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• 

MEMOIRS 

MY^LI  FE 

JOHN  CHARLES 
FREMONT 

' 


•  - 

HIIiUHillllllllllllllillllllilllUHUllI 

• 


VOLUME 


ILLUSTRATED: 


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University  of  California  •  Berkeley 

Purchased  from 
THOMAS  W.  STREETER  BEQUEST 


MEMOIRS   OF  MY  LIFE, 


BT 


JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

INCLUDING  IN  THE  NARRATIVE  FIVE  JOURNEYS  OF  WESTERN  EXPLORATION, 

DURING  THE  YEAKS 
1842,  1843-4,  1845-6-7,  1848-9,  1853-4. 


TOGETHER  WITH  A  SKETCH  OP  THE  LIFE  OP 

SENATOR    BENTON 

IN  CONNECTION   WITH   WESTERN   EXPANSION. 


JESSIE  BENTON  FREMONT. 


A  RETROSPECT  OF  FIFTY  YEARS, 

COVERING  THE  MOST  EVENTFUL  PERIODS  OF  MODERN  AMERICAN  HISTORY. 

SUPERBLY    ILLUSTRATED    BY    ORIGINAL    PORTRAITS,  DESCRIPTIVE    PLATES, 

AND,  FROM  THE  MISSOURI  KlVER  TO  THE  PACIFIC,  BY  A  SERIES 

OF   SKETCHES   AND   DAGUERREOTYPES   MADE 

DURING  THE  JOURNEYS. 


THE   ILLUSTRATIONS  ARE   MASTERPIECES  OF 

BARLEY,  HAMILTON,  SCHUSSELE,  DALLAS,  KEEN,  WALLLN  AND  OTHERS. 

ENGRAVED  UNDER  THE  SUPERVISION  OF 

J.  M.  BUTLER, 

WITS'  MAPS  AND   COLORED   PLATES. 


CHICAGO  AND  NEW  YORK  : 

BELFORD,  CLARKE  &  COMPANY. 

1886. 


SPBINGFIELD,  MASS.: 

32   GO., 


COPYRIGHT, 
BELFORD,  CLARKE  &  CO. 

1886. 


SCOPE   OF   THE   WORK. 


THE  narrative  contained  in  these  volumes  is  personal.  It  is  intended 
to  draw  together  the  more  important  and  interesting  parts  in  the  journals 
of  various  expeditions  made  by  me  in  the  course  of  Western  exploration, 
and  to  give  my  knowledge  of  political  and  military  events  in  which  I  have 
myself  had  part.  The  principal  subjects  of  which  the  book  will  consist, 
and  which,  with  me,  make  its  raison  d'etre,  are  three  :  the  geographical 
explorations,  made  in  the  interest  of  Western  expansion ;  the  presidential 
campaign  of  1856,  made  in  the  interest  of  an  undivided  country;  and  the 
civil  war,  made  in  the  same  interest.  Connecting  these,  and  naturally 
growing  out  of  them,  will  be  given  enough  of  the  threads  of  ordinary  life 
to  justify  the  claim  of  the  work  to  its  title  of  memoirs  :  purporting  to  be 
the  history  of  one  life,  but  being  in  reality  that  of  three,  because  in  sub- 
stance the  course  of  my  own  life  was  chiefly  determined  by  its  contact 
with  the  other  two — the  events  recorded  having  in  this  way  been  created, 
or  directly  inspired  and  influenced,  by  three  different  minds,  each  having 
the  same  objects  for  a  principal  aim. 

The  published  histories  of  the  various  explorations  have  now  passed 
out  of  date,  and  are  new  to  the  present  generation,  to  which  the  region 
between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific.  Ocean  presents  a  different  face 
from  that  to  which  these  accounts  relate. 

In  the  present  narrative  the  descriptions  of  the  regions  travelled  over 
will  be  simply  of  what  would  then  have  met  a  traveller's  eye.  The  prevail- 
ing impression  on  his  mind  would  have  been  one  of  constant  surprise  that 
so  large  a  portion  of  the  earth's  surface  should  have  so  long  remained 
unoccupied  and  unused.  Millions  of  people  now  occupy  the  ground  where 
then  he  encountered  only  wild  animals  and  wild  men.  But  nothing  of  this 
present  condition  will  be  given  here. 

The  slight  knowledge  which  a  traveller  could  glean  in  journeys  that 
were  impelled  forward  by  hunger,  and  thirst,  and  imminency  of  dangers, 
has  in  this  day  been  perfected  and  made  thoroughly  available.  The  scant 


IV  SCOPE  OF   THE    WORK. 

scientific  information  which  was  gathered  in  these  travels,  and  which,  as 
indications  or  suggestions,  had  its  value  at  the  time,  will  therefore  not 
have  any  place  in  the  present  narrative.  The  striking  features  and 
general  character  of  the  regions  traversed,  the  incidents  which  made  their 
local  coloring,  and  the  hardships  belonging  to  remote  and  solitary  jour- 
neys, will  be  retained,  so  far  as  can  well  be  done  within  the  limit  of  the 
pages  which  are  intended  to  embrace  narratives  covering  broad  regions  of 
country  and  half  a  century  of  American  time.  But  the  emigrants  who 
have  since  then  traversed  and  changed  the  face  of  these  regions  will 
doubtless  find  enough  to  remind  them,  and  have  pleasure  in  being 
reminded,  of  the  scenes  with  which  they  were  once  so  familiar,  and  of 
hardships  which  they  themselves  were  compelled  to  face. 

Out  of  these  expeditions  came  the  seizure  of  California  in  1846.  The 
third  exploring  party  was  merged  in  a  battalion  which  did  its  part  in 
wresting  that  rich  territory  from  Mexico,  and  the  conquest  of  California 
will  consequently  have  a  prominent  place  in  the  narrative  of  these  expe- 
ditions. 

Concerning  the  presidential  campaign  of  1856,  in  which  I  was 
engaged,  statements  have  been  made  which  I  wish  to  correct ;  and  in  that 
of  1864  there  were  governing  facts  which  have  not  been  made  public. 
These  I  propose  to  set  out. 

Some  events  ol  the  civil  war  in  which  I  was  directly  concerned  have 
been  incorrectly  stated,  and  I  am  not  willing  to  leave  the  resulting  erro- 
neous impressions  to  crystallize  and  harden  into  the  semblance  of  facts. 

These  subjects,  as  I  have  said,  make  the  chief  reason  for  this  work. 

The  general  record  is  being  made  up.  This  is  being  done  from 
different  points  of  view ;  and,  as  this  view  is  sometimes  distorted  by 
imperfect  or  prejudiced  knowledge,  I  naturally  wish  to  use  the  fitting 
occasion  which  offers  to  make  my  own  record.  It  is  not  the  written  but 
the  published  fact  which  stands,  and  it  stands  to  hold  its  ground  as  fact 
when  it  can  meet  every  challenge  by  the  testimony  of  documentary  and 
recorded  evidence. 

JOHN  C.  FREMONT. 

Washington.  D.  C.,  May,  1886. 


SYNOPSIS. 


SCOPE  OF  WORK John   Charles  Fremont. 

SYNOPSIS  OF  CONTENTS Jessie  Benton  Fremont. 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS..  "  " 


ACCOUNT  OF  THE  PLATES. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  SENA- 
ATOR  BENTON,  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  WEST- 
ERN EXPANSION "  " 

MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE John   Charles  Frdmont. 

1828-33. 

School  and  college   days.     Idling  days.     De- 
sultory work.     Engaged  in  local  surveys. 


1833-36- 

Cruise  to  the  South  Atlantic  on  U.  S.  S. 
Natchez. 

1836-37- 

Pass  examination.  Appointed  Professor  of 
Mathematics  in  the  Navy.  Ordered  to  the 
frigate  Independence. 

I837- 

Resign  appointment.  Assistant  Engineer 
under  Captain  Williams,  U.  S.  Topographical 
Engineers  ;  on  survey  for  projected  Railway 
from  Charleston  to  Cincinnati.  Work  in  moun- 
tains of  North  and  South  Carolina. 

1837-38. 

Threatened  hostilities  with  Cherokee  Indians. 
Military  reconnaissance  of  Cherokee  Territory 
in  Mountains  of  North  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
and  Georgia,  under  Captain  Williams. 

1838. 

Appointed  by  President  Van  Buren  Second 
Lieutenant  of  Topographical  Engineers.  Or- 
dered to  first  expedition  under  Nicollet.  Re- 
gion northwest  of  Mississippi  River. 


1838-39. 

Winter  occupied  making  up  astronomical  cal- 
culations. 

1839-40. 

Second  expedition  of  Nicollet  to  explore 
prairie-region  east  and  north  of  Missouri  River 
to  British  line. 

1840-41. 

Engaged  in  Washingtion  on  maps  and  astro- 
nomical calculations.  Senator  Benton's  interest 
in  our  work. 


Summer  of 

Connected  by  marriage  with  Senator  Benton. 
His  views  on   the  necessity  of  immediate  occu- 

!  pation  of  Oregon  by  a  large  emigration.  Con- 
venient road  to  be  marked  out  for  this.  Expe- 
dition to  SOUTH  PASS  and  Rocky  Mountains 
planned  with  Senator  Benton.  First  expe- 
dition to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Preparations 
in  New  York  and  in  Saint  Louis.  Personnel  of 
party.  Creole  and  Canadian  voyageurs.  Charles 
Preuss,  topographer  and  assistant.  L.  Maxwell 
engaged  as  hunter.  Meet  Carson.  Secure  him 
as  guide.  Kansas  village.  Chouteau's  trading 
house.  Final  preparation  and  start  for  the  moun- 
tains. Incidents  of  journey.  Enormous  herds 
of  buffalo.  Indians.  Meet  with  Bridger.  His 
late  fight  with  the  Sioux.  Fort  Laramie.  Warned 

•  by  Indian  chiefs  against  going  farther.     Indians 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 


hostile.  War  parties  scattered  over  the  country. 
Continue  journey.  SOUTH  PASS  reached.  Wind 
River  chain  of  Rocky  Mountains.  Alpine  region. 
Beautiful  lakes  and  valleys.  Running  water 
everywhere.  Head-waters  of  four  great  rivers. 
Grass  fresh  and  green.  Many  flowers.  Ascent 
of  the  loftiest  Peak  of  the  Wind  River  chain. 
American  flag  planted.  Barometer  broken. 
Mended  and  height  of  Peak  obtained,  13,570  feet 
above  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  Pioneer  Bee. 
Object  of  expedition  so  far  successful.  Home- 
ward journey.  Independence  Rock.  Symbol  of 
Christian  civilization,  the  Cross  cut  into  the  rock. 
Divide  party  and  attempt  to  descend  the  Platte 
River  in  india-rubber  boat.  Running  the  canons. 
Boat  wrecked  in  one  of  the  cataracts.  A  swim 
for  life,  but  no  one  lost.  Climb  out  of  canon. 
Rejoin  land  party.  Journey  continued.  Laramie 
reached.  Salutes  from  the  Fort  and  hearty  wel- 
come back.  Make  bull-boat.  Another  attempt 
to  descend  the  Platte.  Failed  again.  Water  ex- 
tremely low.  Nowhere  continuous  four  inches 
found.  Great  river  deserves  its  Indian  name — 
"Nebraska"  or  Shallow  River.  Grand  Island 
recommended  as  best  point  for  military  station 
on  lower  Platte.  October  i,  reached  mouth  of 
the  Platte.  Again  within  the  pale  of  civilization 
at  the  hospitable  mansion  of  Mr.  Sarpy  of  the 
American  Fur  Company.  Boat  ordered  by  cou- 
riers on  the  stocks  and  nearly  completed.  On  the 
4th  embarked  on  the  Missouri  in  boat  manned 
with  ten  oars,  relieved  every  hour.  Morning  of 
loth  halted  to  make  astronomical  observations  at 
mouth  of  Kansas,  just  four  months  since  starting 
from  trading  post  of  Mr.  Cyprian  Chouteau  ten 
miles  above.  River  sketched  and  observations 
made  on  way  down.  Made  Saint  Louis  iyth  and 
Washington  291)1  of  October. 

1843-44  (Second  Expedition). 
Engaged  through  winter  in  preparing  report 
and  planning  second  expedition.  Efforts  of  West- 
ern Senators  to  favor  emigration  to  the  lower 
Columbia.  Bill  to  establish  military  posts,  and 
protect  emigration.  Debate  in  Senate.  "30,000 
rifles  in  the  hands  of  American  settlers  in  Ore- 
gon our  best  negotiators  with  England."  Close 
vote  passing  bill  against  opposition  of  the  Admin- 
istration. Smothered  in  House  Committee.  First 
expedition  connected  with  and  auxiliary  to  this 
plan  of  emigration  in  conformity  with  purpose  of 
Western  Senators.  Second  expedition  planned 
to  explore  region  west  of  Rocky  Mountains  and 
to  connect  on  the  lower  Columbia  with  Captain 
Wilkes'  South  Sea  expedition.  Reached  village  of 


Kansas  on  Missouri  frontier  May  17,  1843.  Party 
made  up  of  Creole  and  Canadian  voyageurs  as 
before  including  some  of  the  best  men  of  the 
first  expedition.  Charles  Preuss  again  topog- 
rapher, and  for  guide  Fitzpatrick  "  the  broken- 
hand."  Carson  joins  near  the  mountains.  Jacob 
Dodson,  a  free  young  colored  man  from  Wash- 
ington, volunteered  for  the  expedition.  Maxwell, 
one  of  the  hunters  in  1842,  joined  here.  Two 
Delaware  Indians,  a  fine-looking  father  and  son, 
chosen  as  hunters  by  Major  Cummins,  the  excel- 
lent Agent  for  the  Indians  of  this  quarter.  Equip- 
ment of  party,  Hall's  carbines  and  a  brass  12- 
pound  howitzer  under  charge  of  Louis  Zindel,  a 
non-commissioned  officer  of  Prussian  artillery. 
Camp  equipage  and  provisions  transported,  in 
twelve  carts  two  mules  each.  Light  covered 
wagon  on  good  springs  carries  instruments. 
Started  May  agth.  First  camp  four  miles  beyond 
frontier  on  verge  of  the  great  prairies.  Joined  by 
Mr.  William  Gilpin,  of  Missouri.  Journey  contin- 
ued. Meet  hunting  party  of  Kansas  and  Delaware 
Indians.  Camp  surprised  by  charge  of  Osage 
Indians.  Pike's  Peak.  Boiling  Spring  River. 
Carson  joins  here.  Saint  Vrain's  Fort  upper 
South  Platte.  Alexander  Godey  engaged  here. 
Crossing  mountains  by  new  route.  Camp  charged 
by  war  party  of  Arapahoes.  The  Great  Salt  Lake  : 
the  Inland  Sea.  Visit  to  one  of  its  islands  in 
canvas  boat,  first  boat  on  its  waters.  No  guard 
kept.  Isolated  cliffs  whitened  with  salt  by  the 
waves.  Lake  saturated  with  salt  rests  on  beds  of 
rock  salt.  No  fish  can  live  in  it.  Lake  shores  of 
great  fertility.  Clear  fresh  water  streams  flowing 
from  mountains  into  lake.  TIMPANOGOS,  Indian 
name  for  UTAH  Lake,  is  fresh  water,  full  of  fish, 
on  which  Indians  live.  "  This  great  lake  a  natu- 
ral resting  and  recruiting  station  for  travellers 
now  and  in  all  time  to  come.  Bottom  lands  ex- 
tensive ;  water  excellent ;  timber  sufficient ;  soil 
good  and  well  suited  to  such  an  elevated  region. 
A  military  post  and  civilized  settlement  would  be 
of  great  value  here  ;  cattle  and  horses  would  do 
well  where  grass  and  salt  abound."  This  on  re- 
turn recommended  to  Government  for  military 
station.  Not  adopted  by  Government  but  later  by 
Brigham  Young.  His  statement. — Lewis  Fork  of 
the  Columbia  or  Snake  River  and  Fort  Hall  a 
post  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  Rich  valley 
twenty  miles  long.  An  American  military  post 
here  would  be  of  extraordinary  value  to  the  emi- 
gration, and  was  so  recommended.  Subterranean 
river. — Fishing  falls  of  Lewis  Fork.  Great  sal- 
mon fisheries  here.  Cataract  barrier  to  ascent 
of  salmon.  Chief  food  of  Indians.  Indians  un- 


SYNOPSIS. 


vn 


usually  good-humored  because  well  fed,  very 
different  from  ordinary  Indians.  Clothing  scant, 
twenty  skins  bush  squirrel  to  make  covering  to 
the  knee.  Indians  paddling  about  in  boats  of 
rushes.  Salmon  jumping  out  of  water.  Lively 
camp  on  river  bank.  Every  little  rapid  down 
the  river  Indians  crying  "  Hag-gai,  Hag-gai," 
Fish  for  sale.  Reed's  River ;  so  called  from 
massacre  of  Reed's  garrison  of  Hudson  Bay  fur 
trading  post. — Fort  Boise,  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany. Forests  of  European  larch  200  feet  high. 
All  elevated  parts  covered  with  dense  forests. 
Look  in  vain  for  L'Arbre  Seule,  "  Lone  Tree,"  a  j 
well-known  landmark.  Find  it — a  fine  tall  pine 
— felled  by  some  inconsiderate  emigrant  axe.  | 
A  beacon  on  the  road  for  many  years. — Grande 
Ronde.  A  level  mountain  valley  about  twenty  ; 
miles  diameter.  Rich  soil  abundantly  watered,  • 
good  grass,  surrounded  by  high  well-timbered 
mountain.  Crossing  Blue  Mountains.  Head- 
waters Umatilla  River.  Emerge  from  forest. 
Mount  Hood — snowy  mass  standing  high  above 
surrounding  country  one  hundred  and  eighty 
miles  distant.  Meet  Indians  driving  horses  to 
pasture.  Hills  and  mountains  rich  in  grass. 
Bottoms  barren  and  sterile.  Missionary  estab- 
lishment of  Dr.  Whitman.  Mission  mills  recently  j 
burned.  Potatoes  fine  and  abundant.  Emi- 1 
grants,  men,  women,  and  children  luxuriating 
on  potatoes. — Mouth  of  the  Wahlah-Wahlah. 
Junction  of  the  great  forks  which  make  the  Co- 
lumbia River.  Columbia  1200  yards  wide.  Em- 
igrants under  Mr.  Applegate  building  Mack-  j 
inaw  boats  to  descend  the  Columbia.  Nez-Perce  ; 
post ;  a  trading  establishment  of  the  Hudson ; 
Bay  Company.  Union  of  these  two  large  streams  ; 
in  the  geographical  centre  of  the  Oregon  val- 
ley make  important  feature  in  map  of  country. 
Open  up  two  great  lines  of  communication  with 
interior  of  continent.  British  fur  companies  use 
both.  American  emigration  beginning  to  use  one. 
— Mount  Hood  showing  again,  now  150  miles 
distant. — Mount  Saint  Helens  another  snowy 
peak  of  Cascade  range. — Falls  of  the  Colum- 
bia. Every  year  falls  submerged  by  back-up 
of  waters  from  below.  Indian  chief  points  out 
in  the  distance  Methodist  missionary  station. 
Leave  party  at  Dalles  of  Columbia.  Whole 
river  passes  through  trough  58  yards  wide. 
Unfortunate  event  in  this  chasm  to  Apple- 
gate's  party.  One  of  his  boats  carried  under 
water  and  lost  in  midst  of  Dalles.  Two  of  his 
children  and  one  man  drowned.  Westward 
land  journey  terminated  here.  Connected  with 
Wilkes  exploring  expedition.  Large  canoe  pro- 


cured from  Indians  through  Mr.  Perkins.  Canoe 
voyage,  four  men  with  me — pleasant  descent  of 
the  river.  Halt  for  supper.  Delicious  salted 
salmon,  potatoes,  bread,  coffee  and  sugar.  Gale 
of  wind  at  night.  Bright  moon,  wind  fair. 
Waves  breaking  into  foam  alongside.  Night 
voyage  between  the  dark  mountains  wild  and 
interesting.  At  midnight  put  to  shore  on  rocky 
beach,  dark-looking  pine  forest  behind.  Build 
large  fires  among  the  rocks,  in  large  masses  round 
about ;  arrange  blankets  in  sheltered  places — 
passed  delightful  night. — Cascades  of  the  Colum- 
bia. Main  branch  of  Sacramento,  Tlamath  and 
Columbia  Rivers  break  in  great  cascades  through 
the  Mountains  to  which  Mount  Hood  and  Mount 
Saint  Helens  belong,  giving  to  them  the  name  of 
CASCADE  RANGE.  Cape  Horn.  High  wall  of 
rock  comes  boldly  down  into  deep  water.  In 
gales  water  is  dashed  against  it  with  violence. 
A  serious  obstacle  to  canoe  travelling.  Mr. 
Perkins  once  detained  here  two  weeks  and  forced 
back  to  Vancouver. — Arrival  at  Vancouver.  Dr. 
McLoughlin,  chief  executive  of  Hudson  Bay 
Company  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Hos- 
pitable reception  and  outfit  for  return.  Leave 
fort  on  the  loth  Nov.  Our  flotilla  consists  of 
Mackinaw  barge  and  three  canoes.  Mr.  Burnett 
goes  with  us  to  bring  his  family  to  Vancouver 
from  the  Dalles.  Submerged  forest  distinctly 
visible  through  clear  water.  Arrive  at  Dalles. 
Mr.  Gilpin  takes  leave  of  us.  At  request  of  Mr. 
Perkins  a  young  Chinook  Indian  joins  us  to  visit 
Washington.  Little  wagon  for  instruments  pre- 
sented to  family  at  Mission — greatly  to  Preuss' 
regret.  Preuss  no  horseman  (Polly  the  mule). 
Line  of  return.  Leading  points  on  line  of  return 
indicated  by  maps  or  rumor.  Character  or  exis- 
tence of  these  to  be  ascertained.  Tlamath  Lake. 
Mary's  or  Turtle  Lake.  Buenaventura  River  said 
to  flow  direct  from  Turtle  Lake  across  the  Basin 
through  the  Sierra  Nevada  to  San  Francisco  Bay. 
Journey  up  Fall  River  valley.  Fine  view  of 
Mount  Hood  —  a  rose-colored  mass  of  snow. 
Fluviatile  infusoria ;  the  most  remarkable  de- 
posit on  record.  Grand  Forest ;  pines  12  feet  in 
diameter.  Indians  say  salmon  in  small  streams. 
Upper  Tlamath  Lake.  Camp  thronged  with 
Tlamath  Indians.  Escape  attack.  Line  of 
journey  turned  eastward  searching  for  Buena- 
ventura River.  Dense  forest.  Snow  three  feet 
deep.  Air  dark  with  falling  snow.  Descent  into 
Great  Basin.  Fruitless  search  for  the  Buenaven- 
tura. Pyramid  Lake.  Decide  to  cross  Sierra 
Nevada  into  California.  Mid-winter,  deep  snow. 
Indians  on  snow-shoes.  Old  Indian  warns  us. 


via 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 


"  Rock  upon  rock."  "  Snow  upon  snow."  Chin- 
ook's lament,  "  I  came  away  from  my  people  to 
see  the  whites.  If  I  had  seen  the  whites  1  could 
die,  hut  here  !  "  and  he  wept.  A  thirty  days'  | 
contest  with  snow  and  hunger.  Descent  to  Sut- 
ter's  Fort.  Hearty  and  friendly  reception  by 
Captain  Sutler.— THE  GREAT  CALIFORNIA  VAL-  j 
LEY.  Floral  and  pastoral  valley  500  miles  long. 
Watered  by  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  Rivers 
and  many  tributary  streams.  Open  groves  of 
oak.  Fields  of  blue  and  orange  flowers.  Cli- 
mate delightful.  Cattle  lying  under  the  shade  of 
the  oaks  in  March.  One  of  the  garden  spots  of 
the  world.  West  flank  of  Sierra  Nevada  border- 
ing valley  is  from  40  to  70  miles  wide  ;  timbered 
and  grassy,  copiously  watered  with  numerous  and 
bold  streams.  Upper  half  heavily  wooded  with 
pines,  cypress,  and  cedars,  100  to  200  feet  high  ; 
lower  half  wooded  with  oak.  Acorns  and  grass 
make  it  a  great  country  for  stock.  Whole  coun- 
try tributary  to  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco.  The 
only  water  communication  from  the  coast  to  the 
interior.  Head  of  the  Bay  40  miles  from  the  sea 
where  it  connects  with  rich  valleys  of  San  Joaquin 
and  Sacramento. — The  accessory  advantages  be- 
longing to  the  Bay ;  fertile  and  picturesque  de- 
pendent country  ;  mildness  and  salubrity  of  cli- 
mate ;  connection  with  the  great  interior  valley  ; 
its  vast  resources  for  ship  timber,  grain  and  cat- 
tle, together  with  its  geographical  position  on  the 
line  of  communication  with  Asia,  make  it  one  of 
the  great  harbors  of  the  world. — Party  recruits  at 
Suiter's  Fort.  Fal  salmon  and  fat  beef.  Get 
band  of  fine  mules.  Homeward  journey  up  San 
Joaquin  Valley.  Enter  desert  by  pass  at  Cajon 
de  las  Uvas.  Mexican  party  massacred  by  In- 
dians. Escape  of  Mexican  and  little  boy  to  our 
camp.  Indians  surprised.  Splendid  courage  of 
Carson  and  Godey.  Hard  march  for  water. 
Many  Indians.  Sandy  soil  covered  with  their 
tracks.  Follow  us  stealthily  like  wolves.  Horse 
or  mule  left  behind  to  rest  taken  off  in  a  moment . 
Indians  come  into  camp.  Old  chief  insulting — 
Carson  resentful.  "Don't  say  that,  old  man, 
don't  you  say  that — your  life's  in  danger." 
Tabeau  surprised  by  the  Indians  and  killed. 
Vegas  de  Santa  Clara.  Joined  by  the  famous 
mountaineer  Walker.  Connecl  al  Utah  Lake 
with  the  oulward  line  of  journey.  Dealh  of 
Badeau.  Killed  by  drawing  his  gun  by  ihe  muz- 
zle from  the  saddle.  Reach  Rocky  Mountains. 
Country  now  entered  considered  among  most 
dangerous  war-grounds  in  the  mountains.  In- 
fested by  war  parties  of  ihe  Sioux  and  other 
Indians.  Fight  belween  Cheyennes  and  Ara- 


pahoes  in  South  Park.  Make  crossings  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  at  three  different  passes.  Leave 
mountains,  cross  prairie  plains,  and  make  final 
camp  July  31,  1844,  at  village  of  Kansas  on  the 
banks  of  the  Missouri,  after  an  absence  of  four- 
teen months.  August  6th  arrive  at  Saint  Louis 
and  disband  party. 

Winter  1844-45. 

At  Washington.  Occupied  in  drawing  up  re- 
port, making  maps  and  calculations,  astronom- 
ical observations.  The  Deacon  and  Senator 
Benlon.  Planning  ihird  expedilion.  Directed 
chiefly  to  examining  California  mountains  and 
coast-line.  Eventualities  considered  in  forming 
it.  War  with  Mexico  threalened  on  accounl  of 
Texas.  Possible  war  wilh  England  from  compli- 
cations of  Oregon  boundary. —  Third  Expedi- 
tion. Leave  Missouri  fronlier  wilh  party  of  sixty 
picked  men.  Best  men  of  the  old  parties  included 
among  them.  Twelve  Delaware  Indians  chosen 
for  me  by  Ihe  Delaware  Nalion.  Traverse  Ihe 
prairies.  Cross  Rocky  Mounlains  al  heads  of 
Arkansas.  Reach  southern  end  of  Great  Salt 
Lake  in  September.  The  Desert.  Silver  found. 
Continuing  westward,  divide  party  lo  re-unite 
in  Upper  San  Joaquin  Valley.  Main  party  in 
charge  of  Kern  to  enter  ihe  valley  al  ihe  Point 
of  the  mountain.  The  well-known  mounlain- 
eer  Caplain  Walker  assigned  them  as  guide. 
The  other  party  of  ten  men  Iravel  direclly  wesl 
under  myself.  Parlies  separale.  I  cross  Sierra 
Nevada  in  early  December  al  heads  of  Salmon- 
Iroul  and  Bear  Rivers.  Curly-haired  skull. 
Ridges  limbered  wilh  pine  and  cedar  of  extra- 
ordinary  size.  Suller's  Forl.  Visil  lo  Monlerey. 
Permission  oblained  from  Mexican  Command- 
ing General  lo  recruil  parly  in  California.  Re- 
lurn  lo  Suiter's  Fort.  Go  with  cattle  and  pro- 
visions to  meel  main  parly.  Fool-hills  of  ihe 
Sierra.  Fight  with  Horse-lhief  Indians  on 
Aqua  Fria  Creek  of  ihe  Mariposas.  Heavy  fall 
of  snow.  Callle  lost  in  Ihe  mountains.  Parties 
miss  each  other.  Find  main  party  on  lower 
San  Joaquin.  Astronomical  observalions.  Er- 
ror in  coasl-line  correcled  by  ihem.  Exist  - 
ing  charts  had  placed  coast-line  of  California 
fifteen  to  forty  miles  loo  far  lo  Ihe  easlward. 
Leave  valleys  and  cross  lo  ihe  coast.  Camp  es- 
tablished at  Fisher's  rancho,  near  pueblo  of  San 
Jose  in  San  Jose  valley.  Make  preparations  here 
to  continue  exploration.  Camp  upper  part  of 
coast  mountain  between  San  Jose  and  Santa 
Cruz.  Great  height  and  bulk  of  redwood  trees — • 
i  a  cypress.  Among  many  measured,  nine  and  ten 


SYNOPSIS. 


