CONTENTS. First Expedition-Prairies-Fort Laramie-South Pass -Rocky Mountains-Platte or Nebraska River..... 23 Second Expedition-Kansas-Salt Lake-Columbia LIFE OF FREMONT. CHAPTER I. PARENTAGE-EDUCATION-EARLY HISTORY. JOHN CHARLES FREMONT was born on the 21st of January, 1813. The usual residence of his family was in the city of Charleston, South Carolina. His father, who bore the same name, was deeply interested in studying the character and condition of the North American Indians, and spent the last years of his life in visiting many of their tribes. On these excursions he took his family with him, and moved slowly, stopping leisurely at the larger towns and points of chief interest. It was on one of these tours that the subject of this memoir was born, in the city of Savannah. The father, following his favorite pursuit, subsequently visited with his family, and remained, for greater or less periods of time, in various parts of Georgia, Tennessee, (9) . the Carolinas, and Virginia. The mother, celebrated for her beauty and worth, was Ann Beverly Whiting, a native of Gloucester County, Virginia. Her family was connected with many distinguished names, including that of Washington, to whom she was nearly related. The father died in 1818, leaving a widow and three children, two sons and a daughter. Col. Fremont is the sole survivor of his family, with the exception of an orphan niece, the daughter of his brother, who since nine years of age has been a member of his family. The mother died in 1847, at Aiken, South Carolina; the brother and sister some years before. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Fremont remained some time in Virginia, where John Charles received the rudiments of his education, at Dinwiddie Court House. She then removed back to Charleston, where she fixed her residence, and the education of her children was continued. Although born and reared in affluence, and accustomed to the free and liberal expenditures of the hospitable and generous class to which her Virginia relatives belonged, she was left, with her young charge, in very limited circumstances, but, fortunately in a community which appreciated her claims to respect, sympathy, and all kind offices. She is still remembered by many faithful friends in Charleston, as a lady of great piety and worth. When John Charles was about thirteen years of age, John W. Mitchell, Esq., a lawyer in Charleston, a gentleman of great respectability, in no way connected with the family, but actuated only by benevolent impulses, although perceiving, it is not unlikely, the bright promise of the lad, took him into his office for the purpose of making a lawyer of him. At a subsequent period, it became a favorite object of Mr. Mitchell, to have him prepare himself for the ministry of the church. Mr. Mitchell placed him under the tuition of Dr. Roberton, a learned instructor at that time in Charleston, and now engaged in the same employment in Philadelphia. Dr. Roberton published an edition of Xenophon's Anabasis, in 1850. In the preface he gives the following account of the youth whom Mr. Mitchell placed in his hands. It is a most interesting document, and shows how the character, which Col. Fremont has ever exhibited, was formed, and illustrates the early development of the energy and talent that have borne him on through life: -- "For your further encouragement, I will here relate a very remarkable instance of patient diligence and indomitable perseverance. "In the year 1827, after I had returned to Charleston from Scotland, and my classes were going on, a very respectable lawyer came to my school, I think some time in the month of Octo |