This heroic bronze sculpture of Kit Carson is widely considered to be the finest equestrian statue in North America. It is located in Trinidad’ s Kit Carson Park, at the corner of Kansas Avenue and San Pedro Street.
to Colorado, ill health forced him to resign from his ranching business. Early that
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I cannot express my surprise at beholding such a small, stoop-shouldered man
art piece is widely considered to be the finest equestrian statue in North America.
“ blue eyes, and nothing to indicate extraordinary courage of daring. He spoke but little and answered questions in monosyllables.”
Colonel Edward W. Wynkoop: same year, at the urging of Washington and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Carson journeyed to Washington D. C. where he escorted several Ute Chiefs to meet with the President of the United States to plead for assistance to their tribe. Soon after his return, his wife Josefa died on April 23, 1868 from complications after giving birth to their eighth child. Only a month after her passing, he was laid to rest due to an abdominal aortic aneurism in Fort Lyon, Colorado on May 23, 1868.
His last words,“ Goodbye friends, adios compadres.” He and his wife Josefa’ s bodies were transported to their final burial in Taos a year after their deaths.
Carson is commemorated in a heroic bronze sculpture in Trinidad’ s Kit Carson Park at the corner of Kansas Avenue and San Pedro Street. A friend of Kit Carson, Trinidad’ s mayor Daniel L. Taylor commissioned the statue and donated the land for the eight-acre park. It was dedicated on June 1, 1913. The bronze
Kit Carson – First Hand Accounts
Exaggerated versions of Carson’ s exploits in dime novels made him a legend in his own time. Kit’ s life as an American frontiersman including being a mountain man, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and American Army officer earned him his place in history. Expecting to meet a man bigger than life, most were surprised at his small stature. Here are accounts from two of Carson’ s contemporaries.
General William Tecumseh Sherman, 1847:
“ His fame was then at its height, and I was very anxious to see a man who had achieved such feats of daring among the wild animals of the Rocky Mountains, and still wilder Indians of the plains I cannot express my surprise at beholding such a small, stoop-shouldered man, with reddish hair, freckled face, soft
“ Kit Carson was five feet five and one half-inches tall, weighed about 140 pounds, of nervy, iron temperament, squarely built, slightly bow-legged, and those members apparently too short for his body. But, his head and face made up for all the imperfections of the rest of his person. His head was large and well shaped with yellow straight hair, worn long, falling on his shoulders. His face was fair and smooth as a woman’ s with high cheekbones, straight nose, a mouth with a firm, but somewhat sad expression, a keen, deepset but beautiful, mild blue eye, which could become terrible under some circumstances, and like the warning of the rattlesnake, gave notice of attack. Though quick-sighted, he was slow and soft of speech, and posed great natural modesty.”
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