Fremont, John Charles
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
John Charles (1813-1890), an American soldier. He was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and was educated at Charleston, South Carolina . He served in the United States navy, then obtained a position in the United States corps of topographical engineers. He married Jessie Benton, daughter of the celebrated Senator Benton of Missouri. As a commanding engineer in the service of the United States, he conducted a number of exploring expeditions in the then unknown region of the Rocky Mountains . He crossed the continent no less than five times, discovering the passes now traversed by railroads and noting sites desirable for military posts. In 1844-5 he explored the region of Utah. In 1846 he cooperated with Commodore Stockton in the conquest of California. In 1848 he explored a route from Santa Fe to Sacramento. These various expeditions made him famous as "the Pathfinder." His name has been perpetuated in various cities and counties of the West. Despite his Southern birth and education, he was an ardent anti-slavery man. In 1856 the newly formed Republican party made him its first candidate for the presidency. In 1861 he commanded in Missouri. He exceeded his instructions by freeing slaves prematurely, and was, by order of President Lincoln, removed from his command. Now that slavery is a dead issue in the South as well as the North, it is not wise to revive memories of the period of conflict. The following words from Whittier, written at a time of intense feeling on both sides, give a glimpse, however, of the sentiment among the anti-slavery people of New England : Thy error, Fremont, simply was to act A brave man's part, without the statesman's tact, And, taking counsel but of common sense, To strike the cause, as well as consequence. See Carson
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's Encyclopedia of 1910 places Frémont's birth at Norfolk, Virginia; he was in fact born at Savannah, Georgia, in 1813, and the Norfolk error has long since dropped out of reference works. The nickname "the Pathfinder" has also worn thin: historians now stress that most of the passes he mapped were already known to trappers and to guides such as Kit Carson and Thomas Fitzpatrick, and that Frémont's real gift was publicity, his reports (largely written with his wife Jessie Benton Frémont) selling the West to a reading public. Where the 1910 text urges that with slavery "a dead issue" it is "not wise to revive memories" of the conflict, modern accounts do the opposite and put his unauthorised Missouri emancipation order of August 1861 at the centre of his career, as a forerunner of Lincoln's own proclamation sixteen months later. Two episodes the entry passes over are now standard: his 1847–48 court-martial for mutiny and disobedience, the sentence remitted by President Polk, and the killings of Klamath, Sacramento Valley and other Native people by his parties in 1846, which are treated today as massacres.
Written for this edition, 2026.