When the findings of the
court were announced, and the action of the President was made known to
Fremont, he wrote a letter to the Adjutant-General resigning his
commission as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Army, and giving as a reason
that he could not, by accepting the clemency of the President, admit
the justice of the sentence.
It is not easy, from a legal point of view, to justify the action of
the President. If the conduct of Fremont in refusing to recognize the
authority of General Kearny was an offence, it must have rested upon
the fact that Kearny exhibited to him evidence which should have
satisfied a reasonable person that he had authority from the President
to take command of the military forces in California; and if such
authority was exhibited to Fremont and he refused obedience, his
refusal constituted the crime of mutiny. The other offences charged
against Fremont would have followed as a matter of course; but in the
absence of proof that he was guilty of mutiny, there was no evidence
whatever on which the minor charges could be sustained. Thus ended
Fremont's military services and his career as an explorer when he was
less than thirty-four years of age.
Fremont's subsequent career may be considered under three heads.
First, in business affairs, in which, apparently, he was unsuccessful.
Next, he was the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office
of President of the United States.
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