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Manuscript DS, signed “C. Carson,” one page, 8 x 10, [July 1866]. Document headed “Special Requisition, For Subsistence Stores for the use of Officers at Fort Garland, C. T. [Colorado Territory] for 365 days, commencing the 1st day of August 1866 and ending the 1st day of September 1867,” which indicates that a total of 10,000 “Rations of Flour” will be furnished to the officers and their families. Signed at the conclusion by Kit Carson, with another hand adding his role and rank below as Colonel of the 1st New Mexico Cavalry and Brevet Brigadier General U.S.V., Commander of the Post. The document is countersigned by W. H. Barlow as Captain and Quartermaster. In fine condition.
Carson’s autograph ranks among the rarest in Western Americana. Largely unable to read or write beyond signing his name, he left little written record. After his famed career as a mountain man, fur trapper, and guide, Carson served as a colonel in the Civil War and was breveted a brigadier general. Following the war, as Ute raids intensified in the San Luis Valley, Maj. Gen. John Pope wrote to his superiors in early 1866, 'I need not say that Carson is the best man in the country to control these Indians.' That May, Carson was appointed commander of Fort Garland.
Drawing on strong relationships with the Ute—particularly Chief Ouray and Chipeta—as well as with regional Hispanic communities through his wife, Josefa Jaramillo Carson, he worked to ease tensions. In September 1866, Carson persuaded Ouray to bring his band to Fort Garland for negotiations, even hosting tribal encampments near the post. These efforts culminated in a successful peace treaty with the Utes in 1867.
Carson lived at the fort with his wife and their seven children until November 22, 1867, when he was mustered out of service due to illness. He subsequently served as superintendent of Indian affairs for Colorado Territory, but died shortly thereafter in the summer of 1868. This example represents the more typical form of his signature; Carson only occasionally signed 'Kit Carson' on cartes-de-visite for autograph seekers and never used his full name. A rare and highly desirable signature from one of the most legendary figures of the American West.
The Western Americana auction of Jochen Zeitz.
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