The ultimate curse of being a national hero As long as a man remains below a certain mediocrity all is well, he is promising, gallant, this, that and the other; but the moment he rises beyond that point, a host of enemies crowd around, their fawning turned to envious snarles. Lt. James Theodore Talbot Born out of wedlock and poor, Frémont had achieved much in a very short time. He was a man who did things, but often without clear authority; the latter quality would cause him problems throughout his life. His rapid advancement in the Army, and great popularity with the public, at times may have inspired jealousies that further contributed to his troubles. As a second lieutenant of the newly formed Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, his Report of his first mapping expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1842, and his conquest of what was considered the highest peak in the Rockies, was published by Congress, and appeared in newspapers all over the country.
His third expedition the following year involved him in the War with Mexico. "The cross of St. George hung idly down from the peak of the great ship "Collingwood," the breeze occasionally spreading out against the sky the small red patch which represented centuries of glory. There lay the pieces on the great chessboard before me with which the game for an empire had been played…I was but a pawn, and like a pawn I had been pushed forward to the front at the opening of the game." Frémont Hailed as "The Conqueror of California," he became involved in the middle of a dispute over seniority between Commodore Robert F. Stockton, and General Steven Watts Kearny, which eventually led to Frémont's court martial. He was convicted, but President Polk reinstated him at his full rank of Lieutenant Colonel; however, personally convinced that he had done nothing wrong to warrant the charges against him, he resigned from the Army. Even this did nothing but to make him even more popular with the people. Frémont's In 1856, as an abolitionist, he was nominated as the first presidential candidate of the newly organized Republican Party. To the Freemen of the North! Shall not Free Labor assert its birthright--shall not we of the North take and retain for Freemen the territories conquered from tyranny by our Forefathers, and which they consecrated to Liberty with their own blood? Rallying cries were "Free Men, Free Soil, Free Press, Free Labor, Free Kansas, Free Speech, Frémont!" and "Frémont and Jessie!" 
He carried the North, and nearly won in the 3-way race. Had he won, it is likely that the Civil War would have started in 1856 instead of 1860 when Lincoln was the successful Republican Candidate. (Note the 1st and 3rd ribbons from the left issued by the opposition.) In 1860, Lincoln called on Frémont to command the Army of the West in Missouri--a slave state. There was no army, no weapons, no money, and half its population were secessionists. Against all odds, Major General Frémont managed to put together an army. To deal with guerrilla warfare in Missouri he was forced to institute martial law, and to issue an Emancipation Proclamation. (see link below). This led to his removal from command by Lincoln. On the eve of battle [November 2, 1861], when the order superseding him, and directing him to transfer to General Hunter arrived--- Whole companies threw down their arms. In the evening, one hundred and ten officers, including every brigadier-general in the army [of the West] visited General Frémont in a body. They presented him a written address, full of sympathy and respect, and earnestly urged him to lead them against the enemy. Never was an officer so adored by his troops as Frémont. Frémont's Frémont was not by training a soldier. His training and talents were in the sciences, and he was commissioned an officer in the Topographical Corps. Of his role in the Mexican War, and the Conquest of California, he would later write: The cross of St. George hung idly down from the peak of the great ship "Collingwood [at Monterey]," the breeze occasionally spreading out against the sky the small red patch which represented centuries of glory. There lay the pieces on the great chessboard before me with which the game for an empire had been played…I was but a pawn, and like a pawn I had been pushed forward to the front at the opening of the game. Frémont, largely as a result of a very dirty presidential campaign of 1856, where he ran as an abolitionist, and because of a dispute with historian Hubert Howe Bancroft, has received a century and a half of bad press. Along with others of the period, including his friend Kit Carson, Frémont is today often considered not P.C. But all things must be considered in the context of the times. When he wrote and published his memoirs in 1887, Frémont further reflected on the course of his life.
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At
the age of forty, General Frémont was probably more
widely known throughout the world, than any man not of royal
birth.
"Rise
up, FRÉMONT! and go before;
I
lived its earlier part with the true Greek joy in
existence--in the gladness of living...Quickly as the
years rolled on and life grew serious, the light
pleasures took wing and the idling days became full of
purpose; and, as always, obstacles rose up in the way of
fixed objects at which I had come to aim. But it had
happened to me that the obstacles which I had to
encounter were natural ones, and I could calculate
unerringly upon the amount of resistance and injury I
should have to meet in encountering them. Their very
opposition roused strength to overcome them. The grand
mountains stood out fairly in their armor of ice and
snow; the sterile face of the desert warned the traveler
off and if he ventured there it was with full knowledge
of his danger. No treachery lurked behind behind the
majesty of the mountain or lay hidden in the hot glare of
the inhospitable plain. And though sometimes the struggle
was hard, it was an honest one and simple; and I always
had my own free will how to combat it. There was always
the excitement which is never without pleasure, and it
left no griefs behind.
