The Kit Carson Campaign: The Last Great Navajo War

by Clifford E. Trafzer

Book Overview

Trafzer presents in precise, authoritative style the Navajos' side of Carson's notorious campaign against the tribe in the 1860s. To say the least, it was a grim affair --- years of ruthless... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806116838
• ISBN13: 9780806116839
• Release Date: April 1982
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Enigma, contraversy and retrospect

This book isn't precisely about Kit Carson, though in a sense, it is. The Navajo campaign of 1864 and old Kit are inseparable from one another, Siamese twins of events and history. The campaign resulted in defeat and the Trail of Tears for the Din'e people, exile to Bosque Redondo for several years, and a century and a half of bitterness. Kit Carson led that campaign and he's been vilified by the Navajo from that time to this.Trafzer documents the story of the war as well, probably, as it can be documented. The facts are susceptible to slanting through emphasis here and failure to emphasize there, but the facts remain. The same is true of all we know about the mystery man Kit Carson was.I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the Navajo wars. I'd also suggest it as a piece of any study of Kit Carson, who is well worth the study. A hero, a coward, a man of wisdom and noteworthy education who could not write his own name.