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.
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art piece is widely considered to be the
finest equestrian statue in North America.
I cannot express my surprise at beholding
such a small, stoop-shouldered man
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
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to Colorado, ill health forced him to resign
from his ranching business. Early that
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
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blue eyes, and nothing to indicate
extraordinary courage of daring. He
spoke but little and answered questions
in monosyllables.”
Colonel Edward W. Wynkoop:
“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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