Frémont: Pathmarker of the West

by Allan Nevins

Overview

One of the most controversial and romantic figures in American history, John C. Fremont experienced a dizzying succession of public triumphs and humiliations. He made his name exploring the West, surveying, mapping, and describing the Rockies, Great Basin, and Oregon country. Allan Nevins gives Fremont full credit for his achievements as a topographer, soldier, and politician while noting how often his rashness attracted enemies and led to his downfall: to a court-martial for disobeying orders during the Bear Flag Rebellion, to a disastrous winter expedition in the San Juan Mountains, to his defeat as the first presidential candidate of the Republican party, to the loss of his Civil War command. Through sickness and health, poverty and wealth, his wife, the vivacious Jessie Benton Fremont, stood by him. Their enduring romance occupies much more than the background in this absorbing story of his life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803283640
Publisher:	UNP - Bison Books
Publication date:	02/01/1992
Pages:	697
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.58(d)
Lexile:	1300L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

	Preface	vii
Chapter I.	Charleston Boyhood	1
Chapter II.	An Explorer's Training	19
Chapter III.	First View of the Great West	29
Chapter IV.	Washington Courtship	46
Chapter V.	A Runaway Marriage	60
Chapter VI.	The Stakes of the West	72
Chapter VII.	The First Expedition	89
Chapter VIII.	South Pass and Fremont's Peak	104
Chapter IX.	The First Report	116
Chapter X.	The Second Expedition: Outward Bound	127
Chapter XI.	Over the Winter Sierras	147
Chapter XII.	Sutter's Fort and California	161
Chapter XIII.	Homeward Over the Rockies	175
Chapter XIV.	Washington Expansionists and the Far West	190
Chapter XV.	The Third Expedition	206
Chapter XVI.	A Clash With Californians	217
Chapter XVII.	The Message From Gillespie	234
Chapter XVIII.	The Bear Flag Outbreak	253
Chapter XIX.	The California Battalion	287
Chapter XX.	The Quarrel With Kearny	305
Chapter XXI.	A Famous Court-Martial	327
Chapter XXII.	Starvation and Cannibalism	343
Chapter XXIII.	Golconda and the Senate	373
Chapter XXIV.	Managing the Mariposas	393
Chapter XXV.	The Fifth Expedition	408
Chapter XXVI.	The Republican Nomination	421
Chapter XXVII.	The Campaign of 1856	439
Chapter XXVIII.	New Mariposa Troubles	459
Chapter XXIX.	Civil War in the West	473
Chapter XXX.	Fremont vs. Blair and Lincoln	503
Chapter XXXI.	The End of the "Hundred Days"	529
Chapter XXXII.	The Mountain Department	550
Chapter XXXIII.	The Defeat of the Blairs	564
Chapter XXXIV.	A Financial Debacle	583
Chapter XXXV.	Poverty and Labor	602
Chapter XXXVI.	Character and Fame	612
Chapter XXXVII.	Some New Light on Fremont	623
	Appendices
I.	Fremont's Children	663
II.	Corruption in St. Louis, 1861	663
III.	E. M. Kern's Letter	667
	Bibliographical Note	671
	Index	675

Editorial Reviews

"[Nevins] has . . . raised biography to the level of literature."—Christian Science Monitor

Christian Science Monitor

"This biography merits the adjective definitive. . . . is a book at once distinguished and engaging.''—New York Times

New York Times

"If this is not Frémont, it is as near to him as anyone is likely to get."—Books

Books

"A contribution of first-rate significance to the history of the United States in the nineteenth century."—Springfield Republican

Springfield Republican