John C. Fremont - Sparkill, NY - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

In nineteenth-century America, some men were famous as explorers such as Lewis and Clark; others achieved fame through military exploits during the Mexican War like Winfield Scott; still others are well known due to the wealth they amassed during the California Gold Rush, others as generals in the Civil War and several as statesmen seeking the office of President of the United States. But one man, John Charles Fremont, was famous for all of the above reasons.

As an explorer, Fremont led five separate expeditions into the American West, mainly mapping the Oregon Trail, and exploring the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin and parts of California. On one of these expeditions into what is now Wyoming, Fremont climbed one of the tallest mountains in the Wind River range. (That mountain is now named Fremont Peak and at a 13,745 ft. elevation, climbing it was no small feat.) While at the summit, Fremont planted an American flag, ostensibly claiming all the land west of the Rockies for the United States. The image of Fremont planting an American flag on the Rocky Mountains became a popular motif and was widely distributed in the U.S. It even wound up on a postage stamp issued in 1898.

During another expedition, Fremont found himself in the middle of civil unrest in California just prior to the outbreak of the Mexican War. He became a de facto leader in several assaults and was actually named military governor of California for a short time. After California became a state in 1850, Fremont served as one of the new state’s first senators. When gold was discovered on some property he owned in California he became a millionaire.

The politically connected Fremont - he was married to Jessie Benton, daughter of Thomas Hart Benton, a powerful senator from Missouri - ran for President of the United States in 1856. He was the nominee of the newly formed Republican party: the first ever Republican Presidential candidate. When the Civil War broke out, John C. Fremont was appointed commander of the Department of the West and given the rank of major general. As such he was responsible for all military activities west of the Appalachian Mountains.

But John C. Fremont had his downside. His run-ins with General Stephen W. Kearny led to his being court-martialed in the aftermath of the Mexican War for mutiny and insubordination. Though convicted, his sentence was commuted by President James K. Polk. What fortune he acquired in gold discoveries, he lost in bad railroad speculation. He had become so unpopular in California that he didn’t even carry that state’s electoral votes in his 1856 loss to James Buchanan even though he had served as senator from that state. Even Abraham Lincoln had to relieve him of duties during the Civil War for gross insubordination when he tried to issue and enforce his own attempt at emancipation.

Later in life, Fremont was appointed territorial governor of Arizona by President Rutherford B. Hayes but was rarely there. He died at his home in New York City in July of 1890. He is buried in Rockland Cemetery in Sparkill, NY, just north of New York City and west of the Hudson River. Today, as his nickname ‘The Pathfinder’ suggests, he is mostly known for the role he played in opening up the American West to settlement.
(Source: wikipedia.org)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 01/21/1813 Date of death: 07/13/1890 Area of notoriety: Historical Figure Marker Type: Horizontal Marker Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: none Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log for waymarks in this category, you must have personally visited the waymark location. When logging your visit, please provide a note describing your visit experience, along with any additional information about the waymark or the surrounding area that you think others may find interesting.

We especially encourage you to include any pictures that you took during your visit to the waymark. However, only respectful photographs are allowed. Logs which include photographs representing any form of disrespectful behavior (including those showing personal items placed on or near the grave location) will be subject to deletion.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.