Bent and St Vrain collection

William W. Bent was born on May 23, 1809 in St. Louis, Missouri, and his brother Charles Bent was born November 11, 1799 in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia) to Silas Bent, later a Missouri Supreme Court Justice. William was a prominent trader and rancher in the American West. Charles was the first territorial governor of New Mexico briefly in the later months of 1846 before his assassination during the Taos Revolt on January, 19 1847. Ceran St. Vrain was born on May 5, 1802 in St. Louis Missouri to a French family. He became a major fur trader near Taos, New Mexico and allied with Charles Bent during the Mexican-American War. In 1832, Bent and St. Vrain partnered up to build Bent’s Fort along the Santa Fe Trail in what is now Southern Colorado. It was a major post in trade between the Americans and the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes for over a decade. In 1849, during a great cholera outbreak, William Bent abandoned the Fort until returning in 1852. He then burned the entire fort to the ground for unknown reasons. In 1849, a newer fort was build, named Bent’s New Fort, in the Big Timber’s area.. William W. Bent died May 19, 1859 of pneumonia in Kansas City, and Ceran St. Vrain died October 28, 1870.