The Kit Carson Monument is located on the grounds of the Santiago E. Campos U.S. Courthouse in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was donated and installed by the Grand Army of the Republic, a Union Veterans of the Civil War fraternal organization after the GAR adopted a resolution to fabricate and erect a monument to Kit Carson. The GAR approached Secretary of the Interior (1882-85) Henry M. Teller for permission to locate the monument on federal property. The monument was dedicated on Memorial Day in 1885. Until 2023, the monument was still owned by GAR’s successor organization, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. This organization has conveyed the monument to GSA.
Kit Carson was known as a frontiersman, expedition guide, U.S. Indian agent and a U.S. Army officer during the Civil War. He is also remembered as the instrument of the government’s policy to suppress and forcibly remove Native American tribes from their homelands in Arizona and New Mexico territory. During his military service, Carson led forces that implemented a scorched-earth campaign against several tribes including the Navajo (Diné) and Mescalero Apache. This campaign and others like it were part of a period in American history during which federal policies and resulting actions towards indigenous communities were fraught with aggression, broken agreements, and the displacement of these groups from their ancestral lands.
Since the 1970s, there has been a strong discourse over the appropriateness of public properties named after Carson across the southwest. More recent public protests in Santa Fe resulted in numerous episodes of graffiti as well as requests for removal of the Kit Carson monument. In 2020, GSA erected a plywood barrier around the monument. In 2023, the monument was damaged by attempts to pull the obelisk down.
The monument is one of the site features of the federal campus (federal oval). The U.S. Courthouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973; that designation includes a reference to the monument. In 2003, a cultural landscape report for the property found that the Kit Carson monument contributes to the historic landscape.
Federal government actions involving the monument require GSA to conduct government-to-government consultation with tribes that have a vested interest in the monument and its location. It also requires the government to comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which in part requires federal agencies to take into account the effects of their undertakings on historic properties and seek public input.
Location
106 S. Federal Place, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Description
The existing Kit Carson Monument sits on the grounds in front of the Santiago E. Campos U.S. Courthouse in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The monument consists of a sandstone obelisk mounted atop a sandstone base and granite foundation. The base of the monument is engraved on all four sides with various inscriptions dedicated to Kit Carson.
More Information
Send comments to: r7-kitcarson@gsa.gov
Media contact: Public Affairs Officer Jorge Pineda at jorge.pineda@gsa.gov
Updated Status
On Oct. 30, 2024, GSA hosted a virtual Consulting Parties Section 106 meeting for proposed actions to the monument. The meeting video recording is available here and the presentation is available here [PDF - 2 MB]. GSA is currently evaluating the viability of the proposed actions for the monument.
Milestones
07/18/2024: GSA hosted a virtual public meeting for proposed actions to the monument. This meeting provided updates on alternatives under consideration for the monument and sought public input on additional alternatives.
05/09/2024: Consulting Parties Section 106 meeting
01/31/2024: Follow up virtual (Zoom) Tribal Listening Session
12/12/2023: Tribal Listening Session at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico
U.S. General Services Administration
