Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs/Chapter 26
XXVI
THE MILITARY COMMISSION OF 1862 AND GENERAL FREMONT
IN the month of May, or early in June 1862, I received a message from Mr. Stanton asking me to report in Washington, prepared to serve upon a commission at Cairo, Illinois. Upon arriving at Washington, I was informed that it would be the duty of the commission to examine claims that might be preferred against the Government, from the States of Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. These claims had arisen from the operations of General Fremont and they were of great variety. At the end the commission were of opinion that he was an expensive commander. Charles A. Dana was chairman of the commission, and Judge Logan, of Springfield, Illinois, an old friend of President Lincoln, was my associate. The health of Judge Logan soon failed, and he was succeeded by Mr. Cullom, afterwards Governor of Illinois, and a member of the United States Senate.
Our life at Cairo was disagreeable to an extent that cannot be realized easily. In the months of June and July the weather was extremely hot. The army of General Grant had quartered in and around the town during the preceding winter. The larger portion of the town inside of the levee, had been covered with water to the depth of several feet. Much of the refuse of the army, including some dead animals, had been left upon the surface of the ground. Sickness was general among the inhabitants. Health was the exception. We had our quarters upon the levee, and before a long time had passed we organized a mess with General Strong, the officer in command at that point. For myself I drank only tea and water from Iowa ice. With this drink and a moderate diet, I preserved my health. It was our fate each evening to witness and endure a collision of thunder showers, one coming down the Mississippi, and the other down the Ohio.
Late in the afternoon we had the benefit of a trip upon a Government boat up the Ohio as far as Mound City. Once of a Sunday we made a trip to Columbus, Kentucky, then in command of General Quimby, of New York. We there met General Dodge, afterward a member of Congress from Iowa and subsequently a successful railway operator.
At Columbus we had a collation on the boat, where speeches were made by officers and civilians, in support of the war and for emancipation. On our return to Cairo, we were met by the customary evening shower, an unwelcome attendant upon a steamboat excursion.
My acquaintance with Mr. Dana gave me a high opinion of his business habits and faculties, and when General Grant became President and I was in charge of the Treasury, I urged the President to appoint Mr. Dana collector of the port of New York. The President had already selected Mr. Grinnell, but whether he had communicated the fact to Mr. Grinnell I never knew. Moreover, the President had formed an unfavorable opinion of Mr. Dana, arising from some intercourse during the war. Consequently my advice was unavailing. The President said, however, that I might offer him the post of chief appraiser of the port of New York. The offer was declined; and from that time forward Mr. Dana was the President’s bitter enemy. As another result, there was no further communication between Mr. Dana and myself. Once I saw him upon a steamer, but we did not recognize each other. In the year 1887, in consequence of a paragraph in the New York Sun in which my name was mentioned, not unkindly, I wrote a brief note to Mr. Dana. Without delay I received from him a long and almost affectionate letter, in which he urged me to let him know when I was in New York, that he might call upon me, and talk over some things old, and some things new.
I called upon him in New York at his office, where we had a pleasant chat of an hour. His office was plain, without carpets, the floor was worn rough, rather than smooth, and the appearance of the rooms was a striking contrast to the editorial rooms of prosperous journalists generally.
My experience at Cairo gave me a poor opinion of Fremont’s qualities as a business man, but in the early part of his career he had exhibited capacity of a high order as a bold and successful explorer of the then unknown regions of the Rocky Mountains. He had also exhibited genius as a soldier, which led to high expectations which were not realized when he came to important commands in the Civil War. My studied opinion of General Fremont is contained in an article that I prepared for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which society he was an honorary member:
ARTICLE ON GENERAL FREMONT
It is a singular circumstance in the career of John C. Fremont that his important services as an explorer and his contributions to science were brought to a close when he was scarcely more than thirty-four years of age. He was born in the State of Georgia in the year 1813, and from the year 1842 to the year 1846 inclusive, he undertook and carried to a successful result three expeditions from the Mississippi River across the plains, and finally over both chains of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Jefferson, during his administration had realized the importance of securing “open over-land commercial relations with Asia,” as stated in one of his messages to Congress, and, as a preparation for establishing such relations with Asia, he originated and organized the expedition of Lewis and Clarke, whose duty it was to trace the affluents of the Columbia River now known as Snake River and Clarke’s Fork.
Fremont’s early education was obtained under the charge largely of Dr. John Roberton, a Scotchman, who had been educated at Edinburgh, and who had established himself at Charleston, S. C., as a teacher of the ancient languages. Dr. Roberton says that in the space of a year Fremont read four books of Cesar, six books of Virgil, nearly all of Horace, and two books of Livy; and in Greek, all the Græca Minora, about half of the Græca Majora, and four books of Homer’s Iliad. At the end of a year he entered the Junior Class of Charleston College, where he gained high standing for study and in scholarship; but for insubordination he was expelled from the college.
