General john fremont biography

Born January 21, Savannah, Georgia

Died July 13, New York, New York

American explorer and politician

Nicknamed "the Pathfinder," John Charles Frémont gained fame several years before the Mexican American War through his vividly written reports of his exploring and surveying expeditions through the American West.

An officer in the army's Topographical Corps (the division of the army that had been assigned the job of surveying the unmapped areas of the United States), he happened to be in California just as tensions between its Mexican rulers and the U.S.

settlers who had moved there were coming to a head. In a series of controversial actions, Frémont played a key role in the Bear Flag Rebellion, an uprising of these settlers, and in the subsequent U.S. takeover of California.

Discovering his life's work

Born in Savannah, Georgia, John Charles Frémont was the illegitimate child of Anne Pryor, who had caused a scandal in her hometown of Richmond, Vir