Difference between revisions of "John C. Fremont" - New World Encyclopedia
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| order = {{flagicon|USA}} | | order = {{flagicon|USA}} | ||
| office = Military Governor of California | | office = Military Governor of California | ||
| − | | term_start = | + | | term_start = 1847 |
| − | | term_end = | + | | term_end = 1847 |
| predecessor = | | predecessor = | ||
| successor = [[Robert F. Stockton]] | | successor = [[Robert F. Stockton]] | ||
| order2 = Senior Senator, [[California]] | | order2 = Senior Senator, [[California]] | ||
| − | | term_start2 = | + | | term_start2 = September 9, 1850 |
| − | | term_end2 = | + | | term_end2 = March 3, 1851 |
| predecessor2 = | | predecessor2 = | ||
| successor2 = [[John B. Weller]] | | successor2 = [[John B. Weller]] | ||
| − | | date of birth = | + | | date of birth = January 21, 1813 |
| place of birth = [[Savannah, Georgia]], [[United States|USA]] | | place of birth = [[Savannah, Georgia]], [[United States|USA]] | ||
| − | | date of death = | + | | date of death = July 13, 1890 |
| place of death = [[New York City, New York]], [[United States|USA]] | | place of death = [[New York City, New York]], [[United States|USA]] | ||
| spouse = [[Jessie Benton Frémont]] | | spouse = [[Jessie Benton Frémont]] | ||
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|}} | |}} | ||
| − | '''John Charles Frémont''' ( | + | '''John Charles Frémont''' (January 21, 1813 – July 13, 1890), was an [[United States|American]] [[military]] [[Commissioned officer|officer]], [[List of explorers|explorer]], the first candidate of the [[History of United States Republican Party|Republican Party]] for the office of [[President of the United States]], and the first Presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform in opposition to slavery. During the 1840s, that era's [[penny press]] accorded Frémont the epithet ''The Pathfinder'', which remains in use, sometimes as "The Great Pathfinder".<ref>Adams, Dennis. [http://www.co.beaufort.sc.us/bftlib/jcfremont.htm "The Man for Whom Fort Fremont was Named"]. Beaufort County (SC) Library. ''URL retrieved on February 1, 2007.''</ref><ref>[http://www.sierranevadavirtualmuseum.com/docs/specialex/biographies/fremontj.htm John Charles Fremont]. Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum. Biographies. ''URL retrieved on February 19, 2007''.</ref> |
==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
| − | Frémont was born in [[Savannah, Georgia]]. His ancestry is disputed by historians. According to the 1902 genealogy of the Frémont family, he was the son of Anne Beverley Whiting, a prominent Virginia society woman, who after his birth, married Louis-René Frémont, a penniless French refugee, in Norfolk on | + | Frémont was born in [[Savannah, Georgia]]. His ancestry is disputed by historians. According to the 1902 genealogy of the Frémont family, he was the son of Anne Beverley Whiting, a prominent Virginia society woman, who after his birth, married Louis-René Frémont, a penniless French refugee, in Norfolk on May 14, 1807.<ref>Roy, Pierre-Georges. ''La famille Frémont'', Lévis, 1902. p. 84.</ref> Louis-René Frémont was the son of Jean-Louis Frémont, a [[Québec City]] merchant, who was the immigrant son of Charles-Louis Frémont from [[Saint Germain en Laye]] near [[Paris]]. H.W. Brands, however, in his biography of [[Andrew Jackson]],<ref>Brands, H.W. Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times, Doubleday, 2005. p. 190.</ref> states that Fremont was the son of Anne and Charles Fremon, and that Fremont added the accented "e" and the "t" to his name later in life. Many confirm he was in fact illegitimate, a social handicap he overcame by marrying [[Jessie Benton]], the favorite daughter of the very influential senator and slave owner from [[Missouri]], [[Thomas Hart Benton (senator)|Thomas Hart Benton]] (1782-1858). |
Benton, Democratic Party leader for over 30 years in the Senate, championed the expansionist movement, a political cause that became known as "[[Manifest Destiny]]." The expansionists believed that the North American continent, from one end to the other, should belong to the citizens of the [[United States]], and that getting those lands was the country’s destiny. This movement became a crusade for politicians like Benton, and in his new son-in-law, making a name for himself as a western topographer, he saw in Frémont a great political asset. Benton was soon pushing through Congress appropriations of money to be used for surveys of the [[Oregon Trail]] (1842), [[Oregon Territory]] (1844), and the [[Great Basin]] and Sierra Mountains to [[California]] (1845). Through his power and influence, Benton got Frémont the leadership of these expeditions. | Benton, Democratic Party leader for over 30 years in the Senate, championed the expansionist movement, a political cause that became known as "[[Manifest Destiny]]." The expansionists believed that the North American continent, from one end to the other, should belong to the citizens of the [[United States]], and that getting those lands was the country’s destiny. This movement became a crusade for politicians like Benton, and in his new son-in-law, making a name for himself as a western topographer, he saw in Frémont a great political asset. Benton was soon pushing through Congress appropriations of money to be used for surveys of the [[Oregon Trail]] (1842), [[Oregon Territory]] (1844), and the [[Great Basin]] and Sierra Mountains to [[California]] (1845). Through his power and influence, Benton got Frémont the leadership of these expeditions. | ||