IX 


feet  in  diameter  were  frequent — two  hundred  feet 
a  frequent  height.  Descended  to  coast  near  the 
north-western  point  of  Monterey  Bay.  Colossal 
height  and  massive  bulk  of  trees  give  grandeur 
to  the  forest.  Measured  one  at  camp  275  feet  in 
height  and  1 5  feet  in  diameter  three  feet  above 
base.  Salinas  Plains.  Ordered  out  of  the  coun- 
try by  Commanding  General  Castro.  Build  fort 
and  hoist  the  American  flag  on  Gabelan  Peak. 
Californians  preparing  to  attack.  Remain  in  fort 
waiting  for  them  three  days.  Retreat  into  San 
Joaquin  Valley.  Castro's  compromise  message. 
Travel  up  the  Sacramento  Valley.  Shastl  Peak. 
Tlamath  Lake.  Camp  on  northern  end  of  the  lake. 
Overtaken  by  courier  from  Lieutenant  Gillespie, 
U.  S.  Marine  Corps.  Return  with  party  to  his 
relief.  Gillespie  sent  as  messenger  from  Secre- 
tary of  State  Buchanan.  Brings  also  letters  from 
Senator  Benton.  Required  by  these  messages 
to  return  into  California.  Night  attack  by  Tla- 
math Indians.  Three  of  our  men  killed.  Basil 
Lajeunesse.  Rejoin  main  camp.  Indians  am- 
bushed. Destroy  Indian  village,  boats,  and  fish. 
Skirmish  in  the  forest.  Scalp  stuck  on  arrow  in 
the  trail.  Start  on  return  into  California.  Pitt 
River.  Attacked  by  Indians.  Sacramento  River. 
Hunting  camp  at  the  Buttes.  Indians  gathering 
to  destroy  white  settlements.  Dispersed  Indians 
and  drove  them  from  Sacramento  River.  Return 
to  camp  near  Sutler's  Fort.  Gathering  of  Amer- 
icans to  the  camp.  Hostilities  begun  against 
Mexican  authorities.  Send  Gillespie  to  Captain 
Montgomery,  sloop  of  war  "  Portsmouth."  Aid 
furnished  by  Montgomery.  Gillespie  reaches 
Sutler's  Fort  1 2th  June.  Midshipman  Beale  with 
boats  from  the  "Portsmouth."  Raising  of  the 
Bear  Flag  by  settlers.  Declaration  of  the  Inde- 
pendence of  California.  Battalion  organized  July 
5th.  Command  offered  to  me. — Montgomery 
applies  to  Commodore  Sloat  for  permission  to 
give  me  aid  with  ammunition  and  supplies. 
Sloat  declines.  Upon  urgent  remonstrance  of 
Purser  Rodman  M.  Price  representing  the  other 
officers,  and  the  views  of  President  Polk  as 
personally  known  to  him,  Commodore  Sloat 
reverses  his  decision.  Directs  Captain  Mont- 
gomery to  support  me.  The  next  day  hoists  the 
American  Flag,  takes  possession  by  proclama- 
tion, July  7, 1846. — NARRATIVE  of  (he  CONQUEST 
of  CALIFORNIA,  with  official  orders,  letters,  and 
documents.  Hostilities  closed  by  the  capitulation 
to  me  and  treaty  of  Conenga.  I  am  appointed 
Military  Governor  by  Commodore  Stockton  and 
Brigadier-General  Kearny  ;  each  claiming  to  be 
Commander-in-chief.  Decline  to  decide  between 


]  my  superior  officers.     Receive  from  Washing- 
'•  ton    appointment  Lieutenant-Colonel    Mounted 
:  Rifles.     Prepare  to  join  regiment  under  General 
Taylor.     Forbidden  by  General  Kearny  to  join 
I  my  regiment  in  Mexico.     Ordered  by  Kearny  to 
j  accompany  him  on  his  return  to  the  States.    Put 
I  in  arrest  by  him  on  reaching  Fort  Leavenworth 
!  and  ordered  to  Washington.     Court-martial   at 
Washington.     Charges   of  mutiny  and   disobe- 
dience of  orders.     Found  guilty  by  court.     Ma- 
jority of  officers  comprising  court  recommend  to 
the  President  "lenient  consideration  on  account 
of  previous  distinguished  services."   Among  these 
was  a  brother  of  General  Taylor.     [General  Tay- 
lor, when  President,  offered  me,  as  a  mark  of  his 
disapproval  of  this  finding,  the  appointment  of 
Commissioner   to  determine  boundary  line  be- 
tween California  and  Mexico.] — President  Polk 
approves  sentence  as  to  disobedience  of  orders. 
Remits    sentence.      Orders   me   to   resume  my 
sword  and  join  my  regiment  in  Mexico  under 
General  Taylor.     I  refuse  to  condone  injustice 
done  me  and  resign  from  the  army.     Resignation 
not  accepted  for  a  month.     Mr.  Buchanan  urges 
withdrawal  of  resignation.     Also  Adjutant-Gen- 
eral Roger  Jones.     I  insist,  and  retire  from  the 
army. 

1848. 

Make  brief  report  and  map  of  third  expedition 
under  resolution  of  the  Senate.  Give  to  entrance 
of  San  Francisco  harbor  the  name  of  Chrysopylas 
— GOLDEN  GATE — and  place  it  on  the  map.  On 
the  same  principle  that  the  harbor  of  Byzantium 
(Constantinople  afterwards)  was  called  Chryso- 
ceras — GOLDEN  HORN.  —  Correspondence  with 
Captain  Wilkes,  U.  S.  N.,  concerning  change  of 
coast-line  of  California.  The  city  of  Charleston, 
through  Hon.  Mr.  Rhett,  presented  to  me  a  sword 
of  honor  for  services  in  Oregon  and  California. 
Am  also  offered  Presidency  of  railroad  on  which 
I  had  made  surveys  in  '36.  Decide  to  return  to 
California  and  develop  the  Mariposas  grant.  Mrs. 
Fremont  to  join  me  as  soon  as  the  first  steamer 
for  California,  the  Oregon,  should  be  completed. 

1 848-49. 

Fourth  Expedition.  Made  at  private  cost. 
Object  a  mid-winter  journey  to  determine  snow- 
obstacles  and  examine  southern  passes  in  Rocky 
Mountains.  Outfit  generously  aided  by  Saint 
Louis  merchants.  Tilley,  Campbell.  Gathered 
some  of  my  old  companions.  Godey,  Taplin, 
Proue  and  some  Delawares,  also  young  Boggs, 
son  of  Governor  of  Missouri ;  Preuss  and  Kern 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 


topographers.  Captain  Cathcart,  an  officer  of 
the  English  army,  accompanies  me.  Break  up 
camp  on  frontier  after  six  weeks'  stay  for  prepa- 
rations. Mrs.  Fremont,  who  had  been  with  me 
up  to  this  point,  turns  homewards.  The  wolf. 
Winter  opens  early.  Snow  and  sleet  meet  us  on 
the  prairies.  Follow  line  of  Kansas  River.  Best 
approach  to  the  mountains.  Fine  farming  coun- 
try for  400  miles.  Arkansas  River.  Mid-No- 
vember. Big-Timber  of  the  Arkansas.  Great 
gathering  of  the  Indians,  600  lodges  Apaches, 
Comanches,  Kioways,  and  Arapahoes.  Major 
Fitzpatrick,  "the  Broken-hand."  His  valuable 
services  as  Indian  Agent.  Indians  report  early 
snows  deep  in  the  mountains.  Bent's  Fort. 
Mountains  show  themselves  covered  with  snow. 
Arkansas  pueblo.  Pack  the  mules  with  corn. 
Engage  "Bill  Williams"  for  guide.  Cross  Sierra 
Mojada.  Deep  snow  in  passes.  San  Louis  Val- 
ley. Mistake  of  guide.  San  Juan  Mountains 
12,000  feet  above  the  sea.  Incessant,  overwhelm- 
ing snow-storms.  Disaster.  Lose  eleven  men, 
all  the  animals  and  camp  equipage.  Great  suf- 
fering of  survivors.  Extricate  ourselves  from 
mountains.  Reach  Taos,  nearest  available  set- 
tlement 180  miles  distant.  Aid  given  by  mili- 
tary post.  Myself  rest  and  recruit  at  Carson's  \ 
house. 

Winter  1848-49. 

Recruit  and  refit  party.  Descend  Del  Norte 
latter  part  of  February.  Orchards  in  bloom,  j 
Hospitalities  of  officers  of  the  army  at  differ- 
ent posts.  Leave  the  Del  Norte.  New  Mexi- 
can plains.  Snow  again.  Turn  to  the  Mimbres 
Mountains.  Apaches  gather  round  camp  at 
night.  Hostile.  Interview  with  chief.  The  two 
camps  breakfast  together  on  Mimbres  River. 
Make  chief  presents  and  part  on  good  terms. 
Travel  through  Arizona  to  San  Pedro  in  north 
Sonora.  Country  terrorized  by  Apaches.  Re- 
turn north  through  Tucson  and  San  Pedro  Val- 
ley to  Gila  River.  Gila  Indians  as  farmers. 
Meet  large  body  of  Sonorians,  men,  women, 
and  children,  1,200  in  number,  going  to  Califor- 
nia for  gold.  They  confirm  reports  of  great  gold 
discoveries.  Afraid  of  Indians  and  invite  me 
to  join  their  caravan.  The  great  Colorado.  Es- 
tablished position  mouth  of  Gila.  Make  skin- 
boat.  Ferry  to  California  side  all  the  Sonorian 
women  and  children  and  my  party.  Leave  skin- 
boat  for  the  men.  Arrange  with  party  of  Sono- 
rians to  go  upon  the  Mariposas  for  gold.  Ride 
rapidly  by  way  of  Los  Angeles  and  Monterey  to 
San  Francisco  to  meet  Mrs.  Fremont,  who  was 
to  come  by  way  of  Panama.  Take  Mrs.  Fremont 


to  Monterey  by  steamer.  Join  Sonorians  and  go 
to  the  Mariposas.  Find  gold  in  the  clay  of  Agua 
Fria  Creek.  Godey  on  Mariposas  Creek  makes 
first  discovery  of  gold  in  the  rock  in  California. 
Leave  Sonorians  to  work.  Return  to  Monterey. 
Spend  some  few  weeks  at  San  Jose.  Beale  with 
us.  Establish  ourselves  at  Monterey.  Carriage 
planned  for  travelling  in  California  landed  at 
Monterey  from  U.  S.  S.  Fredonia.  Through 
kindly  forethought  of  Mr.  Wm.  Aspinwall  packed 
with  brooms,  willow-baskets  and  small  household 
gear  which  made  welcome  presents  to  Mrs.  Gen- 
eral Riley,  Mrs.  General  Canby  and  other  ladies 
who  had  been  kind  to  Mrs.  Fremont.  Sonorians 
finish  their  work  on  Mariposas.  Their  extraor- 
dinary honesty  in  division  of  gold.  Appointed 
by  President  Taylor  Commissioner  to  run  the 
boundary  line  with  Mexico. — CONSTITUTIONAL 
CONVENTION.  Strength  of  influence  in  favor  of 
making  it  a  slave  State.  Against  all  opposition 
made  a  free  State.  Beale,  Lippincott,  Stevenson. 
Caleb  Lyons.  Sheep  in  barouche — parchment. 
Knight's  "contempted  gold." 

Winter  ^"1849. 

Elected  Senator  from  California.  On  first 
ballot.  We  embark  January  ist  from  Monterey 
for  Washington.  Pleasant  stop  at  Mazatlan  on 
way  down  the  coast.  Courtesy  of  English  man- 
of-war.  Detained  a  month  in  Panama  by  dan- 
gerous illness  of  Mrs.  Fremont.  I  get  Panama 
fever. 

Summer  of  1850. 

Home  again  with  Senator  Benton.  Letter 
to  the  Philadelphia  Pacific  Railroad  Conven- 
tion. Received  a  gold  medal  from  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  the  "  Founders  Medal 
for  distinguished  services  rendered  to  geograph- 
ical science  " — transmitted  through  our  Minis- 
ter at  London,  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence,  and  Mr. 
Clayton,  Secretary  of  State. — Debates  on  ad- 
mission of  California.  Opposition.  Mr.  Web- 
ster's '*  narrow  strip."  State  admitted.  Senator 
Gvvir.  draws  long  term.  I  the  short  one.  In- 
troduce various  bills  protecting  California  in- 
terests. Received  the  great  gold  medal  "  for 
progress  in  the  sciences"  from  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia with  a  letter  from  Humboldt — transmitted 
through  the  Prussian  Minister  to  Washington, 
Baron  von  Gerolt.  Return  to  California.  Re- 
main. Disabled  by  effects  of  Panama  fever. 

1851. 

At  work  developing  Mariposas. 


SYNOPSIS. 


XI 


1852. 

In  London  on  Mariposas  mining  business.  In- 
teresting acquaintance  and  intercourse  with  em- 
inent persons.  Presented  at  court.  Meet  the 
Duke  of  Wellington.  Am  included  by  him  among 
guests  for  his  birthday  dinner  with  the  Baroness 
Burdette-Coutts.  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  and 
Royal  Geographical  Society.  Visit  Woolwich 
and  the  vessels  for  the  Polar  expedition  just 
starting  to  search  for  Sir  John  Franklin.  Friendly 
attentions  of  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence,  our  Minister 
to  England.  Am  arrested  for  California  war- 
debt  by  an  English  firm.  Bail  given  by  Mr. 
George  Peabody.  Speech  of  Senator  Gwin  in 
U.  S.  Senate  on  learning  this.  Immediate  ac- 
tion of  Congress  to  pay  the  debt. 

1852-53. 

A  year  of  rest  in  Paris.  Important  political 
events.  France  a  Republic.  Empire  declared. 
Feeling  of  republican  leaders.  Poussin,  ex- 
Minister  to  Washington.'  Interesting  personages 
of  old  French  society.  The  new  phase.  Meet 
Captain  Cathcart  at  ball  at  the  Tuileries. 

1853-54. 

Return  to  Washington.  Arrange  for  fifth  and 
last  expedition.  Another  attempt  to  determine 
practicability  for  railroads  through  mountain  re- 
gions in  winter.  This  like  that  of  '48  at  private 
cost.  Not  connected  with  those  made  by  Gov- 
ernment at  this  time. — Organize  party  as  usual 
on  Missouri  frontier.  Instruments  selected  in 
Paris.  Daguerreotype  and  photographic  appa- 
ratus in  New  York.  Carvalho  artist.  Party  of 
thirty.  Godey  again,  and  Delawares.  Egloff- 
estein  as  topographer.  Preuss'  fate.  Make  start 
in  late  fall.  Taken  seriously  ill.  Direct  party  to 
proceed  to  Solomon's  Fork  of  the  Kansas,  within 
the  buffalo  range,  and  wait  for  me.  Return  to 
Saint  Louis  for  medical  care.  Mrs.  Frfimont 
joins  me  at  Saint  Louis  and  accompanies  me  as 
far  as  the  frontier.  Leave  frontier  to  rejoin  party. 
"  I  find  a  wet  saddle  no  longer  makes  a  good  pil- 
low." Up  the  Kansas.  Hospitable  reception  at  the 
Catholic  Mission  of  Saint  Mary's.  Supply  of  fresh 
provisions.  Find  party  at  rendezvous.  Among 
the  buffalo.  Cheyenne  Indian  village  on  the 
Arkansas.  Return  of  the  Cheyenne  war-party. 
Scalp  dance.  Bent's  Fort.  Route  up  the  Huer- 
fano  River.  Cross  the  Sierra  Mojada.  San 
Luis  Valley,  many  deer.  Cross  the  Sierra  Blanca 
range  at  the  Cochetope  Pass.  Defiles  of  West 
Rocky  Mountains.  Grand  River  Valley.  Star- 
vation again.  Plenty  of  snow  and  no  game. — 


The  OBELISKS. — Cache  our  baggage.  Men  and 
animals  weak.  I  give  out  on  mountain-side — 
first  time  in  all  my  journeying.  Weakness  tem- 
porary. Death  of  Fuller.  Reach  Mormon  set- 
tlement of  Parawan.  Friendly  treatment  and 
kindness  of  Mormon  families.  Leave  Parawan 
to  cross  southern  part  of  Great  Basin.  The 
Bishop  offers  company  of  men  as  escort.  Take 
only  two  volunteer  guides  for  our  first  three  days. 
One  of  them  the  Bishop's  son.  Enter  California 
by  pass  at  "  Point  of  the  Mountain."  Give  to 
river  leading  into  the  valley  (San  Joaquin)  the 
name  of  Kern.  Belt  and  Stone.  Offer  me  hos- 
pitalities and  money.  Invited  to  his  ranch  by 
Judge  Belt  to  recruit  party.  Fine  litter  of  black 
pigs.  "  Where  are  the  pigs  ? ''  "  Look  inside 
your  Delawares  for  them."  Reach  San  Fran- 
cisco. Disband  party  and  return  to  Washington 
by  way  of  Panama. 

Summer  of  '54. 

Congress  pays  for  cattle  I  had  supplied  to 
Indians  in  '50.  Mr.  Orr  of  South  Carolina 
Chairman  Committee,  his  unusual  attention  to 
duty.  President  Pierce.  Mr.  Crittenden  of 
Kentucky.  Their  friendly  conduct.  Return  to 
San  Francisco  in  August  by  way  of  Panama. 

1854-55. 

At  work  on  the  Mariposas.  Title  to  Mari- 
posas confirmed  February,  '55,  after  eight  years' 
litigation  with  State  and  General  Government. 
Resume  of  litigation.  Paid  heavy  fees  and  mort- 
gage. Called  to  Washington  by  illness  of  Mrs. 
Fremont.  Summer  at  Nantucket.  Both  Demo- 
cratic and  Republican  leaders  offer  nomination 
for  the  Presidency.  Democratic  leaders  require 
maintaining  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  Decision 
made  at  Nantucket. 

1856. 

Nominated  at  Philadelphia  June  18,  1856,  by 
first  Republican  Convention.  Also  later  in  June 
by  National  American  Convention  then  in  ses- 
sion in  New  York.  Large  support  from  Demo- 
crats. New  York  State  especially.  Presidential 
campaign.  Clashing  opinions  of  leaders.  De- 
cide for  myself.  Vote  of  Pennsylvania.  Judge 
Black's  opinion. 

1857-58-59-60. 

Chiefly  on  the  Mariposas.  Build  short  rail- 
way connecting  mines  and  Merced  River.  De- 
scent 1, 400  feet  in  four  miles.  Road  built  in 
fourteen  days.  Open  roads,  develop  mines. 


Xll 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 


bring  estate  into  fine  paying  order.  Visit  from 
Horace  Greeley.  Purchase  Black  Point,  or 
Point  San  Jose,  in  San  Francisco,  for  Mrs.  Fre- 
mont. Letter  from  Francis  P.  Blair,  Sr., 
urging  my  influence  with  my  friends  in  favor  of 
Lincoln.  Write  accordingly.  Cross  of  the 


Virginia.     Want  of  arms  and  money  chief  diffi- 


Splendid  loyalty  and 
Noble  unanimity  of 


culties.     No  lack  of  men. 

enthusiasm  of  the  West. 

the  Germans.     Descent  of  the  Mississippi  main 

object.    Army  to  be  raised  and  organized.    When 

ready,  to  notify  President.     Command  then  to 


Order  of  Merit  conferred  on  me  by  the  King  of  j  be  extended  over  Kentucky  and  left  bank  Mis- 
Prussia  to  fill  vacancy  made  in  the  Order  by  the 
death  of  Macaulay.     Transmitted  through  Baron 
von   Gerolt,  Prussian  Minister  to  Washington. 


Government  takes  possession  of  Alcatraz  Island. 

1861. 

Leave  family  at  residence  on  Black  Point  and 
start  January  ist  for  England  on  Mariposas 
business.  Attack  on  Sumter.  Offer  services 
to  the  Government.  Congress  passes  an  Act 
creating  four  Major-Generals  in  the  Regular 
Army.  Under  this  Act  were  appointed  McClel- 
lan,  Fremont,  Halleck,  and  Wool,  to  rank  ac- 
cordingly. Make  arrangements  in  England  and 
France  for  purchase  of  arms  for  the  Govern- 
ment. Leave  Mariposas  interests  in  charge  of 
counsel.  Return  and  report  to  President  Lin- 
coln. Council  of  war  preceding  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  the  President  presiding.  General  Scott, 
General  McDowell,  myself  and  other  officers. 
Department  of  the  West  created.  Am  assigned 
to  command  it.  Limits  of  Department.  "  With 
Illinois,  all  the  States  and  Territories  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
including  New  Mexico." — Take  leave  of  the 
President.  No  instructions  given  me.  Presi- 
dent says  he  gives  me  "carte  blanche," — Post- 
master-General Blair  advises  me  "to  cut  the 
wires."  Meet  Governor  Yates  of  Illinois.  Sets 
out  unprepared  state  of  the  West.  Return  to 
New  York  with  Major  Hagner  to  aid  me  in 
gathering  arms  from  various  arsenals.  Succeed 
in  gathering  enough  for  23,000  men.  Telegraph 
to  General  Scott  for  instructions  and  permission 
to  take  the  field  at  once.  Replies  granting  per- 
mission, but  has  no  instructions  to  give.  Start 
for  the  West.  Rumor  of  defeat  at  Bull  Run 
met  at  Philadelphia.  Confirmed  at  Altoona. 
Reach  Saint  Louis  July  25th.  Assume  command. 
The  Department  as  I  found  it.  Missouri  a 
rebel  State.  Local  government  in  confusion. 
Saint  Louis  a  rebel  city.  Enlistment  of  three 
months  men  expiring.  Troops  in  service  unpaid. 
Badly  equipped  and  badly  supplied.  Confed- 
erate Army  of  nearly  50,000  men  already  on 
southern  frontier.  Bird's  Point,  Cape  Girardeau, 
Ironton,  Rolla,  and  Saint  Louis  endangered. 
Arms  collected  by  me  in  New  York  diverted  to 


sissippi. 

AUG.  i. — I  go  personally  to  Cairo,  with  flotilla 
and  reinforcements. 

AUG.  10. — Defeat  and  death  of  General  Lyon. 
Occupied  in  procuring  arms  for  troops.  Mis- 
souri put  in  condition  of  defence.  Girardeau, 
Ironton,  Rolla,  Jefferson  City,  and  Saint  Louis 
fortified.  Forts  at  Saint  Louis  planned  to  com- 
mand the  city  itself  as  well  as  its  approaches. 

AUG.  25. — Expedition  under  Colonel  Wagner 
ordered  with  one  regiment  to  destroy  fortifica- 
tions begun  at  Belmont. 

AUG.  25. — Commander  Rogers  notified  of  this 
expedition.  Directed  to  accompany  with  two 
gunboats. 

AUG.  28. — General  Grant  assigned  command 


of  South-east   Missouri. 
Receives  his  instructions. 


Headquarters   Cairo. 
Goes  to  Girardeau. 


AUG.  28. — General  Grant  directed  to  act  in 
concert  with  Colonel  Wagner  and  Commander 
Rogers  to  take  possession  of  points  threatened 
by  rebels  on  Kentucky  shore. 

AUG.  31. — Captain  Neustader  ordered  to  ex- 
amine and  select  site  for  battery  to  command 
Paducah  and  mouth  of  the  Tennessee. 

AUG.  31 — Freedom  of  slaves  proclaimed.  Mar- 
tial law  proclaimed.  Proclamation  of  Freedom 
countermanded  by  President  Lincoln.  Martial 
law  maintained  until  close  of  war. 

SEPT.  4. — Send  heavy  guns  and  artillery  officer 
to  General  Grant  at  Cairo.  Instruct  him  to 
place  guns  on  Kentucky  shore  at  point  selected 
under  my  directions  August  29.  Also  to  send 
over  adequate  force  to  protect  them. 

SEPT.  4. — General  Grant  leaves  Girardeau  and 
assumes  command  at  Cairo. 

SEPT.  5.— I  telegraph  the  President  asking  my 
command  be  extended  now  to  include  Kentucky. 
Inform  him  Paducah  should  be  occupied  if  pos- 
sible— that  enemy  begin  to  occupy  on  Kentucky 
side  every  good  place  between  Paducah  and 
Hickman. 

SEPT.  5. — Letter  of  instructions  to  General 
Grant  to  "  push  forward  with  utmost  speed  "  all 
work  on  point  selected  on  Kentucky  shore  ten 
miles  from  Paducah  to  be  called  Fort  Holt. 
Also,  "  if  you  feel  strong  enough  to  take  posses- 
sion of  Paducah."  "If  not,  then  opposite  Pa- 


SYNOPSIS. 


xm 


ducah  on  Illinois  side  and  plant  battery  to  com- 
mand Ohio  River  and  mouth  of  the  Tennessee." 

SEPT.  5. — My  scout,  on  his  way  to  me  from 
Kentucky,  informs  General  Grant  enemy  advan- 
cing on  Paducah.  General  Grant  acts  imme- 
diately. Takes  possession  of  Paducah  morning 
of  6th.  Returns  same  day  leaving  garrison  and 
gunboats  to  hold  it. 

SEPT.  6. — In  answer  to  my  urgent  and  repeated 
applications  for  him,  General  C.  F.  Smith  arrives 
from  Washington.  The  President  had  made 
him  Brigadier-General  at  my  special  request.  I 
assign  him  at  once  to  command  at  Paducah  and 
the  Kentucky  shore  of  the  Mississippi  River. 
Letter  of  instructions  furnished  him  which  ac- 
quaints him  with  all  previous  measures  taken  to 
hold  Kentucky  shore  and  mouth  of  the  Tennessee 
and  Cumberland  Rivers.  Inform  him  of  rebel 
advance  on  Paducah,  and  of  General  Grant's 
movement  the  previous  night  with  gunboats  and 
an  adequate  force  for  the  mouth  of  the  Tennes- 
see and  Paducah.  General  Smith  leaves  at  mid- 
night on  the  6th  on  an  engine,  for  Cairo. 

SEPT.  8. — Letter  to  the  President  with  detailed 
plan  of  campaign.  Movements  indicated  in  this 
plan  afterward  used,  but  not  credited  to  me. 

Begin  to  feel  effects  of  the  withdrawal  of  the 
confidence  and  support  of  the  Government. 
Secret  machinations.  Emissaries  from  Wash- 
ington sent  in  to  my  department  to  report  against 
me.  Notwithstanding  open  and  secret  measures 
to  paralyze  my  efforts,  I  succeed  in  organizing  and 
arming  a  sufficient  force  to  meet  General  Price  in 
South-western  Missouri.  March  against  him. 
Reach  Springfield.  Troops  in  an  enthusiastic  con- 
dition. A  splendid  body  of  men  animated  by  gen- 
uine patriotism.  Zagonyi's  brilliant  charge.  Eve 
of  battle.  Receive  order  when  in  face  of  the  en- 
emy to  turn  over  my  command  to  General  Hunter. 
Purporting  to  be  from  General  Scott.  Singular 
informality  in  order.  General  Scott  had  already 
retired  "  on  account  of  infirmities,"  and  Gen- 
eral McClellan  was  Commander-in-chief.  Offi- 
cers assemble  at  my  headquarters  and  urge 
movement  on  Price.  His  advance  being  within 
fifteen  miles.  Take  leave  of  army  in  general 
order  and  leave  Springfield  for  Saint  Louis  No- 
vember 2d.  Before  reaching  Sedalia  receive  tele- 
graphic order  from  General  McClellan, Command- 
er-in-chief of  the  armies,  directing  me  to  report 
to  him  my  movements  in  the  field.  Arrival  in  Saint 
Louis.  Enthusiastic  reception  from  the  Ger- 
mans. Directed  to  turn  over  Department  to 
General  Halleck.  History  of  subsequent  events 
shows  that  my  dispositions  in  Missouri  secured 


the  North-western  States  from  invasion  by  Con- 
federates and  blocked  their  plan  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  Reception  in  Cincinnati.  Remain 
in  New  York  until  January. 

1862. 

Summoned  before  Congressional  Committee 
on  Conduct  of  the  War  at  Washington.  Com- 
mittee report  that  "  the  administration  of  Gen- 
eral Fremont  was  eminently  characterized  by 
earnestness,  ability,  and  most  unquestionable 
loyalty,"  and  that  "he  rightly  judged  in  regard 
to  the  most  effective  means  of  subduing  this  re- 
bellion." Splendid  sword  of  honor  presented  by 
the  Germans  of  the  West.  Ordered  to  com- 
mand of  "  Mountain  Department."  Stonewall 
Jackson's  invasion.  Am  ordered  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  leave  my  Department  and  cut  off  his  re- 
treat. Forced  marches.  Unprepared  troops, 
Blenker's  division  without  shoes.  Night  march 
in  heavy  rain  across  mountain.  Strike  Jackson's 
column  at  Strasburg.  Junction  of  General  Mc- 
Dowell promised  by  President.  Not  made. 
Running  fight  of  seven  days.  Hard  fighting  at 
Harrisonburg.  •"  Bucktails."  Death  of  General 
Ashby.  President  telegraphs  June  gth,  "Halt 
at  Harrisonburg,  pursuing  Jackson  no  further." 
Overtake  Jackson's  main  force.  Battle  of  Cross 
Keys  June  8th.  Junction  promised  here  by  Gen- 
eral Shields  not  made.  Jackson  crosses  Shenan- 
doah  and  burns  bridge.  President  telegraphs 
June  I2th,  "  Many  thanks  to  yourself,  officers,  and 
men,  for  the  gallant  battle  of  last  Sunday."  June 
26th  ordered  to  place  my  own  corps  and  those 
with  me  under  Major-General  Pope.  Conduct  of 
General  Pope  while  under  me  in  Missouri  caused 
me  to  ask  to  be  relieved  from  the  duty  to  which  I 
had  been  assigned  under  him.  My  request  com- 
plied with.  Ordered  to  proceed  to  New  York 
"  to  wait  further  orders."  Applied  repeatedly 
for  active  duty.  Constantly  promised.  Never 
given. 

1863. 

Turn  attention  to  private  affairs.  Mariposas 
estate  sold.  Debt  upon  it  of  $1,800,000  (eigh- 
teen hundred  thousand  dollars)  paid.  I  recur  to 
the  building  of  a  Pacific  railroad.  Purchase 
franchises  and  assets  of  the  Kansas  Pacific 

Railroad. 

1864. 

Presidential  campaign.  Lincoln  and  McClel- 
lan nominated.  Public  movement  against  ad- 
ministration. War-governors,  editors,  leading 
men.  I  am  nominated  at  Cleveland  to  represent 
this  feeling.  Resign  my  commission  of  Major- 


XIV 


ME  At O IRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FR&MONT. 


General  in  the  regular  army.  Committee  to  rep- 
resent administration  and  Republican  party  sent 
to  me  at  New  York.  Urges  withdrawal  in  favor 
of  Lincoln.  His  defeat  otherwise  inevitable. 
Offered  terms  and  patronage.  I  decline  both, 
but  withdraw  to  save  the  party.  Letter  from 
Committee  recognizing  "  the  vital  service"  ren- 
dered. 

1865. 

San  Juan  (Oregon)  boundary  question.  Turns 
on  my  map  published  by  order  of  the  Senate  in 
1848.  Settled  upon  my  letter  of  explanation. 
Present  Emperor  of  Germany  arbitrator. 

1865-1873. 

Pacific  railways.  Follow  substantially  the 
lines  and  passes  laid  down  in  my  examination  of 
routes  to  the  Pacific — Union  Pacific,  Central 
Pacific — Southern  Pacific,  and  San  Francisco 
and  Pacific  Railway.  Interesting  foreign  travel. 
Contract  to  build  Memphis,  El  Paso  Railroad 
under  a  grant  from  Texas.  Bonds  based  on 
land  grant  from  Texas  sold  in  Paris.  Mistake 
of  French  agents  represent  guaranteed  by  Unit- 
ed States.  Difficulties  ensuing.  These  used 
and  envenomed  by  railroads  interested  adverse- 
ly. Brought  before  Senate  Committee  Pacific 
R.  R.  Senate  debate  June  21,  1870.  My  action 
and  connection  with  proceedings  in  France  vin- 
dicated by  unanimous  vote  of  Senate.  Honoring 
speeches  by  Senators  TrumbuH,  Cameron,  Nye, 


and  Sumner.  Proceedings  instigated  in  Paris 
against  the  company.  Myself  not  notified  by 
French  court  to  appear,  but  condemned  by  de- 
fault for  not  appearing. 

1873-78. 

The  road  solvent,  but  a  receiver,  Mr.  John 
A.  C.  Gray,  appointed  by  New  York  courts. 
Years  of  litigation.  March  I,  1878,  receiver  ex- 
ecutes to  me  a  full  release.  Accompanied  by  a 
letter,  March  2,  1878,  ***  "  I  deem  it  fair  to  say 
that  throughout  the  long  and  careful  scrutiny 
which  I  have  made  into  the  affairs  of  the  com- 
pany I  have  found  no  proof  that  would  sustain 
the  charges  brought  against  you."  ***  "  Your 
condemnation  was  in  continuation,  or  for  non- 
appearance,  and  was  not,  as  I  understand  it,  a 
judgment  on  the  merits  or  on  the  facts." 

1878. 

Am  appointed  Governor  of  Arizona  Territory. 
Confirmed  by  Senate.  Public  dinner  from  Pio- 
neer Society  of  New  York  before  starting.  Grati- 
fying evidences  of  friendly  feeling  on  overland 
journey.  Chicago.  Omaha.  Public  reception 
by  Pioneer  Association  of  California  at  San  Fran- 
cisco. Hearty  welcome  of  the  citizens.  Los 
Angeles.  Camping-out  journey  from  Yuma  to 
Prescott.  Kind  reception  by  the  citizens,  and 
ball  of  welcome.  Incidents  of  residence  in  Ari- 
zona. Resign  in  '81. 


SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  PLATES. 


bf  1853  we  were  Hving  in  Paris,  where  Mr.  Fremont  mas  having 
his  first  leisure  and  rest,  and  his  plan  was  repose  and  congenial  study 
for  a  year  or  more  longer,  when  there  came  from  my  lather  the  informa- 
tion that  Congress  had  quieted  three  fines  to  be  jarirjed  with  a  view 
to  select  the  best  for  overland  travel  and  •fcimailji  a  railway :  that  it 
bad  been  intended  that  be,  Mr.  Fremont,  should  lead  one,  but  as  COB- 

"  7  T  *  i      ~.  i.  1     ~.  '  ~       ".  ~  1  r~.  ~  1    ~z-7  '  '    ~_~^  —  ~     _~_     ~  _~.  ~     "  *  "_  "_    \~.~".      ~~*  ~  ~-  ~  t '-'-  "  '.  _ r. 

j4r»   lettefson  1  *ayn?w  bad  not  named  MtLf»  rncmo^rt  CD  an^r  01  toe 
Captain  Gnnmson,  who  had  been  given  the  command  of  the  Eae  of 
veys  intended  for  Mr.  Fremont,  was  kuled  by  the  Indians  in  the 
part  of  his  voik. 

Of  the  four  journeys  of  exploration  already 
*  ~,  ~  "r  ~i  r.  ~  -  \  ~.  ~  ~. 

~~-   it  .".. ;    i     "    :  :  -: 

which  was  T^*Til  on  his  own  uJnay  Mr.  Fr 
nnh  journey  at  his  own  expense. 

™"~     —  _  •      ..-    _     ^m  ^^^B^a  ^BK^k^H^  1  -     -     -  """-      -  ^K^K^l  d^^B  •^K^K  -^V-^iVW        4^I»M^V«^V^B 

L oc  His^nmiems  vrez*c  SCBCCDCU  HI  x^xnsy  ano.  OH  GDC  •rzw^  IJBWM^CJBI 
London  to  his  steamer  at  Liverpool,  be  found  the  jnst  pubfished  volume 
of  Cosmos,  in  which  Humboldt,  *pfjling  of  photography,  hopes  k  wZl 
be  appfied  in  travel,  as  secmaf  "the  truth  in  Nature."'  In  New  York  Ac 
dagaerre  apparatizs  was  bought,  and  a  good  artist  secured,  Mr. 
And  though  new  <  omllifjiii.  and 

:    _ '--•-:   :_      t>.-r   ---.-- 
H_~:  :  .i:  ::r       tr.tr.  :r. 

•aid  ciade    mto  photographs  by  Brady  •§  Hi 
_  :  _-        r_-   :      -  .  -    :.:r:  .;- 


xvi  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FR&MONT. 

the  searching  tropical  damp  of  the  sea  voyage  back  across  the  Isthmus, 
left  them  unharmed  and  surprisingly  clear,  and,  so  far  as  is  known, 
give  the  first  connected  series  of  views  by  daguerre  of  an  unknown  coun- 
try, in  pictures  as  truthful  as  they  are  beautiful. 

During  the  winter  of  '55~'56  Mr.  Fremont  worked  constantly  at  Mr. 
Brady's  studio  aiding  to  fix  these  daguerre  pictures  in  their  more  per- 
manent form  of  photographs.  Then  at  our  own  house  I  made  a  studio 
of  the  north  drawing-room,  where  a  large  bayed  window  gave  the  proper 
light.  Here  for  some  months  Hamilton  worked  on  these  views,  repro- 
ducing many  in  oil ;  he  was  a  pupil  of  Turner  and  had  great  joy  in  the 
true  cloud  effects  as  well  as  in  the  stern  mountains  and  castellated  rock 
formations.  The  engravings  on  wood  were  also  made  under  our  home 
supervision  ;  by  an  artist  young  then,  a  namesake  and  grandson  of  Frank 
Key,  the  author  of  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner."  From  these  artists 
their  work  was  passed  to  artist-engravers  of  the  best  school  of  their  art. 
Darley  also  contributed  his  talent.  Some  pictures  he  enlarged  into  india- 
ink  sketches,  and  from  his  hand  came  the  figures  in  many  of  the  plates. 
This  work  progressed  through  the  busy  year  to  us  of  1856. 

Mr.  George  Childs,  of  Philadelphia,  was  to  bring  out  the  journals  of 
the  various  expeditions  as  a  companion  book  of  American  travel  to  the 
Arctic  journeys  of  Dr.  Kane,  then  being  published  by  the  same  house.  The 
year  of  '56  gave  no  leisure  however  for  writing ;  what  could  be  done 
without  too  much  demand  on  Mr.  Fremont  was  carried  forward,  but  he 
alone  could  write  and  that  was  no  time  for  looking  back.  Private 
affairs  had  been  so  much  interfered  with  and  necessarily  deranged  by  the 
Presidential  campaign,  that  the  work  proposed  to  be  written  and  published 
was  unavoidably  delayed,  and  the  contract  finally  cancelled  ;  Mr.  Fremont 
reimbursing  Mr.  Childs  for  all  the  expenditures  made  in  preparation.  The 
time  for  writing  did  not  seem  to  come.  Private  affairs  in  California,  then 
our  war,  and  again  private  business  until  now.  During  these  thirty  years 
the  boxes  containing  the  material  for  this  book  were  so  carefully  guarded 
by  me,  that  all  understood  they  must  be  saved  first  in  case  of  fire.  When 
we  were  leaving  for  Arizona  in  '78  the  boxes  containing  the  steel  plates 
and  wood  blocks  were  placed  in  Morrell's  "Fire-Proof"  warehouse,  which 
was  destroyed  by  fire  in  October  of '81.  We  lost  much  that  was  stored 
in  that  warehouse,  choice  books,  pictures,  and  other  treasured  things,  but 
these  materials  for  the  book  we  had  had  placed  for  greater  security  in  the 
safes  below  the  pavement,  where  the  great  fire  passed  over  them  and 
left  them  completely  unharmed. 

My  father's  portrait  is  another  of  the  illustrations  which  have  gone 
through  the  ordeal  by  fire.  When  his  house  here  was  burned  in  February 
of '52,  the  day  chanced  to  be  so  cold  that  the  water  froze  in  the  hose. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  xvii 

There  was  no  adequate  water  supply,  or  good  appliances  for  fire  here 
then,  and  the  firemen  could  only  look  on,  powerless.  Both  Houses  of 
Congress  had  adjourned  immediately  on  hearing  of  the  fire,  and  a  vast 
throng  surrounded  the  doomed  house.  My  father  felt  their  sympathy, 
but  the  volumes  of  suffocating  smoke  drove  back  all  who  tried  to  enter, 
when  there  came  a  young  friend,  our  neighbor,  and  son  of  an  old  friend 
and  neighbor,  Mr.  Frank  Key  (of  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner  "),  and  in 
spite  of  warning  cries  he  plunged  into  the  smoke  and  fire  to  save  for  my 
father  the  portrait  of  my  mother,  which  he  thought  was  in  her  former 
room. 

When  he  was  seen  at  a  front  window  a  great  shout  of  relief  rose.  Drop- 
ping the  picture  to  outstretched  arms  he  climbed  to  the  lintel  of  the  hospita- 
ble door  no  one  was  ever  to  pass  again  and  helping  hands  and  roaring  shouts 
greeted  him — singed,  scorched,  but  his  eyes  alight  with  joy  to  have  saved 
the  home  face  to  my  father.  It  was  a  mistake,  for  the  portrait  was  that 
of  my  father  in  his  younger  day.  It  was  the  one  only  thing  saved  from 
all  that  house  so  full  of  accumulated  household  treasures  from  both  my 
mother's  and  my  father's  lives  and  belongings.  The  library,  his  own,  and 
his  father's,  with  the  great  folios  of  English  state  trials  from  which  he  began 
to  read  law  and  history  with  his  mother,  was  the  keenest  felt  loss.  Many 
precious  private  papers  were  burned,  and  nearly  half  the  manuscript  of  the 
second  volume  of  the  Thirty  Years'  View. 

My  house  was  near  and  my  father  came  to  me.  Neither  of  us  had  slept 
but  he  made  me  lie  down  and  we  had  talked  together  as  only  those  who 
love  one  another  can  talk  after  a  calamity.  This  portrait  stood  on  a  dress- 
ing table,  and  we  spoke  of  Barton  Key's  tender  thought  and  brave  effort  to 
save  for  him  what  he  would  most  value,  and  the  pity  of  the  mistake.  "  It 
is  well,"  my  father  said,  "  there  is  less  to  leave  now — this  has  made  death 
more  easy.  You  will  have  this  picture  of  me." 

I  felt  the  undertone  ;  but  never  knew  until  his  life  was  ended  that  even 
then  he  was  observing  and  recording  for  the  guidance  of  his  physician, 
symptoms  which  from  the  first  he  thought  foretold  cancer.  So  wonderful 
was  his  calm  endurance  that  Dr.  Hall  and  Dr.  May  each  thought  it  might 
be  another  cause  and  that  an  operation  might  restore  his  health.  For  a 
time  it  did  give  relief.  Then  the  disease  re-asserted  itself.  With  the  cer- 
tainty now,  with  the  fierce  pain  eating  away  his  life,  my  father  rewrote 
the  burned  manuscript  and  completed  his  work.  He  had  exacted  silence 
from  his  physicians  because  "  my  daughters  are  all  young  mothers,  and 
must  not  be  subject  to  the  prolonged  distress  of  knowing  my  condition 
hopeless." 

The  last  likeness,  taken  by  Brady  forme  in  New  York  in  '57,  shows  the 
same  energy,  will,  and  directness,  but  all  softened  by  time  and  the  influence 


xviii  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

of  a  mind  constantly  enlarging  and  therefore  constantly  freeing  itself  from 
personal  views.  And  the  constant  exercise  of  kindness  and  protection,  so 
marked  in  my  father's  nature  and  habits,  have  left  a  stamp  of  benignity 
which  proves  the  tender  inner  nature  lying  deeper  and  stronger  than  that 
more  commonly  known  which  made  his  public  record  of  defiant  and  aggres- 
sive leadership,  and  gives  the  complete  man  who  was  so  loved  by  his 
friends  and  family. 

The  portrait  of  Mr.  Jefferson  is  from  an  excellent  copy  of  the  original 
by  Stuart,  belonging  to  Mrs.  JohnW.  Burke,  of  Alexandria,  Virginia;  the 
great-granddaughter  of  Jefferson,  and  daughter  of  Mr.  Nicholas  Trist,  the 
intimate  friend  of  Jackson.  Through  another  of  Jefferson's  immediate  de- 
scendants, Miss  Sarah  Randolph,  who  wrote  the  beautiful  "Domestic  Life 
of  Jefferson,"  I  am  indebted  for  knowledge  of  this  portrait  and  the  intro- 
duction to  Mrs.  Burke  who  has  so  kindly  let  me  use  it. 

The  head  of  Napoleon  is  from  a  collection  of  authentic  Bonaparte  sou- 
venirs, a  part  of  which  was  bequeathed  to  me  by  the  Count  de  la  Garde, 
a  French  gentleman  who  had  made  his  collection  in  Paris  from  the  days  of 
the  first  Consulate.  He  was  already  a  man  of  advanced  age  when  we  first 
knew  him  there  in  '52.  His  father  was  a  member  of  the  last  Cabinet  of 
Louis  the  i6th,  and,  as  a  boy  often,  he  had  seen  the  opening  of  the  great 
revolution.  In  1804  Bonaparte  restored  to  him  the  remainder  of  their  fam- 
ily estates,  and  gratitude  was  added  to  the  sincere  admiration  he  felt  for 
the  master-mind  that  had  brought  France  to  order  from  anarchy.  There 
was  also  a  previous  link  of  intermarriage  which  connected  his  family  with 
that  of  the  Beauharnais,  and  brought  friendly  intimacy  between  Prince 
Eugene,  Queen  Hortense,  and  himself.  From  among  his  rich  collection  he 
made  up  for  me  an  Album  of  Souvenirs  of  this  historical  family,  with  many 
autograph  letters  and  various  portraits  at  different  epochs  of  Napoleon, 
Josephine,  Hortense,  and  her  brother  Eugene  and  others.  The  portrait 
here  given  is  of  Napoleon  as  First  Consul,  date  1804. 

The  Count  de  la  Garde  died  in  1861,  and  it  shows  how  little  the  most 
cultivated  continental  foreigners  comprehended  our  people,  when  even  this 
charmingly  intelligent  man  provided  in  his  will  "that,  should  the  unhappy 
conditions  of  the  country  and  disorders  arising  from  revolution  make  it 
impossible  to  trace  the  Fremont  family  within  a  year,"  then  my  Album  was 
to  go  to  the  Emperor  (Napoleon  III.),  to  whom  he  left  all  the  rest  of  his 
Bonaparte  collection. 

Of  course  I  received  at  once  at  my  home  in  New  York  the  letter  of  the 
Executor,  and  there  should  have  been  no  delay  in  the  bequest  being  sent 
to  me  there  after  my  answer  reached  Paris. 

In  place  of  the  Album  however  came  a  letter  from  the  Executor,  saying 
the  Emperor  wished  to  keep  unbroken  all  souvenirs  of  his  mother,  and  would 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FR&MONT.  xix 

like  to  have  also  what  the  Count  de  la  Garde  had  intended  for  me.  That 
naturally  they  were  of  less  interest  to  me,  and  that  in  any  matter  of  personal 
interest  to  myself  "aupres  de  votre  gouvernement "  the  Emperor  would  lend 
his  aid. 

Although  I  repeated  my  request  for  the  Album  it  did  not  come.  The 
silence  made  me  uneasy.  I  thought  of  the  simple  business  American  plan 
of  asking  at  Wells  and  Fargo's  Express  if  they  could  not  get  it  on  my  order 
as  a  parcel ;  explaining  the  matter  and  showing  them  the  correspondence. 
They  agreed  with  me  that  a  quick,  silent  move  which  was  a  business  trans- 
action could  not  be  interfered  with.  And  in  that  way  my  Alburn  was  at 
once  secured,  and  brought  to  me.  But  the  year  of  delay  which  was  to 
make  it  lapse  to  the  Emperor  was  nearly  complete. 

Other  portraits,  belonging  with  events,  and  given  us  for  this  use,  will 
be  further  spoken  of  in  the  book. 


THOMAS  H.    BENTON. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH 

OF 

SENATOR    BENTON, 

IN   CONNECTION   WITH    WESTERN   EXPANSION. 

BY   JESSIE    BENTON    FREMONT. 


WHEN,  in  the  opening  of  the  war  ot  1812,  my  Father,  under  General 
Jackson,  marched  from  Nashville  to  defend  the  lower  Mississippi,  he  made 
two  discoveries  which  gave  new  form  to  his  own  life  and  largely  moulded 
the  fate  of  our  Western  country  to  its  ocean  boundary. 

The  first,  on  which  depended  the  other,  was,  that  it  lay  within  the 
power  of  his  own  will  to  regain  health  and  live  ;  the  other,  that  until  then 
his  mind  had  been  one-sided,  and  that  there  was  a  West  as  well  as  an 
East  to  our  country.  This  march  revealed  to  him  the  immense  possibili- 
ties and  future  power  of  the  then  recent  "  Louisiana  purchase ;  "  and  his 
mind  gained  the  needed  balance  against  the  exclusively  English  and  sea- 
board influences  to  which  he  had  been  born  and  in  which  he  had  been 
trained. 

Quick  to  see  and  to  foresee,  and  equally  steadfast  in  living  up  to  his 
convictions,  his  decision  was  made  then  ;  to  leave  inherited  lands,  family 
friends,  and  an  already  brilliant  position  in  the  law,  and  devote  himself  to 
the  new  West.  To  its  imperial  river — the  Father  of  Floods — he  became 
captive,  and  to  it  and  the  lands  it  drained  he  gave  life-long,  faithful,  and 
accumulating  service  and  homage.  My  father  was  so  proudly  and  thor- 
oughly American  that  his  departure  from  all  the  influences  that  had  created 
and  until  then  governed  his  thoughts  shows  the  power  of  innate  force 
against  inherited  and  educated  influence. 

Born  of  English  parentage  on  the  English  seaboard  ;  brought  up  in 
English  and  intensely  colonial-royalist  surroundings  ;  trained  by  a  scholar!/ 


2  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

Englishman  to  English  thought  and  aims  ;  and  with  his  profession  of  the 
law  keeping  his  mind  down  to  a  habit  of  deference  to  precedent  and  safe 
usage,  my  father  had  reached  his  thirtieth  year  before  he  discovered  him- 
self. With  the  great  river  and  his  instinct  of  what  the  West  must  become, 
came  to  him  the  resolve  which  governed  all  his  after  life  ;  and,  by  the 
happy  chance  which  made  me  the  connecting  link,  this  resolve  was  con- 
tinued and  expanded  through  that  of  Mr.  Fremont.  And  so  the  two  lives 
became  one  in  the  work  of  opening  out  our  Western  country  to  emigration 
and  secure  settlement,  and  in  the  further  acquisition  of  Pacific  territory 
which  "  gives  us  from  sea  to  sea  the  whole  temperate  zone,"  and  brings  to 
our  Pacific  ports,  across  our  continent,  that  long-contested-for  India  trade. 
In  the  Park  at  Saint  Louis  stands  a  bronze  statue  of  my  father,  and 
upon  its  pedestal,  below  the  hand  which  points  WEST,  are  his  prophetic 
words  : 

"THERE  is  THE  EAST; 
THERE  LIES  THE  ROAD  TO  INDIA  ;  " 

words  which,  when  spoken  by  him,  had  made  men  smile  significantly  to 
one  another ;  too  much  dwelling  on  this  idea  had — they  thought — warped 
his  mind.  "  They  who  listened  said,  This  man  is  mad ;  now  they  asked, 
Hath  he  a  God  ?  " 

Anyone  can  grasp  prepared  results.  The  mind  that  can  see,  prepare, 
and  concentrate  chaotic  and  antagonistic  conditions,  so  that  a  great  result 
becomes  inevitable,  is  rarely  the  one  to  wear  the  laurels  of  completed  suc- 
cess. Moses  led  the  children  of  Israel  to  the  Promised  land,  but  he  did 
not  enter  there  and  rest.  The  heat  and  burden  of  the  day  were  for  him  ; 
the  fruit  was  for  those  whose  doubts  and  discords  had  made  his  heaviest 
burden. 

It  is  the  formation  phase  of  this  western  expansion  of  our  country, 
of  much  that  shaped  our  present  national  greatness,  of  which  I  am  able  to 
tell  from  my  own  home  knowledge — what  one  might  name  the  fireside 
history  of  the  great  West. 

It  is  only  in  connection  with  this  side  of  his  long  useful  public  life  that 
I  here  speak  of  my  father ;  but  to  appreciate  his  departure  from  all  that 
had  governed  his  thought  and  action  before  he  gave  in  his  adhesion  to  the 
West,  it  is  needed  to  know  what  were  those  restraining  influences  from 
which  his  own  far-sighted  mind,  and  his  own  will,  lifted  him  into  the  higher 
and  broader  outlook  for  our  future  as  a  completed  nation. 

His  father,  English  and  of  reserved  and  scholarly  nature,  was  out  of  his 
element  in  the  new  Republic,  having  come  to  it  from  his  student-life  as  pri- 
vate secretary  to  Governor  Tryon,  the  last  of  the  royal  governors  of  North 
Carolina.  His  natural  preference  was  for  settled  usages  and  a  life  confined 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  SENA  TOR  BENTON.  3 

to  his  family  and  his  cherished  library.  This  was  in  five  languages,  and 
he  was  at  home  in  all  five,  Greek  and  Latin  and  French  and  Spanish ; 
while  the  English  portion  was  rich  in  fine  editions  of  the  best  works. 
Shakspere,  Don  Quixote,  and  Madame  de  Sevigne  we  read  in  the  origi- 
nals as  my  grandfather  and  father  had,  from  this  treasure  for  a  new  country. 

Governor  Tryon  had  also  brought  over  in  his  suite  a  chaplain,  a  man 
of  high  character  and  of  the  same  cultivated  mind  as  my  grandfather.  In 
the  increasing  and  angry  agitation  of  the  coming  separation  from  the 
mother-country,  these  two  men,  already  close  friends,  found  in  each  other 
increasing  harmony  of  feeling  and  mutual  support.  It  soon  came  to  be 
the  strongest  earthly  support  to  my  grandfather. 

He  had  married  into  another  English  family  of  colonial  governors,  as 
my  grandmother,  Anne  Gooch,  was  the  only  child  of  a  younger  brother 
of  Sir  William  Gooch,  who  replaced  Lord  Dunmore  as  deputy-gover- 
nor in  his  absence  from  his  post  in  Virginia.  New  York  had  a  more 
"loyal"  atmosphere  than  Richmond,  and  both  Lord  Dunmore  and  Gov- 
ernor Tryon  were  chiefly  there  during  the  closing  period  of  English  rule. 
Their  official  families  bore  for  them  the  brunt  of  the  rising  storm,  and,  like 
true  men,  became  only  the  more  devoted  to  their  country,  for  which  they 
suffered. 

With  the  end  of  colonial  rule  came  the  end  of  scholarly  rest  and  se- 
clusion for  my  grandfather.  The  need  for  larger  provision  for  many 
young  children  turned  him  westward,  and  leaving  them  in  their  North 
Carolina  home,  he  led  a  surveying  party  of  sixteen  men,  the  first  to  make 
surveys  in  Kentucky. 

Already  his  health  was  giving  way  under  the  inroads  of  pulmonary 
disease,  which  at  that  date  was  accepted  as  a  death-sentence,  and  sub- 
mitted to  as  inevitable.  Doubtless  the  survey-work  in  the  open  air,  the 
change  of  thoughts,  and  a  new  aim  in  life  gained  for  him  a  reprieve,  and 
he  persevered  until  he  had  secured  large  landed  property,  but  soon  after 
his  return  to  North  Carolina  died  there,  asking  of  his  faithful  friend,  the 
chaplain,  that  overlooking  care  for  his  family  which  he  could  no  longer 
give  them.  And  faithfully  was  this  charge  kept. 

It  is  from  my  father  himself  that  I  know  what  followed. 

He  was  but  eight  years  of  age  then,  and  there  were  six  other  children. 
He  had  not  seen  his  mother  during  her  long  illness  after  his  father's 
death,  and  when  at  length  he  was  taken  in  to  her  he  was  struck  with  awe 
and  terror.  In  place  of  the  young  mother  he  knew,  with  bright  brown 
hair  crowning  her  stately  head,  and  health  and  animation  lighting  her  blue 
eyes,  he  saw  a  thin,  white-faced,  white-haired  woman,  who  put  his  hand 
on  that  of  a  baby-girl,  and  told  him  that  he  was  now  the  head  of  the  fam- 
ily, the  eldest  son,  and  must  be  her  help  in  taking  care  of  the  others. 


4  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

"  When  I  came  out  I  rushed  into  the  grove,  and  there,  with  cries  and 
tears,  /  made  war  on  myself  until  I  could  accept  that  ghost  in  place  of  my 
own  mother." 

There  the  chaplain  found  him.  He  had  looked  for  him  there,  I  am 
sure.  Knowing  the  boy's  vitality,  his  strong  affections,  and  his  powerful, 
self-reliant  will,  he  must  have  felt  that  it  was  only  to  Nature  he  would  turn 
in  this  his  first  contest  with  the  inevitable. 

Coming  back  from  chapel  the  Sunday  following  this  memorable  day, 
the  chaplain  led  him  by  the  hand  through  the  grove,  and  taking  a  little 
Greek  Testament  from  his  pocket,  read  to  him  a  verse,  making  him  repeat 
it  correctly  as  he  pronounced  it  after  him,  then  giving  him  the  meaning, 
and  so  continuing  the  oral  lesson  until  they  neared  the  house.  It  was  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  his  first  lesson  in  Greek  was  the  blessing  on 
"  they  that  mourn,"  with  its  promise  that  "  they  shall  be  comforted." 

These  lessons  in  Greek,  and  in  Latin  also,  were  continued  faithfully  by 
the  true  friend.  Fair  instruction,  of  the  ordinary  kind,  was  given  him  at  a 
good  college  school ;  but  his  true  education  was  from  the  chaplain,  from 
his  mother,  and  through  the  fine  library  of  his  father.  From  its  great  fo- 
lios of  "  English  State  Trials "  my  father  had  his  first  law  lessons,  his 
mother  interesting  him  in  them  by  choosing  the  narrative  portions,  and 
giving  him  the  needed  links  of  information,  then  drawing  from  him  his  im- 
pressions in  discussion  on  the  readings.  The  wise  mother  made  these 
readings  a  reward,  and  prevented  any  undue  influence  of  such  large  ideas 
by  encouraging  the  wholesome  out-door  life  which  the  four  brothers,  with 
horse,  dog,  and  gun,  made  for  themselves. 

The  moulding  influence  of  this  uncommon  woman  was  too  life-long  and 
ennobling  for  her  to  be  omitted  from  a  just  account  of  my  father.  From 
her  example  and  her  teaching  he  was  trained  to  industry,  to  truth,  cour- 
age, and  justice — a  good  woman's  sense  of  justice,  which  includes  mercy  ; 
which  causes  justice  to  be  thorough  by  making  action  follow  conviction  ;— 
to  that  moral  courage  which  sustains  and  defends  conviction  ;  above  all  to 
the  succor  and  protection  of  the  weak  and  oppressed.  Those  who  know 
my  father's  public  life  will  recognize  these  underlying  forces. 

In  the  brief  memoranda  for  a  biographical  notice  made  by  himself  when 
nearing  his  certain  and  painful  death  ;  in  recalling  what  then  seemed  best 
worth  recording,  there  comes  first  the  grateful  tribute  to  his  Mother. 
Then,  the  fact  that,  when  in  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee,  he  had  been 
the  author  of  "  a  humane  law,  still  on  her  statute-books,  giving  to  slaves 
the  full  benefit  of  jury  trial  which  was  the  right  of  white  men  under  the 
same  accusation."  This  originated  in  the  case  of  a  slave-woman  accused 
of  murder,  for  whom  he  volunteered  as  counsel,  and  defended  her  success- 
fully on  arguments  which  Maudsly  has  put  in  use  to-day. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  SENA  TOR  BENTON.  5 

In  his  young  time,  in  a  Southern  country,  this  was  a  brave  outcome  of 
the  active  sense  of  justice  which  a  woman  had  taught  him  to  feel  for  all 
women,  even  those  "despised  of  men." 

When  he  was  sixteen  they  removed  to  Tennessee,  to  their  large 
landed  property  near  Nashville,  which  the  father's  forethought  had  se- 
cured for  his  young  family.  There  they  commenced  cotton-planting.  My 
Father  and  his  three  brothers,  with  the  head-negroes,  went  out  one  fine 
night  to  make  a  final  survey  of  the  ripened  crop  which  lay  white  and  beau- 
tiful in  the  moonlight.  The  next  day  found  it  blackened  by  frost,  and 
with  it  withered  all  the  plans  founded  on  its  sale.  This  decided  my  Father 
against  planting,  as  "a  pursuit  of  which  he  could  not  influence  the  re- 
sults." 

And  he  turned  to  the  study  of  law,  keeping  at  the  same  time  an  active 
supervision  of  the  estate,  the  family,  and  the  safety  of  their  little  colony. 
For  from  the  southern  border  of  "  the  Widow  Benton's  estate,"  through  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  was  unbroken  and  warlike  Indian  territory.  And  lead- 
ing directly  through  their  lands  was  the  war-trail  of  neighboring  Indian 
tribes. 

He  was  admitted  early  to  practice,  and  soon  had  the  friendship  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson  among  other  important  settlers.  Later,  when  a  member  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  State,  he  was  the  author  of  the  Judicial  Re- 
form Act,  by  which  the  administration  of  justice  was  relieved  of  much  delay, 
expense,  and  inconvenience  to  all  concerned.  This  too,  came  from  the 
home  readings  and  discussions,  and  was  an  effort  to  combine  justice  with 
law. 

Then  came  the  war  of  1812,  when,  enlisting  under  Jackson  who  was 
major-general  of  the  Tennessee  militia,  he  made  the  march  to  the  defence 
of  the  lower  Mississippi  which  was  to  radically  alter  his  plan  of  life,  and 
lead  to  great  good  for  our  whole  country. 

Doubtless,  in  leaving  North  Carolina,  his  mother  had  had  fresh  grief  in 
parting  from  all  the  visible  memories  of  her  happy  time.  But  she  was  not 
of  the  women  who  vainly  look  back,  or  make  their  lament  aloud ;  the  one 
blow  that  struck  the  color  from  her  life,  as  from  her  hair,  killed  all  personal 
interest  in  living  ;  leaving  her  only  for  duty  and  protecting  love  for  her  chil- 
dren. This,  and  the  many  cares  of  a  Southern  household  of  old  days,  the 
newer  conditions  of  the  large  estate,  and  the  obligations  of  neighborhood 
in  a  new  country,  she  was  faithful  to. 

But  there  came  a  time  when  her  love  and  protection  could  not  avail  her 
children.  They  all  grew  up  apparently  full  of  health  and  fine  promise  ;  but 
five  of  the  eight  died,  as  their  father  had  died,  of  rapid  consumption.  "  The 
Grave  of  the  Three  Sisters  "  is  still  a  known  landmark  near  Nashville, 
although  a  great  tree  has  grown  up  in  the  enclosure,  and  partly  uprooted 


6  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.         , 

its  stone  walls  and  the  family  grave-stones  ;  the  burial-place  of  their  slaves 
— hard-by,  as  was  the  custom — remains  comparatively  undisturbed. 

When  my  father  found  himself  on  the  same  sad  downward  road — when 
constant  fever,  the  hacking  cough,  and  restless  nights  and  days  without 
energy  admonished  him  that  his  turn  had  come,  he  felt  despair.  "  If  it 
had  been  a  battle  I  would  have  had  a  chance,  or  even  in  a  desperate  duel, 
but  for  this  there  was  no  chance.  All  was  fixed  and  inevitable." 

The  war  coming  then  he  hailed  the  occasion  to  end  his  life  in  action 
rather  than  in  the  slow  progress  of  a  fatal  illness. 

As  we  have  seen  in  our  late  war,  whole  neighborhoods  of  young  men 
went  out  together,  and  distinctions  of  private  and  officer  were  only  used 
when  on  duty.  "  Sam  "  Houston  was  a  corporal  in  the  regiment  of  which 
my  father  was  colonel,  and  when  they  were  in  the  Senate  together  the 
ex-President  of  Texas  often  signed  himself  "  Your  friend  and  old  sub- 
altern." 

Some  of  the  young  men  were  not  so  practised  in  walking  as  my  Father, 
and  he  lent  them  his  horses,  himself  going  on  foot.  Of  course  they  carried 
but  little  baggage,  and  he  supplied  the  want  of  fresh  clothing  by  constant 
baths  in  the  running  waters  of  streams  by  the  way,  drying  the  skin  in 
sunshine.  This,  with  the  abundant  exercise  which  opened  the  pores  and 
threw  off  fevered  conditions,  the  sleep  in  open  air,  the  simple  regular  food, 
all  combined  to  bring  about  such  changes  that  hope  came  to  him.  His 
own  observations  taught  him  how  to  follow  up  these  indications  of  possible 
health  ;  and,  in  brief,  seventy  years  ago  my  father  found  for  himself  the 
way  out  of  inherited  conditions  of  pulmonary  disease  by  the  same  means 
so  successfully  ordered  in  our  present  time — open  air,  night  and  day  ; 
abundant  perspiration  from  steady  exercise  ;  bathing  and  rubbing,  always 
if  possible  in  sunshine ;  always,  all  the  sunshine  possible ;  simple  food 
regularly  taken  ;  and  "  to  forget  yourself  in  some  pursuit." 

