J.C. Fremont and His Guide, Kit Carson

Frontiersmen Fr?mont and Carson. John Charles Fr?mont (1813-1890), was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. He retired from the military and moved to the new territory California, after leading a fourth expedition which cost ten lives seeking a rail route over the mountains around the 38th parallel in the winter of 1849. He became one of the first two U.S. Senators elected from the new state in 1850. During the American Civil War he was given command of the armies in the west but made hasty decisions (such as trying to abolish slavery without consulting the federal government), and was consequently relieved of his command (fired, court martial, presidential pardon). In 1866 Fr?mont briefly owned the Pacific Railroad, but it was repossessed by the state of Missouri after he was unable to pay the second installment on his purchase. From 1878 to 1881 Fr?mont was governor of the Arizona Territory. Fr?mont remains controversial, impetuous, and contradictory for arguing scholars. Some regard him as a military hero of significant accomplishment, while others view him as a failure who repeatedly defeated his own best purposes. Fr?mont lived on Staten Island in retirement. He died in New York City in 1890 of peritonitis. Christopher Houston Kit Carson (1809-1868) was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a trapper in the West. He gained renown for his role as John C. Fremont's guide in the American West. Carson also played a minor role in California's Bear Flag Revolt during the 1846-1848 Mexican-American War. He died at age 58 in 1868, from an abdominal aortic aneurysm

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10800776

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47597392

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©Photo Researchers / Mary Evans Picture Library

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Photo Researchers