Customer Reviews

Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For an old native Californian I never had a clear picture of the Americanos revolt against the Mexicans except for the Sonoma uprising at General Vallejo's headquarters where the Bear Republic flag was raised. This book gives a comprehensive picture of the tumult in California and how the various American and Mexican forces interacted. It gives an excellent description as to what California was like with an estimated population of 15,000. This book now gives me a greater feeling of the Fremont history for the country roads and off-named places that I have traveled throughout California over many decades of my lifetime. I did not know that Fremont was French and we are not accenting his name properly. I wonder whether 150 years ago his name was pronounced properly. The city of Fremont perhaps should take note of the accent mark.

John Fremont was (in some aspects) the Alexander Hamilton of the mid-19th century. That may seem like a strange comparison, but they had one very strong similarity.... you either loved them or you hated them. Both were seen as larger than life and aroused strong emotions throughout the country.

There are some pretty significant differences between the two - Fremont was world-renowed explorer of the American Wild West - while Hamilton was a bona fide finacial genius (which Fremont definitely was not!). Hamilton died too young and became somewhat of a martyr and his reputation has grown. Fremont may have lived a little too long and scandal soiled and diminished his reputation.

Now to Chaffin's wonderful biography on Fremont: What a great/interesting read! The characters are much larger than life John Fremont, Thomas Hart Benton (His father-in-law), General Stockton (Who helped win California fo America) and of course Fremont's exploring buddy Kit Carson.

Chaffin tells a tale that is so odd that it must be true. The tales of Fremont's four main explorations is straight out of a Hollywood movie. We follow Fremont up mountains, across rivers, through deserts - we see how they faced extreme starvation and how some members were forced to turn to canabalism (ouch!).

Chaffin presents Fremont with warts and all - there is mention of his affairs, his conceit, his insubortination, his shameless self-promotion and his many financial blunders. While Chaffin does not apologize for Fremonts faults he also chooses not to dwell on these aspects.

So why only four stars? There are some minor flow problems (for me) I found that the section on the war for California to be far too long, and the sections on Fremont's role in the Civil War and his ill fated Presidential campaign to be far too short. However, a significant amount of the book concentrates on Fremont's explorations.... which is exactly why I give a full recommendation.

I loved this book--an inspiring story that conveys the excitment of the exploration of the west. Author includes historical background so Fremonts actions are placed in the context of the time. Very readable--almost like a novel. The one drawback are the maps of Fremonts explorations. They are merely sketch maps without any location detail--I would have liked to have seen more detailed cartography with, perhaps, landforms included. Many (most) place names in the book are not shown on the maps. I kept my atlas at hand while reading, but many place names have changed. I strongly recommend.

This is an excellent biography of an American that few people know about. Fremont was truly a vivid member of history from the days of the early republic through the age of manifest destiny. This book covers not only Fremont's triumphs but his downfalls. While a young and impetuous (sometimes dishonest) man, Fremont was successful in helping to expand this countries knowledge of its own topography and boundaries. Through a vivid use of journals and maps Fremont led expeditions that cataloged the trails for westward expansion.
His service in the army corp. of engineers helped with the capture of California through bravado more so than force. After his brief governorship of California, Fremont was found guilty at a court marital for his actions against General Kearny and the Polk administration. Fremont's retirement would lead him to business ventures and a run for the presidency as the Republican Party's first candidate. These distinctions would continue as he was a commander of the western union forces during the Civil War. His greatest act here would be to promote a little known Grant to general and command the armies of Tennessee. Overall this is an excellent biography and does a great job of providing a balanced look at a little known person in American history. Highly recommended for those who want to understand how the groundwork for manifest destiny was laid.