In 1833 he was appointed teacher of mathematics in the Navy, and made a cruise to South America, which occupied about two and a half years of time. While absent, a law was passed creating the office of professor of mathematics in the Navy, for which Fremont upon his return was examined, and appointed. Without entering upon the duties of the place, he declined the position, and accepted the post of surveyor and railroad engineer upon the railway line between Charleston and Augusta. In 1838 and 1839 he was associated with M. Nicollet, a Frenchman and a member of the Academy of Science, in an exploring expedition over the Northwestern prairies and along the valley of the Mississippi. During his absence, he was appointed by President Van Buren a second lieutenant in the corps of topographical engineers. Upon his return from the Upper Mississippi, and for the period of a year, he was engaged with Nicollet and Mr. Hassler, then the head of the Coast Survey, in the arrangement of the scientific materials that had been collected during the expedition, and in the preparation of a map and a report. In 1842 he was directed by Colonel Abert, the chief of the topographical corps, to make an exploration of the Northwestern frontier of the State of Missouri to the Rocky Mountains, and with special reference to an examination of what was known as the South Pass in those mountains. This expedition was on a small scale, consisting of twenty-one men only, most of whom were of French extraction. In this expedition he traced the waters of the Platte to the South Pass, which he reached the 8th of August. It was stated by Dr. Linn, then a Senator from the State of Missouri, that “over the whole course of the road barometrical observations were made by Mr. Fremont to ascertain the elevations both of the plains and of the mountains, astronomical observations were made to ascertain latitudes and longitudes, the face of the country was marked as arable or sterile, the facility of traveling and the practicability of routes noted, the grand features of nature described and some represented in drawings, military positions indicated, and a large contribution to geology and botany was made in varieties of plants, flowers, shrubs, trees and grasses, and rocks and earths, which were enumerated.” The second expedition of May, 1843, was upon a larger scale, and it was not completed until the month of July, 1844. He was directed to extend his survey across the continent, on the line of travel between the State of Missouri and the tide-water region of the Columbia.
In its execution, much more ground was covered than had been contemplated in the order. Fremont was the first person that visited the basin of the Great Salt Lake who was able to furnish a scientific and accurate description of the region. Von Humboldt, in his work entitled “Aspects of Nature” (pp. 32-34) has given a summary of the results reached by Fremont in his first and second expeditions, as follows:
“Fremont’s map and geographical researches embrace the immense tract of land extending from the confluence of the Kansas River with the Missouri to the cataracts of the Columbia, and the missions of Santa Barbara and the Pueblo de los Angeles in New California, presenting a space amounting to 28 degrees of longitude (about 1,300 miles) between the 34th and 45th parallels of north latitude. Four hundred points have been hypsometrically determined by barometrical measurements, and for the most part astronomically; so that it has been rendered possible to delineate the profile above the sea’s level of a tract of land measuring 3,600 miles, with all its inflections, extending from the north of Kansas to Fort Vancouver and to the coasts of the South Sea (almost 720 miles more than the distance from Madrid to Tobolsk). As I believe I was the first who attempted to represent, in geognostic profile, the configuration of Mexico, and the Cordilleras of South America,—for the half-perspective projections of the Siberian traveler, the Abbe Chappe[1] were based on mere, and for the most part on very inaccurate, estimates of the falls of rivers,—it has afforded me special satisfaction to there find the graphical method of representing the earth’s configuration in a vertical direction, that is, the elevation of solid over fluid parts, achieved on so vast a scale. In the mean latitude of 37° to 43°, the Rocky Mountains present, besides the great snow-crowned summits, whose height may be compared to that of the Peak of Teneriffe, elevated plateaux of an extent scarcely to be met with in any other part of the world, and whose breadth from east to west is almost twice that of the Mexican highlands. From the range of mountains which begin a little westward of Fort Laramie, to the farther side of the Wasatch Mountains, the elevation of the soil is uninterruptedly maintained from 5,000 to upwards of 7,000 feet above the sea level; nay, this elevated portion occupies the whole space between the true Rocky Mountains and the Californian snowy coast range from 34° to 45° north latitude. This district, which is a kind of broad longitudinal valley, like that of Lake Titicaca, has been named the Great Basin by Joseph Walker and Captain Fremont, travelers well acquainted with those western regions. It is a terra incognita of at least 128,000 English square miles, almost uninhabited, and full of salt lakes, the largest of which is 3,940 Parisian (or 4,200 English) feet above the level of the sea, and is connected with the narrow Lake Utah,[2] into which the ‘Rock River’ (Timpan Ogo in the Utah language) pours its copious stream.”
