25385

John C. Freemont 1864 Autograph Letter Signed In

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,500.00 USD
John C. Freemont 1864 Autograph Letter Signed In
<B>John C. Freemont 1864 Autograph Letter Signed</B></I> In the 1840s, John C. Freemont (1813-1890) led Congressionally-funded expeditions to survey the Oregon Trail, Oregon Territory and the Great Basin and Sierra Mountains to California. He grew wealthy during the gold rush of 1848 and became one of California's first two U.S. Senators (1850). In 1856, he became the first presidential nominee of the newly founded Republican Party, losing to Buchanan. In the Civil War, Fremont was appointed major general by President Abraham Lincoln and briefly commanded the Western Department, removed from his post when he decided independently to emancipate all of Missouri's slaves (August, 1861). After the Civil War, unsound railroad investments lost Fremont the fortune he had made during the California gold rush. He was Governor of the Arizona Territory (1873-1883). Count Adam Gurowski (1805-1866) was exiled from his native Poland for his hostility to Russian rule. He was employed by the U.S. State Department translating German and Slavic documents until his diaries came to light, full of scathing criticisms of Secretary of State Seward, Senator Charles Sumner (his erstwhile patron) and President Lincoln. Antipathy to Lincoln was something Fremont and Gurowski had in common. Autograph letter signed, "J.C. Fremont," two pages, 5 1/4" x 8". New York, March 21, 1864. To Count Gurowski, Washington. In part: "I had read the volume immediately upon its publication & so far as I had come in for any share of your observations it left on me only a very agreeable impression. My knowledge of yourself & a little exchange of regard which had passed between us were enough to satisfy me that any comment you might afterward make upon me would be dictated by the highest courtesy and forbearance. I took up this book with this feeling in my mind & put it down with the impression unaltered. I beg you to be assured that I take pleasure in our friendly relation & would be very unwilling to believe that it has been disturbed." Faint pencil note at top of first page. Lightly creased and soiled. Blank conjoined page has two 1/4" vertical tears at top edge and 1/4" nick on lower right edge. Overall, fine condition. <I>Accompanied by COA from PSA/DNA.</B></I>