Ann Godoff, my wise and patient publisher, worked with me to shape this book in 2016, and hardly had I signed a contract to complete it when I wondered if the project was a mistake. The destructive politics of the time made it hard to focus on history, especially as I was covering the news as a journalist. Occasionally I asked myself how I could find time to finish and even why I should bother. “Hell,” a Pennsylvania voter told me in 2017, “if we’re still alive next year at this time, I’d be surprised.” But the next year we were still alive, and I had time to recall that the history I was writing and the news I was covering were part of the same story. The debates that perplex us build on our shared and living past; human patterns of thought and action persist, though we change the names of our obsessions. Modern leaders copy the political techniques of our forebears and justify their actions by citing bits of American history, real or imagined. If it is vital for journalists to paint a true picture of the country as it is, then it is equally vital for historians to paint a true picture of the country as it was.
Notes
JCF = John Charles Frémont; JBF = Jessie Benton Frémont; LOC = Library of Congress
Some documents that were reviewed in archives for this book are more easily accessible in The Expeditions of John C. Frémont or The Letters of Jessie Benton Frémont. In such cases the Expeditions or the Letters are cited.
EPIGRAPH
It would hardly do to tell the whole truth about everything: JBF, A Year of American Travel, 44.
INTRODUCTION
Arriving on a steamboat from the east on May 30: Theodore Talbot to Adelaide Talbot, May 30, 1845, Hine and Lotttinville, eds., Soldier in the West, 10.
“He was assailed”: Ibid.
“hid himself in some French house down the City”: Theodore Talbot to Adelaide Talbot, June 1, 1845, ibid., 11.
“Captain Frémont Did Not Stay Here”: Ibid.
“You ought to have witnessed . . . strength and vigilance”: Theodore Talbot to Adelaide Talbot, June 4, 1845, ibid. 11–2.
“This is the strongest manifestation . . . yet witnessed”: St. Louis Daily New Era, June 3, 1845, reprinted in Washington Union, June 12, 1845.
“the Columbus of our central wildernesses”: Taylor, Prose Writings of Bayard Taylor, 69.
three most important historical figures since Jesus Christ: James Rhoads, “Colonel Frémont,” Sartain’s Union Magazine of Literature and Art 7 (October 1850): 241.
350,000 people attended a long-running stage show: Spence, “David Hoffman.”
“our manifest destiny . . . multiplying millions”: John L. O’Sullivan, “Statue to Jackson,” United States Magazine and Democratic Review (July–August 1845): 5.
“famed as Yankee Hill”: Maura L. Jortner, “Playing ‘America’ on Nineteenth-Century Stages; or, Jonathan in England and Jonathan at Home” (PhD diss., University of Pittsburgh, 2005).
worked the phrase into his popular stand-up routine: Newspapers in late 1845 and early 1846 showed him in New York; Washington; Wilmington, North Carolina; and back to multiple theaters in New York.
“a clean fight . . . It is our ‘manifest destiny’ . . . whar’s the enemy?”: “Yankee Hill for Oregon,” American Republican, January 16, 1846.
“I thought . . . the better man of the two”: Crosby, Memoirs of Elisha Oscar Crosby, 35.
“Madam Frémont! . . . Give us Jessie!”: Abbott, Reminiscences, 108–9.
she could have been elected queen: New York Evening Mirror, reprinted in Frederick Douglass’ Paper, January 18, 1856.
“You are quite a female politician”: JBF and F. P. Frémont, Great Events in the Life of Major General John C. Frémont, 271.
The cultural elites of Europe celebrated writers and artists: Inglis, A Short History of Celebrity, 37–73.
“a transcontinental railroad . . . Asiatic races”: JCF to Snyder, December 15, 1849. Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3.
eight thousand workers, mostly women . . . fifty-eight million yards of cloth: “Lowell,” New York Tribune, January 1, 1842.
ginseng . . . and lead . . . shipped to China in exchange for porcelain and tea: In 1842 about $1 million in ginseng was shipped to China, and $250,000 in Missouri lead: “China—Western Products,” New York Tribune, January 9, 1843. The ginseng-for-tea trade dated back at least to 1784, just after U.S. independence from Britain made it possible: Swift, Hodgkinson, and Woodhouse, “The Voyage of the Empress of China,” 25.
a revolution in communications: Daniel Walker Howe, in What Hath God Wrought, argues that this was the single most important development of the era.
