A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific by Utley Robert M

Author:Utley, Robert M. [Utley, Robert M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781627798839
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Published: 2015-09-14T22:00:00+00:00

16

KIT CARSON: FRÉMONT’S THIRD EXPEDITION

KIT CARSON SPENT the winter of 1844–45 based in Taos with Josefa but doubtless ranging widely as his restless nature dictated. In Taos he fell in with an old comrade with whom he had trapped off and on since 1835, Richard Owens. Josefa’s quiet influence may have helped them decide that, “as we had rambled enough, that it would be advisable for us to go and settle on some good stream and make us a farm.” In March 1845, they crossed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains eastward to the edge of the plains and, along the Little Cimarron River, began erecting adobe huts and putting in crops.

The undertaking lasted less than six months. Early in August, an express specially dispatched from Bent’s Fort arrived with word that Frémont was there. The previous year Carson had promised his chief that, if ever wanted for another exploration, he stood ready to join. Now Frémont wanted him. The partners sold their nascent ranch for half their investment and hurried to Bent’s Fort. “This was like Carson,” noted Frémont, “prompt, self-sacrificing, and true.” Josefa would not see her husband for two years.

At Bent’s Fort, Carson and Owens found Frémont camped with an impressive company of sixty men, including a dozen Delaware Indians and many of their friends from earlier expeditions. Among them were Lucien Maxwell, Basil Lajeunesse, and Alexis Godey. Frémont took an immediate liking to Dick Owens and hired him too. “Cool, brave, and of good judgment,” thought Frémont; “a good hunter and good shot; experienced in mountain life; he was an acquisition, and proved valuable throughout the campaign.” In fact, on the trio of Carson, Godey, and Owens, Frémont bestowed the ultimate military tribute:

The three, under Napoleon, might have become Marshals, chosen as he chose men. Carson, of great courage; quick and complete perception, taking in at a glance the advantages as well as the chances for defeat; Godey, insensible to danger, of perfect coolness and stubborn resolution; Owens, equal in courage to the others, and in coolness equal to Godey, who had the coup-d’ôeil of a chess-player, covering the whole field with a glance that sees the best move.1

Captain Frémont (his achievements recognized by a brevet rank in which he now served, even though still in regular rank a second lieutenant) carried written orders directing him to survey the Arkansas and Red Rivers but not to stray beyond a “reasonable distance” from Bent’s Fort and to return home by the end of 1845. Later instructions, Texas having advanced a notch more toward annexation, directed him to detach a party at Bent’s Fort to survey south of the Arkansas River.2

Kit Carson and Dick Owens did not give up their ranch to explore the neighborhood of Bent’s Fort and return home in four months. Like all the others, they enlisted to go to California. Frémont’s destination was no secret. In early May, newspapers proclaimed that he would march all the way to the Pacific and remain out for three years.

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