By Alexandra Piacenza
The following is a continuation from the “Days Past” of March 30, 2014.
It is perhaps overly romantic to think that the lives of John C. Frémont, fifth Territorial Governor of Arizona, and Jessie Benton, once the belle of Washington D.C., were fated to become entwined. But it is a notion hard to resist in light of one early escapade in the life of Jessie’s father, Thomas Hart Benton. At the outset of the War of 1812, Tom was appointed Andrew Jackson’s aide-de-camp, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. However, he was subsequently demoted from the battlefield to a “desk job” in Washington. Still bitter from his demotion and enraged at an insult offered his brother Jesse, he quarreled bitterly with Jackson who publicly threatened to horsewhip him.
On September 4, 1813, the Benton brothers arrived in Nashville where Jackson started toward Tom brandishing his whip. “Now, defend yourself you damned rascal!” Guns were fired, one of brother Jesse’s rounds hitting Jackson in the shoulder and a stray shotof Tom’s going through a hotel room occupied by a couple and their baby. His horrified wife in a dead faint, the enraged fatherstormed into the midst of the fight, screaming at the two participants who had almost killed his baby. The indignant father? Charles Fremon; the mother, Anne Whiting Fremon. Almost killed by Thomas Hart Benton? His future son-in-law, John Charles Frémont!
Fast forward to 1840; John is in Washington to prepare a report on his early explorations, meets Senator Benton with whom he shares a penchant for westward growth, and is introduced into the Benton home. Jessie, who often substitutes for her ailing mother at her father’s social gatherings, meets John at the age of 15 and by all accounts, it is love at first sight. Despite her tender age, Jessie is soon engaged to John; however, the Bentons object, not only because of her age but also John’s questionable parentage. The powerful Senator pulls a few strings and Frémont finds himself sent to the western frontier. Nevertheless, John rushes back to Washington at his first opportunity, elopes with Jessie and marries her on October 19th, 1841. Although initially estranged, the stern father bows to the inevitable: Jessie is the apple of his eye and John is just the man to further his expansionist dreams
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This photo shows the Frémonts in their later years (Photo courtesy of Alexandra Piacenza – Jessie Benton Fremont Photo Sharlot Hall Museum Call Number: PO-0772pe).
Jessie was intensely interestedin the details of John’s expeditions, and became his recorder, making notes as he described his experiences. Thus, she involved herself in her most happy life’s work, interpreting her husband and his actions. One of Frémont’s reports inspired the Mormonsto consider Utah for settlement and Frémont’s “Report and Map“ guided thousandsof overland immigrants to Oregon and California from 1845 to 1849. Emigrants’ Guide to California,largely drawn from Frémont’s reporting, guided the forty-niners through the California Gold Rush. Historians are mixed about the actual writer. One, John W. Caughey, contended that Fremont was one of those writers who “acquired by marriage a very attractive literary style. “
When they lost everything in the Panic of 1873, Jessie wrote best-selling stories of Frémont’s adventures for popular magazines, as well as autobiographical books: A Year of American Travel: Narrative of Personal Experience (1878 andSouvenirs of My Time (1887). Her admiration and dedication to her husband’s success and stature are epitomized by a quotation unambiguously ascribed to her: “From the ashes of his campfires have sprung cities.”
The fierce dedication to a growing America embodied by John and his greatest supporter, Jessie, was to bloom again further down the family tree in the person of Thomas Hart Benton, Jessie’s great grand-nephew. The latter-day Tom was the leader of the “Regionalist Movement” in American art. In his drawings, Benton is both artist and historian, documenting America’s transition from a rural, agricultural nation at the turn of the century to an urban, industrialized world power dotted with skyscrapers, factories, and highways.
Though he died a forgotten man and she a pauper, John and Jessie’s passion for their country and each other continues to inspire.
“. . . still some grand peaks mark the way,
Touched by light of parting day,
And memory’s sun.
Backward amid the twylight glow,
Some lingering spots still brightly show,
On roads hard won.”
- Major General John Charles Frémont
Days Past is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners, International (www.prescottcorral.org). The public is encouraged to submit articles for consideration. Please contact SHM Library & Archives reference desk at 928-445-3122 Ext. 14, or via email at dayspastprescott@gmail.com for information.