John Charles Frémont (January 21 1813 – July 13 1890), born John Charles Fremon, was an American military officer, explorer, the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States, and the first Presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform of opposition to slavery.

Early life

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Frémont was born in Savannah, Georgia, the illegitimate son of a prominent Virginia society woman and a penniless French refugee, a social handicap that he helped to overcome by marrying Jessie Benton, the favorite daughter of Thomas Hart Benton, who was a leading Democrat and a slaveowner.

Expeditions to the West

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Frémont assisted and led multiple surveying expeditions through the western territory of the United States. In 1838 and 1839 he assisted Joseph Nicollet in exploring the lands between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and in 1841, with training from Nicollet, he mapped portions of the Des Moines River. From 1841 to 1846 he and his guide Kit Carson led exploration parties on the Oregon Trail and into the Sierra Nevada. During his expeditions in the Sierra Nevada, it is generally acknowledged that Frémont became the first Caucasian to view Lake Tahoe. He is also credited with determining that the Great Basin had no outlet to the sea. He also mapped volcanoes such as Mount St. Helens.Nevins, p. 194.

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