because of his excited reports on his expeditions, published in 1845, obtained wide circulation and played a crucial role in supporting the mass migration of American settlers to Oregon and California.
Charles Frémont, “the Pathfinder” was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in the South, he had a strong love of the outdoors and a selfpromoting personality. Frémont was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Topographical Corps in 1838. In the early 1840s, his new father-in-law, Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton arranged the explorations that made Frémont famous.
In 1842, Frémont and two dozen soldiers mapped the eastern half of the Oregon Trail. Frémont returned to California in 1845 and convinced American settlers there to revolt against Mexican authorities, which ultimately led to the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846 and the short-lived The California Republic.
