As an explorer, John Charles FrÃmont led five expeditions into the American West--two of them disastrous. He was also one of Californiaâ s first two senators (1850), Americaâ s first Republican candidate for president (1856), a Civil War general, and the territorial governor of Arizona (1878-83). But his life was one of rash and rebellious conduct against authority. During the Mexican War he claimed to be the military governor of California, which resulted in a court-martial in 1848. At the outbreak of the Civil War he reentered the army as one of four major generals, outranking even Ulysses S. Grant. However, when he antagonized President Abraham Lincoln by issuing his own emancipation proclamation in advance of the presidentâ s, Lincoln relieved him of command. In this comprehensive biography, Andrew Rolle carefully examines the historical record with a psychobiographical approach that explores and explains the many irrationalities of FrÃmontâ s character.
Renowned explorer, Civil War general, political leader and hero of California's liberation from Mexico in 1846-1847, Fremont (1813-1890) nevertheless remains an enigmatic and controversial figure in U.S. history. Highly intelligent and charismatic, he married Jessie Benton, daughter of powerful senator Thomas Hart Benton, and attained national prominence by the time he was 31. Fremont's early expeditions into the uncharted West inspired mass immigration to this "Promised Land." Yet as Rolle ( The Immigrant Upraised ) points out in this psychologically probing, unflattering biography, character flaws such as womanizing undermined Fremont's achievements.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This biography of Fremont, a figure who was in many ways the apotheosis of Manifest Destiny, fails to capture the essence of "the Pathfinder." One of the principal sources of the book's drama is the incessant battle for primacy between the lively events of Fremont's varied existence and Rolle's rather dry recitation of them. Luckily the events at times prevail, as in the chapters devoted to Fremont's five expeditions and his unwilling run for the presidency on the first Republican ticket in 1856. Ultimately, however, the flat literary style becomes the dominant force in the narrative with the sad result that, de spite Rolle's admirably thorough re search, Fremont appears as a somewhat inconsequential footnote to 19th-century history. This is not recommended.
- Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
