“Mr. Frémont has had heavy losses in his gold experiments”: JBF to Francis Blair, August 14, 1851, Herr and Spence, Letters, 47.
“Will you please write to Mr. Hoffman . . . a myth”: JBF to Charles F. Mayer, August 1, 1851, ibid., 44.
cast suspicion on one another: Hoffman sent Frémont a news clipping in which one agent, Thomas Denny Sargent, took out an advertisement saying Hoffman’s leases after a certain date were “void” and “fraudulent.” Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 289.
“I have not been injured in body or mind”: Ibid., 85.
anyone with a British accent was suspected of being a convict: JBF and F. P. Frémont, Great Events in the Life of Major General John C. Frémont, 156.
“said to be a Sydney man”: “Arrest of a Robber!” Alta California, June 11, 1851, 2.
“pretty severe drubbing”: Ibid.
“Committee of Vigilance” . . . “a dozen willing hands”: Ibid.
“immediately ran him up”: Ibid.
“swinging in the night air”: Ibid.
“I was present when a man was hung” . . . “hold of the rope”: “Coroner’s Inquest,” Alta California, June 13, 1851.
“I know that the sympathy . . . dear little boy”: JBF to Evey Heap, March 14, 1851. Herr and Spence, Letters, 41.
Flames shot out of the windows of Baker and Messerve: “The Fire of Yesterday,” Alta California, May 5, 1851, 2.
“Who could see the end?” . . . “raged and roared”: JBF and F. P. Frémont, Great Events in the Life of Major General John C. Frémont, 156–57.
saved one million dollars’ . . . by throwing it down a well: “The Fire of Yesterday,” Alta California, May 5.
“burned like a furnace . . . headlong into the street”: “Reflections After the Event,” Alta California, May 6, 1851.
“I could not trust the man, but I did trust the child”: JBF and F. P. Frémont, Great Events in the Life of Major General John C. Frémont, 158.
“I in my turn watched from that window the burning of my home”: Ibid., 159.
English immigrants . . . build houses and a brewery: Ibid., 156.
“mirrors, china and glass . . . all our clothing”: Ibid., 160.
with “cool method”: Ibid.
“We thought money might . . . rent in advance”: Ibid.
“silver and some gold”: Ibid.
by “public ill-will”: Ibid.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ALL THE STUPID LAURELS THAT EVER GREW
“even in this month of August” . . . “this country just now”: JBF to Francis Blair, August 14, 1851, Herr and Spence, Letters, 45–46.
“be in power”: Ibid.
told it was time for their first real vacation: Phillips, Jessie Benton Frémont, 178.
neither of the Frémonts had the patience to read all that he wrote them: When she finally met Hoffman in 1852, he asked her, “Have you read [my] letter?” Jessie answered, “Oh no! It’s too long.” Hoffman to JCF, April 29, 1852, Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 355.
“The mail has this moment arrived . . . is astounded”: Hoffman to JCF, December 16, 1851, ibid., 289.
“not adapted to such business . . . business to which he is adapted”: Spence, “David Hoffman: Frémont’s Mariposa Agent in London.”
“extensive frauds were about to be perpetrated in Europe”: The Daily Stockton Journal allegations were reprinted in the New York Evening Post, February 28, 1851.
On February 1, 1852 . . . Panama: The Alta California of February 1, 1852, names John among the passengers on a ship departing San Francisco, reprinted in New York Evening Post, February, 28, 1851.
wrapped in a tablecloth and slung onto the back of a porter: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 210–11.
a ship called the Africa: Ibid., 213.
2.5 million people: Great Britain Historical Geographic Information System (GB Historical GIS), “A Vision of Britain Through Time.”
“a great relief” . . . “remove the ugly suspicions”: “Great Britain,” New York Times, April 19, 1852.
“chintz and flowers and wood fire”: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 213.
“becomes a millionaire fresh from California”: “Great Britain,” New York Times, April 19, 1852.
April 1850 to late 1851, a lecturer in London had premiered an art display on the explorations: Spence, “David Hoffman: Frémont’s Mariposa Agent in London.”
350,000 people . . . women’s publications: Ibid.
“The leaders of fashion are ever on the watch for every fresh celebrity”: “Great Britain,” New York Times, April 19, 1852.
reception of the Duchess of Derby: Ibid.
shook the hand of the aged Duke of Wellington: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 216.
leader of the Barings banking house . . . Royal Geographical Society: Ibid., 217.
dressed in a gown of pink satin with blond lace: Ibid., 218.
policemen arrested John: Herr, Jessie Benton Frémont, 228.
“sponging house” . . . “ante-room to the jail”: JCF to Thomas Hart Benton, April 13, 1852, Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 351.
“My husband is arrested” . . . “You are a great rascal” . . . “My father says so”: All dialogue is from Hoffman to JCF, April 29, 1852. Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 354–59.
“The arrest, from all accounts, was outrageous”: (New York) Evening Mirror, reprinted in State Capital Reporter (Concord, NH), May 4, 1852.
“I have reason to believe” . . . “my patriotism has been oozing out for the last five years”: JCF to Thomas Hart Benton, April 13, 1852, Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 351.
“help pay expenses”: Ibid.
“a short, thick-set man” . . . “swaggering air of pretension”: “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” National Era, June 5, 1851.
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN: Ibid.
secretly coordinated a women’s campaign in defense of Cherokee Indians: Hershberger, “Mobilizing Women, Anticipating Abolition.” 15–40.
seemed to have been loosely based on earlier works: One useful exploration of the book’s sources is found in Nichols, “The Origins of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
first edition sold out in four days: Levine, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin in Frederick Douglass’ Paper.”
“The [book] has not yet reached us” . . . “we are not surprised at the delay”: Ibid.
“rise up a host of enemies against the fearful system of slavery”: Ibid.
he traveled from Rochester to Andover, Massachusetts: Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, 247.
“as to what can be done” . . . “I am for no fancied . . . fair play”: Ibid., 247–49.
“Exodus of the Jews from Egypt”: Delany, Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, 175.
“The truth is, dear madam, we are here, and we are likely to remain”: Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, 250.
“an encouraging sign of the times”: “General Winfield Scott,” Frederick Douglass’ Paper, June 24, 1852.
“destruction is necessary to the abolition of slavery”: Ibid.
“new and powerful Northern party”: “Oath to Support the Constitution,” Frederick Douglass’ Paper, April 5, 1850.
Douglass . . . held the floor: Marshall, “The Free Democratic Convention of 1852.”
“Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men!”: Ibid.
“cordial welcome”: Ibid.
easy path to citizenship: Ibid.
“a sin against God . . . make right”: Ibid.
“I should dissolve the Union . . . a year to Congress”: JBF to Elizabeth Blair Lee, November 14, 1851, Herr and Spence, Letters, 52.
“frenzy for building and speculating in city property”: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 254.
“Give instructions . . . h
ave to perform”: Lord Dundonald to JCF, July 2, 1852, Frémont papers, LOC.
former Senate colleague: JCF to William Gwin, December 20, 1852; JCF to P. G. Washington, July 11, 1853, Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 364, 374–75.
John wrote Gwin a letter of thanks: JCF to William Gwin, December 20, 1852, ibid., 364–65.
“My counsel promised me the ratification . . . last several mails”: Ibid.
the land commission confirmed John’s title: Frémont v. United States, 58 US 17, 1854.
“Above every other consideration . . . I had been so long engaged”: JCF writing in The American Journal of Science and Arts, May 1854, reprinted in Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 381.
midnight on June 16: “Three Days Later from Europe,” New York Times, June 16, 1853.
a vast octagon: “The Crystal Palace-Plan of the Interior,” New York Times, July 15, 1853.
fifty-cent admission . . . ten-dollar season tickets: “Crystal Palace,” New York Herald, August 22, 1853.
“impossible to mistake” . . . “utilitarian characteristics”: “The Crystal Palace Opened to the Public,” New York Herald, July 16, 1853.
“Morse’s patent electric telegraph apparatus in operation”: Association for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, Official Catalogue of the New-York Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, 50.
a “printing telegraph”: Ibid.
“while we . . . that ever shadowed American soil”: “Opening of the Crystal Palace,” New York Times, July 14, 1853.
a proposal that the United States should purchase Cuba: “Cuba, Mexico, and the Spanish-American Republics,” New York Herald, August 22, 1853.
IS THE WHIG PARTY DEAD?: Ibid., 3.
“still attractive at the National . . . as full as ever”: Ibid., 4.
studio on Broadway: Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 403.
carefully coiffed hair and a fringe of beard: Carvalho portrait, LOC collection, reprinted in ibid., 374.
founding the first Reform Jewish synagogue in the United States: Elzas, The Reformed Society of Israelites of Charleston, 21.
“A half hour previously” . . . “under similar circumstances”: Carvalho, With Frémont, reprinted in Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 383.
“from freezing point to thirty degrees below zero”: Ibid., 385.
dressed like white people . . . written laws: Connelley, The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory, x, 1–3.
leading the movement to organize Nebraska Territory: Ibid., 30–32.
electing one of their own as a provisional governor: He was William Walker, identified in newspaper reports as a Wyandot of mixed race. “A St. Louis Paper,” New York Spiritual Telegraph, October 8, 1853.
opposed by men linked with Senator David Atchison: Connelley, The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory, 32.
pay the Indians two dollars per day: Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 382.
no one . . . should talk with reporters . . . keep a journal: Ibid., liv.
pain so intense that it spread to his chest, throat, and head: JBF to Elizabeth Blair Lee, October 14, 1853, Herr and Spence, Letters, 53–54.
in “undefined dread”: Ibid.
“soothed the pain” . . . “‘on his legs’”: Ibid.
report suggesting he had already abandoned it: New York Spiritual Telegraph, citing the Washington Star, October 8, 1853.
“I can’t say I am satisfied” . . . “anxieties to me”: Ibid.
“a horrid, lurid glare, all along the horizon”: Carvalho, With Frémont, reprinted in Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 410.
as “my journal”: Carvalho, undated letter, With Frémont, reprinted in ibid., 400.
“with a decayed trunk on his shoulder”: Carvalho, With Frémont, reprinted in ibid., 457.
“We generally slept double . . . weight of the snow resting on me”: Ibid., 388.
“in a voice tremulous with emotion”: Ibid., 427.
on December 14, they reached their objective: JCF to Thomas Hart Benton, February 9, 1854, Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 466.
“Col. Frémont put out his hand . . . many more miles of travel”: Carvalho, With Frémont, reprinted in Spence, ed., Expeditions, vol. 3, 455.
“occultation” . . . “for hours”: Ibid., 458.
“That is not the point” . . . “how we can do it”: Ibid.
It was February 8, 1854: Ibid., 464.
a town of about four hundred: JCF to Thomas Hart Benton, February 9, 1854, ibid., 471.
only three years old: Ibid.
“the Delawares all came in sound . . . more or less frost-bitten”: Ibid., 470.
“three beautiful children . . . restored to embrace my own”: Carvalho, With Frémont, reprinted in Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 463.
pay with drafts against Palmer, Cook and Company: Ibid., 469.
Almon Babbitt . . . secretary and treasurer of Utah Territory: John referred to him in a letter as “Mr. Babbitt, Secretary of the Territory” (JCF to Thomas Hart Benton, February 8, 1854, ibid., 469). His full name appears in various sources including Herr and Spence, Letters, 570.
“the alternative of continuing on foot”: JCF to Thomas Hart Benton, February 9, 1854, Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 468.
“mental and moral greatness” . . . “the residence of freemen”: Crafts, An Oration, Delivered in St. Michael’s Church, 5–6.
“well and so hearty that [I am] actually some 14 pounds heavier than ever before”: JCF to Alta California, April 21, 1854, Spence, Expeditions, vol. 3, 474.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: DECIDEDLY, THIS OUGHT TO BE STRUCK OUT
“In midwinter, without any reason” . . . “Frémont and his party”: JBF, Far-West Sketches, 30.
“When I have no more anxious thoughts pressing on my heart it will not ache”: JBF to Elizabeth Blair Lee, spring 1854, Herr and Spence, Letters, 58.
reported to the Senate on January 4, 1854: Senate Journal, January 4, 1854, 77.
“measure of peace and compromise”: Washington Union, January 8, 1854.
“manly, noble or independent” . . . “honors and distinction”: The Tribune article was reprinted in “The Nebraska Bill—Abolitionism,” Washington Union, January 14, 1854.
“willing to tolerate slavery” . . . “excluded”: Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, 256.
“a broad belt of heavy timber” . . . “the richest verdure”: JCF, Report of an Expedition, reprinted in Jackson and Spence, Expeditions, vol. 1, 172.
“the peace of the country”: Chambers, Old Bullion Benton, 401–2.
hiring a private express company instead: Ibid., 405.
“I am heart-sick being here” . . . “is very outspoken”: Seward, Seward at Washington 1846–61, 216–17.
“Safety had come to him . . . his previous work”: JBF and F. P. Frémont, Great Events in the Life of Major General John C. Frémont, 186.
“forget he has lots of wives”: JBF to Francis Preston Blair, April 13, 1854, Herr and Spence, Letters, 58.
Babbitt, a Democrat: Harmon, Huefner, and Young, “Almon W. Babbitt, Joseph E. Johnson, and the Western Bugle.”
“deprived of her companionship”: JBF, Year of American Travel, 43.
“How great a loss this was . . . those who knew her”: Ibid.
a “primary election”: Chambers, Old Bullion Benton, 406.
“a riot was then taking place”: “Telegraphic” news column, Washington Sentinel, August 10, 1854.
riot had started on election day: Primm, Lion of the Valley, 170.
at eleven o’clock in the morning: Benton gave the time in a card published in the Washington Union, February 28, 1855.
“standing in the crowd, looking, with others, on the blazing roof of his dwelling”: “Fire,” Washington Sentinel, February 28, 1855.
<
br /> Jessie stood with him: JBF, Souvenirs of My Time, 105.
later froze in a hose: “The Late Fire,” Washington Sentinel, March 1, 1855; JBF, “Some Account of the Plates,” in JCF, Memoirs of My Life, xxi.
a looking glass sailed out of a third-floor window: “The Destruction of Colonel Benton’s House,” Washington Sentinel, February 28, 1855.
“Neither of us had slept” . . . “can talk after a calamity”: JBF, “Some Account of the Plates,” in JCF, Memoirs of My Life, xxi.
“It is well, there is less to leave now—this has made death more easy”: Ibid.
“considerable rejoicing among the land claimants”: “Later from California,” Evening Star (Washington DC), April 24, 1855.
Mrs. Edward Carrington of Botetourt: “Mount Vernon Central Association,” Alexandria Gazette, January 27, 1855.
onetime student . . . to practice law: Miller, “VMI Men Who Wore Yankee Blue, 1861–1865.”
“indiscriminate immigration” . . . “American history and of their duties”: Jessie attributes all ideas here to John in JBF and F. P. Frémont, Great Events in the Life of Major General John C. Frémont, 192.
in the country twenty-one years: The idea had been part of nativist discourse for many years; in 1844 the publisher of the Boston Courier endorsed it in a signed editorial. “Native Americans!,” Boston Courier, October 31, 1844.
“he was a member of the Native American party”: Ibid.
“It was a serious enterprise. . . . under twenty-one years of age”: JCF, Report of an Exploring Expedition. Reprinted in Jackson and Spence, Expeditions, vol. 1, 575.
“making an offer” . . . “Democratic candidate for the Presidency”: JBF and F. P. Frémont, Great Events in the Life of Major General John C. Frémont, 193.
Entry-level members . . . were not even told the name: Desmond, The Know-Nothing Party, 46.
Order of Know-Nothings: It is said that Horace Greeley’s Tribune coined the term in December 1853, but some papers can be found that used the phrase earlier, deploying it without explanation as if it was already commonly understood; one example was the Democrat and Sentinel, September 2, 1853.
“remove all foreigners, aliens or Roman Catholics from office”: Desmond, The Know-Nothing Party, 55.
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