Biography

Fremont was a Union General, a military Governor of California, and the 5th Governor of Arizona Territory. 
Emancipated Missouri slaves free on Aug. 30 1861.
He was one of the early explorers and mapmakers of the West. During the Mexican-American war he was a Major in the U.S. Army and a key figure in the annexation of the California Republic in 1846. He led five expeditions to the West, and during the third expedition became a leading figure in the mass killings of Indigenous people in the Southwestern United States. He was also a politician, running unsuccessfully for President in 1856 as the first ever Republican candidate as the Republican Party had just been formed. In 1862 he attempted to run for President, but withdrew from the race after making a deal with President Lincoln leading to the dismissal of Montgomery Blair, Fremont's enemy, from Lincoln's cabinet. He then retired from public life and spent his time on railroad projects in the West. He lost his fortune due to a financial scandal regarding his Memphis, El Paso, and Pacific Railroad. He was forced to resign from his position as Governor due to mining and land schemes. He then wrote a poorly-received memoir, received a pension from the Government in 1890, and died that year in New York City. He is mentioned in a letter from Helen Matilda Morgan to Frances Miller Seward in 1865 concerning the purchase of land in New York State.