Thomas Tate Tobin (May 1, 1823 – May 15, 1904) was an American adventurer, tracker, trapper, mountain man, guide, US Army scout, and occasional bounty hunter.
He associated with men such as Kit Carson, "Uncle Dick" Wootton, Ceran St. Vrain, Charley Bent, John C. Fremont, "Wild Bill" Hickok, William F. Cody, and the Shoup brothers.
In later years he was sent by the Army to track down and kill the notorious Felipe Espinosa and his nephew; Tobin returned to Ft. Garland with their heads in a sack.
The next day a large force of approximately 500 Mexicans and Pueblo attacked and laid siege to Simeon Turley's Mill and Distillery, where Autobees and Tobin were working.
Seeing the crowd approach, Autobees rode to Santa Fe to inform the occupying American forces about the revolt and to try to get help, leaving eight to ten mountain men, including his brother Tom, to defend the mill.
After a day-long battle, only two of the men, Johnny Albert and Tobin, survived; they escaped the burning mill separately on foot during the confusion of night fighting.
In 1847, Tobin farmed on land bordering the San Carlos River southeast of El Pueblo, selling his crops to Lt. Col. William Gilpin, who was camped with his troops near Bent's Fort.
Gilpin asked Tobin to serve as a courier, carrying dispatches from the Canadian River valley of Oklahoma to Bent's Fort.
Beall described Tobin as "having a reputation almost equal to Kit Carson's for bravery, dexterity with his rifle, and skill in mountain life.
Eventually, Colonel Sam Tappan, the commanding officer of Ft. Garland, requested Tobin's help in bringing Espinosas' reign of terror to an end.
The government had posted a reward for several thousand dollars (Dead or Alive) for the Espinosas, but Tobin never collected the full amount.