User talk:Richiar/Workspace 8 (Kit Carson)
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[edit] Kit Carson workspace
Somewhere along this route, Frémont and party came across a Mexican man and a boy who were survivors of an ambush by a band of Indians, who had killed two men, staked two women to the ground and mutilated them, and stolen 30 horses. Carson and fellow mountain man Alex Godey took pity on the two survivors. They tracked the Indian band for 2 days, and upon locating them, rushed into their encampment. They killed two Indians, scattered the rest, and returned with the horses.
"More than any other single factor or incident, [the Mojave Desert incident] from Frémont's second expedition report is where the Kit Carson legend was born….." [1]
On June 1, 1845 John Frémont and 55 men left St. Louis, with Carson as guide, on the third expedition. The stated goal was to "map the source of the Arkansas River", on the east side of the Rocky Mountains. But upon reaching the Arkansas, Frémont suddenly made a hasty trail straight to California, without explanation. Arriving in the Sacramento Valley in early winter 1846, he promptly sought to stir up patriotic enthusiasm among the American settlers there. He promised that if war with Mexico started, his military force would "be there to protect them." After provoking a near battle with General Jose Castro near Monterey, which would have likely resulted in the annilation of Frémonts group due to superior numbers, Frémont fled north to Oregon, finding camp at Klamath Lake.
No watchman was posted on the night of May 9, 1846, when Carson awoke to the sound of a thump. Jumping up, he saw his friend and fellow trapper Basil Lajeunesse sprawled in blood. He called an alarm and immediately everyone else came to: they were under attack by Indians estimated to be several dozen in number. By the time the assailants were beaten off, two other members of Frémonts group were dead. The one dead warrior was judged to be a Klamath Lake Indian. Frémont's group fell into "an angry gloom." Carson was beside himself, and Fremont reports he smashed away at the dead warriors face until it was pulp. [2]
To avenge the deaths of his expedition members, Frémont chose to attack a Klamath Indian fishing village named Dokdokwas, at the junction of the Williamson River and Klamath Lake, which took place May 10, 1846. The action completely destroyed the village, and involved the massacre of women and children. After the burning of the village, Carson was nearly killed by a Klamath warrior later that day: his gun misfired, and the warrior drew to fire a poison arrow; but Frémont, seeing Carson's predicament, trampled the warrior with his horse. Carson stated felt that he owed Frémont his life due to this incident.
The tragedy of Dokdokwas is deepened by the fact that most scholars now agree that Frémont and Carson, in their blind vindictiveness, probably chose the wrong tribe to lash out against: In all likelihood the band of Indians that had killed [Frémont's three men] were from the neighboring Modocs….The Klamaths were culturally related to the Modocs, but the two tribes were bitter enemies". [3]
Turning south from Klamath Lake, Frémont led his expedition back down the Sacramento Valley, and slyly promoted an insurrection of American settlers, which he then took charge of once circumstances had adequately developed, known as the Bear Flag Revolt. Events escalated when a group of Mexicans murdered two American rebels. Frémont then intercepted three Mexican men on June 28, 1846, crossing the San Francisco Bay, who landed near San Quentin. Frémont provided Carson with indirect and ambiguous orders to execute these three men in revenge for the deaths of the two Americans, which Carson promptly carried out.