All  his  life  my  father  needed  to  keep  as  close  to  these  rules  as  circum- 
stances permitted.  The  continued  use  of  his  voice  in  speaking  in  public 
was  prepared  for  by  silence  for  days  previous  and  was  almost  sure  to  be 
followed  by  flecks  of  blood  from  the  throat,  but  his  self-control  gained  him 
the  superb  health  which  was  so  great  a  factor  in  his  usefulness. 

The  English  did  not  come  so  soon  as  they  were  looked  for,  and  when 
General  Jackson  returned  to  Tennessee  my  father  applied  for  active  service, 
and  was  commissioned  by  President  Madison  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the 
regular  army  (39th  Infantry)  and  was  sent  to  Canada  on  his  first  duty. 

What  he  saw  there  of  the  antagonism  of  French  and  English  added  to 
his  interest  in  the  people  of  the  "  Louisiana  purchase,"  whose  French  set- 
tlers were  both  grieved  and  angered  by  their  abrupt  transfer  to  their  tra- 
ditional enemy ;  for  they  cared  little  about  other  differences  where  Ian- 


THOMAS  H.  BENTON. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  SENATOR  BEN  TON.  7 

guage,  laws,  and  religion  were  those  they  were  accustomed  to  hate  as 
"  English." 

When  peace  was  declared  my  father  resigned  from  the  army  and  estab- 
lished his  new  home  at  Saint  Louis.  There  was  no  further  change.  The 
winter  home  was  in  Washington,  where  his  thirty  years  in  the  Senate  made 
a  home  of  our  own  a  necessity.  But  my  grandmother  remained  at  the 
Saint  Louis  house  always  ;  with  her  own  old  servants  and  some  young 
grandchildren — children  of  another  son  whose  health  could  not  brave  the 
Saint  Louis  winters — beautiful  and  unusually  fine  children  who  gave  young 
life  about  the  house  before  our  day,  and  of  whom  one  has  always  been  like 
a  dear  elder  sister.  When  I  was  in  England  in  '51,  my  father  in  writing 
to  me  of  the  death  of  my  only  brother,  says — "  Your  cousin  Sarah  has  been 
constantly  with  us.  Her  face,  always  lovely  to  me,  has  been  that  of  an 
angel." 

While  in  the  army  my  father  made  the  friendship  with  General  James 
Preston  of  Virginia  which  led  to  what  he  held  to  be  the  crowning  good 
fortune  of  his  life — his  marriage  to  my  mother,  who  was  the  niece  of  Gen- 
eral Preston.  It  was  his  singular  good  fortune  to  have  both  in  his  mother 
and  his  wife  friends  and  sharers  in  his  largest  ideas,  while  every  soothing 
charm  of  a  well-ordered  home  came  as  second  nature  from  my  mother's 
influence.  To  him  home  brought  the  strength  of  peace  and  repose,  and 
he  never  suffered  the  outside  public  atmosphere  of  strife  to  enter  there. 

"  Peace  and  honor  charmed  the  air." 

And  in  its  warmth  long-closed  memories  bloomed  anew.  Some  trouble  in 
tuning  a  guitar  was  making  one  of  my  sisters  impatient,  "  Bring  it  to  me," 
spoke  my  father  from  his  table  covered  with  books  and  work.  We 
looked  on  while  with  strong  but  light  and  skilful  touch  he  turned  the 
pegs,  and  tuned  it  perfectly,  trying  a  few  chords.  The  sight  of  "  Father 
playing  the  guitar  "  made  an  outcry  from  the  youngest,  but  we  elder  girls 
felt  we  must  not  speak ;  when  he  himself,  handing  it  back,  and  doubtless 
seeing  some  pitying  tenderness  of  look  in  us,  said  gently — "  I  often 
tuned  their  guitar  for  my  sisters,  and  sang  with  them  " — and  to  one  of  us, 
"  You  are  like  the  youngest."  Of  his  brothers  we  had  had  many  and 
many  a  hunting  story,  and  knew  their  dogs  by  name,  and  the  gray  horse 
which  must  have  had  a  troubled  life  among  them,  but  of  the  sisters  this 
was  all  he  ever  said.  But  we  knew  they  made  the  hidden  source  of  his 
unfailing  gentleness  to  all  women.  My  grandmother  lived  to  past  eighty, 
in  fullest  clearness  of  mind  sharing  and  aiding  her  son's  life ;  and  except 
for  his  needed  absences  in  Washington  they  had  no  separations.  They 
rest  together  near  Saint  Louis  by  the  Great  River — mother  and  son — and 
around  them  are  their  children  to  the  third  and  fourth  generations. 


8  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

Saint  Louis  was  in  1817,  when  my  father  established  himself  there, 
only  a  village  in  numbers,  but  it  had  a  large  and  stirring  life  and  great 
interests  which  found  their  outlet  and  pathway  to  the  sea  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi. It  was  like  a  port  on  the  border  of  its  vast  dimly  known  In- 
dian country,  with  its  business  extending  deep  into  Mexico  and  through 
to  Sonora  and  the  Gulf  of  California ;  and  across  the  Rocky  Mountains 
into  Oregon  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  armed  caravans  of  merchandise 
crossing  this  dangerland  encountered  not  only  the  perils  from  savages 
intent  on  plunder,  but  the  jealous  capricious  interferences  of  Spanish 
policy ;  while  the  small  army  of  hunters  and  trappers  and  traders  and 
voyageurs  belonging  with  the  American  Fur  Company  had  in  addition  to 
the  Indians  to  meet  the  covert  but  powerful  hostility  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Fur  Company,  and  consequent  collision  with  English  policy.  The  whole 
condition  of  loss  to  us  and  increasing  gain  and  strength  to  England  com- 
ing from  the  joint-occupation  of  the  Columbia;  the  resulting  loss  of  life 
and  driving  out  of  the  American  Fur  trade ;  the  increasing  settlements  of 
English  subjects  fostered  by  their  government  and  encouraged  to  hold  the 
land  made  the  situation  my  father  found  governing  Saint  Louis. 

Fresh  from  his  military  life  he  found  himself  confronting  English  ag- 
gression in  another  form.  The  little  French  town  so  far  in  the  centre  of 
our  continent  found  itself  direct  heir  to  the  duel  of  a  century  between 
England  and  France  for  the  New  World  and  the  Asiatic  trade,  and, 
France  having  withdrawn,  was  meeting  the  added  resentment  of  English 
feeling  against  her  late  subjects,  who  now  replaced  France  in  that  contest. 
The  few  years  intervening  between  his  arrival  among  them  and  his  being 
sent  in  1821  to  represent  them  as  their  first  Senator,  gave  my  father  time 
to  learn  fully  their  interests,  and  the  sources  of  information  were  unusual 
and  each  of  the  highest  value. 

The  venerable  General  Clarke,  who  had  under  Jefferson  first  explored 
Oregon  and  the  Columbia,  was  ending  his  days  quietly  but  in  large  use- 
fulness in  Saint  Louis.  He  was  the  chief  Superintendent  of  all  western 
Indians,  a  post  in  which  his  experience  and  high  character  gave  the  best 
results  to  the  Indians  as  well  as  to  our  Government.  Much  of  what  now 
belongs  with  the  Indian  Bureau  and  Department  of  the  Interior  was  thus 
in  his  control,  even  the  making  of  treaties.  General  Clarke  had  married 
a  connection  of  my  mother's,  and  there  was  a  family  and  neighborly  inti- 
macy between  the  two  homes.  All  that  one  mind  can  take  from  that  of 
another  who  has  had  the  advantage  of  seeing,  my  father  gathered  from 
General  Clarke  in  regard  to  his  exploration.  And  of  the  evils  growing 
out  of  the  permitted  joint-occupation  ;  a  permission  fast  growing  into  a 
right  of  possession,  and  already  harassing  and  excluding  American  set- 
tlers. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  SENATOR  BENTON.  9 

The  headquarters  of  the  Fur  Company  were  with  the  Chouteaus,  an 
old  French  family  who  had  come  up  from  New  Orleans  for  this  business 
sixty  years  before,  and  remained  there ;  overseeing,  themselves  and 
through  younger  branches,  the  ramified  increasing  business  which  en- 
riched them  and  gave  profitable  employment  to  so  many  adventurous  men. 
From  these  all — the  heads  of  the  House  to  the  last  arrived  voyageur — my 
father  eagerly  and  perseveringly  gleaned  information,  and  gained  grounds 
for  his  maturing  resolve  to  carry  out  Jefferson's  plan  of  overland  commu- 
nication with  the  Asiatic  countries,  and  to  hold  for  ourselves  the  port  on 
the  Pacific  which  was  its  key  ;  and  for  this  to  end  the  impossible  condi- 
tion of  combined  use  of  our  Oregon  territory.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  scorned 
this  idea  when  applied  to  the  Mississippi.  He  would  not  even  refer  to 
the  Senate  the  treaty  containing  this  provision.  What  would  the  English 
not  have  made  of  "  treaty-rights"  for  "free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
and  access  to  it  through  the  territories  of  the  United  States"  which  was 
their  renewed  attempt  at  Ghent  in  1814. 

From  the  Pere  Marquette  through  to  Father  de  Smet,  the  missionary 
priests  of  the  Catholic  Church  had  a  great  part  in  opening  up  our  western 
Indian  country,  and  creating  centres  of  order  and  good  influence  wherever 
they  founded  their  missions.  The  transfer  of  Louisiana  had  been  followed 
by  the  watchful  care  of  their  Church,  which  did  not  abandon  its  Spanish 
and  French  people  to  the  new  conditions,  but  sent  to  them  clergy  of  high 
dignity  and  governing  minds  who  made  for  them  new  importance  and  en- 
larged advantages.  Special  attention  was  given  to  establishments  for  edu- 
cation. Bishop  Du  Bourg  brought  over  five  Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
from  the  famous  mother-house  in  Paris  where  the  daughters  of  royalty  are 
sent  for  training.  These  ladies  were  of  noble  families,  and  their  gentle, 
refined  manners,  their  pure  French  and  accomplishments,  gave  to  the  young 
girls  of  Saint  Louis  the  same  advantages  they  would  have  to-day  at  the 
Sacre-Cceur  in  Paris.  My  father,  who  comprehended  the  power  of  edu- 
cation and  promoted  it  in  all  forms,  was  glad  to  use  this  rare  advantage 
for  his  young  niece.  There  was  an  odd  reason  for  his  constant  pleasant 
intercourse  with  the  Bishop  aside  from  public  causes. 

Those  about  M.  Du  Bourg  were,  like  himself,  French.  He  needed  to 
acquire  fluent  English  for  all  uses,  and  for  use  from  the  pulpit.  It  was  a 
point  of  honor  among  the  older  French  not  to  learn  English — many  never 
did  so  at  all — "  ye  suis  Francais  dc  France  ct  je  parle  ma  langue"  they 
would  say,  ignoring  the  need  for  the  other  language  and  looking  down 
with  reprobation  on  their  descendants  born  and  living  contentedly  under 
"  foreign  "  rule,  and  speaking  English.  The  older  people  never  reacted 
from  the  shock  of  anger  and  pain  which  came  to  them,  as  their  simple 
annals  record,  "on  this  qtk  of  July,  1803,  at  7  p.m."  when  they  learned — • 


10 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 


indirectly  at  first — that  "  Louisiana  has  been  sold  by  Napoleon  to  the 
United  States." 

To  force  himself  into  familiar  practice  the  Bishop  therefore  secluded 
himself  for  a  while  with  the  family  of  an  American  farmer,  where  he  would 
hear  no  French.  Soon  he  had  gained  enough  to  announce  a  sermon  in 
English,  on  some  occasion  of  general  interest  which  crowded  the  Cathedral. 
My  father  was  there,  and  as  among  other  languages  the  Chaplain  had 
taught  him  a  fastidious  use  of  English,  his  feelings  can  be  imagined  when 
the  polished,  refined  Bishop  said  to  the  hushed  crowd  : 

"  My  friends  :  /  ant  right-down  glad  to  see  suck  a  smart  chance  of 
folks  here  to-day." 

What  he  thought  to  say  was  the  paternal  gentle  "  Mes  Amis,"  "  I  am 
profoundly  happy  to  see  here  such  an  assemblage." 

To  feel  and  to  act  were  one  thing  with  my  father,  and  his  offered  assist- 
ance led  to  an  intimacy  in  which  he  was  as  much  the  gainer  in  cultivated 
French  as  was  the  Bishop  in  equivalent  English. 

By  this  time  my  father's  thoughts  were  all  converging  on  the  vital  im- 
portance to  our  new  possession  of  ridding  it  of  English  interference,  and 
through  the  Bishop,  also,  he  learned  much  bearing  on  his  main  idea.  The 
missionary  priests  reported  to  the  Bishop,  and  their  experience  swelled  the 
evidence  gained  through  the  Fur  Company  and  its  employes,  that  the  joint 
occupation  of  the  Columbia  was  the  virtual  loss  of  that  part  of  our  territory ; 
that  our  fur  trade  was  already  driven  out ;  that  American  settlers  were 
harassed — many  killed — by  Indians  friendly  with  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany ;  and  that  our  Government  was  giving  no  encouragement  or  protec- 
tion to  our  people,  while  in  every  way  fostering  care  was  given  to  English 
settlers  who  were  taking  up  the  land. 

What  to  do  ?  "  There  is  all  the  difference  possible  between  the  man 
who  possesses  his  subject  and  the  man  who  is  possessed  by  it." 

My  father  became  possessed  by  this  Oregon  question.  He  had  that 
fire  of  devotion  to  an  idea  which  transmutes  the  thought  of  many  into 
united  defined  action,  and  his  courage  always  rose  with  obstacles. 

Oregon  was  far,  unfamiliar,  of  no  distinct  interest  to  the  East. 

The  one  man  who  had  foreseen  and  planned  our  ownership  of  its  Pa- 
cific port,  with  the  resulting  gain  of  overland  commerce  from  Asia  peopling 
our  waste  lands  and  enriching  the  whole  country,  was  not  then  in  power. 
After  his  many  years  of  extraordinary  services  Mr.  Jefferson  was  ending 
his  days  in  much  care  from  fortune  lost  while  serving  his  country  and  neg- 
lecting his  own  interests.  To  him,  at  his  mountain  home  in  Virginia,  my 
father  made  a  visit  the  Christmas  of  1824;  he  felt  it  a  pilgrimage.  The 
commonplace  topic  of  the  bad  roads  was  lifted  by  the  mind  of  genius  into 
a  talk  which  became  the  link  in  a  chain  of  national  progress ;  a  talk  into 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  SENATOR  BENTON.  n 

which  there  came  an  unconscious  touch  of  pain  which  will  find  echo  in 
American  hearts  as  unworthy  to  have  been  inflicted  on  that  noble  mind. 
From  the  local  road  they  came  to  speak  of  the  need  for  national  aid  to 
roads  for  the  spread  of  our  people  westward. 

My  father,  having  now  the  vantage-ground  of  the  Senate,  was  endeav- 
oring to  get  for  those  of  his  constituents  whose  business  led  them  into 
Mexican  trade  as  far  as  to  the  "  Sea  of  Cortez  "  (the  old  name  for  the 
Gulf  of  California),  a  right  of  way  in  Mexico,  and  consequent  protection 
by  both  republics.  This  was  meeting  opposition  on  the  perennial  objec- 
tion of  "  creating  a  precedent."  Mr.  Jefferson  said  this  objection  would  be 
disposed  of  by  a  similar  road  made  in  the  closing  year  of  his  administra- 
tion. He  said  there  could  be  found  in  the  Library  of  Congress  a  manu- 
script copy  of  this  map  bound  up  in  a  volume  of  maps,  formerly  his  own. 

"  Formerly  !  "  Could  not  the  representatives  of  that  people  who  owed 
so  much  to  him  have  given  him  the  pitiful  price  they  paid  for  his  library 
and  left  it  .with  him,  undisturbed,  to  console  the  few  remaining  years  of  his 
old  age  and  poverty  ? 

"The  sympathies  of  the  American  people  are  instantaneous,  and  alive 
to  any  deeds  of  merit  brought  to  their  notice.  But  the  conscience  of  the 
people  of  this  country  is  not  in  their  own  keeping.  It  is  a  delegated  con- 
science." 

Mr.  Jefferson's  intention  to  secure  for  his  country  the  Asiatic  trade  by 
an  overland  route  across  our  continent  so  directly  governed  the  three  lives 
written  of  in  this  book  that  I  give  here  to  this  point  some  detail,  though 
nothing  befitting  his  foresight  and  perseverance. 

Before  the  American  captain,  Captain  Gray  of  Boston,  had  actually 
found  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  in  1790,  Jefferson,  then  our  Minister  to 
France,  met  in  Paris  the  English  traveller  Ledyard,  who  was  about  to  ex- 
plore the  Nile.  Mr.  Jefferson  turned  him  from  this  to  what  both  felt  to  be 
a  fresher  and  more  useful  field  of  discovery.  I  have  listened  to  such  talks  ; 
and  can  fancy  the  fascination  to  the  born  explorer  in  listening  to  Jefferson's 
theory  that  the  snow-clad  Rocky  Mountains,  which  shed  their  waters  to 
the  east  in  such  a  mighty  stream  as  the  Missouri,  must  have  a  correspond- 
ing water-shed  and  great  river  to  the  west.  No  explorer  had  trod  its 
banks,  no  navigator  found  its  mouth ;  but  where  Jefferson  thought  such  a 
river  should  be,  is  the  Columbia. 

Jefferson  obtained  for  Ledyard  the  passport  which  carried  him  to  Saint 
Petersburg,  where  he  received  the  permission  of  the  Empress  Catherine 
to  traverse  her  dominions  in  a  high  northern  latitude  to  their  eastern  ex- 
tremity ;  then  he  would  cross  the  sea  from  Khamschatka,  or  at  Behring's 
Straits ;  and,  descending  the  northwest  coast  of  America,  come  down  the 
river  which  they  were  certain  must  have  its  head  opposite  that  of  the  Mis- 


12  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

souri ;  ascend  it  to  its  source  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  then  follow  the 
Missouri  to  the  French  settlements  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  thence  home. 

By  what  petty  intrigue,  or  whose  small  mind  overthrew  such  a  grand 
plan  we  cannot  know — very  small  causes  aid  to  determine  the  fate  of  great 
events — but  all  the  large  thought  of  Jefferson,  the  enterprise  of  Ledyard, 
and  the  intelligent  co-operation  of  the  Empress  Catherine  were  defeated 
when  Ledyard,  who  had  already  reached  Siberia,  was  overtaken  by  an 
order  revoking  his  permission,  and  conducted  back  "  as  a  spy  "  out  of 
Russia. 

The  Nile  exploration  was  resumed ;  to  end  in  the  early  death  of  the 
enthusiastic  young  explorer. 

When,  as  President  he  had  the  power,  Mr.  Jefferson  renewed  his  plan, 
and  projected  the  Expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clarke ;  and  having  obtained 
the  consent  of  Congress,  sent  them  to  discover  the  head  and  course  of  the 
river,  whose  mouth  was  then  known  ;  giving  to  Congress  in  his  message 
the  reason  that  this  would  "  open  overland  commercial  relations  with  Asia  ; 
and  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  geographical  science  "-—putting  as  the  first 
motive  a  North-American  road  to  India,  and  the  introduction  of  Asiatic 
trade  over  that  road.  What  proud  emotion  must  have  filled  him  when  he 
secured  from  France  our  ownership  of  that  vast  "  Louisiana  purchase  " — 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  and  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  all  the 
lands  they  drained  throughout  their  mighty  length  !  When  in  an  English 
treaty  a  clause  was  inserted  providing  free  navigation  on  the  Mississippi 
and  access  through  our  territories  to  it  President  Jefferson  would  not  even 
refer  it  to  the  Senate  but  suppressed  it  himself.  Here  again  was  the  same 
intention  to  regain  something  of  the  lost  power  over  us,  to  acquire  such 
hold  in  Oregon  as  would  enable  her  to  keep  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia, 
and  add  that  port  on  the  Pacific  to  those  of  Gibraltar,  Malta,  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  her  other  such  outposts. 

The  story  of  varying  intrigues,  now  bold,  now  crafty,  is  long,  but  it 
was  now  with  her  own  children  she  was  dealing,  and  with  men  who  had 
felt  the  war  of  the  revolution  and  that  of  1812,  and  who  had  not  laid 
their  armor  by,  and  were  ready  to  resist  any  further  attempts  at  dominion. 
My  father  was  a  man  grown  when  the  Mississippi  and  the  Columbia 
were  French  property  and  Saint  Louis  and  New  Orleans  French  ports. 
Although  so  bred  and  tutored  in  English  feeling  and  knowledge,  yet  there 
lay  all  about  him  the  atmosphere  of  our  successful  rebellion  against  unjust 
abuse  of  power,  and  the  going  to  Tennessee  had  opened  his  mind  to  still 
more  American  impressions  of  self-reliance  and  thought.  The  military 
episode  which  gave  him  back  health,  and  revealed  to  him  the  future  of  the 
West,  brought  also  reliance  on  his  own  will.  He  had  found  it  could  con- 
trol the  issues  of  life  and  death  ;  he  came  back  to  the  new  life  conscious  of 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  SENATOR  BENTON.  13 

an  ally  within  himself  on  which  he  could  surely  rely — his  own  will.  And 
in  his  work  to  make  secure  our  Pacific  outlet  that  will  never  faltered,  but 
gained  strength  from  opposition,  and  expanded  with  the  greatness  of  the 
object. 

In  1813,  while  this  new  life  was  coming  to  my  father,  there  began, 
again  on  the  eastern  sea-coast,  another  life  which  was  to  be  in  alliance 
with  his  ;  to  carry  forward  and  enlarge  his  plans  ;  and  to  seize  opportunity 
to  bring  them  to  a  higher  and  more  grand  realization  than  one  life  alone 
could  compass. 

The  renewal  ol  the  joint-occupation  of  the  Columbia  had  effectually  dis- 
couraged American  enterprise,  and  infused  new  life  into  the  English  occu- 
pation ;  their  encroachments  were  continued  in  various  forms,  now  open, 
now  covert ;  they  even  built  upon  the  Columbia  River  a  cordon  of  forts 
ostensibly  for  "  defence  "  against  Indians,  who  were  in  reality  allies  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  made  fur-trading  and  trapping  impossible  to 
Americans.  ' 

Every  measure  proposed  by  their  western  friends  for  protection  was  met 
by  opposition,  curious  to  read  to-day.  Even  so  late  as  '43  the  ignorance, 
the  indifference,  the  blindness  to  the  value  of  our  Pacific  territory — the 
heedless  inattention  to  the  evidence  of  living  history  as  to  England's  per- 
tinacious designs  on  that  coast,  is  shown  in  the  debates  on  every  bill.  On 
one  giving  lands  to  settlers,  while  a  Senator  from  Ohio  (then  a  very  west- 
ern State),  Mr.  Tappan,  supported  the  measure  and  said  50,000  settlers 
with  their  50,000  rifles  should  be  given  lands  to  colonize  the  banks  of  the 
Oregon,  there  was  open  expression  that  this  would  give  offence  to  England, 
and  the  vote  to  strike  out  the  land-donation  clause  was  very  close,  24  to  22. 

Allen  of  Ohio  led  the  vote  in  favor  of  lands  for  colonists. 

Yeas  :  Allen,  Benton,  Buchanan,  Clayton,  Fulton,  Henderson,  King, 
Linn,  McRoberts,  Mangum,  Merrick,  Phelps,  Sevier,  Smith  of  Connecticut, 
Smith  of  Indiana,  Sturgeon,  Tappan,  Walker,  White,  Wilcox,  Williams, 
Woodbury,  Wright,  Young. 

Nays :  Archer,  Bagby,  Barrow,  Bates,  Bayard,  Berrien,  Calhoun, 
Choate,  Conrad,  Grants,  Dayton,  Evans,  Graham,  Huntington,  McDuffie, 
Miller,  Porter,  Rives,  Simmons,  Sprague,  Tallmadge,  Woodbridge. 

They  could  not  get  the  House  to  act  upon  the  bill,  but  this  vote  of 
the  Senate  encouraged  the  West,  and  they  went  forward  and  planted  the 
colony  which  forced  the  stand  against  England  that  our  Congress  had  been 
unwilling  to  make.  The  debate  is  too  long  for  this  paper,  but  belongs  in 
the  book  as  part  of  the  ground  for  the  explorations  and  other  acts  for  our 
national  as  well  as  for  our  western  benefits.  It  is  strange  to-day  to  see  how 
our  Government  refused  its  own  great  property  ;  on  what  grounds  it  left  it 
to  England  and,  with  some,  how  it  was  scorned  and  regretted  as  a  possession. 


i4  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

Mr.  McDuffie  of  South  Carolina  openly  regretted  we  owned  it ;  that  it  was 
"  worthless  except  a  mere  strip  along  the  sea-coast — the  rest,  mountains 
almost  inaccessible,  and  lowlands  covered  with  stone  and  volcanic  remains  ; 
where  rain  never  falls  except  during  the  spring,  and  even  on  the  coast  no 
rain  falls  from  April  to  October,  and  for  the  remainder  of  the  year  there  is 
nothing  but  rain.  Why,  sir,  of  what  use  will  this  be  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses ?  I  would  not  for  that  purpose  give  a  pinch  of  snuff  for  the  whole 
territory.  I  wish  to  God  we  did  not  own  it.  .  .  .  Who  are  we  to  send 
there  ?  Do  you  think  honest  farmers  in  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  or  even 
Ohio  and  Missouri,  will  abandon  their  farms  to  go  upon  any  such  enterprise 
as  that  ?  God  forbid  !  If  any  man  who  is  to  go  to  that  country  under  the 
temptations  of  this  bill  was  my  child — if  he  was  an  honest,  industrious  man, 
I  would  say  to  him,  for  God's  sake  do  not  go  there.  .  .  .  But  if  I  had 
a  son  whose  conduct  was  such  as  made  him  a  fit  subject  for  Botany  Bay,  I 
would  say  to  him  in  the  name  of  God,  go." 

And  further  that  England  would  be  offended  and  forced  into  war  "  in 
defence  of  her  rights  and  her  honor." 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  as  strongly  opposed  to  the  bill  as  his  colleague,  though 
his  keen  intelligence  made  him  see  "  the  value  of  the  territory  and  the  com- 
mercial advantages  in  communicating  with  China  and  Japan  which  should 
not  be  lost."  He  takes  an  admirable  far-sighted  view  of  this.  But  he  too 
thinks  the  danger  of  war  too  great,  and  the  possession  so  remote  that 
we  could  not  meet  the  difficulty  and  expense  of  defending  it.  He  thinks 
"  Time  "  is  our  best  ally,  and  "  a  wise  and  masterly  inactivity." 

My  father  admitted  that  England  would  take  offence,  and  that  it  was 
her  intention  to  do  so  whatever  we  might  do.  But  that  was  not  the  ques- 
tion. Had  she  the  right  to  take  offence  ?  It  was  agreed  she  had  not. 
Then,  he  was  for  going  forward  on  our  rights,  and  not  taking  counsel  of 
fear.  "  Neither  nations  nor  individuals  ever  escaped  danger  by  fearing  it. 
They  must  face  it  and  defy  it." 

Mr.  Nicollet,  a  French  astronomer  and  savant  of  distinction,  who  had 
already  spent  some  years  in  his  own  studies  of  the  river  and  its  Indians,  had 
just  finished  for  our  Government  a  two  years'  survey  of  the  country  between 
the  Missouri  and  Mississippi ;  coming  to  Washington  to  make  up  his  re- 
port, he  found  in  my  father  an  appreciative  friend.  Mr.  Fremont  had  been 
the  topographical  engineer  of  the  surveys,  and  was  now  making  up  its 
maps.  My  father  found  so  much  to  inform  and  interest  him  in  this  Mis- 
sissippi work,  that  quickly  there  grew  up  close  and  friendly  relations.  He 
communicated  to  them  his  earnest  feeling  of  the  need  for  further  western 
surveys  in  the  interest  of  our  emigration  to  Oregon.  The  inevitable  result 
of  our  "  conciliatory  "  policy  on  the  joint-occupation  had  now  reached  a  point 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  SENATOR  BENTON.  15 

at  which  one  or  the  other  country  must  be  the  only  holder ;  a  short  time 
later  it  threatened  war,  and  it  was  only  in  '46  that  the  subject  was  settled 
as  it  stands  to-day.  Immediate  surveys  which  should  mark  out  the  road 
for  emigration,  and  at  least  imply  government  interest  and  protection, 
seemed  to  my  father  the  nearest  measure.  Mr.  Nicollet  entered  into  the 
idea  with  enthusiasm  though  his  health  was  much  worn  by  unusual  discom- 
forts and  exposures,  but  in  Mr.  Fremont  my  father  found  his  Ledyard. 

Coming  home  from  school  in  an  Easter  holiday,  I  found  Mr.  Fremont 
part  of  my  father's  "  Oregon  work."  It  was  the  spring  of '41  ;  in  Octo- 
ber we  were  married,  and  in  '42  the  first  expedition  was  sent  out  under 
Mr.  Fremont.  Mr.  Nicollet  died  during  the  summer,  regretting  he  could 
have  no  part  in  this  great  and  useful  development  of  the  country  which 
had  been  part  of  France. 

This  first  encouragement  to  the  emigration  westward  fitted  into  so  large 
a  need  that  it  met  instant  favor,  and  a  second  was  ordered  to  connect  with 
it  further  surveys  to  the  sea-coast  of  Oregon.  At  last  my  father  could  feel 
his  idea  "  moved."  Of  his  intense  interest  and  pride  and  joy  in  these 
expeditions  I  knew  best ;  and  when  it  came  in  my  way  to  be  of  use  to  them 
and  protect  his  life-time  work,  there  was  no  shadow  of  hesitation.  Mr. 
Fremont  was  at  the  frontier  getting  his  camp  and  animals  into  complete 
travelling  condition  when  (as  with  Ledyard)  there  came  an  order  recall- 
ing him  to  Washington  ;  where  he  was  to  explain  why  he  had  armed  his 
party  with  a  howitzer ;  that  the  howitzer  had  been  charged  to  him  ;  that 
it  was  a  scientific  and  not  a  military  expedition,  and  should  not  have  been 
so  armed  ;  and  that  he  must  return  at  once  to  Washington  and  "  explain." 

Fortunately  I  was  alone  in  Saint  Louis,  my  father  being  out  of  town. 
It  was  before  telegraphs  ;  and  nearly  a  week  was  required  to  get  letters 
either  to  the  frontier  or  to  Washington.  I  was  but  eighteen,  an  age  at 
which  consequences  do  not  weigh  against  the  present.  The  important  thing 
was  to  save  the  expedition,  and  gain  time  for  a  good  start  which  should 
put  it  beyond  interference.  I  hurried  off  a  messenger — the  mails  were 
slow — to  Mr.  Fremont,  writing  that  he  must  start  at  once  and  never  mind 
the  grass  and  animals,  they  could  rest  and  fatten  at  Bent's  Fort ;  only,  go, 
and  leave  the  rest  to  my  father  ;  that  he  could  not  have  the  reason  for 
haste,  but  there  was  reason  enough. 

