'Kit' Carson

Christopher Houston 'Kit' Carson (1809-1868) was an American frontiersman, Indian agent, military officer and explorer.  He was one of the famous figures of the American West and like many others he was of Ulster-Scots stock.

The following summary of his background is taken from a biography entitled Blood and Thunder: The epic story of Kit Carson and the conquest of the American West, which was written by Hampton Sides and published in 2006.

Lindsey Carson was a farmer of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock who had lived most of his young life in North Carolina and fought in the Revolutionary War under Gen. Wade Hampton.  The elder Carson had an enormous family - five children by his first wife and ten by Kit's mother, Rebecca Robinson.  Of those fifteen children, Kit was the eleventh in line.'

Another biographer, Harvey L. Carter, said of him:

In respect to his actual exploits and his actual character, however, Carson was not overrated.  If history has to single out one person from among the Mountain Men to receive the admiration of later generations, Carson is the best choice.  He had far more of the good qualities and fewer of the bad qualities than anyone else in that varied lot of individuals.

In the 18th century around 250,000 Ulster-Scots emigrated from Ulster to America and played an important role in the making of the United States of America.