Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West (89 page)

Chapter 7 What a Wild Life!

“Concluded to charge them, done so.”
Vestal,
Kit Carson,
p. 104.

expelled from university…for “incorrigible negligence.”
David Roberts,
A Newer World,
p. 114.

“He was broad-shouldered and deep-chested…”
Frémont,
Memoirs of My Life,
p. 74.

“I’ve been some time in the mountains…”
Carson,
Autobiography,
p. 66.

the kind of man who could repair a broken barometer.
See Chaffin,
Pathfinder,
p. 122.

“Fremont has touched my imagination…”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, quoted in Ibid., p. 95.

Chapter 8 The Ruling Hand of Providence

“Nothing appears as it is…”
Jacob Robinson,
Sketches of the Great West: A Journal of the Santa Fe Expedition,
p. 11.

so “full of holes and burrows as to make it sound hollow…”
Ibid.

“Nothing could exceed the confidence which every man seems to have in him…”
Clarke, p. 117.

“This morning we all took a drink of whiskey…”
Robinson,
Sketches of the Great West,
p. 10.

“He is a man who keeps his counsels to himself.”
Gibson,
Journal of a Soldier,
p. 112.

“one of the grandest sights ever beheld…Every acre was covered…”
Robinson,
Sketches of the Great West,
p. 12.

“The men have been out since sun rise…”
Magoffin,
Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico, The Diary of Susan Magoffin,
p. 43.

pots of bitter coffee—or “black soup”…
Lavender,
Bent’s Fort,
p. 141.

This outpost…boasted all sorts of incongruous pleasures…
Ibid., pp. 146–47, 171, 254.

“There is the greatest possible noise…”
Magoffin,
Diary,
p. 66.

“strange sensations in my head, my back, and hips…”
Ibid.

“much agony and severest of pains.”
Ibid., p. 68.

“I sunk into a kind of lethargy.”
Ibid.

“Although it was the Sabbath…”
Ibid., p. 69.

“Though forbidden to rise from my bed…”
Ibid.

Chapter 9 The Pathfinder

drained by a monstrous whirlpool that connected…with the Pacific…
See Chaffin,
Pathfinder,
p. 168.

Fremont’s term for the desert sink, the Great Basin…
Ibid., pp. 180, 248.

This fabled conduit, called the Buenaventura…
Ibid., p. 199.

“in as poor condition as men could possibly be.”
Carson,
Autobiography,
pp. 79–81.

“Kit waited for nobody…”
George Brewerton,
Overland with Kit Carson,
p. 66.

clipping a mule’s ears and drinking its blood…
See Lavender,
Bent’s Fort,
p. 55.

tan hides with a glutinous emulsion made from the brains…
Ibid., p. 118.

“prompt, self-sacrificing, and true.”
Frémont,
Memoirs,
p. 427.

“Mounted on a fine horse, without a saddle,…”
Frémont,
The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains,
p. 15.

“sprung to his feet, the blood streaming…”
Frémont,
Memoirs,
p. 374.

“quickly terminated the agonies of the gory savage.”
Ibid.

“Two men, in a savage desert…”
Ibid.

“Kit Carson, an American, born in the Booneslick county…”
Ibid.

“impossible to describe the hardships…”
Carson,
Autobiography,
pp. 126–27.

Chapter 10 When the Land Is Sick

This chapter is primarily drawn from Virginia Hoffman’s sketch of the life of Narbona in
Navajo Biographies,
pp. 17–35, and from Frank McNitt’s
Navajo Wars,
pp. 66–91.

“when the land is sick, the people are sick.”
Kluckhohn and Leighton,
The Navajo,
p. 155.

they called the Navajos the
tasavuh,
or “the head pounders,…
Locke,
The Book of the Navajo,
p. 7.

some 250 Diné…had been stolen in raids…
Ibid., p. 189.

The Navajo emissaries set off for the capital…
Thomas James,
Three Years among the Indians and Mexicans,
pp. 164–66.

Chapter 11 The Un-Alamo

Fremont’s mission was quite limited…
See Chaffin,
Pathfinder,
p. 254.

the Golden Gate, he called it.
Ibid., p. 283.

Fremont responded with pure histrionics.
For accounts of Fremont’s ludicrous stand at Gavilan Peak, see Josiah Royce,
California: A Study of the American Character,
p. 44; and Bernard DeVoto,
The Year of Decision,
pp. 111–14.

urging them to “lance the ulcer” of the American invasion.”
Ibid., p. 288.

“Thinking I had remained as long as the occasion required…”
Frémont,
Memoirs,
p. 460.

has to rank as one of the great solo courier missions in history.
For a biographical sketch and a thorough treatment of Gillespie’s extraordinary trek, see Werner H. Marti,
Messenger of Destiny,
pp. 1–49.

“The information…had absolved me from my duty as an explorer…”
Frémont,
Memoirs,
p. 488.

Chapter 12 We Will Correct All This

The people of Las Vegas were fascinated by the Americans…
My description of the Army of the West’s arrival in Las Vegas is adapted from diaries and other firsthand accounts, primarily Emory, Gibson, Edwards, Robinson, and John Hughes.

“wild looking strangers” who “constantly stared” and “swarmed…”
Magoffin,
Diary,
p. 92.

“I have come amongst you…to take possession of your country.”
The most thorough account of Kearny’s rooftop speech, and the one I quote from here, is found in Emory,
Lieutenant Emory Reports,
pp. 49–51.

“Look at me in the face…”
Emory,
Lieutenant Emory Reports,
p. 51. See also Clarke,
Stephen Watts Kearny,
p. 135.

Chapter 13 Narbona Pass

“utterly unconscious of the reception that awaited them,…”
Josiah Gregg,
Commerce of the Prairies,
p. 200.