| − | Frémont's great-grandfather, Henry Whiting, was a half-brother of Catherine Whiting who married John Washington, uncle of [[George Washington]].<ref>Robert H. Wynn, [http://www.robertwynn.com/Fremont.htm "John Charles Fremont, Explorer!"], 'Bob and Brenda Exploring' Newsletter, March 2006, Issue No. 16. ''URL retrieved on | + | Frémont's great-grandfather, Henry Whiting, was a half-brother of Catherine Whiting who married John Washington, uncle of [[George Washington]].<ref>Robert H. Wynn, [http://www.robertwynn.com/Fremont.htm "John Charles Fremont, Explorer!"], 'Bob and Brenda Exploring' Newsletter, March 2006, Issue No. 16. ''URL retrieved on January 7, 2007''.</ref><ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(wd0211)) "The Diaries of George Washington"], Vol. 2, 1976. The [[George Washington]] Papers, The [[Library of Congress]]. ''URL retrieved on January 7, 2007''.</ref><ref>[http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=hom42&id=I14156 Geneological convolution], RootsWeb. ''URL retrieved on January 7, 2007''.</ref> |
===Expeditions=== | ===Expeditions=== | ||
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===Third expedition=== | ===Third expedition=== | ||
| − | On | + | On June 1 1845 John Frémont and 55 men left St. Louis, with Carson as guide, on the third expedition. The stated goal was to "map the source of the [[Arkansas River]]," on the east side of the Rocky Mountains. But upon reaching the Arkansas, Frémont suddenly made a hasty trail straight to California, without explanation. Arriving in the [[Sacramento Valley]] in early winter 1846, he promptly sought to stir up patriotic enthusiasm among the American settlers there. He promised that if war with [[Mexico]] started, his military force would "be there to protect them." Frémont nearly provoked a battle with General [[José Castro]] near [[Monterey, California|Monterey]], which would have likely resulted in the annilation of Frémont's group, due to the superior numbers of the Mexican troops. Frémont then fled Mexican-controlled California, and went north to [[Oregon]], finding camp at [[Upper Klamath Lake|Klamath Lake]]. |
| − | [[Image:Kit-carson-photograph-loc.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Kit Carson murdered innocent American Indians and Mexicans under Frémont's orders<ref name="Carson murders"/>]]Following a | + | [[Image:Kit-carson-photograph-loc.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Kit Carson murdered innocent American Indians and Mexicans under Frémont's orders<ref name="Carson murders"/>]]Following a May 9 1846, [[Modoc]] Indian attack on his expedition party, Frémont chose to attack a [[Klamath]] Indian fishing village named Dokdokwas, at the junction of the [[Williamson River (Oregon)|Williamson River]] and Klamath Lake, which took place May 10 1846. The action completely destroyed the village, and involved the massacre of women and children. After the burning of the village, Carson was nearly killed by a Klamath warrior later that day: his gun misfired, and the warrior drew to fire a poison arrow; but Frémont, seeing Carson's predicament, trampled the warrior with his horse. Carson stated felt that he owed Frémont his life due to this incident. |
| − | On | + | On June 28 1846, Frémont intercepted three Mexican men crossing the [[San Francisco Bay]] and landing near [[San Quentin, California|San Quentin]]. Frémont provided Carson with indirect and ambiguous orders to execute the three innocent men in revenge for the deaths of the two Americans, which Carson promptly carried out. Carson at first asked Fremont if he should take the men prisoner. Frémont's plan was otherwise: "I have no use for prisoners, do your duty," was the response. When Carson hesitated Frémont yelled, "Mr. Carson, your duty," to which Carson then complied by murdering Jose R. Berreyesa and his newphews, Ramon and Fransciso De Haro, the nineteen-year-old twin sons of [[Francisco De Haro]], the first Alcalde of [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], near present-day [[San Rafael, California|San Rafael]].<ref name="Carson murders">[http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hbbegd.htm "San Francisco History: The Beginnings of San Francisco, Appendix D"]. San Francisco Genealogy. ''URL retrieved on January 24, 2007.''</ref> The murder of these popular Californianos hindered Frémont's political career and prevented him from being the first American governor of [[California]], a post he coveted. Writing about the murders a half-century later, the historian Robert A. Thompsen noted, "Californians cannot speak of it down to this day without intense feeling."<ref>Thompsen Robert A. (1905) History of Calfiornia, Vol. 5. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 174-75.</ref> |
===Mexican-American War=== | ===Mexican-American War=== | ||
In 1846, Frémont was also [[Lieutenant Colonel]] of the U.S. Mounted Rifles (a predecessor of the [[3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment]]). In late 1846 Frémont, acting under orders from Commodore [[Robert F. Stockton]], led a military expedition of 300 men to capture [[Santa Barbara, California]], during the [[Mexican-American War]]. Frémont led his unit over the [[Santa Ynez Mountains]] at [[San Marcos Pass]] and captured the Presidio, and the town. Mexican General Pico, recognizing that the war was lost, later surrendered to him rather than incur casualties. | In 1846, Frémont was also [[Lieutenant Colonel]] of the U.S. Mounted Rifles (a predecessor of the [[3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment]]). In late 1846 Frémont, acting under orders from Commodore [[Robert F. Stockton]], led a military expedition of 300 men to capture [[Santa Barbara, California]], during the [[Mexican-American War]]. Frémont led his unit over the [[Santa Ynez Mountains]] at [[San Marcos Pass]] and captured the Presidio, and the town. Mexican General Pico, recognizing that the war was lost, later surrendered to him rather than incur casualties. | ||
