Editing Kit Carson (section)

== Mexican–American War (1846–1848) ==
{{See also|Mexican–American War}}

Lasting from 1846 to 1848, the [[Mexican–American War]] was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico. After the war, Mexico was forced to sell the territories of [[Alta California]] and [[New Mexico]] to the United States under the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]].

One of Carson's best-known adventures took place during this war. In December 1846, Carson was ordered by General Kearny to guide him and his troops from [[Socorro, New Mexico]], to [[San Diego, California]]. Mexican soldiers attacked Kearny and his men near the village of [[San Pasqual Valley, San Diego|San Pasqual, California]].

Kearny was outnumbered. He knew that he could not win and so ordered his men to take cover on a small hill. On the night of December 8, Carson, a naval lieutenant, [[Edward Fitzgerald Beale]], and an Indian scout left Kearny to bring reinforcements from San Diego, {{convert|25|mi|km}} away. Carson and the lieutenant removed their shoes because they made too much noise and walked barefoot through the desert. Carson wrote in his ''Memoirs'', "Finally got through, but had the misfortune to lose our shoes. Had to travel over a country covered with prickly pear and rocks, barefoot."<ref>Sides 163</ref>

By December 10, Kearny believed that reinforcements would not arrive. He planned to break through the Mexican lines the next morning, but 200 mounted American soldiers arrived in San Pasqual late that night. They swept the area driving the Mexicans away. Kearny was in San Diego on December 12.<ref>Sides 164–165</ref>