422 JOHN C. FREMONT. 



JOHN C. 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 adminis- 

 tration, had realized the importance of securiug "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 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 Edin- 

 burgh, 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 Caesar, six books of Vir- 

 gil, nearly all of Horace, and two books of Livy ; and in Greek, all 

 the Grasca Minora, about half of the Graeca 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 Sciences, 

 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 Topo- 

 graphical Engineers. Upon his return from the Upper Mississippi, and 

 for the period of a year, he was engaged with Nicollet and Mr. Hass- 

 ler, then the head of the Coast Survey, in the arrangement of the sci- 



