01Biography
Born in Kentucky, Carson ran away from a saddler's apprenticeship at sixteen and headed west, becoming one of the best-known mountain men of the fur-trade era. He served as guide for all three of Frémont's expeditions (1842-46), provided essential mountain knowledge and Native-language translation, and later led wagon trains. During the Civil War he served as a U.S. Army colonel, and his 1864 campaign that forced the Navajo Long Walk to the Bosque Redondo remains a deeply controversial chapter of his life.
02Why they matter
Made Frémont's mapping work possible, opened parts of the California Trail, and was the country's most famous frontiersman by 1850.
03How they died
Died at Fort Lyon, Colorado, on 23 May 1868, aged 58, of an aortic aneurysm, probably caused by a chest injury from the year before, when his horse fell on him in the San Juan Mountains. His wife Josefa had died of complications from childbirth a month earlier.
04Legacy
Carson City, Nevada, and Carson Pass in California are named for him. His role in the Long Walk is now centred in any honest biography alongside the trail-blazing.