“a new species of consciousness . . . distant city”: “Correspondence of the Herald,” New York Herald, May 30, 1844.
1.95 million pounds of cotton: “Lowell,” New York Tribune, January 1, 1842.
CHAPTER ONE: AID ME WITH YOUR INFLUENCE
“French and Dancing Academy”: Fremon advertised in The Republican, and Savannah Evening Ledger, November 28, 1811.
Hannah . . . “redish complexion”: “Fifteen Dollars Reward,” Republican, and Savannah Evening Ledger, April 23, 1812.
the maid tried to follow her own heart, and escaped: Fremon placed an ad offering a $15 reward for her return. Ibid.
returned . . . and was on hand: Jackson and Spence, Expeditions, vol. 1, xxiv.
Virginia refused to grant a divorce: Nevins, Fremont: Pathmarker of the West, 8.
another French and dancing school: “French and Dancing Academy,” Nashville Examiner, October 20, 1813, p. 6. Family legend holds that the little family was actually in a Nashville hotel when Thomas Hart Benton and Andrew Jackson fought a gun battle there on September 4, but this is improbable. It seems unlikely that the family would have reached Nashville by September 4, given that the cash-strapped Fremon made no known arrangements to resume his dance and language instruction until six weeks later.
Charles Fremon died around 1818: Bigelow, Memoir of the Life and Public Services of John Charles Fremont, 22.
He did not speak of his father: His 655-page autobiography, which included brief references to his mother, contained no mention of his father at all.
J. Charles Fremont: Jackson and Spence, Expeditions, vol. 1, xxiv.
Charles Fremont or . . . C.J. Fremont: Attendance records, College of Charleston Archives, 1785–1970, Special Collections, College of Charleston.
Not until his twenties did he add an accent mark: Jackson and Spence, Expeditions, vol. 1, xxxviii.
his mother moved the family to Charleston: They arrived around the time John was ten, according to a chronology of Frémont’s life, “Chronological Table of Frémont’s Life,” New York Times, July 21, 1856.
“go and feel the freedom . . . face of the ocean”: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 30.
Liverpool or Boston: Advertised in City Gazette and Commercial Advertiser, April 5, 1832.
steamer coming up the coast from Savannah: Ibid.
he interrupted his education: Nevins, Fremont: Pathmarker of the West, 12.
for a lawyer, serving subpoenas: A sworn statement signed by “J. Charles Frémont” relating to one batch of subpoenas is reprinted in Jackson and Spence, Expeditions, vol. 1, xxiv.
“middle size, graceful in manners, rather slender . . . forehead”: Nevins, Fremont: Pathmarker of the West, 13.
cornerstone having been laid just three years earlier: Easterby, History of the College of Charleston, 78.
its roof leaked: Chaddock and Matalene, College of Charleston Voices, 26.
three thousand books . . . record high of sixty-two: Easterby, History of the College of Charleston, 81.
Adams . . . from Brown University: Ibid., 74.
“Extract from Mr. Crafts’ Oration, 4th July 1812”: “Order of Exercises, at the Exhibition of the Charleston College, This Day,” Charleston Courier, April 10, 1829.
“This country appears to have been created . . . residence of freemen”: Crafts, An Oration, Delivered in St. Michael’s Church, 5–6.
“teaching in the country by permission”: Attendance records, College of Charleston Archives.
sometimes vanishing for a week: Ibid. Also Frémont obituary, including remarks of a classmate, reprinted in Chaddock and Matalene, College of Charleston Voices, 28.
“The whole course . . . frequent absences!”: Attendance records, College of Charleston Archives.
gave him “frequent reprimands”: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 19.
his friends were mystified: “None of us knew how he spent his time,” said a classmate in an obituary, reprinted in Chaddock and Matalene, College of Charleston Voices, 28. The same classmate passed on a rumor that John “belonged to a Thespian club” that performed in a park; here it seems likely the classmate confused quiet and reserved John for John’s brother, who became an actor.
knew his students well and sometimes visited their parents: So Adams said in an unpublished memoir, quoted in Chaddock and Matalene, College of Charleston Voices, 25.