This is a massively important book, one that invokes not only America, but also the frontier and the life of a man who, hitherto a minor player in history, has been brought to the forefront to show how he embodied an age. The author puts himself astride the arguments of American history, showing how John Charles Fremont was once the epitome of the American who helped brave the wilderness, and how recent revisionist historians cast him as an imperialist and a leader in the persecution of the Native Americans. For the author Fremont is neither and both, a man who forced America to "reimagine America itself". Born in 1813 in Savannah, Fremont was to embody America itself, the Colossus in the Cradle, that was just beginning to feel its way into the new frontier of the West.

He was to be surveyor in the 1830s when the Cherokee nation was relocated. Fremont's most important expeditions would be between 1838 and 1854, charting various routes and mapping the American west. His campfires and wagon trails are today nothing but dust, few are preserved. The author sought in van to find them but found instead the legacy of Fremont, America astride the West gave birth to the American West and after that to commerce and the great movement of population, for which Fremont's old camping sites are now national parks or owned by the government or inside the property of corporations.

This book evokes so many things it is hard not to give it praise for all of them. It tells the story of the American West and attempts by well meaning explorers to sympathize and help Native-Americans, Fremont himself judged the U.S government deficient in its promises to the American Indian.

An amazing read that will be enjoyed by any student of American history or anyone interested in the frontier or the American West.

Seth J. Frantzman

I certainly enjoyed this book, Pathfinder by Tom Chaffin. I didn't know anything about John Fremont and after reading this book, I have an excellent picture of who Fremont was and the full, varied and amazing life he led. It's a shame that hardly anyone knows who Fremont is in our day and age, as he was instrumental in expanding and settling the west. This book was engaging, exciting and informative and was an excellent read.

I highly recommend this book.

John Charles Fremont, (1813-1890), was an American military officer, explorer of the American West - earning the sobriquet Pathfinder - briefly the military Governor of California , the first Republican candidate for President in 1856, a Union Civil War general and territorial Governor of Arizona. He married Jessie Benton, the daughter of Missouri politician Thomas Hart Benton. (Jessie was a force in her own right and one of the few people who visibly raised the ire of Abraham Lincoln.) Fremont had a bad case of wanderlust, in a time when horses were the most advanced mode of transportation, and he had an uncanny ability - consciously or not - to stir up controversy wherever he set up camp.

Pathfinder is very well written biography, with the majority of the book chronicling Fremont's journeys on the trail. At this vantage point in time, with highways and airplanes, it's difficult to comprehend both the miles traveled by Fremont and his fellow explorers - including Kit Carson - and the "challenges" they encountered - weather, mountains, rivers and available food being just the most obvious of the "headaches" to be solved. Yet these walkabouts were more than just high adventure. Fremont was a meticulous data collector and these forays into the great unknown were just as valuable for what wasn't found - for instance the mythical east/west continental waterway known as the Bonaventura - as for what was - "documented" paths through the Rocky Mountains leading to the American West Coast.

During his expeditions problems arose when Fremont exceeded his "orders" - for instance traveling further west than originally planned - and culminated in 1846 when Fremont and his men became directly involved in California's fight for "independence", which involved him indirectly in the Mexican-American War. These actions led to his court-martial from the US Army. (The US Government funded Fremont's expeditions. He led them as a US military officer.)

Fremont's departure from the army occurs about 400 pages into this 500 page book. His run for the Presidency - both in 1856 and briefly in 1864, service in the Civil War and all that followed - basically the last 35 years of Fremont's life are covered in about 100 pages. Ironically, as Fremont became more involved with other humans and "civilization" - and one would assume more with more documentation available - the less detailed is this narrative. Don't get me wrong; what is covered is done so extremely well. But personally I could have used more "balance" into an examination of the Pathfinder's post-explorer life. There is a quandary in Fremont's personality - he was a very good leader of men "against" Mother Nature - this skill seemingly eluded him when involved and competing against other men.

Very good book - just wish there was more.

A good book, rich in historical detail, but...wow, the copyediting is bad. It's enough that it's really hard to read the book. I hope they can fix the copyediting problems if they reprint the book or bring it out in paperback.