| − | On | + | On January 16 1847, Commodore Stockton appointed Frémont military governor of California following the [[Treaty of Cahuenga]], which ended the [[Mexican-American War]] in California. However, U.S. Army general [[Stephen Watts Kearny]], who outranked Frémont and believed that he was the legitimate governor, arrested Frémont and brought him to [[Washington, D.C.]], where he was convicted of [[mutiny]]. President [[James Polk]] quickly pardoned him in light of his service in the war. |
===U.S. Senator=== | ===U.S. Senator=== | ||
| − | [[Image:FREMONT2.JPG|right|thumb|right|120px|1856 Republican parade banner]]Frémont served from 1850 to 1851 as one of the first pair of [[United States Senate|Senator]]s from California. In | + | [[Image:FREMONT2.JPG|right|thumb|right|120px|1856 Republican parade banner]]Frémont served from 1850 to 1851 as one of the first pair of [[United States Senate|Senator]]s from California. In 1856, the new [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] nominated him as their first [[President of the United States|presidential]] candidate. He lost to [[James Buchanan]], though he did surpass the [[Know Nothing|American Party]] candidate, [[Millard Fillmore]]. Frémont lost California in the [[Electoral College]]. |
===Civil War=== | ===Civil War=== | ||
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Frémont ordered his General [[Nathaniel Lyon]] to formally bring Missouri into the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] cause. Lyon had been named the temporary commander of the Department of the West to succeed Harney before Frémont ultimately replaced Lyon. Lyon, in a series of battles, evicted Governor [[Claiborne Jackson]] and installed a pro-Union government. After Lyon was killed in the [[Battle of Wilson's Creek]] in August, Frémont imposed [[martial law]] in the state, confiscating private property of secessionists and emancipating the state's slaves. | Frémont ordered his General [[Nathaniel Lyon]] to formally bring Missouri into the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] cause. Lyon had been named the temporary commander of the Department of the West to succeed Harney before Frémont ultimately replaced Lyon. Lyon, in a series of battles, evicted Governor [[Claiborne Jackson]] and installed a pro-Union government. After Lyon was killed in the [[Battle of Wilson's Creek]] in August, Frémont imposed [[martial law]] in the state, confiscating private property of secessionists and emancipating the state's slaves. | ||
| − | [[Abraham Lincoln]], fearing the order would tip Missouri (and other slave states in Union control) to the southern cause, asked Frémont to revise the order. Frémont refused and sent his wife to plead the case. Lincoln responded by revoking the proclamation and relieving Frémont of command on | + | [[Abraham Lincoln]], fearing the order would tip Missouri (and other slave states in Union control) to the southern cause, asked Frémont to revise the order. Frémont refused and sent his wife to plead the case. Lincoln responded by revoking the proclamation and relieving Frémont of command on November 2, 1861. In March 1862, Frémont was re-appointed to a different post (in [[West Virginia]]), but lost several battles to [[Stonewall Jackson]] and was relieved at his own request when ordered to serve under [[John Pope (military officer)|General John Pope]].<ref>http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/ung_f.html U.S. Civil War Generals - Union Generals -(Frémont)]</ref> |
Frémont took on the thirteen-year-old [[Jesse Shepard]] as his page, a role he filled for two years, until 1863. It is claimed that he chose Jesse to be his page for a [[pederasty|love relationship]] because the boy was [[queer]], and the two were constantly together, the boy displaying a great affection for Frémont.<ref>Charley Shively, ''Drum Beat: Walt Whitman's Civil War Boy Lovers'', pp.47-48, ISBN 0940567067; see quotations at [[Talk:Jesse Shepard#Queer|Shepard talk page]]</ref> | Frémont took on the thirteen-year-old [[Jesse Shepard]] as his page, a role he filled for two years, until 1863. It is claimed that he chose Jesse to be his page for a [[pederasty|love relationship]] because the boy was [[queer]], and the two were constantly together, the boy displaying a great affection for Frémont.<ref>Charley Shively, ''Drum Beat: Walt Whitman's Civil War Boy Lovers'', pp.47-48, ISBN 0940567067; see quotations at [[Talk:Jesse Shepard#Queer|Shepard talk page]]</ref> | ||
===Radical Republicans=== | ===Radical Republicans=== | ||
| − | [[Image:Montgomery Blair, photo three-quarters length seated.jpg|right|thumb|120px|[[Montgomery Blair|U.S. Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair. 1861-1864.]]]]Frémont was briefly the 1864 candidate of the [[Radical Republicans]], a group of hard-line [[Abolitionism|Republican abolitionists]] upset with Lincoln's position toward both the issues of slavery and post-war reconciliation with the southern states. This 1864 fracturing of the Republican Party splintered off into two new political parties: the anti-Lincoln Radical Republicans (convening in Cleveland starting on | + | [[Image:Montgomery Blair, photo three-quarters length seated.jpg|right|thumb|120px|[[Montgomery Blair|U.S. Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair. 1861-1864.]]]]Frémont was briefly the 1864 candidate of the [[Radical Republicans]], a group of hard-line [[Abolitionism|Republican abolitionists]] upset with Lincoln's position toward both the issues of slavery and post-war reconciliation with the southern states. This 1864 fracturing of the Republican Party splintered off into two new political parties: the anti-Lincoln Radical Republicans (convening in Cleveland starting on May 31 1864) nominating Frémont, the Republicans' first standard-bearer from 1856, and; the political collaboration between pro-Lincoln Republicans and Democrats to form a new [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union Party]] (in convention in Baltimore during the first week in June [[United States presidential election, 1864|1864 Presidential Election]]) in order to accommodate [[War Democrats]] who wished to separate themselves from the [[Copperheads (politics)|Copperheads]]. |
