page_title: John C. Frémont
section_title: Confederate capture of Springfield
hierarchical_section_title: John C. Frémont / American Civil War / Department of the West (1861) / Confederate capture of Springfield
caption_attribution_description: English: (Engraving of Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon.)Dansk: Litografi af brigadegeneral Nathaniel Lyon
context_page_description: John Charles Frémont or Fremont was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a US Senator from California, and in 1856 was the first Republican nominee for President of the United States.
  A native of Georgia, Frémont acquired male protectors after his father's death, and became proficient in mathematics, science, and surveying. During the 1840s, he led five expeditions into the Western United States and became known as "The Pathfinder". During the Mexican–American War, Frémont, a major in the U.S. Army, took control of California from the California Republic in 1846. Frémont was convicted in court-martial for mutiny and insubordination after a conflict over who was the rightful military governor of California. After his sentence was commuted and he was reinstated by President Polk, Frémont resigned from the Army. Frémont led a private fourth expedition, which cost ten lives, seeking a rail route over the mountains around the 38th parallel in the winter of 1849.
  Afterwards, Frémont settled in California at Monterey while buying cheap land in the Sierra foothills.
context_section_description: Earlier in May, a tough, impetuous Regular Army captain, Nathaniel Lyon, exercising irregular authority, led troops who captured a legal contingent of Missouri state militia camped in a Saint Louis suburb; during the capture, civilians were killed. Missouri had not officially seceded from the Union when Lyon was promoted brigadier general by President Abraham Lincoln and appointed temporary commander of the Department of the West. Lyon, who believed a show of force would keep Missouri in the Union, effectively declared war on the secession-minded Missouri governor Claiborne Jackson, who was driven by Lyon to the Ozarks.  Lyon occupied Jefferson City, the state capital, and installed a pro-Union state government. However, Lyon became trapped at Springfield with only 6,000 men (including Union Colonel Franz Sigel and his German corps). A primary concern for Frémont, after he assumed command, was the protection of Cairo, a Union-occupied city on the Mississippi River, vital to the security of the Union Army's western war effort.  It contained too few troops to defend against a Confederate attack. Compared to the Confederates, Frémont's forces were dispersed and disorganized. Frémont ordered Lyon retreat from Springfield and fall back to Rolla, while Frémont personally sent reinforcement troops to Cairo rather than to Lyon, who had requested more troops. Frémont believed with some accuracy that the Confederates were planning to attack Cairo. Lyon, however, hastily chose to attack Confederate General Sterling Price at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, rather than retreat. During the battle Lyon was shot through the heart and died instantly. As the Union line broke, similar to the first Battle of Bull Run in the east, the Confederates won the battle and captured Springfield opening Western Missouri for Confederate advancement. Frémont was severely criticized for the defeat and for Lyon's death, having sent troops to reinforce Cairo, rather than to help Lyon's depleted forces 10 miles south of Springfield.
caption: Frémont was blamed for Nathaniel Lyon's Union defeat at Wilson's Creek
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