To  the  Colonel  of  the  Topographical  Bureau  who  had  given  the  order  of 
recall  I  answered  more  at  leisure.  I  wrote  him  exactly  what  I  had  done  and 
to  him  I  gave  the  reason.  That  I  had  not  sent  forward  the  order  nor  let 
Mr.  Fremont  know  of  it  because  it  was  given  on  insufficient  knowledge  and 
to  obey  it  would  ruin  the  expedition  ;  that  it  would  require  a  fortnight  to 
settle  the  party,  leave  it,  and  get  to  Washington — and  indefinite  delay  there 
—another  fortnight  for  the  return,  and  by  that  time  the  early  grass  would 


1 6  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

be  past  its  best  and  the  underfed  animals  would  be  thrown  into  the 
mountains  for  the  winter  ;  that  the  country  of  the  Blackfeet  and  other  fierce 
tribes  had  to  be  crossed,  and  they  knew  nothing  of  the  rights  of  science. 
When  my  father  came  he  entirely  approved  my  wrongdoing  and  wrote  to 
Washington  that  he  would  be  responsible  for  my  act ;  and  that  he  would 
call  for  a  court-martial  on  the  point  charged  against  Mr.  Fremont.  But 
there  was  never  further  question  of  the  wisdom  of  arming  his  party  suf- 
ficiently— in  fact  it  was  but  a  pretext.  The  precious  time  had  been  se- 
cured and  "  they'd  have  fleet  feet  who  follow  "  where  such  purpose  leads 
the  advance.  I  had  grown  up  to  and  into  my  father's  large  purpose  ; 
and  now  that  my  husband  could  be  of  such  aid  to  him  in  its  accom- 
plishment, I  had  no  hesitation  in  risking  for  him  all  consequences.  We 
three  understood  each  other  and  acted  together — then-  and  later — without 
question  or  delay. 

That  expedition  led  directly  to  our  acquiring  California  ;  which  was 
accomplished  during  the  third,  and  last,  of  the  expeditions  made  under  the 
Government.  My  father  was  a  man  grown  when  our  western  boundary 
was  the  Mississippi.  In  1821  he  commenced  in  the  Senate  his  champion- 
ship of  a  quarter  of  a  century  for  our  new  territory  on  the  Pacific.  Now 
with  California  added  he  could  say  in  that  Senate : 

"  We  own  the  country  from  sea  to  sea — from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific — and  upon  a  breadth  equal  to  the  length  of  the  Mississippi  and 
embracing  the  whole  temperate  zone." 

The  long  contest,  the  opposition,  the  indifference,  the  ignorance,  the 
sneering  doubts  were  in  the  past.  From  his  own  hearth  had  gone  forth 
the  one  who  carried  his  hopes  to  fullest  execution  ;  and  who  now  after 
many  perils  and  anxieties  was  back  in  safety — even  to  a  seat  in  the  Senate 
beside  him.  Who  had  enabled  him  to  make  true  his  prophetic  words 
carved  on  the  pedestal  of  his  statue  in  Saint  Louis,  whose  bronze  hand 

points  West  : 

"  THERE  is  THE  EAST  ; 
THERE  is  THE  ROAD  TO  INDIA." 

For  with  our  Pacific  ports  came  to  us  that  Asiatic  trade  which  was 
the  underlying  cause  of  all  the  wars  of  France  and  England  for  a  hun- 
dred years.  France  lost  India — Canada — and  the  vigilant  English  navy 
prevented  her  from  protecting  Louisiana.  Then  Napoleon  avenged  him- 
self and  made  the  master  move  which  checkmated  England  by  giving  over 
to  her  rebellious  colonies  the  Mississippi  and  the  Columbia. 

England  was  loth  to  lose  her  grasp.  She  tried  to  get  by  treaty  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi  and  right  of  way  over  our  territories  in  ac- 
cess to  it.  But  Jefferson  was  President.  He  would  not  even  lay  before 
the  Senate  the  treaty  containing  that  clause. 


BENTON   MONUMENT— ST.   LOUIS,  MO. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  SENATOR  BENTOJST.  17 

England  tried  then  by  force  to  get  New  Orleans — and  failed.  Then 
followed  her  attempt  to  colonize  and  in  that  way  hold  Oregon  under  the 
permitted  joint-occupation,  weakly  prolonged  by  our  Government  until  we 
barely  escaped  war  in  regaining  our  boundary. 

There  remained  the  Mexican  territory  of  California  with  its  noble 
harbor  of  San  Francisco  ;  surveyed  by  England  as  her  own. 

The  issue  had  narrowed  as  to  who  should  possess  this  the  finest  har- 
bor on  the  coast. 

In  the  early  home  readings  my  father  had  studied  the  trial  of  Warren 
Hastings,  and  Clive  and  India  were  almost  as  close  to  his  boyhood  as 
our  war  is  to  the  boys  of  to-day.  The  struggle  for  India  and  its  trade 
"  greater  than  that  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  "  made  the  story  of  a  great  war  on 
a  background  of  oriental  splendor. 

To  gain  for  one's  country  a  great  rich  land  was  the  glory  to  be  envied 
by  him  in  those  dreams  of  boyhood  when  nothing  seems  impossible. 

What  mysterious  foreshadowing  may  not  have  moved  him  to  the  long 
labors  that  led  to  a  greater  and  richer  addition  to  his  own  country  ?  That 
enabled  America  to  hold  the  Golden  Gate  to  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific  ? 
With  her  territory  we  inherited  from  France  her  long  contest,  and  now 
when  the  Mexican  war  opened  up  a  fresh  opportunity  it  was  England  and 
America  who  faced  each  other. 

Two  men  were  in  position  to  use  deciding  influence,  and  both  under- 
stood the  crisis  and  each  other,  my  father  in  Washington  with  his  estab- 
lished power  in  the  Senate  ;  Mr.  Fremont  on  the  ground  where  the  decisive 
blow  must  be  given. 

The  tenacity  of  purpose,  the  staying-power  of  England  was  impersonated 
in  one  of  her  American  descendants,  and  the  partly  French  blood  added 
French  audacity  of  execution  to  the  other  whose  life  and  purpose  was  inter- 
woven with  that  of  my  father. 

Long  thought  and  deliberation  had  ripened  hopes  and  plans  :  when  the 
signal  came  the  duel  of  a  century  was  ended  by  the  raising  of  the  American 
Flag. 


MEMOIRS    OF    MY    LIFE. 

BY  JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 


CHAPTER   I. 

1828-33  School  days — 1833-36  Cruise  on  U.  S.  S.  Natchez — 1836-37  Appointed  Pro- 
fessor of  Mathematics  in  the  Navy — Assistant  Engineer  under  Captain  Williams — 
Work  in  Mountains  of  North  and  South  Carolina — 1837-38  Threatened  hostilities 
with  Cherokee  Indians,  etc.,  etc. 

LOOKING  back  over  the  years  of  the  life  which  I  am  about  to  transfer  to 
the  blank  pages  before  me,  I  see  in  its  earlier  part  but  few  things  worthy  of 
note.  The  lights  and  shadows  of  schoolboy  life  are  like  April  weather. 
There  is  much  sunshine  and  the  clouds  pass  quickly.  Farther  along  the 
shadows  darken  and  lengthen.  But  the  current  events  which  belong  to  early 
life  make  slight  impressions  and  have  no  consequences.  They  do  not  extend 
their  influence  into  the  time  when  life  begins  in  earnest.  Looking  back  over 
the  misty  road  I  dwell  with  mixed  feelings  upon  the  pictures  that  rise  up  in 
my  memory.  Not  upon  all  with  pleasure. 

Yet  they  are  part  of  myself  and  represent  pleasant  scenes  and  faces  that 
were  dear,  now  dim  in  the  obscurity  of  years.  But  on  these  pages  I  recur 
only  to  those  passages  in  my  early  life  which  had  some  connnection  with  its 
after  part  and  were  a  governing  influence  in  it.  Throughout,  at  different 
periods  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  be  in  familiar  relations  with  men  who 
were  eminent,  each  in  his  own  line,  all  of  whom  were  individualized  by  char- 
acter and  some  distinguished  by  achievement.  Even  if  insensibly,  such  asso- 
ciations influence  the  course  of  life  and  give  its  coloring  to  it.  The  early 
part  of  mine  was  desultory.  "  The  path  that  men  are  destined  to  walk  " 
had  not  been  marked  out  for  me.  Later  events  determined  this,  and  mean- 
time I  had  freedom  of  choice  in  preparatory  studies. 

At  sixteen  I  was  a  good  scholar.  My  teacher,  who  became  my  friend  as 
well,  was  a  Scotch  gentleman  who  had  been  educated  at  Edinburgh  ;  he  was 
thoroughly  imbued  with  classic  learning,  and  lived  an  inner  life  among  the 
Greeks  and  Latins.  Under  his  enthusiastic  instruction  I  became  fond  as 


SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  DA  YS.  19 

himself  of  the  dead  languages,  and  to  me  also  they  became  replete  with 
living  images.  I  entered  upon  the  study  of  Greek  with  genuine  pleasure  and 
excitement.  It  had  a  mysterious  charm  for  me  as  if  behind  the  strange 
characters  belonging  to  an  ancient  world  I  was  to  find  things  of  wonderful 
interest.  I  loved  to  pore  over  the  volumes  of  old  Greek  plays  in  their 
beautiful  Edinburgh  print  that  were  among  my  teacher's  cherished  books 
and  the  fresh  ones  that  occasionally  came  to  him  from  Scotland.  Filled 
with  the  figures  of  that  ancient  world  into  which  I  had  entered  they  re- 
main stamped  as  pleasing  bits  into  the  recollections  of  that  time,  and  show 
how  completely  my  mind  was  possessed  by  my  work.  The  years  spent  in 
this  way  gave  me  habits  of  study  and  laid  the  foundation  for  a  knowledge 
of  modern  languages  which  long  afterward  became  valuable  in  important 
events. 

Upon  the  strength  of  these  studies  I  now  entered  at  once  into  the  junior 
class  at  the  Charleston  college,  though  far  behind  it  in  other  branches  and 
especially  in  mathematics.  But  this  new  field  interrupted  the  close  relations 
with  my  friend  and  teacher  Dr.  John  Roberton.  Many  years  afterward, 
in  reading  the  introduction  to  his  translation  of  Xenophon's  Anabasis  I 
had  the  pleasure  to  find  him  speaking  of  me  as  "  his  once  beloved  and  fa- 
vorite pupil — his  prodigious  memory  and  enthusiastic  application." 

I  was  fond  of  study,  and  in  what  I  had  been  deficient  easily  caught  up 
with  the  class.  In  the  new  studies  I  did  not  forget  the  old,  but  at  times  I 
neglected  both.  While  present  at  class  I  worked  hard,  but  frequently 
absented  myself  for  days  together.  This  infraction  of  college  discipline 
brought  me  frequent  reprimands.  During  a  long  time  the  faculty  forbore 
with  me  because  I  was  always  well  prepared  at  recitation,  but  at  length, 
after  a  formal  warning  neglected,  their  patience  gave  way  and  I  was  expelled 
from  college  for  continued  disregard  of  discipline.  I  was  then  in  the  senior 
class.  In  this  act  there  was  no  ill-feeling  on  either  side.  My  fault  was  such 
a  neglect  of  the  ordinary  college  usages  and  rules  as  the  faculty  could  not 
overlook  and  I  knew  that  I  was  a  transgressor. 

A  few  years  afterward  the  faculty  voluntarily  revised  their  decision  and 
conferred  on  me  the  degree  of  Bachelor  and  Master  of  Arts,  so  taking  me 
back  into  the  fold.  Meantime  I  had  my  compensation.  The  college  author- 
ities had  wrapped  themselves  in  their  dignity  and  reluctantly  but  sternly  in- 
flicted on  me  condign  punishment.  To  me  this  came  like  summer  wind,  that 
breathed  over  something  sweeter  than  the  "  bank  whereon  the  wild  thyme 
blows."  I  smiled  to  myself  while  I  listened  to  words  about  the  disappoint- 
ment of  friends — and  the  broken  career.  I  was  living  in  a  charmed  atmos- 
phere and  their  edict  only  gave  me  complete  freedom.  What  the  poets  dwell 
on  as  "  the  rarest  flower  of  life  "  had  bloomed  in  my  path — only  seventeen 
I  was  passionately  in  love.  This  was  what  had  made  me  regardless  of 


20  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

discipline  and  careless  of  consequences.  This  was  the  true  rebel  that  car- 
ried me  off  to  pleasant  days  and  returned  me  buoyant  at  night  to  hard  work 
in  order  to  catch  up  with  my  class  next  morning.  With  my  memory  full 
of  those  days,  as  the  recollection  rises  to  the  surface  I  put  it  down  here. 
This  is  an  autobiography  and  it  would  not  be  true  to  itself  if  I  left  out  the 
bit  of  sunshine  that  made  the  glory  of  my  youth — what  Schiller  calls  "  his 
glorious  youth."  It  is  only  a  few  lines,  a  tribute  which  as  they  reappear 
around  me  I  give  to  the  pleasant  companions  who  made  life  gay  at  that 
time.  There  will  be  enough  hereafter  of  grave  and  hard,  conflict  and  dis- 
sension, violence  and  injury  and  fraud ;  but  none  of  these  things  were  known 
to  us,  that  little  circle  of  sworn  friends,  who  were  gathering  our  spring  flow- 
ers. We  took  no  thought  for  the  harvest  but  gathered  our  cornflowers  from 
the  upspringing  grain. 

I  remember,  once  along  the  banks  of  the  Des  Moines,  a  botanist  with 
me  stooped  down  and  grasped  the  clustered  head  of  a  low  flowering  plant. 
Under  the  broad  leaves  lay  coiled  a  rattlesnake,  close  to  his  hand.  Geyer 
escaped,  but  itgave  him  a  spasm  that  made  him  dig  his  heels  into  the  ground 
and  jerk  his  arms  nervously  about  as  he  threw  off  the  shock. 

Always  afterward  he  looked  for  snakes  among  his  flowers.  With  ours 
there  were  never  any.  Some  thorns  perhaps  as  I  hadjust  found,  but  these 
go  with  the  sweetest  flowers. 

Since  I  was  fourteen  years  old  I  had  been  intimate  with  a  creole  family 
who  had  escaped  from  the.  San  Domingo  massacre.  With  the  mother  and 
grandmother,  there  were  two  boys  and  three  girls.  The  elder  of  the  boys 
was  older  than  I,  the  girls  all  younger.  The  eldest  of  the  three  girls  was 
Cecilia.  They  were  all  unusually  handsome  ;  clear  brunette  complexions, 
large  dark  eyes,  and  abundant  blue-black  hair. 

The  grandmother  was  the  head  of  the  family  and  its  autocratrice.  She 
was  a  tall,  stern  old  woman,  with  iron-gray  hair,  over  seventy  years  of  age, 
and  held  absolute  rule  over  us  all,  from  the  mother  down.  Often  when  the 
riot  was  at  the  highest  or  we  had  kept  it  up  late,  her  sudden  appearance 
would  disperse  us  like  a  flock  of  quail.  The  house-children  would 
scamper  off  to  bed  and  the  visitors  make  a  prompt  escape.  The  house 
stood  on  a  corner  and  there  was  a  room  at  the  rear  which  is  daguerreo- 
typed  on  my  memory.  This  room  opened  directly  on  the  street  and  be- 
longed to  us  by  squatters'  right.  It  was  by  this  door  that  we  were  accus- 
tomed to  make  a  sudden  exit  when  the  grandmother  made  one  too  many 
for  us. 

But  her  ill-humor  of  the  moment  never  lasted  until  the  next  time  came 
for  us  to  meet.  The  severe  lines  imprinted  on  her  face  by  trials,  after  re- 
pose had  not  smoothed  away.  But  often  when  we  were  in  full  flight  before 
her  I  have  seen  the  lurking  smiles  break  into  a  pleased  laugh  that  cleared 


SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  DAYS.  21 

away  the  sternness.  In  a  manner  I  grew  up  with  the  children.  Before 
and  after  I  left  college  they,  but  especially  one,  were  the  companions  with 
whom  I  was  always  happy  to  spend  what  time  I  could  seize  upon.  The 
boys  and  I  made  a  restless  trio. 

The  days  went  by  on  wings.  In  the  summer  we  ranged  about  in  the 
woods,  or  on  the  now  historic  islands,  gunning  or  picnicking,  the  girls 
sometimes  with  us  ;  sometimes  in  a  sailboat  on  the  bay,  oftener  going  over 
the  bar  to  seaward  and  not  infrequently  when  the  breeze  failed  us  getting 
dangerously  near  the  breakers  on  the  bar.  I  remember  as  in  a  picture, 
seeing  the  beads  of  perspiration  on  the  forehead  of  my  friend  Henry  as  he 
tugged  frantically  at  his  oar  when  we  had  found  ourselves  one  day  in  the 
suck  of  Drunken  Dick,  a  huge  breaker  that  to  our  eyes  appeared  mon- 
strous as  he  threw  his  spray  close  to  the  boat.  For  us  it  really  was  pull 
Dick  pull  Devil. 

Those  were  the  splendid  outside  days  ;  days  of  unreflecting  life  when  I 
lived  in  the  glow  of  a  passion  that  now  I  know  extended  its  refining  in- 
fluence over  my  whole  life.  The  recollection  of  those  days  has  never 
faded.  I  am  glad  that  it  was  not  required  of  me  to  come  back  as  an  enemy 
among  those  scenes. 

This  holiday  time  could  not  last,  but  it  was  beautiful,  although  I  was 
conscious  that  I  could  not  afford  it.  I  had  not  entirely  neglected  my 
studies.  Sometimes  seized  with  a  temporary  remorse  for  time  lost  I  gath- 
ered up  my  books  and  overworked  myself  for  awhile,  only  to  relapse  with 
keener  zest  into  the  more  natural  life. 

The  accidents  that  lead  to  events  are  often  hardly  noticeable.  A  single 
book  sometimes  enters  fruitfully  into  character  or  pursuit.  I  had  two  such. 
One  was  a  chronicle  of  men  who  had  made  themselves  famous  by  brave 
and  noble  deeds,  or  infamous  by  cruel  and  base  acts.  With  a  schoolboy's 
enthusiasm  I  read  these  stories  over  and  over  again,  with  alternate  pleas- 
ure or  indignation.  I  please  myself  in  thinking  they  have  sometimes  ex- 
ercised a  restraining  or  inspiring  influence.  Dwelling  in  the  memory  they 
were  like  the  ring  of  Amasis. 

The  other  was  a  work  on  practical  astronomy,  published  in  the  Dutch. 
The  language  made  it  a  closed  book  but  for  the  beautifully  clear  maps  of 
the  stars  and  many  examples  of  astronomical  calculations.  By  its  aid  I 
became  well  acquainted  with  the  night  skies  and  familiarized  myself  with 
the  ordinary  observations  necessary  to  determine  latitude  and  longitude. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  astronomical  knowledge  afterwards  so  es- 
sential to  me. 

Soon  now  the  day  for  care  and  work  came.  We  were  only  two,  my 
mother  and  I.  We  had  lost  my  sister.  My  brother  was  away,  making  his 
own  career,  and  I  had  to  concern  myself  for  mine.  I  was  unwilling  to 


22  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

leave  my  mother.  Circumstances  had  more  than  usually  endeared  us  to 
each  other  and  I  knew  that  her  life  would  be  solitary  without  me.  I  was 
accustomed  to  be  much  at  home  and  our  separations  had  been  slight.  But 
now  it  was  likely  to  be  for  long  and  the  hard  part  would  be  for  the  one  left 
alone.  For  me  it  was  very  different.  Going  out  into  the  excitement  of 
strange  scenes  and  occurrences  I  would  be  forced  out  of  myself  and  for 
long  intervals  could  forget  what  I  left  behind.  For  her  in  the  sameness  of 
daily  life  there  would  be  a  blank  not  easily  filled.  But  my  mother  had  an 
experience  of  sacrifice  which  with  her  true  womanly  nature  it  had  been 
hard  to  learn.  Realizing  that  now  the  time  had  come  for  another,  she,  but 
not  cheerfully,  sent  me  forward  on  my  way. 

The  necessity  for  exertion  was  making  itself  felt  and  the  outlook  for  my 
future  was  vague.  But  among  the  few  men  whom  I  had  come  to  know  as 
friends  there  was  one  whose  kindly  aid  and  counsel  was  often  valuable  to 
me,  then  and  afterward. 

Mr.  Poinsett  was  one  of  the  distinguished  men  of  the  day,  of  broad  and 
liberal  mind,  refined  by  study  and  much  travel.  While  Minister  to  Mexico 
his  cultivated  taste  led  him  to  interest  himself  in  the  luxuriant  flora  of  that 
country.  Known  in  a  graver  way  through  his  public  works  and  service,  it 
has  chanced  that  his  name  has  been  kept  familiarly  present  and  most  popu- 
larly known  by  the  scarlet  Poinsettia  which  he  contributed  to  botany. 

I  knew  him  after  he  returned  from  Mexico,  and  before  and  during  the 
time  when  he  was  Secretary  of  War.  By  his  aid,  but  not  with  his  appro- 
val, I  went  to  the  South  American  coast  as  teacher  on  board  the  U.  S. 
sloop  of  war  Natchez,  Captain  Zantzinger.  Admiral  Farragut  was  one  of 
the  Lieutenants.  The  voyage  had  its  advantages.  I  saw  more  of  the 
principal  cities  and  people  than  a  traveller  usually  does  on  passing  through 
a  country,  though  nothing  of  the  interior.  But  the  time  spent  was  long 
and  had  no  future  bearing.  Among  the  few  events  that  occurred  to  break 
the  routine  of  ship  life  there  was  one  in  which  I  was  concerned  that  I  re- 
member with  satisfaction.  While  lying  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  a  duel  had  taken 
place  between  two  of  the  midshipmen  in  which  one  lost  his  life.  Both 
were  men  of  high  character  and  had  been  friends.  The  fatal  termination 
of  the  meeting  was  deeply  regretted,  and  by  no  one  more  than  the  survivor. 
A  trivial  misunderstanding  shortly  after  resulted  in  another.  The  princi- 
pals on  this  occasion  were  Mr.  Lovell,  of  South  Carolina,  and  Mr.  Parrott, 
of  Massachusetts.  Decatur  Hurst  was  Lovell's  second,  and  I  Parrott's. 
Lovell  was  a  nephew  of  Mr.  Poinsett  and  Hurst  a  nephew  of  Commodore 
Decatur.  Hurst  and  I  were  friends.  He  proposed  to  put  only  powder  in 
the  pistols  for  the  first  fire.  If  then  another  should  be  insisted  on  we  would 
give  them  lead.  In  this  we  incurred  some  personal  risk,  but  were  quite  will- 
ing to  take  it  for  the  sake  of  the  persons  principally  interested  in  the  result. 


g 

5 
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or 
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DC- 


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Q  .     o 


o  a: 

S    z 

nu  o 


SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  DA  VS.  23 

This  being  agreed  upon,  we  succeeded  in  leaving  the  ship  without  hav- 
ing attracted  any  attention  to  our  movements,  and  crossing  the  bay  quietly 
landed  on  the  north  shore.  Leaving  the  boat,  we  found  a  narrow  strip  of 
sandy  beach  about  forty  yards  long  between  the  water  and  the  mountain. 
In  such  a  place  men  could  hardly  miss  each  other.  The  few  preparations 
made,  we  placed  our  men  twelve  paces  apart  and  gave  the  word.  Both 
looked  sincerely  surprised  that  they  remained  standing  upright  as  before. 
Going  up  each  to  his  man,  we  declared  the  affair  over ;  the  cause  of  quar- 
rel in  our  opinion  not  justifying  a  second  shot.  There  was  some  demur,  but 
we  insisting  carried  our  men  triumphantly  back  to  the  ship,  nobody  hurt 
and  nobody  wiser.  Hurst  and  I  greatly  enjoyed  our  little  rzise  de  guerre. 

Of  the  four  men  three  are  dead.  Just  when  Lovell  died  I  do  not  know. 
Admiral  Parrott  died  in  New  York  about  seven  years  ago.  Hurst  too  is 
dead.  While  on  the  African  coast  he  was  badly  wounded  in  a  duel,  which 
ultimately  caused  his  death  not  long  afterward. 

When  the  cruise  was  over  I  returned  to  Charleston.  In  the  meantime 
Congress  had  created  the  post  of  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  Navy.  I 
applied  for  a  commission  and  was  ordered  before  an  examining  board,  to 
be  convened  shortly  at  Norfolk.  Then  came  for  me  another  pleasant 
month,  for  I  was  back  among  my  old  friends,  and  the  strong  motive  I  had 
now  added  to  the  pleasure  I  always  found  in  study.  All  day  long  I  was 
at  my  books,  and  the  earliest  dawn  found  me  at  an  upper  window  against 
which  stood  a  tall  poplar,  where  the  rustling  of  the  glossy  leaves  made  a 
soothing  accompaniment.  The  surroundings  go  for  a  great  deal  in  intel- 
lectual work. 

My  examination  was  successfully  over  and  I  had  received,  and  declined, 
my  appointment. 

Just  then  an  opportunity  was  offered  me  to  go  under  Captain  W.  G. 
Williams,  of  the  U.  S.  Topographical  Corps,  as  one  of  the  assistant  engi- 
neers on  surveys  to  be  made  for  a  projected  railway  from  Charleston  to 
Cincinnati.  I  gladly  accepted  the  chance  that  fell  to  me,  and  spent  a  sum- 
mer in  congenial  work  among  the  mountains  of  South  Carolina  and  Ten- 
nessee. There  were  several  parties,  each  under  an  able  engineer.  That 
to  which  I  belonged  was  under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant  White,  a  gradu- 
ate of  West  Point,  who  knew  well  how  to  make  our  work  agreeable.  We 
were  engaged  in  running  experimental  lines,  and  the  plotting  of  the  field 
notes  sometimes  kept  us  up  until  midnight.  Our  quarters  were  sometimes 
at  a  village  inn  and  more  frequently  at  some  farmer's  house,  where  milk 
and  honey  and  many  good  things  were  welcome  to  an  appetite  sharpened 
by  all  day  labor  on  foot  and  a  tramp  of  several  miles  backward  and  forward, 
morning  and  evening.  It  was  cheery,  wholesome  work.  The  summer 
weather  in  the  mountains  was  fine,  the  cool  water  abundant,  and  the  streams 


24  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

lined  with  azaleas.  As  often  is  with  flowers  of  that  color  the  white  azaleas 
were  fragrant.  The  survey  was  a  kind  of  picnic  with  work  enough  to  give 
it  zest,  and  we  were  all  sorry  when  it  was  over. 

The  surveys  being  suspended,  I  returned  home  and  only  casually  if  ever 
met  again  the  men  with  whom  I  had  been  associated.  General  Morrell, 
with  whom  many  years  afterward  I  lived  as  neighbor  on  the  Hudson,  was 
the  only  one  I  remember  to  have  met. 

It  had  been  the  policy  of  President  Jefferson,  suggested  by  his  acquisi- 
tion of  the  Louisiana  territory,  to  remove  all  the  Indian  tribes  from  the 
Eastern  States  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi.  This  policy  was  adopted  and 
carried  forward  by  Mr.  Monroe,  and  completed  under  President  Jackson. 

The  last  to  be  removed  were  the  Cherokees  who  inhabited  a  district 
where  the  States  of  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Georgia  cornered  to- 
gether. This  territory  was  principally  in  Georgia,  and  consisted  in  greater 
part  of  a  body  of  land  ceded  to  the  Cherokees  by  Georgia  in  1783. 

For  the  good  of  the  bordering  States,  and  for  the  welfare  of  the  Indians 
as  well,  this  was  a  wise  and  humane  measure.  But  the  Cherokees  were 
averse  to  the  change.  They  were  unwilling  to  leave  the  homes  where  they 
had  been  domiciled  for  half  a  century. 

The  country  was  mountainous  and  the  face  of  it  not  accurately  known. 
Looking  to  the  contingency  of  hostilities  already  threatening  with  the  In- 
dians, Captain  Williams  was  ordered  to  make  a  military  reconnaissance  of 
the  territory  they  occupied.  I  went  with  him  again  as  one  of  his  assistants. 

The  accident  of  this  employment  curiously  began  a  period  of  years  of 
like  work  for  me  among  similar  scenes.  Here  I  found  the  path  which  I 
was  "  destined  to  walk."  Through  many  of  the  years  to  come  the  occu- 
pation of  my  prime  of  life  was  to  be  among  Indians  and  in  waste  places. 
Other  events  which  intervened  were  incidents  in  this  and  grew  out  of  it. 
There  were  to  be  no  more  years  wasted  in  tentative  efforts  to  find  a  way 
for  myself.  The  work  was  laid  out  and  it  began  here  with  a  remarkable 
continuity  of  purpose. 

This  was  a  winter  survey  made  hurriedly.  When  we  entered  the  In- 
dian territory  we  were  three  together,  Archie  Campbell,  Hull  Adams  and 
I.  About  dark  we  reached  the  Nantaheyle  River,  at  an  Indian  village. 
The  Indians  were  having  a  feast  and  a  carouse  and  were  all  drunk.  The 
squaws  hid  us  in  a  log  out-cabin,  half  filled  with  shucked  corn.  We  did  not 
pass  a  comfortable  night.  The  shouts  of  the  drunken  Indians  and  rats 
running  over  us  kept  us  awake  ;  and  we  were  glad  when  morning  came. 
The  night  had  been  cold  and  our  bath-tub  was  the  Nantaheyle  River. 
There  was  ice  along  the  banks  and  the  water  in  my  hair  froze  into  fretful 
quills. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  reconnaissance  our  little  party  was  scattered, 


SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  DAYS.  25 

each  to  separate  work.  The  Indians  after  their  usual  way  of  living,  occu- 
pied the  country  sparsely.  In  parts,  this  was  beautifully  fertile  ;  broad 
level  valleys,  with  fine  streams  and  forest  land.  I  had  a  guide  named 
Laudermilk,  a  very  intelligent,  good-tempered  man,  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  territory  to  be  surveyed.  In  true  pioneer  spirit  he  had  built  his 
cabin  at  a  spot  in  the  woods  as  much  out  of  the  way  and  isolated  as  he 
could  well  find.  He  was  about  thirty  years  old  and  his  wife  twenty.  It 
was  comfortable  quarters.  Occasionally  we  would  spend  a  night  there, 
making  a  hard  ride  through  snow  to  reach  it.  Sometimes  we  were  alone, 
making  a  sketch  of  some  stream,  and  stopping  at  night  at  an  Indian  cabin. 
At  other  times,  when  the  work  was  in  a  more  uninhabited  part  of  the  ter- 
ritory, we  had  a  small  party  of  men,  with  pack-saddles  to  carry  our  tents 
and  provisions. 

It  was  a  forest  country  thinly  occupied  by  Indian  farms.  At  night  we 
slept  in  half-faced  tents,  with  great  fires  of  hickory  logs  at  our  feet.  Pigs 
which  ranged  during  the  fall  and  fattened  on  chestnuts  made  Qv^r  piece  de 
resistance  on  these  occasions. 

As  it  sometimes  chanced,  I  was  present  at  Indian  feasts,  where  all  would 
get  wild  with  excitement  and  some  furious  with  drink.  Bloody  frays  were 
a  certain  accompaniment,  slashing  with  knives,  hands  badly  cut  from  clutch- 
ing the  blades  and  ugly  body  wounds.  Their  exhibition  of  brute  courage 
and  indifference  to  pain  compelled  admiration,  with  regret  for  the  good 
material  wasted.  But  these  were  the  exceptional  occasions.  In  their  villages 
and  in  their  ordinary  farming  life  they  lived  peaceably  and  comfortably. 
Many  of  their  farms  were  much  the  same  as  those  that  are  to  be  met  with 
everywhere  on  our  remote  frontier.  The  depreciating  and  hurtful  influence 
was  the  proximity  of  the  whites.  One  of  the  pieces  of  work  assigned  to 
me  was  a  reconnaissance  of  the  Hiwassee  River.  It  was  over  very  rough 
and  tangled  ground.  The  first  day's  work  of  twenty  miles  on  foot  made 
me  so  stiff  next  morning  that  I  moved  like  a  foundered  horse,  and  I  suppose 
I  was  foundered  for  the  time.  In  getting  over  the  trunks  of  fallen  trees  I 
had  to  sit  down  upon  them  and  lift  over  first  one  leg  and  then  the  other. 
But  this  was  only  for  the  first  day.  That  night  we  had  stopped  at  the  log 
house  of  an  Indian.  It  was  a  handsome  specimen  of  forest  architecture  ;  a 
square-built  house  standing  on  a  steep  bank  of  the  Hiwassee,  with  glass- 
paned  windows.  But  the  striking  feature  in  such  surroundings  was  that 
all  the  logs  were  evenly  hewed  so  that  they  laid  solidly  together  and  pre- 
sented a  smoothly  even  surface.  Its  finish,  in  its  own  way,  made  quite  an 
agreeable  impression  from  its  unexpectedness  in  such  a  place.  Below,  the 
river  banks  fell  away,  leaving  a  little  valley,  in  which  he  had  made  his 
cornfield. 