Coincidentally, this creation of the National Union Party is the main reason why War Democrat [[Andrew Johnson]] was selected to be the [[Vice President of the United States|Vice Presidential]] nominee. The former republicans who supported Lincoln also hoped that the new party would stress the national character of the war. | Coincidentally, this creation of the National Union Party is the main reason why War Democrat [[Andrew Johnson]] was selected to be the [[Vice President of the United States|Vice Presidential]] nominee. The former republicans who supported Lincoln also hoped that the new party would stress the national character of the war. | ||
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| work = | | work = | ||
| publisher = Find A Grave | | publisher = Find A Grave | ||
| − | | date = | + | | date = 2001-01-01 |
| url = http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2615 | | url = http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2615 | ||
| format = | | format = | ||
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Many places are named for Frémont. Four [[U.S. states]] named counties in his honor: [[Fremont County, Colorado|Colorado]], [[Fremont County, Idaho|Idaho]], [[Fremont County, Iowa|Iowa]], and [[Fremont County, Wyoming|Wyoming]]. Several states also named cities after him, such as [[Fremont, California|California]], [[Fremont, Michigan|Michigan]], [[Fremont, Nebraska|Nebraska]], and [[Fremont, New Hampshire|New Hampshire]]. Likewise, [[Fremont Peak (Wyoming)|Fremont Peak]] in the [[Wind River Mountains]] and [[Fremont Peak (California)|Fremont Peak]] in [[Monterey County]], California are also named for the explorer. The [[Fremont River (Utah)|Fremont River]], a tributary of the [[Colorado River]] in southern [[Utah]], was named after Frémont, and in turn, the prehistoric [[Fremont culture]] was named after the river—the first [[archaeology|archaeological]] sites of this [[Archaeological culture|culture]] were discovered near its course. | Many places are named for Frémont. Four [[U.S. states]] named counties in his honor: [[Fremont County, Colorado|Colorado]], [[Fremont County, Idaho|Idaho]], [[Fremont County, Iowa|Iowa]], and [[Fremont County, Wyoming|Wyoming]]. Several states also named cities after him, such as [[Fremont, California|California]], [[Fremont, Michigan|Michigan]], [[Fremont, Nebraska|Nebraska]], and [[Fremont, New Hampshire|New Hampshire]]. Likewise, [[Fremont Peak (Wyoming)|Fremont Peak]] in the [[Wind River Mountains]] and [[Fremont Peak (California)|Fremont Peak]] in [[Monterey County]], California are also named for the explorer. The [[Fremont River (Utah)|Fremont River]], a tributary of the [[Colorado River]] in southern [[Utah]], was named after Frémont, and in turn, the prehistoric [[Fremont culture]] was named after the river—the first [[archaeology|archaeological]] sites of this [[Archaeological culture|culture]] were discovered near its course. | ||
| − | A [[barbershop music|barbershop]] chorus in Fremont, Nebraska is named ''The Fremont Pathfinders'' in homage to the explorer,<ref>[http://www.pathfinderchorus.org/Aboutus.html The History of the Fremont Pathfinders]. Barbershop Chorus. ''URL retrieved on | + | A [[barbershop music|barbershop]] chorus in Fremont, Nebraska is named ''The Fremont Pathfinders'' in homage to the explorer,<ref>[http://www.pathfinderchorus.org/Aboutus.html The History of the Fremont Pathfinders]. Barbershop Chorus. ''URL retrieved on February 19, 2007''.</ref> as is the Fremont Pathfinders Artillery Battery,<ref>[http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~pathfinders/history.htm History of the Pathfinders]. Fremont Pathfinders Artillery Battery. ''URL retrieved on February 19, 2007''.</ref> an [[American Civil War reenactment]] group from the same community. |
[[Fremont Street]] in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] is named in his honor, as are streets in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]], [[Kiel, Wisconsin]], [[Manhattan, Kansas]], [[Portland, Oregon]], the [[California]] cities of [[Monterey, California|Monterey]], [[Seaside, California|Seaside]], [[Stockton, California|Stockton]] and [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], and the [[Grant City, Staten Island|Grant City]] section of Staten Island, New York. Portland also has several other locations named after Frémont, such as [[Fremont Bridge (Portland, Oregon)|Fremont Bridge]]. Other places named for him include [[John C. Fremont Senior High School]] in Los Angeles and [[Oakland, California]] and the John C. Fremont Branch Library, located on Melrose Avenue in [[Los Angeles, California]], and a John C. Fremont Junior High School in [[Mesa, Arizona]], and one in [[Oxnard, California]]. Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, California is named for him and its annual yearbook is called ''The Pathfinder''. In addition, the John C. Fremont Hospital, in [[Mariposa, California]]—where Fremont and his wife lived and prospered during the [[California Gold Rush|Gold Rush]]—is named for him. | [[Fremont Street]] in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] is named in his honor, as are streets in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]], [[Kiel, Wisconsin]], [[Manhattan, Kansas]], [[Portland, Oregon]], the [[California]] cities of [[Monterey, California|Monterey]], [[Seaside, California|Seaside]], [[Stockton, California|Stockton]] and [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], and the [[Grant City, Staten Island|Grant City]] section of Staten Island, New York. Portland also has several other locations named after Frémont, such as [[Fremont Bridge (Portland, Oregon)|Fremont Bridge]]. Other places named for him include [[John C. Fremont Senior High School]] in Los Angeles and [[Oakland, California]] and the John C. Fremont Branch Library, located on Melrose Avenue in [[Los Angeles, California]], and a John C. Fremont Junior High School in [[Mesa, Arizona]], and one in [[Oxnard, California]]. Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, California is named for him and its annual yearbook is called ''The Pathfinder''. In addition, the John C. Fremont Hospital, in [[Mariposa, California]]—where Fremont and his wife lived and prospered during the [[California Gold Rush|Gold Rush]]—is named for him. | ||
| − | In [[James Michener]]'s novel ''[[Space (novel)|Space]]'', much of the action occurs in the fictional state of "Frémont" | + | In [[James Michener]]'s novel ''[[Space (novel)|Space]]'', much of the action occurs in the fictional state of "Frémont," and several of the novel's main characters are natives of this state. The novel's endpapers include a map of the United States that shows the precise borders of Michener's fictional Frémont, but necessarily omits the borders of the neighboring states. The fictional Frémont's location roughly corresponds to our world's [[Nebraska]]. |
The U.S. Army's (now inactive) [[8th Infantry Division (United States)|8th Infantry Division]] (Mechanized) is called the Pathfinder Division, after John Frémont. The gold arrow on the 8th ID crest is called the "Arrow of General Frémont." | The U.S. Army's (now inactive) [[8th Infantry Division (United States)|8th Infantry Division]] (Mechanized) is called the Pathfinder Division, after John Frémont. The gold arrow on the 8th ID crest is called the "Arrow of General Frémont." | ||
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==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
*Harvey, Miles, ''The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime'', [[Random House]], 2000, ISBN 0375501517, ISBN 0767908260. | *Harvey, Miles, ''The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime'', [[Random House]], 2000, ISBN 0375501517, ISBN 0767908260. | ||
| − | * [[William Brandon (author)|Brandon, William]], ''The Men and the Mountain'' ( | + | * [[William Brandon (author)|Brandon, William]], ''The Men and the Mountain'' (1955) ISBN 0-8371-5873-7. An account of Frémont's failed fourth expedition. |
*David H. Miller and Mark J. Stegmaier, ''James F. Milligan: His Journal of Fremont's Fifth Expedition, 1853-1854; His Adventurous Life on Land and Sea'', Arthur H. Clark Co., 1988. 300 pp. | *David H. Miller and Mark J. Stegmaier, ''James F. Milligan: His Journal of Fremont's Fifth Expedition, 1853-1854; His Adventurous Life on Land and Sea'', Arthur H. Clark Co., 1988. 300 pp. | ||
*NY Times, Harper's Weekly political cartoon, "That's What's the Trouble with John C."; Fremont's 1864 challenge to Lincoln's re-nomination. [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0702.html] | *NY Times, Harper's Weekly political cartoon, "That's What's the Trouble with John C."; Fremont's 1864 challenge to Lincoln's re-nomination. [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0702.html] | ||
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* [http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=31&subjectID=3 Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: John C. Frémont] | * [http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=31&subjectID=3 Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: John C. Frémont] | ||
* [http://www.longcamp.com Crossing the Sierra Nevada 1844] | * [http://www.longcamp.com Crossing the Sierra Nevada 1844] | ||
| − | |||
*[http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/ngf/fremont.htm The Generals of the American Civil War - Pictures of John Charles Frémont] | *[http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/ngf/fremont.htm The Generals of the American Civil War - Pictures of John Charles Frémont] | ||
*[http://www.archive.org/details/memoirsofmylifei00frrich ''Memoirs of my life : including in the narrative five journeys of western explorations during the years 1842, 1843-4, 1845-6-7, 1848-9, 1853-4'' by John c. Fremont] | *[http://www.archive.org/details/memoirsofmylifei00frrich ''Memoirs of my life : including in the narrative five journeys of western explorations during the years 1842, 1843-4, 1845-6-7, 1848-9, 1853-4'' by John c. Fremont] | ||
*[http://www.archive.org/details/addressofwelcome00gibsrich ''Address of welcome to General John C. Fremont, governor of Arizona territory, upon the occasion of his reception by his associates of the Association Pioneers of the Territorial Days of California, at their headquarters, Sturtevant House, New York, on ... August 1st, 1878''] | *[http://www.archive.org/details/addressofwelcome00gibsrich ''Address of welcome to General John C. Fremont, governor of Arizona territory, upon the occasion of his reception by his associates of the Association Pioneers of the Territorial Days of California, at their headquarters, Sturtevant House, New York, on ... August 1st, 1878''] | ||
| − | |||
{{start box}} | {{start box}} | ||
{{U.S. Senator box|state=California|class=1|before=None|after=[[John B. Weller]]|alongside=[[William M. Gwin]]|years=1850–1851}} | {{U.S. Senator box|state=California|class=1|before=None|after=[[John B. Weller]]|alongside=[[William M. Gwin]]|years=1850–1851}} | ||
