"With energy and fearlessness never surpassed, Christopher Carson was certainly one of the most gentle, upright, and lovable of men. It is strange that the wilderness could have formed so estimable a character. America will not permit the virtues of so illustrious a son to be forgotten." -John S.C. Abbott, Preface, 1873 American historian John S.C. Abbott wrote Christopher Carson: Familiarly Known as Kit Carson (1873) as part of his American Pioneers and Patriots series. Christopher Houston Carson (1809-1868), better known as Kit Carson, was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, Indian agent, and US Army officer who became a frontier legend during his lifetime. He made an important contribution to the westward expansion of the United States.