In  much  travel  among  Indians  I  have  had  a  fair  opportunity  to  become 


26  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

acquainted  with  different  tribes  and  learned  to  appreciate  and  comprehend 
the  results  of  the  differing  influences  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  Here  in 
the  Cherokee  country,  as  in  different  regions  afterward,  I  saw  how  their  dif- 
fering conditions  depended  upon  their  surroundings.  In  the  Great  Basin  I 
saw  them  in  the  lowest  stage  of  human  existence  where  it  was  in  its  simplest 
elements,  differing  from  that  of  wild  animals  only  in  the  greater  intelligence 
of  the  Indians.  Sage  bush  sheltered  them,  seeds,  bush  squirrels  and  hares, 
grasshoppers,  worms,  anything  that  had  life  made  their  food. 

Going  upward  I  saw  them  on  the  great  prairie  plains  in  the  higher 
stages  to  which  the  surrounding  facilities  for  a  more  comfortable  and  easier 
life  had  raised  them.  Nomadic,  following  the  game  and  the  seasons  but 
living  in  villages,  buffalo  and  large  game  gave  them  good  food  and  cloth- 
ing, and  made  for  them  dry  warm  lodges.  And  afterward  in  the  nearer 
approach  to  the  civilized  life  to  which  the  intermittent  efforts  of  the  Gov- 
ernment at  agencies  and  reservations,  and  the  labor  of  the  Protestant  and 
Catholic  churches,  had  brought  them. 

The  efforts  of  the  Protestant  churches  had  been  limited  by  time  and 
extent  of  territory.  The  area  of  their  work  had  been  confined  chiefly  to 
a  part  of  the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi,  where  they  found  the  field 
yet  unoccupied  and  the  influences  English  and  Protestant.  The  Catholic 
Church  was  first  in  the  field  in  the  West.  Its  area  west  of  the  Mississippi 
extended  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  into  Canada  and  along  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific,  where,  under  Spanish  rule,  their  stable  policy  was  best  displayed. 

The  earlier  explorers  west  of  the  Mississippi  were  French.  Explored, 
occupied,  and  owned  by  France  and  Spain  as  this  whole  country  was,  in- 
evitably their  religion  became  part  of  it  also,  and  was  carried  among  the 
Indians  by  the  missionary  priests  of  that  Church.  For  two  centuries  this 
was  their  undisturbed  domain.  The  policy  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
is  unchanging  and  impersonal,  and  the  perpetuity  of  its  institutions  seems 
infused  into  the  extremest  details.  The  policy  of  its  government  was  the 
policy  of  the  agent  who  was  part  of  the  government,  having  the  same  in- 
terest at  heart ;  and  the  interest  and  well-being  of  the  Indians  were  equally 
the  interest  and  object  of  the  government  and  its  agent,  who  was  always 
one  of  the  body  politic  and  religious  and  whose  aim  was  impersonal,  di- 
rected solely  to  the  good  of  his  church.  All  this  I  have  seen  exemplified 
in  the  missions  on  the  Pacific  coast,  in  the  remnant  of  civilization  among 
the  interior  tribes,  and  in  the  present  condition  of  the  missions  on  the  At- 
lantic side.  The  results  of  their  work  stand  out  to-day  in  the  great  build- 
ings which  under  their  direction  were  erected  by  the  Indians  in  California. 
They  made  them  herdsmen  and  raised  by  them  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
horses  and  cattle.  They  made  them  farmers  self-supplying,  and  taught 
them  a  foreign  language  too  deeply  implanted  to  be  eradicated  by  long 


SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  DA  VS.  27 

disuse.  The  remnants  of  their  teachings  remain  in  the  grain  fields  of  the 
Pimas  on  the  Gila  River  of  Arizona  and  in  the  orchards  of  the  Sepais  in 
the  canon  valleys  of  the  Colorado,  to  whom  the  Navajoes  come  regularly 
every  year  to  trade  for  fruit  and  grain.  All  this  resulted  from  a  singleness 
of  purpose  carried  into  effect  by  agents  inevitably  responsible.  And  they 
went  ahead  to  occupy  and  civilize  with  reliance  on  the  support  of  their 
government. 

The  Protestant  churches  had  the  aid  of  no  such  strength,  and  their 
success,  as  I  have  seen  it  evidenced  among  the  Cherokees  and  Shawnees 
and  Delaware  people,  as  with  later  missionary  efforts,  has  been  due  to  in- 
dividual energy  and  character. 

On  the  other  hand,  our  Government,  itself  changing  in  its  personality 
every  few  years,  administered  the  details  of  its  general  policy  through 
agents  to  whom  change  was  the  normal  and  expected  condition  ;  who  had 
no  persistent  interest  in  the  Indians  and,  above  all,  no  responsibility.  So 
there  has  been  no  continuous  effective  policy  by  the  Government  except 
in  the  removal  of  the  Indians  from  East  to  West,  and  out  of  the  way  of  the 
white  man,  as  the  tide  of  population  rose. 

These  results  clearly  show  that  the  Indians  were  capable  of  being  civ- 
ilized and  utilized,  and  they  show  too  how  this  could  be  effected  more  or 
less  by  the  nature  of  the  policy  directed  upon  them. 

Our  army  is  a  permanent  body,  having  continuity  of  existence,  and  its 
officers  have  not  only  a  class  responsibility  but  a  responsibility  founded 
in  a  regard  for  their  individual  and  personal  honor,  and  the  honor  of  the 
body  to  which  they  belong.  These  two  qualities  of  permanency  and  re- 
sponsibility make  the  army  the  best  and  simplest  as  well  as  the  safest  and 
least  expensive  medium  through  which  to  control  and  care  for  these  Indian 
wards  of  the  nation.  We  have  taken  away  from  them  their  property  and 
means  of  support  and  are  bound  to  a  corresponding  obligation. 

In  the  fall  of  1853,  on  an  overland  journey,  I  spent  a  day  at  the  Catho- 
lic station  of  Saint  Mary's  on  the  Kansas  River,  among  the  Pottawatamie 
Indians.  Under  the  impression  of  what  I  saw  I  wrote  then  in  my  note- 
book as  follows  : 

"  Oct.  25.  Went  to  Uniontown  and  nooned.  This  is  a  street  of 
log-cabins.  Nothing  to  be  had  here.  Some  corn  for  our  animals  and 
a  piece  of  cheese  for  ourselves.  Lots  of  John  Barleycorn  which  the  men 
about  were  consuming.  Uniontown  is  called  a  hundred  miles  from  Kan- 
sas." 

"  Oct.  26.  High  wind  and  sleet.  Clouds  scudding  across  the  sky. 
About  two  o'clock  we  reached  the  pretty  little  Catholic  Mission  of 


28  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

Saint  Mary's.  The  well-built,  whitewashed  houses,  with  the  cross  on 
the  spire  showing  out  above  them  was  already  a  very  grateful  sight.  On 
the  broad  bottoms  immediately  below  are  the  fields  and  houses  of  the 
Pottawatamie  Indians.  Met  with  a  hospitable  reception  from  the  head  of 
the  Mission.  A  clear  sky  promises  a  bright  day  for  to-rnorrow.  Learned 
here  some  of  the  plants  which  are  medicinal  among  the  Indians.  Among 
them  Asarrim  Canadensis — jewel-weed  —  a  narcotic;  and  Oryngium 
Aqziaticum,  the  great  remedy  of  the  Pottawatamies  for  snake-bites." 

"  Oct.  27.  White  frost  covers  the  ground  this  morning.  Sky  clear 
and  air  still.  With  bowls  of  good  coffee  and  excellent  bread  made  a 
good  breakfast.  We  already  begin  to  appreciate  food.  Prepared  our 
luggage,  threw  into  the  wagon  the  provisions  obtained  here,  and  at  ten 
o'clock  took  leave  of  the  hospitable  priests  and  set  out.  I  was  never  more 
impressed  by  the  efficiency  of  well-directed  and  permanent  missionary 
effort  than  here  at  this  far-off  mission  settlement,  where  the  progress  and 
good  order  strike  forcibly  as  they  stand  in  great  contrast  with  the  neigh- 
boring white  settlement." 

In  the  course  of  a  winter  exploration  into  the  Rocky  Mountains  in 
1 848-' 49  I  had  been  driven  southward  by  stress  of  weather,  and  in  the 
spring  of  the  latter  year  I  passed  through  Arizona.  With  the  treaty  of 
Guadaloupe  Hidalgo  that  Territory  had  just  come  under  the  dominion  of 
the  United  States.  I  had  gone  as  far  south  as  the  little  town  of  San  Pe- 
dro, which  still  was  within  Mexico.  Returning  northward  down  the  San 
Pedro  River  we  passed  on  the  way  an  abandoned  Mission  where  there 
was  an  extensive  peach  orchard  in  solitary  bloom.  The  soft  pink  bloom 
was  startling  where  the  ideas  of  the  place  spoke  only  now  of  violence  and 
bloodshed.  There  were  large  buildings  here,  and  the  situation  in  the 
river  valley  was  beautiful,  but  the  Apaches  had  made  it  too  dangerous  to 
live  in  isolated  places. 

We  followed  the  river  down  until  it  spread  out  where  it  entered  the 
plain  and  lost  itself  in  the  ground.  At  the  foot  of  a  steep  hill  we  found 
grass  and  water,  and  next  morning  continued  our  journey  in  a  northwesterly 
direction  and  struck  the  Gila  near  the  villages  of  the  Pimas  and  Maricopas 
above  the  Great  Bend  of  the  river.  I  found  these  Indians  still  retaining 
the  civilization  that  had  been  taught  them  by  the  missionary  priests  and 
living  as  farmers  in  fixed  habitations.  They  raised  wheat  and  corn,  water- 
melons, beans  and  other  vegetables,  and  grew  cotton  out  of  which  they 
made  blankets.  They  lived  undisturbed,  having  no  other  enemy  than  the 
wild  Apaches,  who  seldom  dared  molest  them,  and  they  were  friendly  to 
the  Mexican  or  other  travellers  who  at  rare  intervals  passed  that  way  on 
their  road  to  the  Californias. 


BONAPARTE. 


SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  DAYS.  29 

They  received  me  in  a  truly  friendly  and  hospitable  way,  supplying 
in  exchange  for  a  few  trifling  articles  all  the  provisions  that  I  required. 
What  they  particularly  valued  was  a  small  opaque  white  bead,  of  which 
we  had  a  quantity. 

In  1879,  while  Governor  of  Arizona,  I  was  travelling  between  Phcenix 
and  Maricopa,  which  is  on  the  line  of  the  South  Pacific  Railway,  and  again 
passed  by  their  villages.  Our  Government  had  covered  the  ground  they 
occupied  by  a  reservation.  Under  the  laws  of  Spain  and  Mexico,  they  in 
their  legal  and  recognized  character  of  citizens  living  in  Pueblos  were  en- 
titled to  the  ownership  of  four  square  leagues  of  land.  The  terms  of  the 
treaty  confirmed  this  right ;  but  with  its  usual  disregard  of  private  right 
our  Government  had  assumed  ownership  and  reserved  to  them  their  own 
lands,  as  against  other  trespassers  than  itself. 

The  settlements  of  these  Indians  stretch  along  the  bottom  lands  of  the 
Gila  above  the  Great  Bend.  Their  houses  are  built  with  wattled  sides, 
the  roofs  being  of  the  natural  long  laths  of  the  seguara — a  tree  cactus — and 
of  ocotillo  a  scarlet  flowering  shrub,  plastered  with  earth.  These  houses 
are  detached  and  in  this  way  the  village  covers  considerable  space.  As 
we  reached  the  reservation  the  driver  of  the  stage-coach  in  which  I  was 
travelling  drew  up  his  horses  at  a  small  adobe  house,  which  had  a  ramada 
or  bush-covered  shed  in  front.  An  Indian  was  leaning  against  one  of  the 
posts,  and  a  gray-headed  white  man  came  out  to  the  coach.  The  driver 
delivered  to  him  a  demijohn,  and  after  a  word  or  two  he  went  back  into 
the  house  and  returned  with  a  stout  glass  of  whiskey  for  the  driver. 
These  Indians  were  then,  when  I  saw  them  last,  deteriorating  fast.  Their 
lands  are  very  fertile,  and  the  grain  which  they  raise  is  of  excellent  qual- 
ity. Ten  car-loads  of  wheat  raised  by  the  Maricopas,  about  the  time  I 
write  of,  and  sent  to  San  Francisco  were  sold  at  $2.20  the  hundred,  the 
ruling  price  at  the  time  being  $2.10  to  $2.15  the  hundred. 

If  these  Indians  were  under  the  immediate  control  of  an  army  officer 
who  would  act  as  their  factor  and  sell  their  produce  and  make  their  neces- 
sary purchases  to  the  greatest  advantage,  aiding  their  progress  in  agri- 
culture while  at  the  same  time  he  held  them  in  wholesome  restraint,  their 
villages  would  soon  become  handsome  and  industrious  settlements. 


CHAPTER   II. 

— Appointed  by  President  Van  Buren  Second  Lieutenant  of  Topographical  En- 
gineers— Expedition  under  Nicollet — 1839  Second  Expedition  of  Nicollet  North 
of  Missouri  River — 1840  in  Washington. 

THE  Cherokee  survey  was  over.  I  remained  at  home  only  just  long 
enough  to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  the  return  to  it,  and  to  rehabituate 
myself  to  old  scenes.  While  I  was  trying  to  devise  and  settle  upon 
some  plan  for  the  future,  my  unforgetful  friend,  Mr.  Poinsett,  had  also 
been  thinking  for  me.  He  was  now  Secretary  of  War,  and,  at  his  request, 
I  was  appointed  by  President  Van  Buren  a  second  lieutenant  in  the 
United  States  Topographical  Corps,  and  ordered  to  Washington.  Wash- 
ington was  greatly  different  then  from  the  beautiful  capital  of  to-day.  In- 
stead of  many  broad,  well-paved,  and  leafy  avenues,  Pennsylvania  Avenue 
about  represented  the  town.  There  were  not  the  usual  resources  of  public 
amusement.  It  was  a  lonesome  place  for  a  young  man  knowing  but  one 
person  in  the  city,  and  there  was  no  such  attractive  spot  as  the  Battery 
by  the  sea  at  Charleston,  where  a  stranger  could  go  and  feel  the  freedom 
of  both  eye  and  thought. 

Shut  in  to  narrow  limits,  the  mind  is  driven  in  upon  itself  and  loses 
its  elasticity ;  but  the  breast  expands  when,  upon  some  hill-top,  the  eye 
ranges  over  a  broad  expanse  of  country,  or  in  face  of  the  ocean.  We  do 
not  value  enough  the  effect  of  space  for  the  eye  ;  it  reacts  on  the  mind, 
which  unconsciously  expands  to  larger  limits  and  freer  range  of  thought. 
So  I  was  low  in  my  mind  and  lonesome  until  I  learned,  with  great  relief, 
that  I  was  to  go  upon  a  distant  survey  into  the  West.  But  that  first  im- 
pression of  flattened  lonesomeness  which  Washington  had  given  me  has 
remained  with  me  to  this  day. 

About  this  time,  a  distinguished  French  savant  had  returned  from  a 
geographical  exploration  of  the  country  about  the  sources  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, the  position  of  which  he  first  established.  That  region  and  its  capa- 
bilities were  then  but  little  known,  and  the  results  of  his  journey  were  of 
so  interesting  a  nature  that  they  had  attracted  public  notice  and  comment. 
Through  Mr.  Poinsett,  Mr.  Nicollet  was  invited  to  come  to  Washington, 


EXPEDITION  UNDER  NI COLLET.  31 

with  the  object  of  engaging  him  to  make  a  complete  examination  of  the 
great  prairie  region  between  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  Rivers,  as  far 
north  as  the  British  line,  and  to  embody  the  whole  of  his  labors  in  a  map 
and  general  report  for  public  use. 

Mr.  Nicollet  had  left  France,  intending  to  spend  five  years  in  geo- 
graphical researches  in  this  country.  His  mind  had  been  drawn  to  the 
early  discoveries  of  his  countrymen,  some  of  which  were  being  obliterated 
and  others  obscured  in  the  lapse  of  time.  He  anticipated  great  pleasure 
in  renewing  the  memory  of  these  journeys,  and  in  rescuing  them  all  from 
the  obscurity  into  which  they  had  fallen.  A  member  of  the  French 
Academy  of  Sciences,  he  was  a  distinguished  man  in  the  circles  to  which 
Arago  and  other  savants  of  equal  rank  belonged.  Not  only  had  he  been 
trained  in  science,  but  he  was  habitually  schooled  to  the  social  observances 
which  make  daily  intercourse  attractive,  and  become  invaluable  where 
hardships  are  to  be  mutually  borne  and  difficulties  overcome  and  hazards 
met.  His  mind  was  of  the  higher  order.  A  musician  as  well  as  a  mathe- 
matician, it  was  harmonious  and  complete. 

The  Government  now  arranged  with  him  to  extend  his  surveys  south 
and  west  of  the  country  which  he  had  already  explored.  Upon  this  sur- 
vey I  was  ordered  to  accompany  him  as  his  assistant. 

It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  be  assigned  to  this  duty.  By  this  time 
I  had  gone  through  some  world-schooling  and  was  able  to  take  a  sober 
view  of  the  realities  of  life.  I  had  learned  to  appreciate  fully  the  rare  value 
of  the  friendly  aid  which  had  opened  up  for  me  such  congenial  employment, 
and  I  resolved  that,  if  it  were  in  me  to  do  so,  I  would  prove  myself  worthy 
of  it.  The  years  of  healthy  exercise  which  I  had  spent  in  open  air  had 
hardened  my  body,  and  the  work  I  had  been  engaged  in  was  kindred  to 
that  which  I  was  now  to  have.  Field  work  in  a  strange  region,  in  associa- 
tion with  a  man  so  distinguished,  was  truly  an  unexpected  good  fortune, 
and  I  went  off  from  Washington  full  of  agreeable  anticipation. 

At  St.  Louis  I  joined  Mr.  Nicollet.  This  was  the  last  large  city  on  the 
western  border,  and  the  fitting-out  place  for  expeditions  over  the  unin- 
habited country.  The  small  towns  along  the  western  bank  of  the  Missouri 
made  for  two  or  three  hundred  miles  a  sort  of  fringe  to  the  prairies.  At 
St.  Louis  I  met  for  the  first  time  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  then  a  captain 
in  the  United  States  Engineer  Corps,  charged  with  improvements  of  the 
Mississippi  River.  He  was  already  an  interesting  man.  His  agreeable, 
friendly  manner  to  me  as  a  younger  officer  when  I  was  introduced  to  him, 
left  a  more  enduring  impression  than  usually  goes  with  casual  introduc- 
tions. 

In  St.  Louis  Mr.  Nicollet  had  a  pleasant  circle  of  friends  among  the  old 
French  residents.  They  were  proud  of  him  as  a  distinguished  country- 


32  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

man,  and  were  gratified  with  his  employment  by  the  American  Govern- 
ment, which  in  this  way  recognized  his  distinction  and  capacity.  His  in- 
tention, in  the  prosecution  of  his  larger  work  to  revive  the  credit  due  to 
early  French  discoverers,  was  pleasing  to  their  national  pride. 

His  acquaintances  he  made  mine,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  and  advan- 
tage to  share  in  the  amiable  intercourse  and  profuse  hospitality  which  in 
those  days  characterized  the  society  of  the  place.  He  was  a  Catholic,  and 
his  distinction,  together  with  his  refined  character,  made  him  always  a  wel- 
come guest  with  his  clergy.  And  I  may  say  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word, 
that  I  "  assisted  "  often  at  the  agreeable  suppers  in  the  refectory.  The 
pleasure  of  these  grew  in  remembrance  afterward,  when  hard  and  scanty 
fare  and  sometimes  starvation  and  consequent  bodily  weakness  made 
visions  in  the  mind,  and  hunger  made  memory  dwell  upon  them  by  day 
and  dream  of  them  by  night. 

Such  social  evenings  followed  almost  invariably  the  end  of  the  day's 
preparations.  These  were  soon  now  brought  to  a  close  with  the  kindly 
and  efficient  aid  of  the  Fur  Company's  officers.  Their  personal  experi- 
ence made  them  know  exactly  what  was  needed  on  the  proposed  voyage, 
and  both  stores  and  men  were  selected  by  them ;  the  men  out  of  those  in 
their  own  employ.  These  were  principally  practised  voyageurs,  accustomed 
to  the  experiences  and  incidental  privations  of  travel  in  the  Indian  coun- 
try. 

The  aid  given  by  the  house  of  Chouteau  was,  to  this  and  succeeding 
expeditions,  an  advantage  which  followed  them  throughout  their  course  to 
their  various  posts  among  the  Indian  tribes. 

Our  destination  now  was  a  trading  post  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Peter's,  now  better  known  as  the  Mini- 
sotah  River.  This  was  the  residence  of  Mr.  Henry  Sibley,  who  was  in 
charge  of  the  Fur  Company's  interests  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  He  gave 
us  a  frontier  welcome  and  heartily  made  his  house  our  headquarters. 
This  was  the  point  of  departure  at  which  the  expedition  began  its  work. 
It  was  on  the  border  line  of  civilization.  On  the  left  or  eastern  bank  of 
the  river  were  villages  and  settlements  of  the  whites,  and  the  right  was 
the  Indian  country  which  we  were  about  to  visit.  Fort  Snelling  was  on 
the  high  bluff  point  opposite  between  the  Mini-sotah  and  the  Mississippi. 
Near  by  was  a  Sioux  Indian  village,  and  usually  its  Indians  were  about 
the  house  grounds.  Among  these  I  saw  the  most  beautiful  Indian  girl  I 
have  ever  met,  and  it  is  a  tribute  to  her  singular  beauty  that  after  so 
many  years  I  remember  still  the  name  of  "  Ampetu-washtoy " — "the 
Beautiful  day." 

The  house  had  much  the  character  of  a  hunting-lodge.  There  were 
many  dogs  around  about,  and  two  large  wolfhounds,  Lion  and  Tiger,  had 


EXPEDITION  UNDER  NICOLLET. 


33 


the  run  of  the  house  and  their  quarters  in  it.  Mr.  Sibley  was  living  alone, 
and  these  fine  dogs  made  him  friendly  companions,  as  he  belonged  to  the 
men  who  love  dogs  and  horses.  For  his  other  dogs  he  had  built  within 
the  enclosure  a  lookout  about  fifteen  feet  high.  Around  its  platform  the 
railing  was  usually  bordered  with  the  heads  of  dogs  resting  on  their  paws 
and  looking  wistfully  out  over  the  prairie,  probably  reconnoitering  for 
wolves.  Of  the  two  hounds  Tiger  had  betrayed  a  temper  of  such  ferocity, 
even  against  his  master,  as  eventually  cost  him  his  life.  Lion,  though  a 
brother,  had,  on  the  contrary,  a  companionable  and  affectionate  disposition 
and  almost  human  intelligence,  which  in  his  case  brought  about  a  separa- 
tion from  his  old  home. 

On  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Sibley,  Lion  so  far  resented  the  loss  of  his  first 
place  that  he  left  the  house,  swam  across  the  Mississippi,  and  Avent  to  the 
Fort,  where  he  ended  his  days.  Always  he  was  glad  to  meet  his  mas- 
ter when  he  came  over,  keeping  close  by  him  and  following  him  to  the 
shore,  though  all  persuasion  failed  to  make  him  ever  recross  the  river  to 
the  home  where  he  had  been  supplanted  ;  but  his  life-size  portrait  still 
hangs  over  the  fireplace  of  Mr.  Sibley's  library.  These  dogs  were  of  the 
rare  breed  of  the  Irish  wolfhound,  and  their  story  came  up  as  an  incident 
in  a  correspondence,  stretching  from  Scotland  to  Mini-sotah,  on  the  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  it  had  not  become  extinct ;  growing  out  of  my  happen- 
ing to  own  a  dog  inheriting  much  of  that  strain. 

Cut  off  from  the  usual  resources,  Mr.  Sibley  had  naturally  to  find  his  in 
the  surroundings.  The  prominent  feature  of  Indian  life  entered  into  his, 
and  hunting  became  rather  an  occupation  than  an  amusement.  But  his 
hunting  was  not  the  tramp  of  a  day  to  some  neighboring  lake  for  wild  fowl, 
or  a  ride  on  the  prairie  to  get  a  stray  shot  at  a  wolf.  These  hunting  ex- 
peditions involved  days'  journeys  to  unfrequented  ranges  where  large  game 
was  abundant,  or  in  winter  to  the  neighborhood  of  one  of  his  trading-posts, 
where  in  event  of  rough  weather  the  stormy  days  could  be  passed  in  shel- 
ter. He  was  fully  six  feet  in  height,  well  and  strongly  built,  and  this,  to- 
gether with  his  skill  as  a  hunter,  gave  him  a  hold  on  the  admiration  and 
respect  of  the  Indians. 

In  all  this  stir  of  frontier  life  Mr.  Nicollet  felt  no  interest  and  took  no 
share  ;  horse  and  dog  were  nothing  to  him.  His  manner  of  life  had  never 
brought  him  into  their  companionship,  and  the  congenial  work  he  now  had 
in  charge  engrossed  his  attention  and  excited  his  imagination.  His  mind 
dwelt  continually  upon  the  geography  of  the  country,  the  Indian  names  of 
lakes  and  rivers  and  their  signification,  and  upon  whatever  tradition  might 
retain  of  former  travels  by  early  French  explorers. 

Some  weeks  had  now  been  spent  in  completing  that  part  ot  the  outfit 
which  had  been  referred  to  this  place.  The  intervening  time  had  been 


34  MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT. 

used  to  rate  the  chronometers  and  make  necessary  observations  of  the 
latitude  and  longitude  of  our  starting-point. 

At  length  we  set  out.  As  our  journey  was  to  be  over  level  and  un- 
broken country  the  camp  material  was  carried  in  one-horse  carts,  driven 
by  Canadian  voyageurs,  the  men  usually  employed  by  the  Fur  Company 
in  their  business  through  this  region.  M.  de  Montmort,  a  French  gentle- 
man attached  to  the  legation  at  Washington,  and  Mr.  Eugene  Flandin,  a 
young  gentleman  belonging  to  a  French  family  of  New  York,  accompanied 
the  party  as  friends  of  Mr.  Nicollet.  These  were  pleasant  travelling  com- 
panions, and  both  looked  up  to  Mr.  Nicollet  with  affectionate  deference 
and  admiration.  No  botanist  had  been  allowed  to  Mr.  Nicollet  by  the 
Government,  but  he  had  for  himself  employed  Mr.  Charles  Geyer,  a  bot- 
anist recently  from  Germany,  of  unusual  practical  knowledge  in  his  pro- 
fession and  of  companionable  disposition. 

The  proposed  surveys  of  this  northwestern  region  naturally  divided 
themselves  into  two :  the  present  one,  at  this  point  connecting  with  Mr. 
Nicollet's  surveys  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  was  to  extend  westward  to  the 
waters  of  the  Missouri  Valley  ;  the  other,  intended  for  the  operations  of  the 
succeeding  year,  was  to  include  the  valley  of  the  Missouri  River,  and  the 
northwestern  prairies  as  far  as  to  the  British  line. 

Our  route  lay  up  the  Mini-sotah  for  about  a  hundred  and  fifteen  miles, 
to  a  trading-post  at  the  lower  end  of  the  Traverse  des  Sioux  ;  the  prairie 
and  river  valley  being  all  beautiful  and  fertile  country.  We  travelled 
along  the  southern  side  of  the  river,  passing  on  the  way  several  Indian 
camps,  and  establishing  at  night  the  course  of  the  river  by  astronomical  ob- 
servations. The  Traverse  des  Sioux  is  a  crossing-place  about  thirty  miles 
long,  where  the  river  makes  a  large  rectangular  bend,  coming  down  from 
the  northwest  and  turning  abruptly  to  the  northeast ;  the  streams  from 
the  southeast,  the  south,  and  southwest  flowing  into  a  low  line  of  depres- 
sion to  where  they  gather  into  a  knot  at  the  head  of  this  bend,  and  into  its 
lowest  part  as  into  a  bowl.  In  this  great  elbow  of  the  river  is  the  Marah- 
tanka  or  Big  Swan  Lake,  the  summer  resort  of  the  Sissiton  Sioux.  Our 
way  over  the  crossing  lay  between  the  lake  and  the  river.  At  the  end  of 
the  Traverse  we  returned  to  the  right  shore  at  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju 
or  Cottonwood  River,  and  encamped  near  the  principal  village  of  the 
Sissitons.  Their  lodges  were  pitched  in  a  beautiful  situation,  under  large 
trees.  It  needs  only  the  slightest  incident  to  throw  an  Indian  village  into 
a  sudden  excitement  which  is  startling  to  a  stranger.  We  were  occupied 
quietly  among  the  Indians,  Mr.  Nicollet,  as  usual,  surrounded  by  them, 
with  the  aid  of  the  interpreter  getting  them  to  lay  out  the  form  of  the  lake 
and  the  course  of  the  streams  entering  the  river  near  by,  and,  after  repeated 
pronunciations,  entering  their  names  in  his  note-book ;  Geyer,  followed  by 


A,  VON   HUMBOLDT. 


PROCLAMATION. 


HEADQUARTERS  WESTERN  DEPARTMENT, 
ST.  Louis,  August  30,  1861. 

Circumstances,  in  my  judgment  of  sufficient  urgency,  render  it  neces- 
sary that  the  Commanding  General  of  this  Department  should  assume  the 
administrative  powers  of  the  State. 

Its  disorganized  condition,  the  helplessness  of  the  civil  authority,  the 
total  insecurity  of  life,  and  the  devastation  of  property  by  bands  of  mur- 
derers and  marauders  who  infest  nearly  every  county  in  the  State,  and 
avail  themselves  of  the  public  misfortunes  and  the  vicinity  of  a  hostile 
force  to  gratify  private  and  neighborhood  vengeance,  and  who  find  an 
enemy  wherever  they  find  plunder,  finally  demand  the  severest  measures 
to  repress  the  daily  increasing  crimes  and  outrages  which  are  driving  off 
the  inhabitants  and  ruining  the  State.  In  this  condition  the  public  safety 
and  the  success  of  our  arms  require  unity  of  purpose  without  let  or  hin- 
derance  to  the  prompt  administration  of  affairs. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  suppress  disorders,  to  maintain,  as  far  as  now 
practicable,  the  public  peace,  and  to  give  security  and  protection  to  the 
persons  and  property  of  loyal  citizens,  I  do  hereby  extend,  and  declare 
established,  Martial  Law  throughout  the  State  of  Missouri. 

The  lines  of  the  army  of  occupation  in  this  State  are,  for  the  present, 
declared  to  extend  from  Leavenworth,  by  way  of  the  posts  of  Jefferson 
City,  Rolla,  and  Ironton,  to  Cape  Girardeau,  on  the  Mississippi  River. 

All  persons  who  shall  be  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands,  within  these 
lines,  shall  be  tried  by  court-martial,  and,  if  found  guilty,  will  be  shot. 

The  property,  real  and  personal,  of  all  persons  in  the  State  of  Missouri, 
who  shall  take  up  arms  against  the  United  States,  or  who  shall  be  directly 
proven  to  have  taken  active  part  with  their  enemies  in  the  field,  is  declared 
to  be  confiscated  to  the  public  use,  and  their  slaves,  if  any  they  have,  are 
hereby  declared  free  men. 