| − | {{succession box|title=[[Governors of Arizona Territory|Governor of Arizona Territory]]|before=[[John Philo Hoyt]]|after=[[John Jay Gosper]]|years= | + | {{succession box|title=[[Governors of Arizona Territory|Governor of Arizona Territory]]|before=[[John Philo Hoyt]]|after=[[John Jay Gosper]]|years=1878–1881}} |
{{end box}} | {{end box}} | ||
Revision as of 23:04, 15 June 2007
| John Charles Frémont | |
 Military Governor of California | |
| In office 1847 – 1847 | |
| Succeeded by | Robert F. Stockton |
|---|---|
Senior Senator, California
| |
| In office September 9, 1850 – March 3, 1851 | |
| Succeeded by | John B. Weller |
| Born | |
| Political party | Democrat, Republican |
| Spouse | Jessie Benton Frémont |
| Profession | Politician |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813 – July 13, 1890), was an American military officer, explorer, the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States, and the first Presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform in opposition to slavery. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the epithet The Pathfinder, which remains in use, sometimes as "The Great Pathfinder".[1][2]
Biography
Frémont was born in Savannah, Georgia. His ancestry is disputed by historians. According to the 1902 genealogy of the Frémont family, he was the son of Anne Beverley Whiting, a prominent Virginia society woman, who after his birth, married Louis-René Frémont, a penniless French refugee, in Norfolk on May 14, 1807.[3] Louis-René Frémont was the son of Jean-Louis Frémont, a Québec City merchant, who was the immigrant son of Charles-Louis Frémont from Saint Germain en Laye near Paris. H.W. Brands, however, in his biography of Andrew Jackson,[4] states that Fremont was the son of Anne and Charles Fremon, and that Fremont added the accented "e" and the "t" to his name later in life. Many confirm he was in fact illegitimate, a social handicap he overcame by marrying Jessie Benton, the favorite daughter of the very influential senator and slave owner from Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858).
Benton, Democratic Party leader for over 30 years in the Senate, championed the expansionist movement, a political cause that became known as "Manifest Destiny." The expansionists believed that the North American continent, from one end to the other, should belong to the citizens of the United States, and that getting those lands was the country’s destiny. This movement became a crusade for politicians like Benton, and in his new son-in-law, making a name for himself as a western topographer, he saw in Frémont a great political asset. Benton was soon pushing through Congress appropriations of money to be used for surveys of the Oregon Trail (1842), Oregon Territory (1844), and the Great Basin and Sierra Mountains to California (1845). Through his power and influence, Benton got Frémont the leadership of these expeditions.
Frémont's great-grandfather, Henry Whiting, was a half-brother of Catherine Whiting who married John Washington, uncle of George Washington.[5][6][7]
Expeditions
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Frémont assisted and led multiple surveying expeditions through the western territory of the United States. In 1838 and 1839 he assisted Joseph Nicollet in exploring the lands between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and in 1841, with training from Nicollet, he mapped portions of the Des Moines River.
Frémont first met American frontiersman Kit Carson on a Missouri River steamboat in St. Louis, Missouri during the summer of 1842. Frémont was preparing to lead his first expedition and was looking for a guide to take him to South Pass. The two men made acquaintance, and Carson offered his services, as he had spent much time in the area. The five-month journey, made with 25 men, was a success, and Fremont's report was published by the U.S. Congress. The Frémont report "touched off a wave of wagon caravans filled with hopeful emigrants" heading west.
From 1842 to 1846, Frémont and his guide Carson led expedition parties on the Oregon Trail and into the Sierra Nevada. During his expeditions in the Sierra Nevada, it is generally acknowledged that Frémont became the first European American to view Lake Tahoe. He is also credited with determining that the Great Basin had no outlet to the sea. He also mapped volcanoes such as Mount St. Helens.
Third expedition
On June 1 1845 John Frémont and 55 men left St. Louis, with Carson as guide, on the third expedition. The stated goal was to "map the source of the Arkansas River," on the east side of the Rocky Mountains. But upon reaching the Arkansas, Frémont suddenly made a hasty trail straight to California, without explanation. Arriving in the Sacramento Valley in early winter 1846, he promptly sought to stir up patriotic enthusiasm among the American settlers there. He promised that if war with Mexico started, his military force would "be there to protect them." Frémont nearly provoked a battle with General José Castro near Monterey, which would have likely resulted in the annilation of Frémont's group, due to the superior numbers of the Mexican troops. Frémont then fled Mexican-controlled California, and went north to Oregon, finding camp at Klamath Lake.
Following a May 9 1846, Modoc Indian attack on his expedition party, Frémont chose to attack a Klamath Indian fishing village named Dokdokwas, at the junction of the Williamson River and Klamath Lake, which took place May 10 1846. The action completely destroyed the village, and involved the massacre of women and children. After the burning of the village, Carson was nearly killed by a Klamath warrior later that day: his gun misfired, and the warrior drew to fire a poison arrow; but Frémont, seeing Carson's predicament, trampled the warrior with his horse. Carson stated felt that he owed Frémont his life due to this incident.
