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Around Arizona History
“You need your food, you need your water, and you need your history!”
John C. Fremont,
Arizona’s Fifth Territorial Governor
By Jack L. August, Ph.D.
Arizona’s fifth territorial governor,
John C. Fremont, served from 18781881. Prior to his term of office, he had
cut a larger than life career in the U.S.
military, politics, and exploration of the
American West. When he arrived in
Arizona, the capital had been returned to
Prescott after a ten year hiatus in
Tucson. He was born on January 21,
1813 in Savannah, Georgia. His family’s
status remains unclear but highly
regarded historian H.W. Brands has
argued that he was the son of Charles
John C. Fremont
and Anne Fremon and that Fremont
added the “t” to his name. Many have suggested he was born out
of wedlock, but he overcame that social drawback by marrying
Jessie Benton, the daughter of Missouri Senator—and slave
owner—Thomas Hart Benton.
He possessed mathematical abilities enabling him to secure a
position with the U.S. Navy as an instructor and later received a
commission in the elite Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. It
was while serving as a lieutenant that he met Jessie Benton. Her
father was not only a Democratic Party leader for over thirty years
but he also championed the expansionist movement known as
“Manifest Destiny,” a political cause that became somewhat of a
religious belief that the North American continent, from one end to
the other, should belong to the citizens of the United States. It meant
that acquiring those lands was the country’s birthright – its Godgiven destiny, if you will. That movement became a crusade for
politicians like Senator Benton.
In the mid-nineteenth century Fremont became famous. He
mapped the Oregon Trail and climbed the second highest peak in the
Wind River Mountains. In the 1840s the popular press bestowed the
epithet "The Great Pathfinder" on him. Indeed Fremont assisted and
led multiple surveying expeditions through the western territories. In
1838 and 1839, he assisted Joseph Nicollet in exploring the lands
Jack L. August, Jr. Ph.D. is the Bioscience Historian at the International
Genomics Consortium and Scholar-in-Residence at the Southwest Center for
History and Public Policy. He is a former Fulbright Scholar, National
Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellow, winner of the Border
Regional Library Association's Southwest Book Award for Literary
Excellence, and Pulitzer Prize nominee in the history category. He is the author
of numerous books on the history of the New American West, and has taught
at the University of Houston, University of Northern British Columbia, and
Northern Arizona University, among others, where his courses focused on the
American West and environmental history.
between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and in 1841 he
mapped portions of the Des Moines River. During that period
Fremont met frontiersman Kit Carson on a Missouri River steamboat
in St. Louis. He was preparing to lead his first expedition and was
looking for a guide to take him to South Pass. Carson offered his
services, as he had spent much time in the area. The five-month
journey, made with twenty-five men, was a success, and Congress
published Fremont’s report. This report touched off a wave of wagon
caravans filled with hopeful emigrants heading west. By 1849,
Fremont had completed four expeditions for the purpose of
advancing the vision of “Manifest Destiny” by charting and
mapping much of the West.
Meanwhile Fremont played high profile roles in the U.S.Mexico War (1846-1848) and the Civil War. In between those wars
he became a politician. He served as one of the first senators from
California in 1850 and 1851 and in 1856 he became the newlyfounded Republican Party’s first presidential candidate. He ran on
an anti-slavery platform and paved the way for the election of
Abraham Lincoln in 1860. After the Civil War his career began to
wane, but Republican Party leaders wanted to reward his loyalty and
did not forget him. This led to Fremont being offered the choice of
governorships for either Idaho Territory or Arizona Territory. He
opted for the latter post and President Rutherford B. Hayes
appointed him in 1878.
Some historians have posited that
his influential wife, Jessie, played a role
in his appointment and had it not been
for her the man she often referred to as
“The General” might never have been
governor of Arizona. She not only
played a significant role in his
appointment, but also in his subsequent
efforts to better himself in the Territory.
She would be accurately described by an
agent of a San Francisco banking firm
as "a highly accomplished woman of
fine intellect, with a towering ambition
Jessie Benton Fremont
and courage equal to her husband's. The
acquisition of power and the love of display and leadership were
her ruling passions and," he added, "caused much of her husband's
trouble and disappointment." Had she lived two generations later,
the talented and vibrant Jessie might well have become a public
leader. The mores of the nineteenth century, however, mandated
that her ambition be channeled through her husband, and she
became a fiercely devoted activist on his part throughout his
career. Usually she went directly to people in power. The technique
proved remarkably effective, not only because she was a skillful
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persuader but also because she knew so many influential people at
the highest levels. For example, she knew well every president
from Jackson to Garfield.
The couple’s entrance to the territorial capital was memorable.
On Saturday, October 5, 1878, at two p.m. in Kirkland Valley,
about fifteen miles from Prescott, the Great Pathfinder took the
oath of office and was briefed on territorial affairs by outgoing
Governor John Philo Hoyt. Rushing back to Prescott, Hoyt
intercepted Fremont the next day when he was two miles outside
the capital town of 2000 citizens. Together they made a grand
entry, riding in Joe Deprez's fancy barouche, a four-wheeled, lowbodied, pleasure vehicle with folding top. Since it was Sunday, no
salute was fired, but the public and private buildings were decked
out with flags, and people waved their hats and handkerchiefs as
the party passed along Gurley Street. Jessie and the General felt
welcome, especially when the silver-tongued politician/lawyer,
Thomas Fitch, installed them in his own attractive home.
Eventually they rented the hilltop residence of the bachelor
contractor, W. Z. Wilson, who with his partner A. S. Haskell had
just completed the new brick courthouse on the Plaza.
The grand reception and ball, which the community had been
planning for weeks, was held on Friday, October 11, in the new
theater. Individual members of the village council had contributed
twenty dollars apiece; Michael Goldwater was on one of the
arrangement committees; tickets sold for ten dollars each. The
Arizona Miner reported it as "the most brilliant social event that
ever transpired within the boundaries of Arizona," with the
attendance surpassing the number on the occasion of General
Sherman's visit. The supper was "superb, the music excellent, and
every appointment and detail, necessary to the enjoyment of the
guests as nearly perfect as human management and simple means
could make it." Speeches, toasts, shouts, and loud applause rang out
on the night air.
The welcoming ceremonies proved
to be the highlight of the Fremont
administration in Arizona. Fremont
received kudos for beginning the official
practice of celebrating Thanksgiving
Day in Arizona and he also championed
an official territorial lottery that was to
help construct public buildings as well
as establish schools. Despite efforts of
this nature, newspapers around the
territory tended to paint an unfavorable
picture of the governor whom they
contended was absent from his duties
Governor John C. Fremont
frequently and whom they felt was more
concerned about promoting his own economic interests, including
mining, rather than furthering Arizona’s interests. He resigned in
the wake of this controversy on October 11, 1881.
His final years were less than spectacular and Fremont died
at age 77 of peritonitis at his residence at 49 W. 25th Street in
New York City.
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March 2016 • Arizona Food Industry Journal • Page 9