Fremont, meantime, had done a great work for California.  The son of a Frenchman, showing an early aptitude for mathematics, he had secured an appointment to the United States engineering corps, and, after various minor expeditions in which he had acquitted himself well, was put in charge of an expedition for the exploration of the Rocky Mountains.  He was fortunate at the start in securing the services as guide and interpreter of that famous hunter and plainsman, Kit Carson, whose life had been passed on the prairies, who knew more Indians and Indian dialects than any other white man, and who was, to his generation, what Davy Crockett was to an earlier one.  To Carson a great share of the expedition’s success was no doubt due, and it was so successful that in the following year, Fremont was leading another over the country between the Rockies and the Pacific.  This one was almost lost in the mountains, and came near perishing of cold and hunger, but, finally, in March, 1844, managed to struggle through to Sutter’s Fort.

Fremont found California in a state of unrest amounting almost to insurrection against Mexican rule, and as the number of white settlers increased, this feeling grew, until Mexico, becoming alarmed, sent an armed force to occupy the country.  The show of force was the one thing needed to fire the magazine; the settlers sprang to arms as one man, and, under Fremont’s leadership, defeated the Mexicans and drove them southward across the border.  Soon afterwards, General Kearny marched in from the east, from his remarkable and bloodless conquest of New Mexico, with a force sufficient to render it certain that California would never again be taken by the Mexicans.

On the fourth of July, 1849, Fremont was chosen governor of the new territory, and in the following year, arranged the treaty by which California passed permanently to the United States.  The new state was quick to reward him and sent him to the Senate, where he gained sufficient prominence to receive the nomination of the anti-slavery party for the presidency in 1856.  He never had any chance of election, for the reform party had not yet sufficient strength, and was defeated by Buchanan.  He served with some distinction in the Civil War, gaining considerable notoriety, while in charge of the Western Department in 1861, by issuing a proclamation freeing the slaves of secessionists in Missouri.  The proclamation drew forth some laudatory verses from John G. Whittier, but was promptly countermanded by President Lincoln.  Soon afterwards, Fremont became involved in personal disputes with his superior officers, was relieved from active service, and the remainder of his life was spent in private enterprises.

* * * * *

Fremont’s “pathfinding” virtually completed the exploration of the country.  A few secluded nooks and corners became known only as the tide of immigration crept into them; but in its general features, the great continent, on whose eastern shore the white man was fighting for a foothold two centuries before, was known from ocean to ocean.  It had been conquered and occupied by a dominant race, and won for civilization.