On June 28 1846, Frémont intercepted three Mexican men crossing the San Francisco Bay and landing near San Quentin. Frémont provided Carson with indirect and ambiguous orders to execute the three innocent men in revenge for the deaths of the two Americans, which Carson promptly carried out. Carson at first asked Fremont if he should take the men prisoner. Frémont's plan was otherwise: "I have no use for prisoners, do your duty," was the response. When Carson hesitated Frémont yelled, "Mr. Carson, your duty," to which Carson then complied by murdering Jose R. Berreyesa and his newphews, Ramon and Fransciso De Haro, the nineteen-year-old twin sons of Francisco De Haro, the first Alcalde of San Francisco, near present-day San Rafael.[8] The murder of these popular Californianos hindered Frémont's political career and prevented him from being the first American governor of California, a post he coveted. Writing about the murders a half-century later, the historian Robert A. Thompsen noted, "Californians cannot speak of it down to this day without intense feeling."[9]
Mexican-American War
In 1846, Frémont was also Lieutenant Colonel of the U.S. Mounted Rifles (a predecessor of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment). In late 1846 Frémont, acting under orders from Commodore Robert F. Stockton, led a military expedition of 300 men to capture Santa Barbara, California, during the Mexican-American War. Frémont led his unit over the Santa Ynez Mountains at San Marcos Pass and captured the Presidio, and the town. Mexican General Pico, recognizing that the war was lost, later surrendered to him rather than incur casualties.
On January 16 1847, Commodore Stockton appointed Frémont military governor of California following the Treaty of Cahuenga, which ended the Mexican-American War in California. However, U.S. Army general Stephen Watts Kearny, who outranked Frémont and believed that he was the legitimate governor, arrested Frémont and brought him to Washington, D.C., where he was convicted of mutiny. President James Polk quickly pardoned him in light of his service in the war.
U.S. Senator
Frémont served from 1850 to 1851 as one of the first pair of Senators from California. In 1856, the new Republican Party nominated him as their first presidential candidate. He lost to James Buchanan, though he did surpass the American Party candidate, Millard Fillmore. Frémont lost California in the Electoral College.
Civil War
Frémont later served as a major general in the American Civil War and served a controversial term as commander of the Army's Department of the West from May to November 1861.
Frémont replaced William S. Harney who had negotiated the Harney-Price Truce which permitted Missouri to remain neutral in the conflict as long as it did not send men or supplies to either side.
Frémont ordered his General Nathaniel Lyon to formally bring Missouri into the Union cause. Lyon had been named the temporary commander of the Department of the West to succeed Harney before Frémont ultimately replaced Lyon. Lyon, in a series of battles, evicted Governor Claiborne Jackson and installed a pro-Union government. After Lyon was killed in the Battle of Wilson's Creek in August, Frémont imposed martial law in the state, confiscating private property of secessionists and emancipating the state's slaves.
Abraham Lincoln, fearing the order would tip Missouri (and other slave states in Union control) to the southern cause, asked Frémont to revise the order. Frémont refused and sent his wife to plead the case. Lincoln responded by revoking the proclamation and relieving Frémont of command on November 2, 1861. In March 1862, Frémont was re-appointed to a different post (in West Virginia), but lost several battles to Stonewall Jackson and was relieved at his own request when ordered to serve under General John Pope.[10]
Frémont took on the thirteen-year-old Jesse Shepard as his page, a role he filled for two years, until 1863. It is claimed that he chose Jesse to be his page for a love relationship because the boy was queer, and the two were constantly together, the boy displaying a great affection for Frémont.[11]
Radical Republicans
Frémont was briefly the 1864 candidate of the Radical Republicans, a group of hard-line Republican abolitionists upset with Lincoln's position toward both the issues of slavery and post-war reconciliation with the southern states. This 1864 fracturing of the Republican Party splintered off into two new political parties: the anti-Lincoln Radical Republicans (convening in Cleveland starting on May 31 1864) nominating Frémont, the Republicans' first standard-bearer from 1856, and; the political collaboration between pro-Lincoln Republicans and Democrats to form a new National Union Party (in convention in Baltimore during the first week in June 1864 Presidential Election) in order to accommodate War Democrats who wished to separate themselves from the Copperheads.
Coincidentally, this creation of the National Union Party is the main reason why War Democrat Andrew Johnson was selected to be the Vice Presidential nominee. The former republicans who supported Lincoln also hoped that the new party would stress the national character of the war.
The Frémont-Radical Republicans political campaign was abandoned in September 1864 immediately after Frémont brokered a political deal with National Union Party candidate Lincoln to remove U.S. Posmaster General Montgomery Blair from his appointed federal office.
Later life
The state of Missouri took possession of the Pacific Railroad in February 1866 when the company defaulted in its interest payment, and in June 1866, the state, at private sale, sold the road to Frémont. Frémont reorganized the assets of the Pacific Railroad as the Southwest Pacific Railroad in August 1866, which in less than a year (June 1867) were repossessed by the state of Missouri when Frémont was unable to pay the second installment on his purchase price.[12].
From 1878 to 1881, Frémont was the appointed governor of the Arizona Territory. The family eventually had to live off the publication earnings of wife Jessie. Frémont died in 1890 a forgotten man, of peritonitis in a hotel in New York City and is buried in Rockland Cemetery, Sparkill, New York.[13]
Legacy
Frémont collected a number of plants on his expeditions, including the first recorded discovery of the Single-leaf Pinyon by a European American. The standard botanical author abbreviation Frém. is applied to plants he described. The California Flannelbush, Fremontodendron californicum, is named for him.
