Existing comment:
Jessie Benton Fremont, 1824-1902
Born Rockbridge County, Virginia
Jessie Benton Frémont spent her life in the public eye -- as the daughter of Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton, as the wife of noted explorer John C. Frémont, and later as a popular author. Jessie secured her father's backing for Frémont to lead a series of government-sponsored expeditions that played a pivotal role in promoting overland migration to the far west. Upon Frémont's return from the first of these expeditions in 1842, Jessie helped to write the vivid report of his findings that first brought him national recognition. When Frémont ran as the first Republican candidate for president in 1856, she took an active part in his campaign. In September 1861, after President Lincoln reprimanded General Frémont for his conduct as commander of the Union Army's Western Department, Jessie hurried to Washington, D.C. There, she confronted the president in a futile effort to salvage her husband's Civil War command.
Mathew Brady Studio, from c 1863 wet collodion negative |