All  persons  who  shall  be  proven  to  have  destroyed,  after  the  publica- 


202  PROCLAMA  TION. 

tion  of  this  order,  railroad  tracks,  bridges,  or  telegraphs,  shall  suffer  the 
extreme  penalty  of  this  law. 

All  persons  engaged  in  treasonable  correspondence,  in  giving  or  pro- 
curing aid  to  the  enemies  of  the  United  States,  in  fomenting  tumults,  in 
disturbing  the  public  tranquillity  by  creating  and  circulating  false  reports  or 
incendiary  documents,  are,  in  their  own  interest,  warned  that  they  are 
exposing  themselves  to  sudden  and  severe  punishment. 

All  persons  who  have  been  led  away  from  their  allegiance  are  required 
to  return  forthwith  to  their  homes.  Any  such  absence  without  sufficient 
cause  will  be  held  to  be  presumptive  evidence  against  them. 

The  object  of  this  declaration  is  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  military 
authorities  the  power  to  give  instantaneous  effect  to  existing  laws,  and  to 
supply  such  deficiencies  as  the  conditions  of  war  demand.  But  it  is  not  in- 
tended to  suspend  the  ordinary  tribunals  of  the  country,  where  the  law  will 
be  administered  by  the  civil  officers  in  the  usual  manner  and  with  their 
customary  authority,  while  the  same  can  be  peaceably  exercised. 

The  Commanding  General  will  labor  vigilantly  for  the  public  welfare, 
and  in  his  efforts  for  their  safety  hopes  to  obtain  not  only  the  acquiescence, 
but  the  active  support  of  the  people  of  the  country. 

J.  C.  FREMONT, 
Major-General  Commanding. 


FACSIMILE. 


203 


204 


FACSIMILE. 


FACSIMILE. 


20; 


2O6 


FACSIMILE. 


/fav^z^t^/f 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  389 


WIND-RIVER   PEAK  AND   FLAG. 

August  10.  The  air  at  sunrise  is  clear  and  pure,  and  the  morning  ex- 
tremely cold,  but  beautiful.  A  lofty  snow-peak  of  the  mountain  is  glitter- 
ing in  the  first  rays  of  the  sun,  which  has  not  yet  reached  us.  The  long 
mountain  wall  to  the  east  rising  two  thousand  feet  abruptly  from  the  plain, 
behind  which  we  see  the  peaks,  is  still  dark,  and  cuts  clear  against  the 
glowing  sky.  A  fog,  just  risen  from  the  river,  lies  along  the  base  of  the 
mountain.  A  little  before  sunrise  the  thermometer  was  at  35°,  and  at 
sunrise  33°.  Water  froze  last  night,  and  fires  are  very  comfortable.  The 
scenery  becomes  hourly  more  interesting  and  grand,  and  the  view  here  is 
truly  magnificent ;  but,  indeed,  it  needs  something  to  repay  the  long  prairie 
journey  of  a  thousand  miles.  The  sun  has  just  shot  above  the  wall,  and 
makes  a  magical  change.  The  whole  valley  is  glowing  and  bright,  and  all 
the  mountain  peaks  are  gleaming  like  silver.  Though  these  mountains  are 
not  the  Alps,  they  have  their  own  character  of  grandeur  and  magnificence, 
and  will  doubtless  find  pens  and  pencils  to  do  them  justice.  In  the  scene 
before  us  we  feel  how  much  wood  improves  a  view.  The  pines  on  the 
mountain  seemed  to  give  it  much  additional  beauty.  I  was  agreeably 
disappointed  in  the  character  of  the  streams  on  this  side  of  the  ridge. 
Instead  of  the  creeks,  which  description  had  led  me  to  expect,  I  find  bold 
broad  streams,  with  three  or  four  feet  water,  and  a  rapid  current.  The  fork 
on  which  we  are  encamped  is  upward  of  a  hundred  feet  wide,  timbered 
with  groves  or  thickets  of  the  low  willow. 

We  were  now  approaching  the  loftiest  part  of  the  Wind  River  chain ; 
and  I  left  the  valley  a  few  miles  from  our  encampment,  intending  to  pene- 
trate the  mountains  as  far  as  possible  with  the  whole  party.  We  were 
soon  involved  in  very  broken  ground,  among  long  ridges  covered  with 
fragments  of  granite.  Winding  our  way  up  a  long  ravine,  we  came  unex- 
pectedly in  view  of  a  most  beautiful  lake,  set  like  a  gem  in  the  mountains. 
The  sheet  of  water  lay  transversely  across  the  direction  we  had  been  pur- 
suing ;  and,  descending  the  steep,  rocky  ridge,  where  it  was  necessary  to 
lead  our  horses,  we  followed  its  banks  to  the  southern  extremity.  Here  a 
view  of  the  utmost  magnificence  and  grandeur  burst  upon  our  eyes.  With 
nothing  between  us  and  their  feet,  to  lessen  the  effect  of  the  whole  height,  a 
grand  bed  of  snow-capped  mountains  rose  before  us,  pile  upon  pile,  glowing 
in  the  bright  light  of  an  August  day.  Immediately  below  them  lay  the  lake, 
between  two  ridges,  covered  with  dark  pines,  which  swept  down  from  the 
main  chain  to  the  spot  where  we  stood.  Here,  where  the  lake  glittered  in 
the  open  sunlight,  its  banks  of  yellow  sand  and  the  light  foliage  of  aspen 
groves  contrasted  well  with  the  gloomy  pines.  "  Never  before,"  said  Preuss, 


39o  WIND-RIVER  PEAK  AND  FLAG. 

"  in  this  country  or  in  Europe,  have  I  seen  such  magnificent,  grand  rocks." 
I  was  so  much  pleased  with  the  beauty  of  the  place  that  I  determined  to 
make  the  main  camp  here,  where  our  animals  would  find  good  pasturage, 
and  explore  the  mountains  with  a  small  party  of  men.  Proceeding  a  little 
farther,  we  came  suddenly  upon  the  outlet  of  the  lake,  where  it  found  its 
way  through  a  narrow  passage  between  low  hills.  Dark  pines,  which  over- 
hung the  stream,  and  masses  of  rock,  where  the  water  foamed  along,  gave 
it  much  romantic  beauty.  Where  we  crossed,  which  was  immediately  at 
the  outlet,  it  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  and  so  deep  that  with 
difficulty  we  were  able  to  ford  it.  Its  bed  was  an  accumulation  of  rocks, 
boulders,  and  broad  slabs,  and  large  angular  fragments,  among  which  the 
animals  fell  repeatedly.  The  current  was  very  swift,  and  the  water  cold, 
and  of  a  crystal  purity. 

In  crossing  the  stream  I  met  with  a  great  misfortune  in  having  my 
barometer  broken.  It  was  the  only  one.  A  great  part  of  the  interest  of 
the  journey  for  me  was  in  the  exploration  of  these  mountains,  of  which  so 
much  had  been  said  that  was  doubtful  and  contradictory  ;  and  now  their 
snowy  peaks  rose  majestically  before  me,  and  the  only  means  of  giving  them 
authentically  to  science,  the  object  of  my  anxious  solicitude  by  night  and 
day,  was  destroyed.  We  had  brought  this  barometer  in  safety  a  thousand 
miles,  and  broke  it  almost  among  the  snow  of  the  mountains.  The  loss 
was  felt  by  the  whole  camp — all  had  seen  my  anxiety,  and  aided  me  in  pre- 
serving it.  The  height  of  these  mountains,  considered  by  the  hunters  and 
traders  the  highest  in  the  whole  range,  had  been  a  theme  of  constant  dis- 
cussion among  them  ;  and  all  had  looked  forward  with  pleasure  to  the 
moment  when  the  instrument,  which  they  believed  to  be  true  as  the  sun, 
should  stand  upon  the  summits,  and  decide  their  disputes.  Their  grief  was 
only  inferior  to  my  own. 

This  lake  is  about  three  miles  long,  and  of  very  irregular  width,  and 
apparently  great  depth,  and  is  the  head-water  of  the  third  New  Fork,  a 
tributary  to  Green  River,  the  Colorado  of  the  West.  On  the  map  and  in 
the  narrative  I  have  called  it  Mountain  Lake.  I  encamped  on  the  north 
side,  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the  outlet.  This  was  the 
most  western  point  at  which  I  obtained  astronomical  observations,  by  which 
this  place,  called  Bernier's  encampment,  is  made  in  110°  08'  03"  west 
longitude  from  Greenwich,  and  latitude  42°  49'  49".  The  mountain  peaks, 
as  laid  down,  were  fixed  by  bearings  from  this  and  other  astronomical 
points.  We  had  no  other  compass  than  the  small  ones  used  in  sketching 
the  country  ;  but  from  an  azimuth,  in  which  one  of  them  was  used,  the  va- 
riation of  the  compass  is  18°  east.  The  correction  made  in  our  field-work 
by  the  astronomical  observations  indicates  that  this  is  a  very  correct  ob- 
servation. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  391 

As  soon  as  camp  was  formed,  I  set  about  endeavoring  to  repair  my 
barometer.  As  I  have  already  said,  this  was  a  standard  cistern-barometer, 
of  Troughton's  construction.  The  glass  cistern  had  been  broken  about 
mid-way  ;  but  as  the  instrument  had  been  kept  in  a  proper  position,  no  air 
had  found  its  way  into  the  tube,  the  end  of  which  had  always  remained 
covered.  I  had  with  me  a  number  of  vials  of  tolerably  thick  glass,  some 
of  which  were  of  the  same  diameter  as  the  cistern,  and  I  spent  the  day  in 
slowly  working  on  these,  endeavoring  to  cut  them  off  the  requisite  length ; 
but  as  my  instrument  was  a  very  rough  file,  I  invariably  broke  them.  A 
groove  was  cut  in  one  of  the  trees,  where  the  barometer  was  placed  during 
the  night,  to  be  out  of  the  way  of  any  possible  danger,  and  in  the  morning 
I  commenced  again.  Among  the  powder-horns  in  the  camp,  I  found  one 
which  was  very  transparent,  so  that  its  contents  could  be  almost  as  plainly 
seen  as  through  glass.  This  I  boiled  and  stretched  on  a  piece  of  wood  to 
the  requisite  diameter,  and  scraped  it  very  thin,  in  order  to  increase  to  the 
utmost  its  transparency.  I  then  secured  it  firmly  in  its  place  on  the  instru- 
ment with  strong  glue  made  from  a  buffalo,  and  filled  it  with  mercury, 
properly  heated.  A  piece  of  skin,  which  had  covered  one  of  the  vials,  fur- 
nished a  good  pocket,  which  was  well  secured  with  strong  thread  and  glue, 
and  then  the  brass  cover  was  screwed  to  its  place.  The  instrument  was  left 
some  time  to  dry ;  and  when  I  reversed  it,  a  few  hours  after,  I  had  the  sat- 
isfaction to  find  it  in  perfect  order ;  its  indications  being  about  the  same  as 
on  the  other  side  of  the  lake  before  it  had  been  broken.  Our  success  in 
this  little  incident  diffused  pleasure  throughout  the  camp ;  and  we  immedi- 
ately set  about  our  preparations  for  ascending  the  mountains. 

As  will  be  seen  on  reference  to  a  map,  on  this  short  mountain-chain 
are  the  head-waters  of  four  great  rivers  of  the  continent ;  namely,  the  Colo- 
rado, Columbia,  Missouri,  and  Platte  Rivers.  It  had  been  my  design, 
after  having  ascended  the  mountains,  to  continue  our  route  on  the  western 
side  of  the  range,  and,  crossing  through  a  pass  at  the  northwestern  end  of 
the  chain,  about  thirty  miles  from  our  present  camp,  return  along  the  east- 
ern slope,  across  the  heads  of  the  Yellowstone  River,  and  join  on  the  line 
to  our  station  of  August  7,  immediately  at  the  foot  of  the  ridge.  In  this 
way  I  should  be  enabled  to  include  the  whole  chain,  and  its  numerous 
waters,  in  my  survey  ;  but  various  considerations  induced  me,  very  reluc- 
tantly, to  abandon  this  plan. 

I  was  desirous  to  keep  strictly  within  the  scope  of  my  instructions  ; 
and  it  would  have  required  ten  or  fifteen  additional  days  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  this  object ;  our  animals  had  become  very  much  worn  out 
with  the  length  of  the  journey  ;  game  was  very  scarce  ;  and,  though  it 
does  not  appear  in  the  course  of  the  narrative  (as  I  have  avoided  dwelling 
upon  trifling  incidents  not  connected  with  the  objects  of  the  expedition), 


392  WIND-RIVER  PEAK  AND  FLAG. 

the  spirits  of  the  men  had  been  much  exhausted  by  the  hardships  and  pri- 
vations to  which  they  had  been  subjected.  Our  provisions  had  well-nigh 
all  disappeared.  Bread  had  been  long  out  of  the  question  ;  and  of  all  our 
stock,  we  had  remaining  two  or  three  pounds  of  coffee,  and  a  small  quan- 
tity of  macaroni,  which  had  been  husbanded  with  great  care  for  the  moun- 
tain expedition  we  were  about  to  undertake.  Our  daily  meal  consisted  of 
dry  buffalo  meat,  cooked  in  tallow  ;  and,  as  we  had  not  dried  this  with 
Indian  skill,  part  of  it  was  spoiled ;  and  what  remained  good  was  as 
hard  as  wood,  having  much  the  taste  and  appearance  of  so  many  pieces 
of  bark.  Even  of  this,  our  stock  was  rapidly  diminishing  in  a  camp 
which  was  capable  of  consuming  two  buffaloes  in  every  twenty-four  hours. 
These  animals  had  entirely  disappeared ;  and  it  was  not  probable  that  we 
should  fall  in  with  them  again  until  we  returned  to  the  Sweet  Water. 

Our  arrangements  for  the  ascent  were  rapidly  completed.  We  were 
in  a  hostile  country,  which  rendered  the  greatest  vigilance  and  circumspec- 
tion necessary.  The  pass  at  the  north  end  of  the  mountain  was  generally 
infested  by  Blackfeet ;  and  immediately  opposite  was  one  of  their  forts,  on 
the  edge  of  a  little  thicket,  two  or  three  hundred  feet  from  our  encamp- 
ment. We  were  posted  in  a  grove  of  beech,  on  the  margin  of  the  lake, 
and  a  few  hundred  feet  long,  with  a  narrow  prairillon  on  the  inner  side, 
bordered  by  a  rocky  ridge.  In  the  upper  end  of  this  grove  we  cleared  a 
circular  space  about  forty  feet  in  diameter,  and  with  the  felled  timber  and 
interwoven  branches,  surrounded  it  with  a  breastwork  five  feet  in  height. 
A  gap  was  left  for  a  gate  on  the  inner  side,  by  which  the  animals  were  to 
be  driven  in  and  secured,  while  the  men  slept  around  the  little  work.  It 
was  half  hidden  by  the  foliage  ;  and,  garrisoned  by  twelve  resolute  men, 
would  have  set  at  defiance  any  band  of  savages  which  might  chance  to 
discover  them  in  the  interval  of  our  absence.  Fifteen  of  the  best  mules, 
with  fourteen  men,  were  selected  for  the  mountain  party.  Our  provisions 
consisted  of  dried  meat  for  two  days,  with  our  little  stock  of  coffee  and 
some  macaroni.  In  addition  to  the  barometer  and  a  thermometer,  I  took 
with  me  a  sextant  and  spy-glass,  and  we  had,  of  course,  our  compasses. 
In  charge  of  the  camp  I  left  Bernier,  one  of  my  most  trustworthy  men, 
who  possessed  the  most  determined  courage. 

August  12.  Early  in  the  morning  we  left  the  camp,  fifteen  in  number, 
well  armed,  of  course,  and  mounted  on  our  best  mules.  A  pack  animal 
carried  our  provisions,  with  a  coffee-pot  and  kettle,  and  three  or  four  tin 
cups.  Every  man  had  a  blanket  strapped  over  his  saddle,  to  serve  for  his 
bed,  and  the  instruments  were  carried  by  turns  on  their  backs.  We  entered 
directly  on  rough  and  rocky  ground  ;  and,  just  after  crossing  the  ridge,  had 
the  good  fortune  to  shoot  an  antelope.  We  heard  the  roar,  and  had  a 
glimpse  of  a  waterfall  as  we  rode  along ;  and,  crossing  in  our  way  two  fine 


KIT  CARSON. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  393 

streams,  tributary  to  the  Colorado,  in  about  two  hours'  ride  we  reached  the 
top  of  the  first  row  or  range  of  the  mountains.  Here,  again,  a  view  of  the 
most  romantic  beauty  met  our  eyes.  It  seemed  as  if,  from  the  vast  expanse 
of  uninteresting  prairie  we  had  passed  over,  Nature  had  collected  all  her 
beauties  together  in  one  chosen  place.  We  were  overlooking  a  deep  valley, 
which  was  entirely  occupied  by  three  lakes,  and  from  the  brink  the  surround- 
ing ridges  rose  precipitously  five  hundred  and  a  thousand  feet,  covered  with 
the  dark  green  of  the  balsam  pine,  relieved  on  the  border  of  the  lake  with 
the  light  foliage  of  the  aspen.  They  all  communicated  with  each  other  ;  and 
the  green  of  the  waters,  common  to  mountain  lakes  of  great  depth,  showed 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  cross  them.  The  surprise  manifested  by  our 
guides  when  these  impassable  obstacles  suddenly  barred  our  progress, 
proved  that  they  were  among  the  hidden  treasures  of  the  place,  unknown 
even  to  the  wandering  trappers  of  the  region.  Descending  the  hill,  we 
proceeded  to  make  our  way  along  the  margin  to  the  southern  extremity. 
A  narrow  strip  of  angular  fragments  of  rock  sometimes  afforded  a  rough 
pathway  for  our  mules,  but  generally  we  rode  along  the  shelving  side,  oc- 
casionally scrambling  up,  at  a  considerable  risk  of  tumbling  back  into  the 
lake. 

The  slope  was  frequently  60° ;  the  pines  grew  densely  together,  and  the 
ground  was  covered  with  the  branches  and  trunks  of  trees.  The  air  was 
fragrant  with  the  odor  of  the  pines  ;  and  I  realized  this  delightful  morning 
the  pleasure  of  breathing  that  mountain  air  which  makes  a  constant  theme 
of  the  hunter's  praise,  and  which  now  made  us  feel  as  if  we  had  all  been 
drinking  some  exhilarating  gas.  The  depths  of  this  unexplored  forest  were 
a  place  to  delight  the  heart  of  a  botanist.  There  was  a  rich  undergrowth 
of  plants  and  numerous  gay-colored  flowers  in  brilliant  bloom.  We  reached 
the  outlet  at  length,  where  some  freshly  barked  willows  that  lay  in  the 
water  showed  that  beaver  had  been  recently  at  work.  There  were  some 
small  brown  squirrels  jumping  about  in  the  pines,  and  a  couple  of  large 
mallard  ducks  swimming  about  in  the  stream. 

The  hills  on  this  southern  end  were  low,  and  the  lake  looked  like  a 
mimic  sea,  as  the  waves  broke  on  the  sandy  beach  in  the  force  of  a  strong 
breeze.  There  was  a  pretty  open  spot,  with  fine  grass  for  our  mules  ;  and 
we  made  our  noon  halt  on  the  beach,  under  the  shade  of  some  large  hem- 
locks. We  resumed  our  journey  after  a  halt  of  about  an  hour,  making  our 
way  up  the  ridge  on  the  western  side  of  the  lake.  In  search  of  smoother 
ground,  we  rode  a  little  inland  ;  and,  passing  through  groves  of  aspen, 
soon  found  ourselves  among  the  pines.  Emerging  from  these,  we  struck 
the  summit  of  the  ridge  above  the  upper  end  of  the  lake. 

We  had  reached  a  very  elevated  point,  and  in  the  valley  below,  and 
among  the  hills,  were  a  number  of  lakes  at  different  levels  ;  some,  two  or 


394  WIND-RIVER  PEAK  AND  FLAG. 

three  hundred  feet  above  others,  with  which  they  communicated  by  foam- 
ing torrents.  Even  to  our  great  height,  the  roar  of  the  cataracts  came  up, 
and  we  could  see  them  leaping  down  in  lines  of  snowy  foam.  From  this 
scene  of  busy  waters  we  turned  abruptly  into  the  stillness  of  a  forest,  where 
we  rode  among  the  open  bolls  of  the  pines,  over  a  lawn  of  verdant  grass 
having  strikingly  the  air  of  cultivated  grounds.  This  led  us  after  a  time 
among  masses  of  rock  which  had  no  vegetable  earth  but  in  hollows  and 
crevices,  though  still  the  pine  forest  continued.  Toward  evening,  we 
reached  a  defile,  or  rather  hole  in  the  mountains,  entirely  shut  in  by  dark 
pine-covered  rocks. 

A  small  stream,  with  a  scarcely  perceptible  current,  flowed  through  a 
level  bottom  of  perhaps  eighty  yards  width,  where  the  grass  was  saturated 
with  water.  Into  this  the  mules  were  turned,  and  were  neither  hobbled 
nor  picketed  during  the  night,  as  the  fine  pasturage  took  away  all  tempta- 
tion to  stray  ;  and  we  made  our  bivouac  in  the  pines.  The  surrounding 
masses  were  all  of  granite.  While  supper  was  being  prepared  I  set  out 
on  an  excursion  in  the  neighborhood,  accompanied  by  one  of  my  men. 
We  wandered  about  among  the  crags  and  ravines  until  dark,  richly  repaid 
for  our  walk  by  a  fine  collection  of  plants,  many  of  them  in  full  bloom. 
Ascending  a  peak  to  find  the  place  of  our  camp,  we  saw  that  the  little  de- 
file in  which  we  lay  communicated  with  the  long  green  valley  of  some 
stream,  which,  here  locked  up  in  the  mountains,  far  away  to  the  south 
found  its  way  in  a  dense  forest  to  the  plains. 

Looking  along  its  upward  course,  it  seemed  to  conduct,  by  a  smooth 
gradual  slope,  directly  toward  the  peak,  which,  from  long  consultation  as 
we  approached  the  mountain,  we  had  decided  to  be  the  highest  of  the 
range.  Pleased  with  the  discovery  of  so  fine  a  road  for  the  next  day,  we 
hastened  down  to  the  camp,  where  we  arrived  just  in  time  for  supper.  Our 
table  service  was  rather  scant ;  and  we  held  the  meat  in  our  hands,  and 
clean  rocks  made  good  plates,  on  which  we  spread  our  macaroni. 

Among  all  the  strange  places  on  which  we  had  occasion  to  encamp 
during  our  long  journey,  none  have  left  so  vivid  an  impression  on  my  mind 
as  the  camp  of  this  evening.  The  disorder  of  the  masses  which  surrounded 
us ;  the  little  hole  through  which  we  saw  the  stars  overhead  ;  the  dark 
pines  where  we  slept ;  and  the  rocks  lit  up  with  the  glow  of  our  fires,  made 
a  night-picture  of  very  wild  beauty. 

August  13.  The  morning  was  bright  and  pleasant,  just  cool  enough  to 
make  exercise  agreeable,  and  we  soon  entered  the  defile  I  had  seen  the 
preceding  day.  It  was  smoothly  carpeted  with  a  soft  grass,  and  scattered 
over  with  groups  of  flowers,  of  which  yellow  was  the  predominant  color. 
Sometimes  we  were  forced,  by  an  occasional  difficult  pass,  to  pick  our  way 
on  a  narrow  ledge  along  the  side  of  the  defile,  and  the  mules  were  fre- 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  395 

quently  on  their  knees  ;  but  these  obstructions  were  rare,  and  we  journeyed 
on  in  the  sweet  morning  air,  delighted  at  our  good  fortune  in  having  found 
such  a  beautiful  entrance  to  the  mountains. 

This  road  continued  for  about  three  miles,  when  we  suddenly  reached 
its  termination  in  one  of  the  grand  views  which  at  every  turn  meet  the  trav- 
eller in  this  magnificent  region.  Here  the  defile  up  which  we  had  travelled, 
opened  out  into  a  small  lawn,  where,  in  a  little  lake,  the  stream  had  its 
source. 

There  were  some  fine  asters  in  bloom,  but  all  the  flowering  plants  ap- 
peared to  seek  the  shelter  of  the  rocks,  and  to  be  of  lower  growth  than  be- 
low, as  if  they  loved  the  warmth  of  the  soil,  and  kept  out  of  the  way  of  the 
winds.  Immediately  at  our  feet  a  precipitous  descent  led  to  a  confusion  of 
defiles,  and  before  us  rose  the  mountains  as  we  have  represented  them  in 
the  annexed  view.  It  is  not  by  the  splendor  of  far-off  views,  which  have 
lent  such  a  glory  to  the  Alps,  that  these  impress  the  mind ;  but  by  a  gi- 
gantic disorder  of  enormous  masses,  and  a  savage  sublimity  of  naked  rock, 
in  wonderful  contrast  with  innumerable  green  spots  of  a  rich  floral  beauty 
shut  up  in  their  stern  recesses.  Their  wildness  seems  well  suited  to  the 
character  of  the  people  who  inhabit  the  country. 

I  determined  to  leave  our  animals  here,  and  make  the  rest  of  our  way 
on  foot.  The  peak  appeared  so  near  that  there  was  no  doubt  of  our  re- 
turning before  night ;  and  a  few  men  were  left  in  charge  of  the  mules,  with 
our  provisions  and  blankets.  We  took  with  us  nothing  but  our  arms  and 
instruments,  and,  as  the  day  had  become  warm,  the  greater  part  left  our 
coats.  Having  made  an  early  dinner,  we  started  again.  We  were  soon 
involved  in  the  most  ragged  precipices,  nearing  the  central  chain  very 
slowly,  and  rising  but  little.  The  first  ridge  hid  a  succession  of  others ; 
and  when,  with  great  fatigue  and  difficulty  we  had  climbed  up  five  hundred 
feet,  it  was  but  to  make  an  equal  descent  on  the  other  side  ;  all  these  in- 
tervening places  were  filled  with  small  deep  lakes,  which  met  the  eye  in 
every  direction,  descending  from  one  level  to  another,  sometimes  under 
bridges  formed  by  huge  fragments  of  granite,  beneath  which  was  heard  the 
roar  of  the  water.  These  constantly  obstructed  our  path,  forcing  us  to  make 
long  dd^irs ;  frequently  obliged  to  retrace  our  steps,  and  frequently  falling 
among  the  rocks.  Maxwell  was  precipitated  towards  the  face  of  a  preci- 
pice, and  saved  himself  from  going  over  by  throwing  himself  flat  on  the 
ground.  We  clambered  on,  always  expecting  with  every  ridge  that  we 
crossed,  to  reach  the  foot  of  the  peaks,  and  always  disappointed,  until  about 
4  o'clock  when,  pretty  well  worn  out,  we  reached  the  shore  of  a  little  lake, 
in  which  was  a  rocky  island,  and  from  which  we  obtained  the  view  given 
here.  We  remained  here  a  short  time  to  rest,  and  continued  on  around 
the  lake,  which  had  in  some  places  a  beach  of  white  sand,  and  in  others 


396  WIND-RIVER  PEAK  AND  FLAG. 

was  bound  with  rocks  over  which  the  way  was  difficult  and  dangerous,  as 
the  water  from  innumerable  springs  made  them  very  slippery. 

By  the  time  we  had  reached  the  farther  side  of  the  lake,  we  found  our- 
selves all  exceedingly  fatigued  and,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  whole 
party,  we  encamped.  The  spot  we  had  chosen  was  a  broad  flat  rock,  in 
some  measure  protected  from  the  winds  by  the  surrounding  crags,  and  the 
trunks  of  fallen  pines  afforded  us  bright  fires.  Near  by  was  a  foaming  tor- 
rent, which  tumbled  into  the  little  lake  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
below  us,  and  which,  by  way  of  distinction,  we  have  called  Island  Lake. 
We  had  reached  the  upper  limit  of  the  piny  region  ;  as,. above  this  point, 
no  tree  was  to  be  seen,  and  patches  of  snow  lay  everywhere  around  us 
on  the  cold  sides  of  the  rocks.  The  flora  of  the  region  we  had  traversed 
since  leaving  our  mules  was  extremely  rich,  and,  among  the  characteristic 
plants,  the  scarlet  flowers  of  the  dodecatheon  dentatum  everywhere  met 
the  eye  in  great  abundance.  A  small  green  ravine,  on  the  edge  of  which 
we  were  encamped,  was  filled  with  a  profusion  of  alpine  plants  in  brilliant 
bloom.  From  barometrical  observations,  made  during  our  three  days' 
sojourn  at  this  place,  its  elevation  above  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  is  10,000  feet. 
During  the  day  we  had  seen  no  sign  of  animal  life  ;  but  among  the  rocks 
we  heard  what  was  supposed  to  be  the  bleat  of  a  young  goat,  which  we 
searched  for  with  hungry  activity,  and  found  to  proceed  from  a  small  ani- 
mal of  a  gray  color,  with  short  ears  and  no  tail — probably  the  Siberian 
squirrel.  We  saw  a  considerable  number  of  them,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  a  small  bird  like  a  sparrow,  it  is  the  only  inhabitant  of  this  elevated  part 
of  the  mountains.  On  our  return,  we  saw  below  this  lake,  large  flocks  of 
the  mountain  goat.  We  had  nothing  to  eat  to-night.  Lajeunesse,  with 
several  others,  took  their  guns  and  sallied  out  in  search  of  a  goat ;  but 
returned  unsuccessful.  At  sunset  the  barometer  stood  at  20.522  ;  the 
attached  thermometer  50°.  Here  we  had  the  misfortune  to  break  our 
thermometer,  having  now  only  that  attached  to  the  barometer.  I  was 
taken  ill  shortly  after  we  had  encamped,  and  continued  so  until  late  in  the 
night,  with  violent  headache  and  vomiting.  This  was  probably  caused  by 
the  excessive  fatigue  I  had  undergone,  and  want  of  food,  and  perhaps, 
also,  in  some  measure,  by  the  rarity  of  the  air.  The  night  was  cold,  as  a 
violent  gale  from  the  north  had  sprung  up  at  sunset,  which  entirely  blew 
away  the  heat  of  the  fires.  The  cold,  and  our  granite  beds,  had  not  been 
favorable  to  sleep,  and  we  were  glad  to  see  the  face  of  the  sun  in  the 
morning.  Not  being  delayed  by  any  preparation  for  breakfast,  we  set  out 
immediately. 

On  every  side  as  we  advanced  was  heard  the  roar  of  waters,  and  of  a 
torrent,  which  we  followed  up  a  short  distance,  until  it  expanded  into  a  lake 
about  one  mile  in  length.  On  the  northern  side  of  the  lake  was  a  bank  of 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  397 

ice,  or  rather  of  snow  covered  with  a  crust  of  ice.  Carson  had  been  our 
guide  into  the  mountains  and,  agreeably  to  his  advice,  we  left  this  little 
valley,  and  took  to  the  ridges  again  ;  which  we  found  extremely  broken, 
and  where  we  were  again  involved  among  precipices.  Here  were  ice- 
fields ;  among  which  we  were  all  dispersed,  seeking  each  the  best  path 
to  ascend  the  peak.  Mr.  Preuss  attempted  to  walk  along  the  upper  edge 
of  one  of  these  fields,  which  sloped  away  at  an  angle  of  about  twenty  de- 
grees ;  but  his  feet  slipped  from  under  him,  and  he  went  plunging  down 
the  plane.  A  few  hundred  feet  below,  at  the  bottom,  were  some  frag- 
ments of  sharp  rock,  on  which  he  landed  ;  and  though  he  turned  a  couple 
of  somersets,  fortunately  received  no  injury  beyond  a  few  bruises.  Two  of 
the  men,  Clement  Lambert  and  Descoteaux,  had  been  taken  ill,  and  laid 
down  on  the  rocks  a  short  distance  below  ;  and  at  this  point  I  was  attacked 
with  headache  and  giddiness,  accompanied  by  vomiting,  as  on  the  day  be- 
fore. Finding  myself  unable  to  proceed  I  sent  the  barometer  over  to  Mr. 
Preuss,  who  was  in  a  gap  two  or  three  hundred  yards  distant,  desiring  him 
to  reach  the  peak,  if  possible,  and  take  an  observation  there.  He  found 
himself  unable  to  proceed  farther  in  that  direction,  and  took  an  observation, 
where  the  barometer  stood  19.401  ;  attached  thermometer  50°  in  the  gap. 
Carson,  who  had  gone  over  to  him,  succeeding  in  reaching  one  of  the  snowy 
summits  of  the  main  ridge,  whence  he  saw  the  peak  towards  which  all  our 
efforts  had  been  directed,  towering  eight  or  ten  hundred  feet  into  the  air 
above  him.  In  the  meantime,  finding  myself  grow  rather  worse  than  bet- 
ter, and  doubtful  how  far  my  strength  would  carry  me,  I  sent  Basil  Lajeu- 
nesse,  with  four  men  back  to  the  place  where  the  mules  had  been  left. 