Many places are named for Frémont. Four U.S. states named counties in his honor: Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, and Wyoming. Several states also named cities after him, such as California, Michigan, Nebraska, and New Hampshire. Likewise, Fremont Peak in the Wind River Mountains and Fremont Peak in Monterey County, California are also named for the explorer. The Fremont River, a tributary of the Colorado River in southern Utah, was named after Frémont, and in turn, the prehistoric Fremont culture was named after the river—the first archaeological sites of this culture were discovered near its course.
A barbershop chorus in Fremont, Nebraska is named The Fremont Pathfinders in homage to the explorer,[14] as is the Fremont Pathfinders Artillery Battery,[15] an American Civil War reenactment group from the same community.
Fremont Street in Las Vegas, Nevada is named in his honor, as are streets in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kiel, Wisconsin, Manhattan, Kansas, Portland, Oregon, the California cities of Monterey, Seaside, Stockton and San Francisco, and the Grant City section of Staten Island, New York. Portland also has several other locations named after Frémont, such as Fremont Bridge. Other places named for him include John C. Fremont Senior High School in Los Angeles and Oakland, California and the John C. Fremont Branch Library, located on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California, and a John C. Fremont Junior High School in Mesa, Arizona, and one in Oxnard, California. Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, California is named for him and its annual yearbook is called The Pathfinder. In addition, the John C. Fremont Hospital, in Mariposa, California—where Fremont and his wife lived and prospered during the Gold Rush—is named for him.
In James Michener's novel Space, much of the action occurs in the fictional state of "Frémont," and several of the novel's main characters are natives of this state. The novel's endpapers include a map of the United States that shows the precise borders of Michener's fictional Frémont, but necessarily omits the borders of the neighboring states. The fictional Frémont's location roughly corresponds to our world's Nebraska.
The U.S. Army's (now inactive) 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized) is called the Pathfinder Division, after John Frémont. The gold arrow on the 8th ID crest is called the "Arrow of General Frémont."
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Adams, Dennis. "The Man for Whom Fort Fremont was Named". Beaufort County (SC) Library. URL retrieved on February 1, 2007.
- ↑ John Charles Fremont. Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum. Biographies. URL retrieved on February 19, 2007.
- ↑ Roy, Pierre-Georges. La famille Frémont, Lévis, 1902. p. 84.
- ↑ Brands, H.W. Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times, Doubleday, 2005. p. 190.
- ↑ Robert H. Wynn, "John Charles Fremont, Explorer!", 'Bob and Brenda Exploring' Newsletter, March 2006, Issue No. 16. URL retrieved on January 7, 2007.
- ↑ "The Diaries of George Washington", Vol. 2, 1976. The George Washington Papers, The Library of Congress. URL retrieved on January 7, 2007.
- ↑ Geneological convolution, RootsWeb. URL retrieved on January 7, 2007.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "San Francisco History: The Beginnings of San Francisco, Appendix D". San Francisco Genealogy. URL retrieved on January 24, 2007.
- ↑ Thompsen Robert A. (1905) History of Calfiornia, Vol. 5. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 174-75.
- ↑ http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/ung_f.html U.S. Civil War Generals - Union Generals -(Frémont)]
- ↑ Charley Shively, Drum Beat: Walt Whitman's Civil War Boy Lovers, pp.47-48, ISBN 0940567067; see quotations at Shepard talk page
- ↑ 100 Years of Service (1960). Retrieved 2006-04-20.
- ↑ John Charles Fremont. Find A Grave (2001-01-01). Retrieved 2007-05-29.
- ↑ The History of the Fremont Pathfinders. Barbershop Chorus. URL retrieved on February 19, 2007.
- ↑ History of the Pathfinders. Fremont Pathfinders Artillery Battery. URL retrieved on February 19, 2007.
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- Nevins, Allan. Fremont: Pathmarker of the West, Volume 1: Fremont the Explorer; Volume 2: Fremont in the Civil War (1939, rev ed. 1955)
Further reading
- Harvey, Miles, The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime, Random House, 2000, ISBN 0375501517, ISBN 0767908260.
- Brandon, William, The Men and the Mountain (1955) ISBN 0-8371-5873-7. An account of Frémont's failed fourth expedition.
- David H. Miller and Mark J. Stegmaier, James F. Milligan: His Journal of Fremont's Fifth Expedition, 1853-1854; His Adventurous Life on Land and Sea, Arthur H. Clark Co., 1988. 300 pp.
- NY Times, Harper's Weekly political cartoon, "That's What's the Trouble with John C."; Fremont's 1864 challenge to Lincoln's re-nomination. [1]
- Chaffin, Tom, "Pathfinder: John Charles Frémont and the Course of American Empire," New York: Hill and Wang, 2002 ISBN 0809075571 ISBN 978-0809075577
External links
- Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: John C. Frémont
- Crossing the Sierra Nevada 1844
- The Generals of the American Civil War - Pictures of John Charles Frémont
- Memoirs of my life : including in the narrative five journeys of western explorations during the years 1842, 1843-4, 1845-6-7, 1848-9, 1853-4 by John c. Fremont
- Address of welcome to General John C. Fremont, governor of Arizona territory, upon the occasion of his reception by his associates of the Association Pioneers of the Territorial Days of California, at their headquarters, Sturtevant House, New York, on ... August 1st, 1878
| Preceded by: None |
United States Senator (Class 1) from California 1850–1851 |
Succeeded by: John B. Weller |
| Preceded by: John Philo Hoyt |
Governor of Arizona Territory 1878–1881 |
Succeeded by: John Jay Gosper |
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