New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-07-24
BENTON ON FREMONT.
COURT-MARTLAL ON LIEUT.-COL. FREMONT.
F,om Bentons Thirty Years in the Ssaa,,."


carried hOhse in chains from the theater Of bis dis.
cOyerits to eSpiate the crime Of his glory. Fremont,
the explorer OF California and its preserver to the
Cihen States, was brought home a prisoner TO- be
tried for an oense Of which the penaly death, to
ex7iate the offer OF having entered the army With
ont passing through the gate of the Military Academy.
Tie Governor Of the State of Missouri, Austin A.
King, esq sitting at the end OF long gallery at Fort
Leavenworth in the Summer of 1876, where he had
gone to con depart as volunteer in Gen.
Keareys expedition TO New.MeIcO, heard person
at ue other end of the gallery speaking OF Fremont
m a way that attracted his attention. The speaker
was in the uniform Ct United States officer, and his
remarks were highly injurious to Fremont. He in
CURED the of the speaker, and wss told it was
Lieut.. Emory of the Typographical Cerps; and he
afterward wrote to a friend in Washington that
Fremont was to have trouble when he got among the
officers of the guar army. And trouble he did nave
for he had committed the Oense for which, in the eyes
of many Of these officers, there was NO expi1tion
except in ign0miDious expulsion from the army. He
had not only entered the army ntrsvely according
their IDEAS that is to say, without passing through
West Point, but he had done worse: he had become
distinguished. Iu-tead Of seeking easy service about
towns and villages, be had gone of into the depths Of
the Wilderness to extend the boundaries Of science in
the midst of peils and suerings, and to gain for him.
self name which became known throughout the
world He brought home TO be tried for the
crime of nutiny, expanded into manysPeciicatio1s of
which ole is enough to show the mo7rtrOshy Of the
whole. AT page Ii Of the printed record of the trial,
under the head Of Mutny' stands this specification,
numbered 6;
"In tLis, that he, Lieut.. Col. john c. Fremont OF
the regiment of mounted rihemep, United States
Amy, did, at C;uGad dc los Angeles, on the Cd of
March 1914 in contempt OF the lawful authority Of
bis superior officer Brig. Gen Koarney, assume to be
and act rs Governor Of California in executing deed
or instrument Of writing in the following words, to
wit: 6 In consideration of Francis Temple having
conveyed to the United States certain island,
Con monty called White, or Bid, Island situated
'nesr the mouth of San Francisco Bay l, John. G..
Fremont, Governor of California, and 10 virtue OF
horo 1Iirar psalf fba
illegal representative Of the UnAeo Slater, and my
successors in office to pay the said Francis Temple
bis heirs assigns, the SUN of IS 600, to be- paid a.
as early day pos iblc after the receipt OF funds
{ fIom the United States In witness Whereof have
bereuntO set my hand, and caused the seal Of the
Territory of California to be affixed, at Ciudad de
los Angeles the capital OF California, this &c day oil
March, AID. 1547.-JoHN Z. FREMONT"
And of this specification, well of az the rest,
two dozen in number, Fremont was duly found guilty
by majority Of the court. Now tins case OF mutiny
consisted in this That there being an leland of solid
10 OK of some hundred acres extent, in the mouth OF
the San Francisco Bay, formed by nature to
COZ Dand the Bay, and On which the United Stites
ere now constructing forts and light house to co.t
millions, which isaDohad been granted to British
subject and about 10 be s6ld TO French SUBJECT
Col Frcma nj bought for the United Statest subject
the paying the purchase money a which
pIears the face Of the paper. Upon TINS trar ac'
tiOn las upon all the other specihcstions the majority
of the Court found the accused guilty OF mutiny,
the appropriate punishment for which is ceah but
The sentence IVES moderated down 10 dismiss m from
IKE service. The President 6isappr0ved the ab.urd
findings seven or them under the mutny charge, but
approved the finding and sentence on inferior charges;
and offered paroon IN Fremont, which lie scOrntuly
refused. Since then the Government has taken pos
session of that bland by military force, without pay
ing anything for it; Fremont having taken the pur-
chase on his own account since his conviction for
"muiny" in having purchased il for the Government
"a conviction about equal to what it would have
teen on specification for witchciair heresy, or nat
,,ot,n f11da
for forts and the hight house upon it, under the name
of AlcairaZ Los AcatTaZes-hat Is to say Pelican
sisnds called from being the resort OF those sea
birds.
Justiee TO the dead qures il to be told thst these
clsgt preposterousy wicked, were not the w9ik
OF Gen, rel Kearney, but bad been et' red from fs.
Al ptge Of tie printed record, and not in an:wer
to any question on th point, but simfy 10 pace hdi
cell light before the Court and the country Geh,ri
Kean.y sw,re in there word,, and signed them:
{" The ctarges upon 'chich Co'ond Fremont as nor
cigacd arc not my charges. preferred s,sgf'
"charse Ggcinst Lieutenant- ColORe, Fremont Ties
:" changed from mine The change was fro ono
charge three, and from enc or fe~ specnca' ons
TO two dozer-whtr,of this islaod-purcba.e Is
characteristic specimen. No person has ever &C.
caption to the charges lpage of the recor1 dec!irt'
them 10 have been preferred by der OF the ar pc
paitn emit The caption runs thus: Charges agd'Ast
q Lienttnoat colOnG Fremont, Of ne resrMsn- q
"oeaiasth N b. order of ne War Depar'nrrt, 20, on
"in)ormaton Of BrigadSer. General hsarnfy' lhe
VA Department at that time was William l. ma.cy'
eo.. En- CON, eou.nce of which, Senator Benton,
chaiiman for twenty years Of the Seoates Com ntee
On Military AIsirs, refused to remain any longer AZ
the he sd OF that Committee because he would not bcii
place which would put him in communication WIN
tha, eepaI ment. -,
Tic grsvam,n of the ohrr,c was, that Fremont
had muipicd becLuse KeaIney would no' appoint
lin Governor Of CalfoInis; and the answer 70 'nal
was that Commodore Stockton. ac,ipg undef tt. a.,
tiori,y from the President, he'd already spPeeIntea
bin to that place before Keaney left Stn.s re IJ
Nev-Mexico; end the proof was ample, Gear sHa
IND ard Of Lind TO be noticed by court Of West
Point officers a. comes from graduate OF IN, INST.
futon II 60 bapoens that two Of General hearnsy
officers Captain john atom e the First psgOoss a.
teT icu,ns, OF the expedition. which ssYe s''es