When the claim of the United States to the Oregon territory was being strengthened by occupation, Frémont was sent, at his urgent request, to explore the frontier beyond the Missouri river, and especially the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the South Pass, through which the American immigrants travelled. Within four months (1842) he surveyed the Pass and ascended to the summit of the highest of the Wind River Mountains, since known as Frémont’s Peak, and the interest aroused by his descriptions was such that in the next year he was sent on a second expedition to complete the survey across the continent along the line of travel from Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia river. This time he not only carried out his instructions but, by further explorations together with interesting descriptions, dispelled general ignorance with respect to the main features of the country W. of the Rocky Mountains: the Great Salt Lake, the Great Basin, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the fertile river basins of the Mexican province of California.
His report of this expedition upon his return to Washington, D.C., in 1844, aroused much solicitude for California, which, it was feared, might, in the event of war then threatening between the United States and Mexico, be seized by Great Britain. In the spring of 1845 Frémont was despatched on a third expedition for the professed purposes of further exploring the Great Basin and the Pacific Coast, and of discovering the easiest lines of communication between them, as well as for the secret purpose of assisting the United States, in case of war with Mexico, to gain possession of California. He and his party of sixty-two arrived there in January 1846. Owing to the number of American immigrants who had settled in California, the Mexican authorities there became suspicious and hostile, and ordered Frémont out of the province. Instead of obeying he pitched his camp near the summit of a mountain overlooking Monterey, fortified his position, and raised the United States flag. A few days later he was proceeding toward the Oregon border when new instructions from Washington caused him to retrace his steps and, perhaps, to consider plans for provoking war. The extent of his responsibility for the events that ensued is not wholly clear, and has been the subject of much controversy; his defenders have asserted that he was not responsible for the seizure of Sonoma or for the so-called “Bear-Flag War”; and that he played a creditable part throughout. (For an opposite view see [California].) Commodore John D. Sloat, after seizing Monterey, transferred his command to Commodore Robert Field Stockton (1795-1866), who made Frémont major of a battalion; and by January 1847 Stockton and Frémont completed the conquest of California. In the meantime General Stephen Watts Kearny (1794-1848) had been sent by the Government to conquer it and to establish a government. This created a conflict of authority between Stockton and Kearny, both of whom were Frémont’s superior officers. Stockton, ignoring Kearny, commissioned Frémont military commandant and governor. But Kearny’s authority being confirmed about the 1st of April, Frémont, for repeated acts of disobedience, was sent under arrest to Washington, where he was tried by court-martial, found guilty (January 1847) of mutiny, disobedience and conduct prejudicial to military discipline, and sentenced to dismissal from the service. President Polk approved of the verdict except as to mutiny, but remitted the penalty, whereupon Frémont resigned.
With the mountain-traversed region he had been exploring acquired by the United States, Frémont was eager for a railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in October 1848 he set out at his own and Senator Benton’s expense to find passes for such a railway along a line westward from the headwaters of the Rio Grande. But he had not gone far when he was led astray by a guide, and after the loss of his entire outfit and several of his men, and intense suffering of the survivors from cold and hunger, he turned southward through the valley of the Rio Grande and then westward through the valley of the Gila into southern California. Late in the year 1853, however, he returned to the place where the guide had led him astray, found passes through the mountains to the westward between latitudes 37° and 38° N., and arrived in San Francisco early in May 1854. From the conclusion of his fourth expedition until March 1855, when he removed to New York city, he lived in California, and in December 1849 was elected one of the first two United States senators from the new state. But as he drew the short term, he served only from the 10th of September 1850 to the 3rd of March 1851. Although a candidate for re-election, he was defeated by the pro-slavery party. His opposition to slavery, however, together with his popularity—won by the successes, hardships and dangers of his exploring expeditions, and by his part in the conquest of California—led to his nomination, largely on the ground of “availability,” for the presidency in 1856 by the Republicans (this being their first presidential campaign), and by the National Americans or “Know-Nothings.” In the ensuing election he was defeated by James Buchanan by 174 to 114 electoral votes.
