Charlotte and Dick Green

Charlotte and Dick Green were enslaved African Americans who worked at Bent's Fort along the Santa Fe Trail in the southwestern frontier, in what is now Colorado.

The couple and Dick's brother Andrew came to the fort with Charles and William Bent in the early 1800s and became key figures in the history of the trading post.

[5] Charles Bent and his wife Ignacio Jaramillo operated mercantile businesses in Santa Fe and Taos, where they had a house.

[1] She prepared pies, pastries, buffalo stew, and vegetables[1] and she seasoned food with chili peppers, citron, sage, and other herbs.

[8] And then the airs assume by the fair ones-more particularly Charlotte, who took pattern from real life in the “States”; she acted her part to perfection.

The grand center of attraction, the belle of the evening, she treated the suitors for the pleasure of the next set, with becoming ease and suavity of manner.

She knew her worth, and managed accordingly; and when the favored gallant stood by her side, waiting for the rudely-scraped tune, from a screeching violin, satisfaction, joy, and triumph, over his rivals, were pictured on his radiant face.

[4][a] Charlotte's food and entertainment were welcome occupations for mountain men-hunters and trappers-and military troops who spent quiet and lonely nights in the frontier.

[7] Charles Bent brought Charlotte and Dick Green with him to Santa Fe when he became governor of the New Mexico Territory.

[6][10] In 1846, Bent established a second residence at the Santa Fe Plaza in the Palace of the Governors (the oldest public building in the U.S.) Dick served as his man-servant.

[4] When Bent was assassinated at his house in Taos in 1847, Green volunteered to assist the troops led by Ceran St. Vrain in tracking down the culprits.

Bent's Fort , a trading post in what is now La Junta, Colorado
The Santa Fe Trail , opened in 1821, generally followed old routes established by Native Americans, and then used by Spanish, Mexican, and American frontier men. Along with the El Camino Real , the Santa Fe Trail was part of a trade network linking Europe, New York, and St. Louis with Mexico City for well-armed and organized caravans.
Courtyard and interior structures at Bent's Old Fort
Palace of the Governors , Santa Fe Plaza
This church, during the revolt of 1847, was turned into a fortification, and held by Mexicans and Puebloans while being stormed during the Taos Revolt by the United States troops, who marched from Santa Fe to Taos when the news of the murder of Governor Charles Bent reached the Capital.