Bent, William
Bent, William,
1809–69, American frontiersman, b. St. Louis. One of the younger brothers of Charles Bent, he was for many years the manager of Bent's FortBent's Fort,trading post of the American West, on the Arkansas River in present-day SE Colorado, E of Rocky Ford and La Junta and several miles above the mouth of the Purgatoire. The trading company headed by Charles Bent and Ceran St.
..... Click the link for more information. , while Charles Bent lived mainly in Taos. William Bent was one of the most widely known and highly respected traders in the West. He scouted for Stephen W. Kearny and Sterling Price in the Mexican War. In 1849 he destroyed the fort, building another farther down the Arkansas River (1853).