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Description
Publisher: Ticknor and Fields, New York (1863)
Rare, first edition / first printing of an account of the personal body guards protecting Civil War General John C. Fremont, and his own war-time experiences. The book, from 1863, is in excellent condition. The volume consists of firsthand letters from General Fremont to his wife. The boards and binding are solid, tight and in excellent condition save slight shelfwear and rubbed corners. The pages are crisp and clean save for small tag on bottom of first green blank page.
Biography of General John C. Fremont
John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813 – July 13, 1890) was an American military officer, explorer, and politician who became the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, when he led four expeditions into the American West, that era's penny press and admiring historians accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder.
During the American Civil War, he was given command of Department of the West by President Abraham Lincoln. Although Frémont had successes during his brief tenure as Commander of the Western Armies, he ran his department autocratically, and made hasty decisions without consulting Washington D.C. or President Lincoln. After Frémont's emancipation edict that freed slaves in his district, he was relieved of his command by President Lincoln for insubordination. In 1861, Frémont was the first commanding Union general who recognized an "iron will" to fight in Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant and promoted him commander at the strategic base near Cairo, IL.
Biography of Jessie Benton Fremont
Jessie Ann Benton Frémont (May 31, 1824 – December 27, 1902) was an American writer and political activist.
Frémont's initial notability came from her family: she was the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.... She wrote many stories that were printed in popular magazines of the time as well as several books of historical value. Her writings, which helped support her family during times of financial difficulty, were memoirs of her husband's, and her own, time in the American West — back when the West was an exotic frontier. A great supporter of her husband, who was one of the first two Senators of the new U.S. state of California and a Governor of the Territory of Arizona, she was outspoken on political issues and a determined opponent of slavery, which was excluded from the formation of California. By maintaining a high level of political involvement during a period that was extremely unfavorable for women, Jessie Benton Frémont proved herself to be years ahead of her time.
