John
Charles Fremont, known as “the Pathfinder,” explored the West as a lieutenant
in the U.S. Army Topographical Engineers Corps. By the time pioneer settlers in
California elected him governor he was already nationally famous. Republicans
turned to him in 1865 and made him their first nominee for the U.S. presidency.
Small wonder, therefore, that in July 1861 Lincoln made him a major general and
put him in command of the Western Department.
Fremont
may have considered himself to have a wider following that the president who
gained his office by support of less than 40 percent of the nation’s voters.
Without consulting his commander in chief, he issued an August 1861
emancipation proclamation that Lincoln forced him to rescind. Embittered at
Washington and chafing at having been defeated at Wilson’s Creek, the Union’s
most notable active general at that time resigned after just five months in
uniform.
