"Kit"!

This is coolbert:

Yet one more example of the amateur at war proving to be the equal of the professionals, perhaps even better.

Christopher "Kit" Carson.

Described variously as a trapper/guide/soldier!! A man able to speak fluently no less than nine languages, either an illiterate or nearly so, but a man of the most marked ability, talent and achievement!

[The great Genghis Khan also an illiterate, but considered a military planner and organizer without equal!!]

A man of some repute even during his lifetime, a living legend so to speak, a hero of the "dime novel"!

As a military man able to command the proverbial "motley crew" [New Mexican volunteers and American Indian allies] in a superlative manner, accomplishing his missions using means at times cruel and downright harsh, but nonetheless, a commander of some proven ability and called upon when the professional of the era was at wits end - - unable to make further progress.

"Motley crew - - a gathered group of people of various backgrounds, appearance, character, etc."

Most noted for his campaign or campaigns against the Navajo American Indian tribe, suppressing the slave raiding forays of the Native Americans in the western territories of the United States at a time when the American Civil war was raging. "Kit" proving his mettle given only limited resources - - his methods again undeniably harsh to cruel but successful.

And commanding at the Battle of Adobe Walls, the American troops grotesquely out-numbered, but holding their own and able to retire from the battlefield in good order, "Kit" breaking contact with an enemy in an orderly way more than worthy of a professional.

Add "Kit" to that list of those amateurs that either beat or exceed the professional on the battlefield!

coolbert.