Fremont

by Nevins, Allan

• ISBN13: 9780803283640
• ISBN10: 0803283644
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

"This biography merits the adjective definitive. . . . is a book at once distinguished and engaging.''-New York Times"[Nevins] has . . . raised biography to the level of literature."-Christian Science Monitor. "If this is not Frémont, it is as near to him as anyone is likely to get."-Books. "A contribution of first-rate significance to the history of the United States in the nineteenth century."-Springfield Republican.One of the most controversial and romantic figures in American history, John C. .Frémont experienced a dizzying succession of public triumphs and humiliations. He made his name exploring the West, surveying, mapping, and describing the Rockies, the Great Basin, and Oregon country. Allan Nevins gives Frémont 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 Frémont, stood by him. Their enduring romance occupies much more than the background in this absorbing story of his life.The dean of American historians, Allan Nevins won the Pulitzer Prize for his biographies of Grover Cleveland and Hamilton Fish.

Author Biography

The dean of American historians, Allan Nevins won the Pulitzer Prize for his biographies of Grover Cleveland and Hamilton Fish

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Charleston Boyhood	p. 1
An Explorer's Training	p. 19
First View of the Great West	p. 29
Washington Courtship	p. 46
A Runaway Marriage	p. 60
The Stakes of the West	p. 72
The First Expedition	p. 89
South Pass and Fremont's Peak	p. 104
The First Report	p. 116
The Second Expedition: Outward Bound	p. 127
Over the Winter Sierras	p. 147
Sutter's Fort and California	p. 161
Homeward Over the Rockies	p. 175
Washington Expansionists and the Far West	p. 190
The Third Expedition	p. 206
A Clash With Californians	p. 217
The Message From Gillespie	p. 234
The Bear Flag Outbreak	p. 253
The California Battalion	p. 287
The Quarrel With Kearny	p. 305
A Famous Court-Martial	p. 327
Starvation and Cannibalism	p. 343
Golconda and the Senate	p. 373
Managing the Mariposas	p. 393
The Fifth Expedition	p. 408
The Republican Nomination	p. 421
The Campaign of 1856	p. 439
New Mariposa Troubles	p. 459
Civil War in the West	p. 473
Fremont vs. Blair and Lincoln	p. 503
The End of the "Hundred Days"	p. 529
The Mountain Department	p. 550
The Defeat of the Blairs	p. 564
A Financial Debacle	p. 583
Poverty and Labor	p. 602
Character and Fame	p. 612
Some New Light on Fremont	p. 623
Appendices
Fremont's Children	p. 663
Corruption in St. Louis, 1861	p. 663
E. M. Kern's Letter	p. 667
Bibliographical Note	p. 671
Index	p. 675
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.