Review of Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire By Tom Chaffin

Authors

Robert J. Chandler

Date of this Version

Spring 2004

Citation

Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 24, No. 2, Spring 2004, pp. 136-37.

Comments

Copyright 2004 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Abstract

Who was John Charles Fremont (1813-1890)? Tom Chaffin attempts to map his mind's terrain, but Fremont reveals little. More crucial than lack of personal papers is Fremont's character: Chaffin declares his writings to be "duplicitous apologia."

Chaffin, therefore, travels well-worn paths. Ferol Egan's Fremont: Explorer for a Restless Nation (1977,1985) comes to mind. While lacking Egan's richness of detail, Chaffin presents a fuller life. Where Egan dotes on "the great love affair" between Fremont and wife Jessie, Chaffin details Fremont's self-destructive womanizing. By 1856, he reports, a "growing distance" between the couple quickly became "a chill."

Some events defy explanation. Why did Fremont drag along a heavy, useless twelve-pounder mountain howitzer on his Second Expedition, needlessly angering Army brass? Others do not engage Chaffin. Whereas Egan denounces Fremont's California Indian hunts and slaying of three unarmed Californios, Chaffin shows little concern.

Chaffin's introduction makes the best case for Fremont; his text graphically tears him down. By 1844, loner Fremont held a "well-advanced sense of his own importance and talents," an arrogance leading to clashes with superiors up to the president. He played a "nervous prevaricator" during California's 1846 Bear Flag Revolt; displayed "limited knowledge" of politics in 1856; exhibited "bizarre" behavior in command of St. Louis; and "neglect[edl" duties as Arizona Territorial governor. Finally, Fremont's financial finessing "bordered on outright fraud."

Why, then, even bother? Chaffin answers well. Fremont and Jessie were America's beautiful couple, similar to Jack and Jacqueline Kennedy during the 1960s. Name another presidential candidate's wife so honored with campaign songs. Fremont exemplified America's manifest destiny when he waved Old Glory from 13,500-foot Fremont Peak.