Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Fremont Mapped The West, Invented Celebrity, And Helped Cause The Civil War, Inskeep - B+

                  This is a history of a couple who were front and center during the westward expansion of the nation, the first struggles for women's rights and the anti-slavery movement in the 1840's and 1850's. Born in 1813, Fremont was living in Charleston when he obtained work on a railroad survey, and then a mapping expedition for the army, that led to his commissioning as a second lieutenant in the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. In Washington DC, he met and fell in love with, Jessie Benton, the second daughter of Sen. Thomas Hart Benton. They eloped in 1841. She was 17 years old.

                 Benton lived, breathed and epitomized the concept of America's 'manifest destiny' to conquer the continent and suggested Fremont lead an expedition to Oregon, which he wanted populated with Americans. The War Dept. ordered Fremont to explore and map the Platte, but he also headed west through the South Pass on the Continental Divide on the Oregon Trail before heading home. Jessie took the lead in writing his 'Report' and had it published broadly. The Senator then arranged for a second expedition to head for the coast. Fremont explored the area around the Great Salt Lake, headed to the Columbia River, came back to the Salt Lake area, somehow transversed the Sierra Nevadas in the winter and made it to Alta California before turning back to Washington. Once again, Jessie penned the 'Report' as part of a process of promoting the Fremont name. The timing of his increased association with the west coincided with Polk's 1844 election campaign seeking American domination of Texas, Oregon and California. The 1845 mission again brought Fremont to California. Tension between the US and Mexico increased because of  Polk's move to annex Texas and the sense, unstated but obvious, that California was next. Fremont was a US army officer leading men in a foreign country and attracting the attention of the local Mexican authorities. Fremont was assisting a settler's revolt around Sonoma when an American naval task force landed in San Francisco and raised  the American flag in California. Although no one in California knew it in the summer of 1846, the US and Mexico were already at war. The naval commodore, Robert Stockton, appointed Fremont military governor and they attempted to take control of California. When Army Gen. Kearny ordered Fremont to stand down, he refused, was arrested and returned to Washington to face a court martial. Notwithstanding Fremont's status as a hero who had helped conquer California, he was convicted, with a recommendation for clemency. Polk granted clemency and a re-instatement, but the stubborn Fremont refused and resigned from the army in early 1848.

                 Benton arranged for Fremont to conduct a railroad survey through the Rockies, thus affording him another opportunity to travel to California in 1848. By then the war was over, California was US territory and gold had been discovered. Jessie and their daughter, Lily, sailed to California from New York. The family reunited and soon were on the way back east to Washington, as John was elected to the Senate by the state constitutional convention.  His time in office was short-lived as the legislature did not reelect him, and he found himself in 1851 living in California attempting to manage his affairs. During  previous times in California, he had acquired significant tracts of land, although the validity of his titles was uncertain. He was also being hounded by creditors as he had broadly borrowed upon the credit of the government during his expeditions and not all the bills were honored in Washington. 

                   The 1850's were a tumultuous time in America as the issues of slavery, expansion and immigration were tearing the country apart. Party alliances were shifting and a new party, the Republicans, arose from the ashes of the Whigs. They were looking for a candidate who was anti-slavery and had a "slim record" and certain people put forth Fremont. He was nominated and ran under the slogan "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Men and Fremont." The Know-Nothings nominated former president, Millard Fillmore and the Democrats nominated James Buchanan. It was a vicious campaign, with Fremont's illegitimacy leading to charges that he was not born in America. He was accused of being a Catholic and everyone complained about ballot stuffing. Buchanan won with the support of a solid south.

                  During the Civil War, he was twice appointed general and twice relieved. He did, however, provide early opportunities under his command to a washed-up Union officer, U.S. Grant. The Fremont's had the misfortune to miss the Gilded Age, as John's financial inadequacies reduced them to penury before his death in 1890. Jessie lived another 12 years.

                 One of the men who had placed Fremont at the top of the Republican party later claimed he had been the perfect candidate for the new party. He was a well-known hero with anti-slavery positions and laid the foundation for the future that Lincoln would capture. This is a very enjoyable history book.