“C.J. Fremont . . . incorrigible negligence”: Attendance records, College of Charleston Archives.
“I knew that I was a transgressor . . . the broken career”: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 19.
“passionately in love”: Ibid.
house on a Charleston street corner: Ibid., 20.
“little circle of sworn friends”: Ibid.
Drunken Dick, a hazardous shoal on which ships sometimes foundered: JCF describes the incident in his Memoirs of My Life, p. 20. One shipwreck on Drunken Dick Shoal in 1848 is recorded in Dawson and DeSaussure, Census of the City of Charleston, 89.
allowing them to flee when the grandmother approached: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 20.
“This is an autobiography . . . my whole life”: Ibid., 20–21.
“clear brunette . . . large dark eyes and abundant blue-black hair”: Ibid., 20.
the same “brunette complexions”: Ibid.
“clear ruddy skin”: The biographer is Allan Nevins, who cites no source for Cecilia’s altered skin tone (Fremont: Pathmarker of the West, 16).
people of all racial identities had to flee: Gillikin, in Saint Dominguan Refugees in Charleston, details many years of events that produced refugees, and reports, “Saint Domingue’s refugees, unlike many other immigrant groups, were diverse in terms of race, economics, and even political ideology” (13).
minor teaching jobs: He’d been elected a teacher of the “Charleston Apprentices’ Library Society” (Charleston Courier, November 3, 1830); and in 1832, “Messrs. Wotton and Fremont” were teaching at a “Male and Female Seminary” in subjects including French (Charleston Courier, November 5, 1832).
“beautifully clear maps . . . of astronomical calculations”: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 21.
“men who had made themselves famous . . . base acts”: Ibid.
Poinsett attended the same church: Nevins, Fremont: Pathmarker of the West, 19.
served as a trustee: Easterby, History of the College of Charleston, 88.
Poinsett was a Unionist: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 63–64.
“states-rights ball” . . . “Disunion Drama”: Hunt, “South Carolina During the Nullification Struggle.”
“beyond patient endurance . . . mad-houses”: Ibid., 242.
Northern and western states were gaining far more rapidly . . . losing power: Crouthamel, “Tocqueville’s South,” 390.
“saw the dark spot on the sun”: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 63.
a waste of Fremont’s talent: JCF said he got the job “by [Poinsett’s] aid, but not with his approval.” Ibid., 22.
Lieutenant David G. Farragut: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 22; also Mahan, Admiral Farragut, 73.
10–11 “Professor of Mathematics in the Navy”: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 23.
“Your kindness . . . Your Ob’t Servt J. Charles Fremont”: Fremont to Poinsett, November 5, 1835, Frémont papers, Box 1, LOC.
Joel Poinsett of Charleston was among the investors: Jackson and Spence, Expeditions, vol. 1, xxix.
“The Rail Road will be built . . . five years”: Letter dated July 8, 1836, to Charleston Courier, reprinted in Cheraw Gazette, August 2, 1836.
Fremont was hired to go along: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 23.
the army officer who led: JCF identified him as W. G. Williams. JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 23.
and moving “hurriedly”: Ibid., 24.
“so stiff next morning I moved like a foundered horse”: Ibid., 25.
“many of their farms . . . remote frontier”: Ibid.
“wise and humane”: Ibid., 24.
“There has been no continuous effective policy . . . white man”: Ibid., 27.
“this accident of employment . . . way for myself”: Ibid.
Elizabeth, had died in her teens: Chaffin, Pathfinder, 28.
his brother, Frank, had left Charleston: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 21.
a career in the theater: Chaffin, Pathfinder, 28.
appointed second lieutenant: “Army Order,” National Intelligencer, February 19, 1839. The formal date of his appointment was July 7, although he had gone west to take up his duties earlier.
Captain Robert E. Lee: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 31.
“delightful . . . sole object of his existence”: Fremont to Joel R. Poinsett, June 8, 1838, Jackson and Spence, Expeditions, vol. 1, 12.
a new start after going bankrupt: Bray, Joseph Nicollet and His Map, 41–43.
five by seven inches or smaller: The notebooks can be found in the Joseph Nicollet papers, Boxes 3 and 4, LOC.