Fremont’s third expedition was commenced August 16, 1845, under instructions to explore the interior of the region known as the Great Basin, and the maritime ports of Oregon and California. The first important incident of that expedition was the message of General Castro, ordering Fremont to leave the Territory. This was in the month of March, 1846. At the moment, Fremont refused to obey the order, and proceeded to fortify his camp, where he raised the United States flag, and remained for about three days. On further consideration, however, he left his camp and proceeded north towards Oregon. In the early part of the month of May he was overtaken by a messenger named Neal, who informed him that Lieutenant Gillespie, an agent of the Government at Washington, was on his way, charged with the delivery of letters, and with verbal instructions from the authorities. Upon receipt of this information, Fremont changed his course, and on the second day met Gillespie, who brought only a letter of introduction from the Secretary of State, Mr. Buchanan, with letters and papers from Senator Benton. From Gillespie he learned that it was the purpose of the authorities to ascertain the disposition of the inhabitants of California, to conciliate their feelings in favor of the United States, and to counteract as far as possible any designs of the British Government upon that Territory. Fremont made his way to the settled parts of California, near Monterey, where he found Commodore Sloat in command of a United States fleet. In co-operation with him and largely through Fremont’s agency, the Mexican authorities were dispersed, the flag of the United States was raised at Monterey and other points, and all was accomplished before information was received of the existence of war between the United States and Mexico. These proceedings were justified by the Government of the United States. In the month of December following, Brigadier-General S. W. Kearny arrived in the Territory, and ultimately there was a conflict between him and Commodore Stockton, who had succeeded Commodore Sloat, as to the command of the forces in California. Until the arrival of Kearny, Fremont had been acting under the orders of Commodore Stockton, had raised troops, and had received from him the appointment of Governor of the Territory. General Kearny, in asserting his authority as commander-in-chief, ordered Fremont to raise troops and to submit himself to his orders. This Fremont declined to do, giving as his reason that he had acted under Commodore Stockton, that it was their duty to adjust their differences, and that until they had done so, he should act under the orders of Commodore Stockton. This course on his part led to his arrest while on his way to Washington, and his trial by a court martial upon three charges: “1st, mutiny; 2d, disobedience of orders; and 3d, conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.” On these charges he was convicted, and sentenced by the court martial to be dismissed from the service. Six of the officers who were of the court recommended him to the clemency of the President. The President disapproved of the findings of the court as to the charge of mutiny, but expressed the opinion that the second and third charges were sustained by the proofs; but that, in consideration of the valuable services of Lieutenant Colonel Fremont, the penalty of dismissal from the service was remitted. When the findings of the court were announced, and the action of the President was made known to Fremont, he wrote a letter to the Adjutant-General resigning his commission as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Army, and giving as a reason that he could not, by accepting the clemency of the President, admit the justice of the sentence.
It is not easy, from a legal point of view, to justify the action of the President. If the conduct of Fremont in refusing to recognize the authority of General Kearny was an offence, it must have rested upon the fact that Kearny exhibited to him evidence which should have satisfied a reasonable person that he had authority from the President to take command of the military forces in California; and if such authority was exhibited to Fremont and he refused obedience, his refusal constituted the crime of mutiny. The other offences charged against Fremont would have followed as a matter of course; but in the absence of proof that he was guilty of mutiny, there was no evidence whatever on which the minor charges could be sustained. Thus ended Fremont’s military services and his career as an explorer when he was less than thirty-four years of age.
Fremont’s subsequent career may be considered under three heads. First, in business affairs, in which, apparently, he was unsuccessful. Next, he was the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. His acceptance of the nomination, and his letters and statements touching the policy and purposes of the new organization were not merely formal, but they were pronounced declarations in favor of the movement, with clear expressions in harmony with the object of the party, which was the prevention of the extension of slavery in the Territories. Although a Southern man by birth his devotion to the freedom of the Territories was as ardent as that of Lincoln, or any of the other leaders of the time. Finally, in the Civil War, he made a tender of his services to the Government, and as Major-General, and in command of the forces in the Department of Missouri, he issued a proclamation of emancipation of the slaves within his jurisdiction. This proclamation was countermanded by the President, and for the sufficient reason that he reserved to himself the absolute control of the question of the abolition of slavery in the seceding States and within the lines of our armies. It cannot be said that Fremont’s military career was marked by any signal successes, but there can be no doubt of his ardent devotion to the cause of the country.