d joined the hunters and trappers, when he was so young he
could not set a trap. When he became older, he turned trapper himself,
and trapped all over our territories for beaver, otter, etc., from the
Missouri to the Pacific, and from British America to Mexico. Next he
passed into Government employ, as an Indian scout and guide, and as such
piloted Fremont and others all over the Plains and through the Rocky and
Sierra Nevada Mountains. Fremont, in his reports, surrounded Kit's name
with a romantic valor, but he seems to have deserved it all, and more.
His good sense, his large experience, and unfaltering courage, were
invaluable to Fremont, and it is said about the only time the Pathfinder
went seriously astray among the Mountains was when he disregarded his
(Kit's) advice, and endeavored to force a passage through the Rockies
northwest of Fort Garland. Kit told him the mountains could not be
crossed at that time of the year; and, when Fremont nevertheless
insisted on proceeding, he resigned as guide. The Pathfinder, however,
went stubbornly forward, but got caught in terrible snowstorms, and
presently returned--half of his men and animals having perished outright
from cold and hunger. Next Kit became United States Indian Agent, and
made one of the best we ever had. Familiar with the language and customs
of the Indians, he frequently spent months together among them without
seeing a white man, and indeed became a sort of half Indian himself. In
talking with us, I noticed he frequently hesitated for the right English
word; but when speaking bastard Spanish (Mexican) or Indian, with
the Ute Indians there, he was as fluent as a native. Both Mexican and
Indian, however, are largely pantomime, abounding in perpetual grimace
and gesture, which may have helped him along somewhat. Next, when the
rebellion broke out, he became a Union soldier, though the border was
largely Confederate. He tendered his services to Mr. Lincoln, who
at once commissioned him Colonel, and told him to take care of the
frontier, as the regulars there had to come East to fight Jeff Davis.
Kit straightway proceeded to raise the First Regiment of New Mexico
Volunteers, in which he had little difficulty, as the New Mexicans knew
him well, and had the utmost confidence in him. With these, during the
war, he was busy fighting hostile Indians, and keeping others friendly,
and in his famous campaign against the Navajos, in New Mexico, with only
six hundred fron