“Departed Traverse . . . heat is overwhelming”: Ibid., Box 3.
“the beautiful lawns we are crossing”: Ibid.
river resembled a little snake on his page: Several such drawings are in the Nicollet notebooks, ibid.
stepped into the blackened area: JCF, Memoirs of My Life, 38.
“was an event on which . . . such a proof”: Ibid., 41.
the map projection, which was blank: Ibid., 64.
“She was just then in the bloom . . . I was attracted”: Ibid., 66.
CHAPTER TWO: THE EQUAL MERITS OF DIFFERING PEOPLES
May 27, when Congress adjourned: 42 Annals of Cong. 790 (1824).
he was hoping this time for a son: Herr, Jessie Benton Frémont, 9.
purple, with chinchilla trim: JBF, Memoir, 1.
“It’s a little girl who cries, ‘Hurrah for Jackson!’”: Ibid., 3.
“Catching me up . . . made us one?”: Ibid.
“My father gave me early the place a son would have had”: JBF, A Year of American Travel, 44.
“Especially he liked autumn shooting”: Ibid., 41.
“I stuck to him . . . limp warm thing”: JBF, Memoir, 25–26.
Foreign Book Store . . . “very little worn”: Bookstore and chariot were advertised in the National Intelligencer, May 27, 1824.
he would deposit her at the Library of Congress: JBF, Memoir, 31–32.
“where the tall south windows . . . large wood-fire”: Ibid., 88–89.
“sadness and loneliness”: Ibid., 89.
“I was to keep still . . . unconscious grip”: Ibid., 88.
slept with the windows open: JBF, Memoir, 35.
he left behind a trail of notes: Two examples, undated, to the editor of the Missouri Gazette are in the Thomas Hart Benton Papers, LOC.
“almost as a reproach . . . friends and relations”: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 131.
In 1832 . . . the family made one of its journeys . . . to St. Louis: Jessie’s account of this journey does not name the year, but it says that in St. Louis she saw Washington Irving, who visited in 1832. JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 135.
In 18
00 . . . six weeks . . . under three: Pred, Urban Growth and the Circulation of Information, 176–77.
a “reserved” stagecoach: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 132.
there were five now: One more sister would later arrive to make six, but James, the infant, lived only to the age of four. Jessie later wrote of herself as one of five siblings. Herr, Jessie Benton Frémont, 10.
“the four eager horses dash away . . . cheered them off”: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 133.
The rising facade of a cathedral under construction: The cornerstone had been laid around 1831; Moore notes it was completed by 1834. Robert Moore, “Lewis and Clark Post-expedition,” National Park Service, undated paper, 3.
lined by locust trees . . . city block amid more locusts: JBF, A Year of American Travel, 35; Souvenirs of My Time, 143.
liked to sit on an upholstered sofa: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 143–4.
“kaleidoscopic variety of figures . . . each could be right”: Ibid., 32–3.
only 4,977 inhabitants: “Population of the 90 Urban Places: 1830,” US Bureau of the Census, June 15, 1998.
less than a square mile: Robert E. Lee’s map of St. Louis showed about a mile of waterfront, and a street grid extending, at most, eight blocks inland, considerably less than a mile. Robert E. Lee, Montgomery C. Meigs, H. Kayser, J. S. Morehead, Maskell C. Ewing, and William James Stone, “Map of the Harbor of St. Louis, Mississippi River, Oct. 1837,” US Army Corps of Engineers, 1837.
borrowed money . . . Pierre Chouteau Jr.: Chambers, Old Bullion Benton, 263.
“St. Louis . . . accosting each other in the street”: William P. Trent and George S. Hellman, eds., The Journals of Washington Irving, 112.
he had freed several slaves, including York: Ibid.
known as his “Indian museum”: Moore, “Lewis and Clark Post-expedition,” 10.
“profuse and almost gorgeous display . . . horns, and bird skins”: Ibid., 11.
“a war dance . . . threw me into a panic. . . . A tall strong kind-faced young officer . . . comforted me”: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 135–6.
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