Soon after the Civil War began, Frémont was appointed major-general and placed in command of the western department with headquarters at St Louis, but his lack of judgment and of administrative ability soon became apparent, the affairs of his department fell into disorder, and Frémont seems to have been easily duped by dishonest contractors whom he trusted. On the 30th of August 1861 he issued a proclamation in which he declared the property of Missourians in rebellion confiscated and their slaves emancipated. For this he was applauded by the radical Republicans, but his action was contrary to an act of congress of the 6th of August and to the policy of the Administration. On the 11th of September President Lincoln, who regarded the action as premature and who saw that it might alienate Kentucky and other border states, whose adherence he was trying to secure, annulled these declarations. Impelled by serious charges against Frémont, the president sent Montgomery Blair, the postmaster-general, and Montgomery C. Meigs, the quartermaster-general, to investigate the department; they reported that Frémont’s management was extravagant and inefficient; and in November he was removed. Out of consideration for the “Radicals,” however, Frémont was placed in command of the Mountain Department of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. In the spring and summer of 1862 he co-operated with General N. P. Banks against “Stonewall” Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, but showed little ability as a commander, was defeated by General Ewell at Cross Keys, and when his troops were united with those of Generals Banks and McDowell to form the Army of Virginia, of which General John Pope was placed in command, Frémont declined to serve under Pope, whom he outranked, and retired from active service. On the 31st of May 1864 he was nominated for the presidency by a radical faction of the Republican party, opposed to President Lincoln, but his following was so small that on the 21st of September he withdrew from the contest. From 1878 to 1881 he was governor of the territory of Arizona, and in the last year of his life he was appointed by act of congress a major-general and placed on the retired list. He died in New York on the 13th of July 1890.
See J. C. Frémont, Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, 1842, and to Oregon and North California, 1843-1844 (Washington, 1845); Frémont’s Memoirs of my Life (New York, 1887); and J. Bigelow, Memoirs of the Life and Public Services of John C. Frémont (New York, 1856).
FREMONT, a city and the county-seat of Dodge county, Nebraska, U.S.A., about 37 m. N.W. of Omaha, on the N. bank of the Platte river, which here abounds in picturesque bluffs and wooded islands. Pop. (1890) 6747; (1900) 7241 (1303 foreign-born); (1910) 8718. It is on the main line of the Union Pacific railway, on a branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system, and on the main western line of the Chicago & North-Western railway, several branches of which (including the formerly independent Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley and the Sioux City & Pacific) converge here. The city has an attractive situation and is beautifully shaded. It has a public library and is the seat of the Fremont College, Commercial Institute and School of Pharmacy (1875), a private institution. There is considerable local trade with the rich farming country of the Platte and Elkhorn valleys; and the wholesale grain interests are especially important. Among the manufactures are flour, carriages, saddlery, canned vegetables, furniture, incubators and beer. The city owns and operates its electric-lighting plant and water-works. Fremont was founded in 1856, and became the county-seat in 1860. It was chartered as a city (second-class) in 1871, and became a city of the first class in 1901.
FREMONT, a city and the county-seat of Sandusky county, Ohio, U.S.A., on the Sandusky river, 30 m. S.E. of Toledo. Pop. (1890) 7141; (1900) 8439, of whom 1074 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 9939. Fremont is served by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Lake Shore Electric, the Lake Erie & Western, and the Wheeling & Lake Erie railways. The river is navigable to this point. Spiegel Grove, the former residence of Rutherford B. Hayes, is of interest, and the city has a public library (1873) and parks, in large measure the gifts of his uncle, Sardis Birchard. Fremont is situated in a good agricultural region; oil and natural gas abound in the vicinity; and the city has various manufactures, including boilers, electro-carbons, cutlery, bricks, agricultural implements, stoves and ranges, safety razors, carriage irons, sash, doors, blinds, furniture, beet sugar, canned vegetables, malt extract, garters and suspenders. The total factory product was valued at $2,833,385 in 1905, an increase of 23.4% over that of 1900. Fremont is on the site of a favourite abode of the Indians, and a trading post was at times maintained here; but the place is best known in history as the site of Fort Stephenson, erected during the War of 1812, and on the 2nd of August 1813 gallantly and successfully defended by Major George Croghan (1791-1849), with 160 men, against about 1000 British and Indians under Brigadier-General Henry A. Proctor. In 1906 Croghan’s remains were re-interred on the site of the old fort. Until 1849, when the present name was adopted in honour of J. C. Frémont, the place was known as Lower Sandusky; it was incorporated as a village in 1829 and was first chartered as a city in 1867.