The Downward Spiral of John Charles Fremont

War with Mexico was imminent when Fremont undertook his 3rd expedition to the West in 1845.  He organized a volunteer battalion that aided conquest of California but his glory was short-lived.  Fremont was accused of both mutiny and insubordination and was court-martialed and convicted.  Although he was pardoned from serving his sentence, Fremont resigned.  Publically he was viewed as a martyr in the military aristocracy...of course!

His 4th expedition was a disaster.  It was privately financed in 1848-49.  The goal was to find a railroad route through the mountains.  Without Carson's guidance, Fremont began the journey in mid-winter, became snowed-in in the mountains, then left his men to continue on alone to Taos where he recuperated in the home of Kit Carson!

Fremont became wealthy when gold was found on land he had purchased in California.  He moved there, was elected Senator and was even the Presidential candidate for the Free Soil Party in 1856. 
During the Civil War, he served as a general in Missouri, but was removed by President Lincoln for military misconduct.  He lost his California land, failed in his attempt as a railroad promotor and became dependent on his wife for support.  He died in poverty in 1890 in New York.

Fremont's later critics called him the "Great Pathfinder" but he was a poor one, following paths other men before him had already made but not given credit for.  He did make accurate maps of these paths, so a more fitting name might have been the "Great Pathmarker". 

Next time...War in California
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Today in Pioneer History:  On March 30, 1891, signally a growing movement toward direct political action by desperate farmers in Kansas, "Sockless" Jerry Simpson, rallies the farmers alliance to overtake the state government in Kansas.