When the moment is right…we will cut the tree into small pieces.
Hoffman,
Navajo Biographies,
p. 25.

“thrown into a state of speechless consternation…”
Gregg,
Commerce of the Prairies,
p. 200.

“they were felled like deer trapped in a box canyon.”
McNitt,
Navajo Wars,
p. 74.

According to Navajo tradition, the captain of Jemez…
Ibid.

“We killed plenty of them.”
Locke,
The Book of the Navajo,
p. 192.

Chapter 14 The Uninvaded Silence

“all wild and unexplored,…and the uninvaded silence roused our curiosity.”
Frémont,
Memoirs,
p. 490.

Carson…“apprehended no danger.”
Carson,
Autobiography,
p. 98.

They were…a “mean, low-lived, treacherous race.”
Ibid., p. 78.

the arrows…were headed with lancetlike scraps of iron…
See Chaffin,
Pathfinder,
p. 313.

“The bravest Indian I ever saw…”
Carson,
Autobiography,
p. 97.

All were “brave, good men.”
Ibid.

The camp was plunged in “an angry gloom.”
Frémont,
Memoirs,
p. 492.

“Sick”…“Very sick now.”
Ibid.

“I knocked his head to pieces.”
Ibid.

Chapter 15 On the Altar of the Country

My description of Armijo’s aborted stand at Apache Canyon is based on soldier eyewitness accounts as well as primary documents found in William Keleher’s
Turmoil in New Mexico
and Ralph Emerson Twitchell’s
The Story of the Conquest of Santa Fe
.

“a mountain of fat.”
George Ruxton, quoted in DeVoto,
The Year of Decision,
p. 276.

“It is smarter to appear brave…than to
be
so.”
Clarke,
Stephen Watts Kearny,
p. 105.

“whether I ought to defend New Mexico…or not.”
Paul Horgan,
Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History,
p. 720.

“forced…to heave from position to position.”
Ibid., p. 719.

“Fellow Patriots…the moment has come…”
Keleher,
Turmoil in New Mexico,
p. 10.

“he who actually governs you is ready to sacrifice…”
Great River
, Horgan, p. 720.

Chapter 16 A Perfect Butchery

“For the moment…I threw all other considerations aside…”
Frémont,
Memoirs,
p. 492.

“I thought they should be chastised…”
Carson,
Autobiography,
p. 101.

It was…“a beautiful sight.”
Ibid., p. 100.

Fremont and Carson…probably chose the wrong tribe.
David Roberts,
A Newer World,
pp. 161–62.

“I owe my life to them two…”
Carson,
Autobiography,
p. 102.

“he had placed himself on the wrong path.”
Ibid., p. 104.

“It will be long…before we see Washington…”
Frémont,
Memoirs,
p. 495.

Chapter 17 The Fire of Montezuma

“It was so bad that one who drank it…”
DeVoto,
The Year of Decision,
p. 272.

“sagacious officer well-fitted for command…”
Hughes,
Doniphan’s Expedition,
p. 105.

Oh, what a joy to fight the dons and wallop fat Armij-O!
Marc Simmons,
New Mexico: An Interpretive History,
p. 124.

Chapter 18 Your Duty, Mr. Carson

“very much sunburnt and the most un-uniform…”
Chaffin,
Pathfinder,
p. 331.

“high and holy”…“so high a degree of civilization.”
Royce,
California,
pp. 51–52.

“something they
called
a bear.”
Ibid., p. 48.

“gave to my movements the national character…”
Frémont,
Memoirs,
p. 520.

“I have no use for prisoners…”
Dunlay,
Kit Carson and the Indians,
p. 120.

“a cold hearted crime.”
Ibid., p. 121.

“My word is at present the law of the land…”
Chaffin,
Pathfinder,
p. 354.

“as well known there as the Duke of Wellington…”
Dunlay,
Kit Carson and the Indians,
pp. 121–22.

“I’d rather ride on a grizzly…”
Roberts,
A Newer World,
p. 172.

“Our entry…had more the effect of a parade…”
Chaffin,
Pathfinder,
p. 354.

“departed to any part of the country…”
Carson,
Autobiography,
p. 108.

Chapter 19 Daggers in Every Look

“a gateway which, in the hands of a skillful engineer…”
Emory,
Lieutenant Emory Reports,
p. 55.

“possessed the slightest qualifications…”
Ibid., p. 58.

“We marched rapidly on…for we were all anxious…”
Gibson,
Journal of a Soldier,
p. 204.

“Their horses almost gave out…”
Emory,
Lieutenant Emory Reports,
p. 56.

“Our first view of this place was very discouraging…”
Frank Edwards,
A Campaign in New Mexico,
p. 45.

“nothing to pay us for our long march.”
Gibson,
Journal of a Soldier,
p. 205.

“an extensive brickyard.”
John Hughes,
Doniphan’s Expedition,
p. 91.

“drawn sabres and daggers in every look.”
Gibson,
Journal of a Soldier,
p. 205fn.

VITA FUGIT SICUT UMBRA
…Horgan,
Great River,
p. 728.

“I, Stephen W. Kearny,…”
Keleher,
Turmoil in New Mexico,
p. 15.

“I swear obedience to the Northern Republic…”
Ibid., p. 16.

“No, let him remain…Heaven knows the oppressions…”
Gibson,
Journal of a Soldier,
p. 86.

“We were too thirsty to judge of its merits…”
Emory,
Lieutenant Emory Reports,
p. 56.

“Their pent-up emotions could be suppressed no longer…”
Lieutenant Elliot in the
Weekly Reveille
, September 28, 1846. Quoted in Gibson,
Journal of a Soldier,
p. 205fn.