Kit Carson quotes

Kit Carson was an American frontiersman, explorer, and military guide in the 19th century. His adventures and skills made him a legendary figure of the American West. He played a significant role in westward expansion and in various military campaigns. Here are 11 of his quotes:

An oft-repeated anecdote is that which relates of an army officer, somewhat of a hero-worshiper, who, upon meeting Carson, exclaimed, effusively: "So this is the great Kit Carson, who has made so many Indians run!" "Yes," drawled Carson, "sometimes I run after them but most times they war runnin' after me." (Kit Carson)
Each of us, having received several hundred dollars, we passed the time gloriously, spending our money freely - never thinking that our lives were risked gaining it. View quote
Kit Carson
Peters laid it on a leetle too thick. View quote
Kit Carson
Owing to the strength of this [the Navajo] tribe which numbered then not less than sixty or seventy thousand (60 or 70,000) souls embracing as it did some of those Indians who now call themselves 'Apaches' but who still speak the same language, and who are so alike, and to the fact that they inhabit a country equal to one-third of the whole Territory; that this section was a 'Terra Incognita' and that there is no portion of the American Continent so well adapted by nature for the peculiar style of warfare adopted by the Indians, it is not at all surprising that the many powerful campaigns made against them by the Spanish Government were entirely barren of results as to their subjugation. View quote
Kit Carson
In camp was found a book, the first of the kind I had ever seen, in which I was made a great hero, slaying Indians by the hundreds. View quote
Kit Carson
Particular care should be taken that every promise made to them. View quote
Kit Carson
Another and several other expeditions were organized, all ending and being followed with like results, not because the troops did not bravely energetically and intelligently carry out their instructions; but because the policy adopted was erroneous. View quote
Kit Carson
When he seed that he give a big yell, for my scalp, an' at me he jumped. ...then the Injun killed me. View quote
Kit Carson
The government now tried coercion and vigorous campaign reduced a portion of them [the Navajos] to apparent submission. Again a treaty was made... Another and several other expeditions were organized, all ending and being followed with like results, not because the troops did not bravely energetically and intelligently carry out their instructions; but because the policy adopted was erroneous. The last and perhaps most successful expedition sent against them under this policy, was that of 1860-61 under command of Bvt. Col. (now Brig, Gen.) E.R.S. Canby, U.S. Army. The treaty made on this occasion was signed by twenty-two Chiefs, a greater number than on any other previous occasion. From this fact and other concurrent causes, it was believed that permanent peace and security was at last bestowed on the Territory, and commensurate to the boon was the joy of the people. View quote
Kit Carson
Particular care should be taken that every promise made to them [the Navajo and Mescalero Apache] should be observed to the letter. In this way I am confident that in a few years they would equal if not excel our peaceful and industrious Pueblos, and be a source of wealth to the Territory, instead of being as heretofore its dread and impoverishers. View quote
Kit Carson
Well, I'll tell ye. I war down on the plains, an' the Comanches got after me. Thar war 'bout five hundred of 'em, an' they chased me. We run an' we run, an' my hoss war killed an' I clum a sort o' butte. Thar war a leetle split or cañon in it, an' I run up this. One big red rascal kep' right on my heels; my gun war busted, but I had my knife. The split narrered an' narrered, an got smaller an' smaller, an' suddenly it pinched out; an' thar I war, at the end. So I turned, with my knife, an' when he come on I struck at him. But the walls o' the split war so near together that I hit the rock, an' busted my knife squar' off at the hilt. When he seed that he give a big yell, for my scalp, an' at me he jumped. ...then the Injun killed me. (Kit Carson)