US frontiersman and guide born in Kentucky, who established headquarters at Taos, New Mexico. He worked with Frémont along the Oregon Trail in 1842–46, played an important role in the seizure of California from Mexico in 1847, and guided many groups of settlers west during the gold rush of 1849. He served as a US Indian agent and, during the American Civil War, was responsible for Union (Northern) scouts in the western theatre. One of the most accomplished of the Mountain Men, Carson was the subject of many of the legends of the early days of the American West.