The Men and the Mountain: Fremont's Fourth Expedition

xii, 337 pp. John Charles Fremont was a prodigious recorder of the famed expeditions which earned him the title "Pathfinder of the West," but the full story of his fourth expedition has been gathering dust since 1848. This is understandable, because it was a resounding failure. The fourth expedition had its origins in the bitterness following Fremont's court-martial and dismissal from the army. His father-in-law, Senator Thomas Hart Benton, was hammering for a railroad link between the East and the newly won territory of California. On all sides the warnings were sharply insistent that this winter of 1848 would be one of the worst in history, and before the men came to the mountain, they had evidence of its brutal fury. The story of the ascent, when the men were bolstered by the conviction that they were marching hand in hand with History, and the descent, when they were dogged by defeat and its handmaidens of starvation and panic, contribute a revealing chapter to the study of human nature. Mr. Brandon is neither for nor against the questionable decisions made by Fremont. Instead, he gives a fresh interpretation of the record in vivid, documentary style. It's a controversial book, and one that should not be missed by anyone interested in the opening of the West.