Born January 21, 1813

Savannah, Georgia

Died July 13, 1890

New York, New York

Explorer, military leader, politician

John Charles Frémont. (Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.)

"Frémont was required to work long hours in difficult wilderness conditions, yet he found his labors exhilarating and described the job as 'a kind of picnic with work enough to give it zest.'"

Edward D. Harris, in John Charles Frémont and the Great Western Reconnaissance

John Charles Frémont, known popularly as "The Pathfinder," was responsible for leading some of the greatest mapping expeditions of the nineteenth century. Covering more ground than the famous Lewis and Clark expedition (see Lewis and Clark entry), and reporting on his discoveries in far greater detail, Frémont's various expeditions west of the Mississippi River offered the American public a detailed view of lands that were then...