time they overran a large portion of
the territory of New Mexico. Matters at last reached such a pass, that
unless the savages were checked, they would annihilate all the whites.
The Governor issued a call for volunteers. The response was prompt, and
five hundred men were speedily equipped and put into the field. They
were placed under charge of Colonel T. T. Fauntleroy, of the First
Regiment of United States Dragoons. He engaged Kit Carson as his chief
guide.
The campaign was pushed with all possible vigor, but for a time nothing
important was done. The weather became intensely cold. On the second
campaign, Colonel Fauntleroy surprised the main camp of the enemy and
inflicted great slaughter. A severe blow was administered, but the
reader knows that the peace which followed proved only temporary. The
Apaches have been a thorn in our side for many years. General Crook has
shown great tact, bravery and rare skill in his dealings with them and
probably has brought about the most genuine peace that has been known
for a generation.
It would not be worth while to follow Kit Carson on his round of duties
as Indian Agent. He had to deal with the most turbulent tribes on the
continent, and enough has been told to prove his peerless sagacity
in solving the most difficult questions brought before him. He rode
thousands of miles, visiting remote points, conferred with the leading
hostiles, risked his life times without number, and was often absent
from home for weeks and months. While it was beyond the attainment of
human endeavor for him to make an end of wars on the frontiers, yet he
averted many and did a degree of good which is beyond all calculation.
"I was in the insignificant settlement of Denver, in the autumn of
1860," said A. L. Worthington, "when a party of Arapahoes, Cheyennes
and Comanches returned from an expedition against the tribe of mountain
Indians know as the Utes. The allied forces were most beautifully
whipped and were compelled to leave the mountains in the greatest hurry
for their lives. They brought into Denver one squaw and her half dozen
children as prisoners. The little barbarians, when the other youngsters
came too near or molested them, would fight like young wild cats. The
intention of the captors, as I learned, was to torture the squaw and her
children to death. Before the arrangements were completed, Kit Carson
rode to the spot and dismounted. He had a brief, earnest talk with
the warriors. He did not mean to permit the cruel death that was
contemplated, but instead of demanding the surrender of the captives, he
ransomed them all, paying ten dollars a piece. After they were given up,
he made sure that they were returned to their tribe in the mountains."
This anecdote may serve as an illustration of scores of similar duties
in which the agent was engaged. It was during the same year that Carson
received an injury which was the cause of his death. He was descending a
mountain, so steep that he led his horse by a lariat, intending, if the
animal fell, to let go of it in time to prevent being injured. The steed
did fall and though Carson threw the lariat from him, he was caught by
it, dragged some distance and severely injured.
When the late Civil War broke out and most of our troops were withdrawn
from the mountains and plains, Carson applied to President Lincoln for
permission to raise a regiment of volunteers in New Mexico, for the
purpose of protecting our settlements there. Permission was given, the
regiment raised and the famous mountaineer did good service with his
soldiers. On one occasion he took 9,000 Navajo prisoners with less than
600 men.
At the close of the war, he was ordered to Fort Garland, where he
assumed command of a large region. He was Brevet Brigadier General and
retained command of a battalion of New Mexico volunteers.
Carson did not suffer immediately from his injury, but he found in time
that a grave internal disturbance had been caused by his fall. In the
spring of 1868, he accompanied a party of Ute Indians to Washington. He
was then failing fast and consulted a number of leading physicians and
surgeons. His disease was aneurism of the aorta which progressed fast.
When his end was nigh, his wife suddenly died, leaving seven children,
the youngest only a few weeks old. His affliction had a very depressing
effect on Carson, who expired May 23, 1868.