Charles Bent
Charles Bent | |
---|---|
Governor of New Mexico | |
In office September 22, 1846 – January 19, 1847 | |
Preceded by | Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid |
Succeeded by | Donaciano Vigil |
Personal details | |
Born | Charleston, Virginia, U.S. (now West Virginia) | November 11, 1799
Died | January 19, 1847 Taos, New Mexico Territory, U.S. | (aged 47)
Manner of death | Assassination |
Resting place | Santa Fe National Cemetery |
Spouse | Maria Ignacia Jaramillo |
Children | Alfred, Estifina, Maria Teresina, George (died as infant), Virginia (died as infant) |
Relatives | Silas Bent (father) Martha Kerr Bent (mother) Juliannah (sister) John (brother) Lucy (sister) Dorcas (sister) Mary (sister) George (brother) Robert (brother) Edward (brother) Silas Bent III (brother) William Bent (brother) George Bent (nephew) Owl Woman (sister-in-law) Lilburn Boggs (brother-in-law) Silas Bent IV (nephew) Henry C. Boggs (nephew) Charles Marion Russell (nephew) James Kerr (uncle) |
Education | United States Military Academy |
Charles Bent (November 11, 1799 – January 19, 1847) was an American businessman and politician who served as the first civilian United States
Bent had been working as a
Early life
Charles Louis Bent was born in Charleston, Virginia, the oldest of the ten children of Judge Silas Bent, and his wife Martha Kerr.[1]
The other children were: Juliannah, Joh, Lucy, Dorcas, William, Mary, George, Robert, Edward, and Silas.[2]
Career
U.S. Army and Bent & St. Vrain Company
After leaving the army, in 1828, Charles and his younger brother,
Territorial Governor
Following the occupation of New Mexico as part of the
Death
In January 1847, while serving as territorial governor, Bent traveled to his hometown of Taos without military protection. After arriving, he was
The women and children in the Bent home were not harmed by the insurgents, and the remaining members of the family fled to safety next door through a hole in the parlor wall.
In the following months, Colonel Price was able to quell the uprising, which ended in July 1847. Most of the rebels were caught and some of them were executed.[5][6][7]
Personal life
In 1835, Charles "Carlos" Bent married Maria Ignacia Jaramillo, who was born in Taos, New Mexico. Maria's younger sister, Josefa Jaramillo, would later marry Kit Carson.[8]
Charles and Maria had five children: Alfred, Estifina, Teresina, George (died as infant), and Virginia (died as infant). Alfred was murdered at Taos on December 9, 1865.
Charles's brothers Robert and George died at Bent's Fort (1846 and 1841, respectively).[10]
Slave Owner
Charles Bent owned Charlotte and Dick Green, who worked at Bent's Fort. William Bent freed the couple after Dick fought with the posse that avenged Charles's assassination.[11]
Legacy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Governor_Bent_Museum_sign%2C_Taos%2C_NM_Picture_2002.jpg/220px-Governor_Bent_Museum_sign%2C_Taos%2C_NM_Picture_2002.jpg)
Bent Street, which runs in front of what had been his home in Taos, and Martyr's Lane, which runs behind it, are named for him.
The Governor Charles Bent House is now a museum. An elementary school in northeast Albuquerque is named in Bent's honor.
Works
Bent documented the indigenous peoples of New Mexico in an essay which was published posthumously in Henry Schoolcraft's study of American Indians:
- Bent, Charles (1846). "Indian Tribes of New Mexico". In ISBN 9780598563460.
See also
Notes
- .
- ^ Bent, Allen (1900). The Bent family in America. Boston: David Clapp & Son. pp. 58–59.
- ISBN 0-8061-1462-2.
- ISBN 0-935269-11-8.
- ^ "Mexican rebels kill Charles Bent". Inside History. Archived from the original on 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
- ^ "Charles Bent, Biographical Sketch – New Mexico History".
- ^ "Celebrating New Mexico Statehood | University of New Mexico Research | UNM Digital Repository".
- ^ New Mexico history biography of Bent Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "'Greek George': a wanted man, a slippery escape". Taos News. September 22, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ^ Stevens, Walter Barlow (1909). History of St. Louis, The Fourth City, 1764-1909. St. Louis: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. [https://archive.org/details/stlouisfourthcit02instev/page/833 833.
- ^ Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society. Kansas State Historical Society. 1923. p. 61.
References
- "Charles Bent". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
- Dunham, Harold H. (1965). "Charles Bent". In OCLC 5504216.
- Lavender, David (1954). Bent's Fort. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. OCLC 26332056.
- Lecompte, Janet (1978). Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn: Society on the High Plains, 1832-1856. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1723-0.
- Wroth, William H. "Bent, Charles". New Mexico Office of the State Historian. Archived from the original on 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2011-03-31.