Frontiersman, born in Madison Co, Kentucky, USA. His father died when he was nine and he received no schooling. Apprenticed to a saddlemaker (1825), he ran away to join an expedition to Sante Fe, NM. He became an experienced trapper and Indian fighter, and c.1836 married an Arapaho woman he called Alice. After her death, he met John C Frémont and served as guide for his first two expeditions (1842, 1843–4). After a third expedition and the conquest of California (1846–7), Carson was selected to carry the reports back to Washington. When the Senate refused to confirm a commission in the regular army, he served as an agent for the Ute Indians (1853–61) and dictated the narrative of his life and adventures. During the Civil War he led the 1st New Mexican Volunteer Infantry, mostly in battles against Native American peoples; his most famous episode involved leading captured Navahos on a 300-mile ‘long walk’. Breveted to rank of brigadier-general, he remained in the army and was assigned to command Ft Garland in Colorado (1866–7), but his health soon failed.