Frémont, John Charles (1813–1890)

John Charles Frémont was born in Savannah, Georgia, on January 31, 1813, and died in New York, New York, on July 13, 1890. Frémont was the son of Jean Charles Frémont and Anne Whiting Pryor. He was educated at various schools in Virginia and South Carolina, attended Charleston College, and taught mathematics prior to becoming a surveyor. In 1838, Frémont was appointed a second lieutenant in the United States Topographical Corps. In 1841, he married Jessie Benton, the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.

The next year, Frémont was named head of an expedition that mapped South Pass, the critical passage to the West for Overland Trail emigrants. His account of the expedition, published in 1843, further encouraged [Page 244]migration to Oregon and California. Frémont led a second expedition to Oregon in 1843 and returned to St. Louis via Sutter's Fort and the Old Spanish Trail. Frémont's exploratory exploits earned him the popular title, “the Pathfinder.” His third expedition to California in 1845 concluded with Frémont's participation in the Bear Flag Revolt, his formation of the California Battalion, and the surrender of Mexican forces at Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. Frémont's conduct during the military occupation of California involved a dispute of authority between Commodore Robert F. Stockton and General Stephen W. Kearney, resulting in a court-martial and Frémont's dismissal from the service.

He led a fourth expedition in 1848 that lost 11 men to winter's harsh realities in the San Juan Mountains, but reconstituted the party and continued on to California. There, Frémont was elected one of the state's first two senators and served from September 9, 1850, until March 4, 1851. In 1856, Frémont was the new Republican Party's first candidate for the presidency of the United States. After he lost the election to James Buchanan, Frémont moved to Mariposa, California, to pursue mining ventures.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Frémont returned to St. Louis as one of the first four major generals appointed by President Lincoln. He arrived in St. Louis as commander of the Department of the West on July 25, 1861. His theater included Tennessee, Missouri, and Kentucky. He had 30,000 raw troops. The specter of Confederates in St. Louis caused him to declare martial law on August 4, 1861, and to march troops regularly through the city streets. Frémont also sent a flurry of letters to Washington seeking supplies, worked with private parties to obtain equipment, and recruited foreign soldiers whom he formed into units bearing either the Benton or Frémont name.

Frémont's attempts at creating a military organization were haphazard. He formed Benton Cadets, a school for infantry officers, and regiments of Benton Hussars and Frémont Hussars, but did little to bring West Point–trained military officers into any training regimen. Rather, he brought Hungarian, German, and Austrian officers into an inner circle of 18 personal aides. These officers hovered around Frémont's headquarters like peacocks and gave regular army officers increased cause for complaint. Further, his chief of staff was Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, a veteran of Louis (Lajos) Kossuth's Hungarian revolt. Also part of the staff was a postal chief and musical director, all foreign-born. Part of Frémont's personnel strategy was to recruit foreign-born soldiers to obtain experience and military decorum without extensive training. He forgot, however, that all military units require the discipline of the training field.

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