The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-01-20
A)iscsIiapecqs.
colonel John 9. Fremont.

Colonel John c. Fremont.
There is history of Fremont Of very
deep interest to every brave and honest
American, to be related in the plain SEN
tences of truth, which the present is a
propitious time to tell.
Il is thus: In the Presidency of Van
Buren,, Mr.. Poinsett, of North Carolina,
being Secretary of War, the topograph-
ical survey of the interior of the conti-
nent was commenced, and the examina-
ton of the whole country west of the
Mississippi, and between it and the Mis-
souri,, was committed to Mons. Nicolet, a
scientific Frenchman, a resident among
us, and very learned in Typographical
knowledge.
1t was the wish of the Secretary to
place under command of Mons. Nieolet,
one or more of the young graduates of
West Point, to have the benefit of his
Instructions, and at future day, ON the
retirement or death of Mons. Nicolet, to
fiji his place and carry forward the work.
This being proposed to such, they sneer-
ingly and unanimously refused. con-
temptuously setting forth services in the
outer wilderness under a citizen to be
beneath the dignity and privilege of a
West Point pet. Under this rebuff, the
Democratic Secretary turned his eye to
civil life, distinguished youth at once
full of talent and modest, the son of a
deceased friend, and employed in con-
tributing to the support of his widowed
mother, sometimes by teaching school
and sometimes assisting the engineers up
ON the survey of Charleston and Cincin-
natl railroad. This youth, studious, full
of the fire which cendenses when op-
posed to difficulties and poverty, received
from the President the appointment OF
brevet second lieutenant of Typographical
engineers, and in 1889 joined Mons.
Nicolet, and proceeded to the exploration
of Northern Missouri and Iowa.
Thus commenced, some eighteen years
ago, the public service of John Charlie.
Fremont. Accompanying Mons. Nico
let, three years were devoted to the com
plete reduction to astronomical profile o
the whole country embraced between tht
rivers Missouri and Mississippi from
their junction to the British boundary line
This celebrated map and report, the
joint production of Nicolet and Fremont
under his guidance, and pre-eminent fol
accuracy. coming freely into the hands
of the people, kindled everywhere an ap.
petite for SO delicious country, previ.
ously unknown, or esteemed to be des.
ert. The simplicity, the accuracy, and
wonderful completeness of the work, al
once sealed the efficiency, skill, and relia.
bility of the constructor in the public
confidence.
About this time Mons. Nicolet died,
leaving to be accomplished, after the
same manner, ,surveysonward to the west
ern ocean, the great prairie plains, the
primary mountains, and the table lands
and coasts, of Oregon.
To Fremont, as his assistant and sue
cessor, was properly assigned this work
in the great wilderness. He had in the
mean time married Jessie, the daughter of
Senator Benton, who appreciating the
abilities of the man and the national i'm
portance of the work, stimulated his ar
dor and fortified him with his experience
and counsel.
In 1842 Fremont ascended the Great
Platte, explored the South Pass, and
reached the summit and measured the al
titude of the snowy crest, beyond which
the waters flow to the Pacific. He
now produced his first map and report.
These, remarkable for breyity of lam
guage, yet copious in matter, and true in
the delineations of nature, attracted the
popular mind, and first kindled that ap-
petite for adventure i'm the vast and sub
lime portions Of our continent which, dur
ing the twelve years since following, has
reset the affairs of the American people
on new and grand order of progress,
and has chained the admiration of the
world.
The expedition of 1843 and '44, made
by Fremont through the continent, and
marked by the opening of wagon road
to the Pacific, the exploration of the
Salt Lake Basin, the planting of Ameri-
can settlements and government upon
the Willamette, and the winter passage Of
the Cordilleras into California, has been
studied by every American, young and
old. and by millions in foreign lands.
These expeditions, unparalleled for the
immense region explored, the novelty
and grandeur of the countries revealed,
the intense and desperate character of
the dangers ersencountered and surmounted,
served to lift completely the veil of mys-
tery as yet enyeloping two thirds of our
continent, and to turn thither the elec-
trifed attention of mankind, as with the
rush of an ocean Of waters long pent up.
To gil up the details in the profile Of
such immense countries, rapidly tras-
ersed. Fremont again departed in the
spring of 1915, crossing the continent
by line intermediate between his former
Explorations, revealing to US the ccnfgur-
alton and characteristics Of the Great
Mountain Basin, the direction, altitude,
and peculiar position of the snowy An
des, and the delicious character of mar
itime California.
Whilst engaged among the peaks OF
the nowychains that surround the source
of the Sacramento river, the alarm of war
reached his ear. He fastened to the
field of conflict. rallied around him the
pioneers, the Americans dispersed over
inhabited California, who, under his com
mand, completed the conquest of the
country, and reduced it, in a few months.
to passive submission to cur national flag.
Sach, during ten years of intense ac-
tiyity, alternately lost Is it were m the
immeasurable waste Of plains iarger than
the ocean; among mountains 50 vast in
bulk and number that generations viii
no. count them !; IN labyrinths OF gia-
Gers overhead and buried rivers scarce
visible beneath |; in days and nights OF
cold and heat and storms, perpetually
desperate with death and bistiipg with
thirst. starvation, the subtle savage d-
ways near IN ambush, and exiled long