We  were  now  better  acquainted  with  the  topography  of  the  country, 
and  I  directed  him  to  bring  back  with  him,  if  it  were  in  any  way  possible, 
four  or  five  mules,  with  provisions  and  blankets.  With  me  were  Maxwell 
and  Ayer;  and  after  we  had  remained  nearly  an  hour  on  the  rock,  it  became 
so  unpleasantly  cold,  though  the  day  was  bright,  that  we  set  out  on  our 
return  to  the  camp,  at  which  we  all  arrived  safely,  straggling  in  one  after 
the  other.  I  continued  ill  during  the  afternoon,  but  became  better  towards 
sundown,  when  my  recovery  was  completed  by  the  appearance  of  Basil  and 
four  men,  all  mounted.  The  men  who  had  gone  with  him  had  been  too 
much  fatigued  to  return,  and  were  relieved  by  those  in  charge  of  the  horses ; 
but  in  his  powers  of  endurance  Basil  resembled  more  a  mountain  goat  than 
a  man.  They  brought  blankets  and  provisions,  and  we  enjoyed  well  our 
dried  meat  and  a  cup  of  good  coffee.  We  rolled  ourselves  up  in  our  blan- 
kets, and,  with  our  feet  turned  to  a  blazing  fire,  slept  soundly  until  morning. 

Aiigust  15.  It  had  been  supposed  that  we  had  finished  with  the 
mountains  ;  and  the  evening  before,  it  had  been  arranged  that  Carson 
should  set  out  at  daylight,  and  return  to  breakfast  at  the  camp  of  the 


398  WIND-RIVER  PEAK  AND  FLAG. 

mules,  taking  with  him  all  but  four  or  five  men,  who  were  to  stay  with  me 
and  bring  back  the  mules  and  instruments.  Accordingly,  at  the  break  of 
day  they  set  out.  With  Mr.  Preuss  and  myself  remained  Basil  Lajeu- 
nesse,  Clement  Lambert,  Janisse,  and  Descoteaux.  When  we  had  se- 
cured strength  for  the  day  by  a  hearty  breakfast,  we  covered  what  re- 
mained, which  was  enough  for  one  meal,  with  rocks,  in  order  that  it  might 
be  safe  from  any  marauding  bird  ;  and,  saddling  our  mules,  turned  our 
faces  once  more  towards  the  peaks.  This  time  we  determined  to  proceed 
quietly  and  cautiously,  deliberately  resolved  to  accomplish  our  object  if  it 
were  within  the  compass  of  human  means.  We  were  of  opinion  that  a 
long  defile  which  lay  to  the  left  of  yesterday's  route  would  lead  us  to  the 
foot  of  the  main  peak.  Our  mules  had  been  refreshed  by  the  fine  grass 
in  the  little  ravine  at  the  island  camp,  and  we  intended  to  ride  up  the  defile 
as  far  as  possible,  in  order  to  husband  our  strength  for  the  main  ascent. 
Though  this  was  a  fine  passage,  still  it  was  a  defile  of  the  most  rugged 
mountains  known,  and  we  had  many  a  rough  and  steep  slippery  place  to 
cross  before  reaching  the  end.  In  this  place  the  sun  rarely  shone  ;  snow 
lay  along  the  border  of  the  small  stream  which  flowed  through  it,  and 
occasional  icy  passages  made  the  footing  of  the  mules  very  insecure,  and  all 
the  rocks  and  ground  were  moist  with  the  trickling  waters  in  this  spring 
of  mighty  rivers.  We  soon  had  the  satisfaction  to  find  ourselves  riding 
along  the  huge  wall  which  forms  the  central  summit  of  the  chain.  There 
at  last  it  rose  by  our  sides,  a  nearly  perpendicular  wall  of  granite,  termi- 
nating 2,000  to  3,000  feet  above  our  heads  in  a  serrated  line  of  broken, 
jagged  cones.  We  rode  on  until  we  came  almost  immediately  below  the 
main  peak,  which  I  denominated  the  Snow  Peak,  as  it  exhibited  more 
snow  to  the  eye  than  any  of  the  neighboring  summits.  Here  were  three 
small  lakes  of  a  green  color,  each  of  perhaps  a  thousand  yards  in  diam- 
eter, and  apparently  very  deep.  These  lay  in  a  kind  of  chasm  ;  and, 
according  to  the  barometer,  we  had  attained  but  a  few  hundred  feet  above 
the  Island  Lake.  The  barometer  here  stood  at  20.450 ;  attached  ther- 
mometer 70°. 

We  managed  to  get  our  mules  up  to  a  little  bench  about  a  hundred 
feet  above  the  lakes,  where  there  was  a  patch  of  good  grass,  and  turned 
them  loose  to  graze.  During  our  rough  ride  to  this  place  they  had  ex- 
hibited a  wonderful  surefootedness.  Parts  of  the  defile  were  filled  with 
angular,  sharp  fragments  of  rock,  three  or  four  and  eight  or  ten  feet  cube  ; 
and  among  these  they  had  worked  their  way,  leaping  from  one  narrow 
point  to  another,  rarely  making  a  false  step,  and  giving  us  no  occasion  to 
dismount.  Having  divested  ourselves  of  every  unnecessary  encumbrance, 
we  commenced  the  ascent.  This  time,  like  experienced  travellers,  we  did 
not  press  ourselves,  but  climbed  leisurely,  sitting  down  so  soon  as  we 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  399 

found  breath  beginning  to  fail.  At  intervals  we  reached  places  where  a 
number  of  springs  gushed  from  the  rocks,  and  about  1,800  feet  above  the 
lakes  came  to  the  snow-line.  From  this  point  our  progress  was  uninter- 
rupted climbing.  Hitherto  I  had  worn  a  pair  of  thick  moccasins,  with  soles 
oiparficche  ;  but  here  I  put  on  a  light  thin  pair,  which  I  had  brought  for 
the  purpose,  as  now  the  use  of  our  toes  became  necessary  to  a  further  ad- 
vance. I  availed  myself  of  a  sort  of  comb  of  the  mountain,  which  stood 
against  the  wall  like  a  buttress,  and  which  the  wind  and  the  solar  radia- 
tion, joined  to  the  steepness  of  the  smooth  rock,  had  kept  almost  entirely 
free  from  snow.  Up  this  I  made  my  way  rapidly.  Our  cautious  method 
of  advancing  in  the  outset  had  spared  my  strength ;  and,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  slight  disposition  to  headache,  I  felt  no  remains  of  yesterday's 
illness.  In  a  few  minutes  we  reached  a  point  where  the  buttress  was  over- 
hanging, and  there  was  no  way  of  surmounting  the  difficulty  than  by  pass- 
ing round  one  side  of  it,  which  was  the  face  of  a  vertical  precipice  of 
several  hundred  feet. 

Putting  hands  and  feet  in  the  crevices  between  the  blocks,  I  succeeded 
in  getting  over  it,  and,  when  I  reached  the  top,  found  my  companions  in  a 
small  valley  below.  Descending  to  them,  we  continued  climbing,  and  in  a 
short  time  reached  the  crest.  I  sprang  upon  the  summit,  and  another  step 
would  have  precipitated  me  into  an  immense  snow-field  five  hundred  feet 
below.  To  the  edge  of  this  field  was  a  sheer  icy  precipice  ;  and  then,  with 
a  gradual  fall,  the  field  sloped  off  for  about  a  mile,  until  it  struck  the  foot 
of  another  lower  ridge.  I  stood  on  a  narrow  crest,  about  three  feet  in 
width,  with  an  inclination  of  about  20°  N.  51°  E.  As  soon  as  I  had  grat- 
ified the  first  feelings  of  curiosity  I  descended,  and  each  man  ascended  in 
his  turn  ;  for  I  would  allow  only  one  at  a  time  to  mount  the  unstable  and 
precarious  slab,  which  it  seemed  a  breath  would  hurl  into  the  abyss  below. 
We  mounted  the  barometer  in  the  snow  of  the  summit,  and,  fixing  a  ram- 
rod in  a  crevice,  unfurled  the  national  flag  to  wave  in  the  breeze  where 
never  flag  waved  before.  During  our  morning's  ascent,  we  had  met  no 
sign  of  animal  life,  except  the  small  sparrow-like  bird  already  mentioned. 
A  stillness  the  most  profound  and  a  terrible  solitude  forced  themselves 
constantly  on  the  mind  as  the  great  features  of  the  place.  Here,  on  the 
summit,  where  the  stillness  was  absolute,  unbroken  by  any  sound,  and  the 
solitude  complete,  we  thought  ourselves  beyond  the  region  of  animated 
life ;  but  while  we  were  sitting  on  the  rock,  a  solitary  bee  (6romus,  the 
humble-bee)  came  winging  his  flight  from  the  eastern  valley,  and  lit  on 
the  knee  of  one  of  the  men.  It  was  a  strange  place,  the  icy  rock  and  the 
highest  peak  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  for  a  lover  of  warm  sunshine  and 
flowers  ;  and  we  pleased  ourselves  with  the  idea  that  he  was  the  first  of  his 
species  to  cross  the  mountain  barrier — a  solitary  pioneer  to  foretell  the  ad- 


4°°  WIND-RIVER  PEAK  AND  FLAG. 

vance  of  civilization.  I  believe  that  a  moment's  thought  would  have  made 
us  let  him  continue  his  way  unharmed ;  but  we  carried  out  the  law  of  this 
country,  where  all  animated  nature  seems  at  war  ;  and,  seizing  him  imme- 
diately, put  him  in  at  least  a  fit  place — in  the  leaves  of  a  large  book,  among 
the  flowers  we  had  collected  on  our  way.  The  barometer  stood  at  18.293, 
the  attached  thermometer  at  44° ;  giving  for  the  elevation  of  this  summit 
I3'57°  feet  above  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  which  may  be  called  the  highest 
flight  of  the  bee.  It  is  certainly  the  highest  known  flight  of  that  insect. 
From  the  description  given  by  Mackenzie  of  the  mountains  where  he 
crossed  them,  with  that  of  a  French  officer  still  farther  to  the  north,  and 
Colonel  Long's  measurements  to  the  south,  joined  to  the  opinion  of  the 
oldest  traders  of  the  country,  it  is  presumed  that  this  is  the  highest  peak 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  day  was  sunny  and  bright,  but  a  slight 
shining  mist  hung  over  the  lower  plains,  which  interfered  with  our  veiw  of 
the  surrounding  country.  On  one  side  we  overlooked  innumerable  lakes 
and  streams,  the  spring  of  the  Colorado  of  the  Gulf  of  California  ;  and  on 
the  other  was  the  Wind  River  Valley,  where  were  the  heads  of  the  Yellow- 
stone branch  of  the  Missouri ;  far  to  the  north,  we  could  just  discover  the 
snowy  heads  of  the  Trois  Tetons,  where  were  the  sources  of  the  Missouri 
and  Columbia  Rivers  ;  and  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  ridge,  the 
peaks  were  plainly  visible,  among  which  were  some  of  the  springs  of  the 
Nebraska  or  Platte  River.  Around  us  the  whole  scene  had  one  main 
striking  feature,  which  was  that  of  terrible  convulsion.  Parallel  to  its 
length,  the  ridge  was  split  into  chasms  and  fissures  ;  between  which  rose 
the  thin  lofty  walls,  terminated  with  slender  minarets  and  columns,  which 
is  correctly  represented  in  the  view  from  the  camp  on  Island  Lake.  Ac- 
cording to  the  barometer,  the  little  crest  of  the  wall  on  which  we  stood 
was  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy  feet  above  that  place,  and 
two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty  above  the  little  lakes  at  the 
bottom,  immediately  at  our  feet.  Our  camp  at  the  Two  Hills  (an  astro- 
nomical station)  bore  south  3°  east,  which,  with  a  bearing  afterward  ob- 
tained from  a  fixed  position,  enabled  us  to  locate  the  peak.  The  bearing 
of  the  Trois  Tetons  was  north  50°  west,  and  the  direction  of  the  central 
ridge  of  the  Wind  River  Mountains  south  39°  east.  The  summit  rock  was 
gneiss/succeeded  by  sienitic  gneiss.  Sienite  and  feldspar  succeeded  in  our 
descent  to  the  snow  line,  where  we  found  a  feldspathic  granite.  I  had  re- 
marked that  the  noise  produced  by  the  explosion  of  our  pistols  had  the 
usual  degree  of  loudness,  but  was  not  in  the  least  prolonged,  expiring  al- 
most instantaneously.  Having  now  made  what  observations  our  means 
afforded,  we  proceeded  to  descend.  We  had  accomplished  an  object  of 
laudable  ambition,  and  beyond  the  strict  order  of  our  instructions.  We 
had  climbed  the  loftiest  peak  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  looked  down 


SCALE    /•  1000000. 


THE  GREAT  SALT   LAKE. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  401 

upon  the  snow  a  thousand  feet  below,  and,  standing  where  never  human 
foot  had  stood  before,  felt  the  exultation  of  first  explorers.  It  was  about 
two  o'clock  when  we  left  the  summit ;  and  when  we  reached  the  bottom, 
the  sun  had  already  sunk  behind  the  wall,  and  the  day  was  drawing  to  a 
close.  It  would  have  been  pleasant  to  have  lingered  here  and  on  the 
summit  longer  ;  but  we  hurried  away  as  rapidly  as  the  ground  would 
permit,  for  it  was  an  object  to  regain  our  party  as  soon  as  possible,  not 
knowing  what  accident  the  next  hour  might  bring  forth. 

We  reached  our  deposit  of  provisions  at  nightfall.  Here  was  not  the 
inn  which  awaits  the  tired  traveller  on  his  return  from  Mont  Blanc,  or  the 
orange  groves  of  South  America,  with  their  refreshing  juices  and  soft  fra- 
grant air ;  but  we  found  our  little  cache  of  dried  meat  and  coffee  undisturbed. 
Though  the  moon  was  bright,  the  road  was  full  of  precipices,  and  the  fatigue 
of  the  day  had  been  great.  We  therefore  abandoned  the  idea  of  rejoin- 
ing our  friends,  and  lay  down  on  the  rock,  and  in  spite  of  the  cold  slept 
soundly. 

August  1 6.  We  left  our  encampment  with  the  daylight.  On  our  way 
we  saw  large  flocks  of  the  mountain  goat  looking  down  on  us  from  the 
cliffs.  At  the  crack  of  a  rifle  they  would  bound  off  among  the  rocks,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  make  their  appearance  on  some  lofty  peak,  some  hundred 
or  a  thousand  feet  above.  It  is  needless  to  attempt  any  further  description 
of  the  country  ;  the  portion  over  which  we  travelled  this  morning  was  rough 
as  imagination  could  picture  it,  and  to  us  seemed  equally  beautiful.  A  con- 
course of  lakes  and  rushing  waters,  mountains  of  rocks  naked  and  destitute 
of  vegetable  earth,  dells  and  ravines  of  the  most  exquisite  beauty,  all  kept 
green  and  fresh  by  the  great  moisture  in  the  air,  and  sown  with  brilliant 
flowers,  and  everywhere  thrown  around  all  the  glory  of  the  most  magnificent 
scenes — these  constitute  the  features  of  the  place,  and  impress  themselves 
vividly  on  the  mind  of  the  traveller.  It  was  not  until  1 1  o'clock  that  we 
reached  the  place  where  our  animals  had  been  left,  when  we  first  attempted 
the  mountains  on  foot.  Near  one  of  the  still  burning  fires  we  found  a  piece 
of  meat  which  our  friends  had  thrown  away,  and  which  furnished  us  a 
mouthful — a  very  scanty  breakfast.  We  continued  directly  on,  and  reached 
our  camp  on  the  mountain  lake  at  dusk.  Nothing  had  occurred  to  interrupt 
the  quiet  since  our  departure,  and  the  fine  grass  and  good  cool  water  had 
done  much  to  re-establish  our  animals.  All  heard  with  great  delight  the 
order  to  turn  our  faces  homeward ;  and  toward  sundown  of  the  i  yth  we 
encamped  again  at  the  Two  Buttes. 

In  the  course  of  this  afternoon's  march,  the  barometer  was  broken  past 
remedy.  I  regretted  it,  as  I  was  desirous  to  compare  it  again  with  Dr. 
Engelman's  barometers  at  St.  Louis,  to  which  mine  were  referred ;  but  it 
had  done  its  part  well,  and  my  objects  were  mainly  fulfilled. 


582  GREA  T  TLAMA  TH  LAKE. 

We  were  encamped  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Great  Tlamath  Lake, 
in  Oregon.  The  night  was  cool,  for  the  early  days  of  May  are  sharp  in 
this  high  country,  under  the  shadow  of  the  great  mountains.  I  was  stand- 
ing by  the  camp-fire  late  in  the  evening  when  I  caught  the  sound  of 
horses'  hoofs  and  two  men  rode  quickly  up.  It  was  an  unexpected  event 
to  see  in  this  place  white  men  who  did  not  belong  to  our  camp.  They 
proved  to  be  a  stranger,  a  half-breed  in  the  service  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  and  Samuel  Neal,  who  had  been  with  me  in  the  expedition  of 
1843-44.  He  had  been  won  by  the  glowing  fertility  and  beauty  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  decided  to  remain  there  ;  he  was  now  a  ranchero,  or  stockman, 
owning  a  good  rancho  on  Butte  Creek,  in  the  Sacramento  Valley.  Start- 
ing at  daybreak,  he  and  his  companion  had  ridden  from  the  outlet  of  the 
lake  to  my  camp.  He  informed  me  that  a  United  States  officer  was  on 
my  trail  with  despatches  for  me,  but  he  doubted  if  he  would  get  through, 
as  he  and  his  companion  had  escaped  the  Indians  only  by  the  goodness  of 
their  horses,  which  he  brought  from  his  own  rancho.  A  quick  eye  and  a 
good  horse  mean  life  to  a  man  in  an  Indian  country.  Neal  had  both. 
He  was  a  lover  of  horses  and  knew  a  good  one ;  and  those  he  had  with 
him  were  the  best  on  his  rancho.  He  had  been  sent  forward  by  the 
messenger  to  let  me  know  that  he  was  in  danger  of  being  cut  off  by  the 
Indians. 

The  trail  back  along  the  shore  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  was  so 
nearly  impassable  at  night  that  nothing  could  be  gained  by  attempting  it, 
but  everything  was  made  ready  for  an  early  start  in  the  morning.  For 
the  relief  party,  in  view  of  contingencies,  I  selected  nine  of  the  best  men, 
including  Carson,  Dick  Owens,  and  Lajeunesse,  with  four  of  the  Dela- 
wares. 

When  the  excitement  of  the  evening  was  over  I  lay  down,  speculating 
far  into  the  night  on  what  could  be  the  urgency  of  the  message  which  had 
brought  an  officer  of  the  Government  to  search  so  far  after  me  into  these 
mountains.  At  early  dawn  we  took  the  backward  trail.  Snow  and  fallen 
timber  made  the  ride  hard  and  long  to  where  I  thought  to  meet  the  mes- 
senger. On  the  way  no  Indians  were  seen  and  no  tracks  later  than 
those  where  they  had  struck  Neal's  trail.  In  the  afternoon,  having  made 
about  sixty  miles,  we  reached  the  spot  where  the  forest  made  an  opening 
to  the  lake  and  where  I  intended  to  wait.  This  was  a  glade,  or  natural 
meadow,  shut  in  by  the  forest,  with  a  small  stream  and  good  grass.  I  knew 
that  this  was  the  first  water  to  which  the  trail  would  bring  the  messenger 
and  that  I  was  sure  to  meet  him  here  if  no  harm  befell  him  on  the  way. 
The  sun  was  about  going  down  when  he  was  seen  issuing  from  the  wood 
accompanied  by  three  men.  He  proved  to  be  Lieutenant  Gillespie,  of  the 
United  States  Marine  Corps.  He  was  a  bearer  of  despatches  to  the  U.  S. 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  583 

Consul  at  Monterey  and  had  travelled  over  six  hundred  miles  to  overtake 
me,  through  great  dangers  He  brought  me  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  letters  and  papers  from  Sena- 
tor Benton  and  the  family.  We  greeted  him  warmly.  All  were  glad  to 
see  him,  whites  and  Indians.  It  was  long  since  any  news  had  reached  us 
and  every  one  was  as  pleased  to  see  him  as  if  he  had  come  freighted  with 
letters  from  home,  for  all.  It  was  now  eleven  months  since  any  tidings 
had  reached  me.  Neal  had  much  to  talk  over  with  his  old  companions, 
and  pleasurable  excitement  kept  us  up  late  ;  but  before  eleven  o'clock  all 
were  wrapped  in  their  blankets  and  soundly  asleep,  except  myself.  I  sat 
by  the  fire  in  fancied  security,  going  over  again  the  home  package.  The 
letter  from  the  Secretary  was  directed  to  me  in  my  private,  or  citizen 
capacity,  and  though  importing  nothing  beyond  the  introduction  it  ac- 
credited the  bearer  to  me  as  coming  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  con- 
nection with  the  circumstances  and  place  of  delivery  it  indicated  a  purpose 
in  sending  it  which  was  intelligently  explained  to  me  by  the  accompanying 
letter  from  Senator  Benton  and  by  communications  from  Lieutenant  Gilles- 
pie.  This  officer  informed  me  that  he  had  been  directed  by  the  Secretary 
of  State  to  find  me  wherever  I  •might  be,  and  to  acquaint  me  with  his  in- 
structions, which  had  for  their  principal  objects  to  ascertain  the  disposition 
of  the  California  people,  to  conciliate  their  feelings  in  favor  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  find  out,  with  a  view  to  counteracting,  the  designs  of  the 
British  Government  upon  this  country.  The  letter  from  Senator  Benton, 
while  apparently  of  friendship  and  family  details,  contained  passages  and 
suggestions  which,  read  by  the  light  of  many  conversations  and  discus- 
sions with  himself  at  Washington,  clearly  indicated  to  me  that  I  was  re- 
quired by  the  Government  to  find  out  any  foreign  schemes  in  relation  to 
the  Californias  and  to  counteract  them. 

I  had  about  thought  out  the  situation  when  I  was  startled  by  a  sudden 
movement  among  the  animals.  Lieutenant  Gillespie  had  told  me  that 
there  were  no  Indians  on  his  trail  and  I  knew  there  were  none  on  mine. 
This  night  was  one  of  two  when  I  had  failed  to  put  men  on  guard  in  an 
Indian  country — this  one  and  a  night  spent  on  an  island  in  the  Great  Salt 
Lake.  The  animals  were  near  the  shore  of  the  lake,  not  a  hundred  yards 
away.  Drawing  a  revolver  I  went  down  among  them.  A  mule  is  a  good 
sentinel,  and  when  he  quits  eating  and  stands  with  his  ears  stuck  straight 
out  taking  notice,  it  is  best  to  see  what  is  the  matter.  The  mules  knew 
that  Indians  were  around,  but  nothing  seemed  stirring,  and  my  presence 
quieting  the  animals  I  returned  to  the  fire  and  my  letters. 

There  appeared  but  one  way  open  to  me.  War  with  Mexico  seemed 
inevitable,  and  a  grand  opportunity  might  now  present  itself  to  realize  in 
their  fullest  extent  the  far-sighted  views  of  Senator  Benton  and  make  the 


5 84  GREA  T  TLAMA  TH  LAKE. 

%t 

Pacific  Ocean  the  western  boundary  of  the  United  States.  These  con- 
siderations decided  my  course.  I  determined  to  act  on  my  own  respon- 
sibility and  return  forthwith  to  California.  This  decision  was  the  first 
step  in  the  conquest  of  California. 

My  mind  having  settled  into  this  conclusion  I  went  to  my  bed  under  a 
cedar.  The  camp  was  divided  into  three  fires,  and  near  each  one,  but 
well  out  of  the  light,  were  sleeping  the  men  belonging  to  it.  Close  up 
along  the  margin  of  the  wood  which  shut  us  in  on  three  sides  were  some 
low  cedars,  the  ends  of  their  boughs  reaching  nearly  to  the  ground. 
Under  these  we  had  made  our  beds.  One  always  likes  to  have  his  head 
sheltered  and  a  rifle  with  a  ramrod  or  a  branch  or  bush  with  a  blanket 
thrown  over  them  answers  very  well  where  there  is  nothing  better. 

I  had  barely  fallen  to  sleep  when  I  was  awakened  by  the  sound  of 
Carson's  voice,  calling  to  Basil  to  know  "  what  the  matter  was  over  there." 
No  reply  came  and  immediately  the  camp  was  roused  by  the  cry  from  Kit 
and  Owens  who  were  lying  together — "  Indians  !  "  Basil  and  the  half- 
breed  had  been  killed.  It  was  the  sound  of  the  axe  driven  into  Basil's 
head  that  had  awakened  Carson.  The  half-bred  had  been  killed  with 
arrows,  and  his  groans  had  replied  to  Carson's  call,  and  told  him  what  the 
matter  was.  No  man,  with  an  Indian  experience,  jumps  squarely  to  his 
feet  in  a  night  attack,  but  in  an  instant  every  man  was  at  himself.  The 
Delawares  who  lay  near  their  fire  on  that  side  sprung  to  cover  rifle  in 
hand  at  the  sound  of  the  axe.  We  ran  to  their  aid,  Carson  and  I,  Godey 
and  Stepp,  just  as  the  Tlamaths  charged  into  the  open  ground.  The 
fires  were  smouldering  but  gave  light  enough  to  show  Delaware  Crane 
jumping  like  a  brave  as  he  was  from  side  to  side  in  Indian  fashion,  and 
defending  himself  with  the  butt  of  his  gun.  By  some  mischance  his  rifle 
was  not  loaded  when  he  lay  down.  All  this  was  quick  work.  The 
moment's  silence  which  followed  Carson's  shout  was  broken  by  our  rifles. 
The  Tlamath  chief  who  was  at  the  head  of  his  men  fell  in  front  of  Crane 
who  was  just  down  with  five  arrows  in  his  body — three  in  his  breast. 
The  Tlamaths  checked  in  their  onset  and  disconcerted  by  the  fall  of  their 
chief  jumped  back  into  the  shadow  of  the  wood.  We  threw  a  blanket 
over  Crane  and  hung  blankets  to  the  cedar  boughs  and  bushes  near  by 
behind  my  camp-fire  for  a  defence  against  the  arrows.  The  Indians  did 
not  dare  to  put  themselves  again  in  the  open  but  continued  to  pour  in 
their  arrows.  They  made  no  attempt  on  our  animals  which  had  been 
driven  up  by  Owens  to  be  under  fire  of  the  camp,  but  made  frequent 
attempts  to  get  the  body  of  their  chief.  We  were  determined  they  should 
not  have  it  and  every  movement  on  their  part  brought  a  rifle-shot ;  a 
dozen  rifles  in  such  hands  at  short  range  made  the  undertaking  too  haz- 
ardous for  them  to  persist  in  it.  While  both  sides  were  watching  each 


MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE— JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.  585 

other  from  under  cover  and  every  movement  was  followed  by  a  rifle-shot 
or  arrow,  I  heard  Carson  cry  out  "Look  at  the  fool!  Look  at  him  will 
you  !  "  This  was  to  Godey,  who  had  stepped  out  to  the  light  of  my  fire 
to  look  at  some  little  thing  which  had  gone  wrong  with  his  gun  ;  it  was 
still  bright  enough  to  show  him  distinctly,  standing  there — a  fair  mark  to 
the  arrows — turning  resentfully  to  Carson  for  the  epithet  bestowed  on 
him  but  in  nowise  hurrying  himself.  He  was  the  most  thoroughly  in- 
sensible to  danger  of  all  the  brave  men  I  have  known. 

All  night  we  lay  behind  our  blanket  defences,  with  our  rifles  cocked  in  our 
hands,  expecting  momentarily  another  attack,  until  the  morning  light  ena- 
bled us  to  see  that  the  Indians  had  disappeared.  By  their  tracks  we  found 
that  fifteen  or  twenty  Tlamaths  had  attacked  us.  It  was  a  sorrowful  sight 
that  met  our  eyes  in  the  gray  of  the  morning.  Three  of  our  men  had  been 
killed ;  Basil,  Crane,  and  the  half-breed,  and  another  Delaware  had  been 
wounded  ;  one-fourth  of  our  number.  The  chief  who  had  been  killed  was 
recognized  to  be  the  same  Indian  who  had  given  Lieutenant  Gillespie  a 
salmon  at  the  outlet  of  the  lake.  Hung  to  his  wrist  was  an  English  half- 
axe.  Carson  seized  this  and  knocked  his  head  to  pieces  with  it,  and  one  of 
the  Delawares,  Saghundai,  scalped  him.  He  was  left  where  he  fell.  In  his 
quiver  were  forty  arrows  ;  as  Carson  said,  "  the  most  beautiful  and  warlike 
arrows  he  had  ever  seen."  We  saw  more  of  them  afterward.  These  arrows 
were  all  headed  with  a  lancet-like  piece  of  iron  or  steel — probably  obtained 
from  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  traders — and  were  poisoned  for  about 
six  inches.  They  could  be  driven  that  depth  into  a  pine  tree. 

This  event  cast  an  angry  gloom  over  the  little  camp.  For  the  moment 
I  threw  all  other  considerations  aside  and  determined  to  square  accounts 
with  these  people  before  I  left  them.  It  was  only  a  few  days  back  that  some 
of  these  same  Indians  had  come  into  our  camp,  and  I  divided  with  them 
what  meat  I  had  and  unpacked  a  mule  to  give  them  tobacco  and  knives. 

On  leaving  the  main  party  I  had  directed  it  to  gear  np  as  soon  as  the 
men  had  breakfasted  and  follow  my  trail  to  a  place  where  we  had  encamped 
some  days  back.  This  would  put  them  now  about  twenty-five  miles  from 
us.  Packing  our  dead  men  on  the  mules,  we  started  to  rejoin  the  main 
camp,  following  the  trail  by  which  we  had  come.  Before  we  had  been  two 
hours  on  the  way  many  canoes  appeared  on  the  lake,  coming  from  different 
directions  and  apparently  making  for  a  point  where  the  trail  came  down  to 
the  shore.  As  we  approached  this  point  the  prolonged  cry  of  a  loon  told 
us  that  their  scout  was  giving  the  Indians  warning  of  our  approach.  Know- 
ing that  if  we  came  to  a  fight  the  care  of  our  dead  men  would  prove  a  great 
hindrance  and  probably  cost  more  lives,  I  turned  sharply  off  into  the  moun- 
tain, and  buried,  or  cached,  them  in  a  close  laurel  thicket  The  Indians, 
thrown  out  by  our  sudden  movement,  failed  in  their  intended  ambush  ;  and 


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