Charles Bent

Charles Bent (November 11, 1799 – January 19, 1847) was appointed as the first civilian Governor of the newly acquired New Mexico Territory by military Governor Stephen Watts Kearny in September 1846.

Charles Bent had been working as a fur trader in the region since 1828, with his younger brother, William and later partner Ceran St. Vrain. Though his office was in Santa Fe, Bent maintained his residence and a trading post in Taos, New Mexico Territory, now in present-day New Mexico. On January 19, 1847, Charles Bent was scalped and killed by Pueblo warriors, during the Taos Revolt.

Charles Bent was born in Charleston, Virginia, the oldest child of Silas Bent and his wife.

After leaving the army, in 1828, Charles and his younger brother, William, took a wagon train of goods from St. Louis to Santa Fe. There they established mercantile contacts and began a series of trading trips back and forth over the Santa Fe Trail. In 1832, he formed a partnership with Ceran St. Vrain, another trader from St. Louis, called Bent & St. Vrain Company. In addition to its store in Taos, New Mexico, the trading company established a series of "forts", fortified trading posts, to facilitate trade with the Plains Indians, including Fort Saint Vrain on the South Platte River and Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, both in Colorado; and Fort Adobe on the Canadian River. Bent's Fort, outside La Junta, Colorado, has been restored and is now a National Historic Site.

In 1835, Charles Bent married Maria Ignacia Jaramillo, who was born in Taos, New Mexico. Maria's younger sister, Josefa Jaramillo, would later marry Kit Carson.

Following the bloodless American victory, during the Mexican–American War, many of the inhabitants of New Mexico were not satisfied with the new American rule. Some mourned the loss of the old connection with Mexico, others feared the loss of their private goods and others hated the new Mexican Territorial Governor, Charles Bent, who served under the U.S. war-time occupation, because of his negative attitude towards Mexicans. In December 1846, the influential families in the state started to plan a revolt against the new rule. The governor and Colonel Price revealed this conspiracy in advance. Some of the Taos Revolt leaders were arrested, but two important leaders of the movement were able to escape.

It seemed as if the rebellion had been put down when Governor Charles Bent issued a proclamation, which some citizens thought was written in an arrogant and overbearing tone. In January 1847, while serving as territorial governor, Charles Bent traveled to his hometown of Taos, without military protection. There he was scalped alive and murdered in his home by a group of pueblo Native American attackers, under the orders of Mexican conspirators, who started the Taos Revolt. Bent is buried in the National Cemetery in Santa Fe.

The women and children in the Bent home were not harmed by the insurgents, and the remaining Bents fled to safety next door through a hole in the parlor wall.

In the following months, Colonel Price was able to reassure the country. Most rebels were caught and some of them executed. The uprising was finally crushed in July 1847.

Bent and the renowned frontier scout Christopher "Kit" Carson had married sisters. Maria Ignacia Bent outlived her husband by 36 years; she died on April 13, 1883. The Bents had a daughter, Teresina Bent. Charles and Maria Bent and the Carsons are interred at Kit Carson Cemetery in Taos.

Sign directing visitors to Governor Bent Home/Museum and Gallery in Taos

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.

Raymond Burr, known for his long-running Perry Mason television series, portrayed Charles Bent in a 1957 episode entitled "Lone Woman" of CBS's Playhouse 90. Scott Brady was cast in the same episode as William Bent.

Bent documented the indigenous peoples of New Mexico in an essay which was published posthumously in Henry Schoolcraft's study of American Indians: