Detail from portrait, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. He Lived in a TreeJohn Charles Frémont was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1813. Trained as a Topographical Engineer, he accompanied J. N. Nicollet on his 1838 mission to chart the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Frémont later commanded his own expeditions, guided usually by Kit Carson (1809-1868). In the summer of 1842 he mapped the region from Kansas City to Fremont Peak in western Wyoming. In 1843-44 his team penetrated northern Colorado, Nevada, crossed Rocky Mountains and traversed the length of California. On his third expedition, he became a prominent player in the acquisition of California during the Mexican War of 1846-48.Frémont was a political casualty in the quarrel between Commodore R.F. Stockton and General Stephen Kearny. Kearny had arrived relatively late on the California scene with Presidential orders to establish a civil government with himself as its leader. Appointed by Stockton to be military governor of California in 1847, Frémont was arrested by Kearny for mutiny and insubordination. He was court-martialed at Washington and convicted in January 1848. The penalty was remitted by President Polk but, proud and injured, Frémont resigned from army. He later led winter expeditions to locate passes for a southern railway route to California (1848-49, 1853-54). He was one of the first two U.S. senators from California (1850-51). In 1856, he became the first Republican presidential candidate, and lost the election to James Buchanan. At the outbreak of Civil War, he was appointed major general commanding the Department of the West, with headquarters at St. Louis (1861). When he issued orders to confiscate the property of Missouri rebels and to emancipate their slaves, he was immediately relieved of his command. He died in poverty in New York City in 1890.
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