A Threatened Landmark

Pokahoe—The John C. Fremont Home

John C. Fremont and the First Emancipation Proclamation

by Henry Steiner

John Charles Fremont: first Republican candidate for President (1856), geographer, surveyor of the Oregon Trail (1843), conqueror of California for the US (1847), first U.S. Senator from California (1850), Arizona Territorial Governor (1878), Commander of the West in the Civil War (1861), land tycoon, gold baron, issuer of America’s first emancipation proclamation (1861), Sleepy Hollow estate owner (1865), failure....

If John C. Fremont stuck to any enterprise long enough, he generally failed at it. Perhaps his greatest talent was displayed in his first line of work—a geographer. That was the profession he was trained for. At virtually all other endeavors he was rather an amateur—politician, commanding general, financier. Yet one must appreciate his drive and good intentions.

Fremont’s emancipation proclamation was a political misstep, but it struck a moral blow for freedom, prefiguring Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Fremont’s proclamation also helped to get him fired as Commander of the West during the Civil War, for the edict endangered the delicate political balance achieved by the man who fired Fremont—Abraham Lincoln.

The immediate occasion for the edict was the activity of pro-slavery guerrillas in central and northern Missouri. Fremont wished to punish these enemy partisans who were raiding the country behind his lines. His proclamation announced that they would lose their property, lose their slaves, and be shot. Lincoln gently but firmly pointed out to Major-General Fremont that shooting these people would lead to similar reprisals in the South and that Congress had directed that only property actually used in rebellion could be confiscated. This meant that Fremont’s proclamation was illegal.

Fremont refused to amend his proclamation voluntarily; Lincoln modified it for him. The storm of approval for Fremont’s emancipation edict among northern abolitionists was a political embarrassment for Lincoln, as was the bitter disappointment which followed the retraction of the measure. Ultimately, Lincoln was obliged to upset the abolitionists even further by firing Fremont, whose Western Department had been unsuccessful in the field of battle.

After a brief, unsatisfactory tenure as commander of the newly formed Mountain Department, Fremont settled in New York City. There he was hailed and soothed by an influential circle of radical Unionists and abolitionists. He bought a townhouse in Manhattan and then an estate called Pokahoe. The house by that name still stands in Sleepy Hollow Manor. He and his wife, Jessie Benton, lived in affluent style, socializing with the Phelpses, the Aspinwalls, and other wealthy neighbors.

A house guest recalled that, while at Pokahoe, Fremont enjoyed “rides through the woods and along the post-roads” with his children. He enjoyed listening to music, playing chess, or chatting with neighbors.

Several major financial disasters culminated in 1870, and left the Fremonts nearly penniless. All the family assets had to be sold. In the closing years of his life, Fremont and his wife lived modestly, scraping together money for their expenses by writing. Their home was a small rented cottage on Staten Island. Congress granted Fremont a pension in 1890, the year he died in a New York boarding house. He was seventy-seven.

Fremont Fountain, located on Broadway, across from Peabody Field in Sleepy Hollow, is dedicated to Fremont’s memory. It was created by James Ceconi, grandfather of Sleepy Hollow mayor, Philip Zegarelli, and paid for by William Rockefeller, brother of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Fremont Pond, another namesake, is in Sleepy Hollow Manor

For a detailed account of Fremont’s life, see Fremont; Pathmarker of the West by Allan Nevins.

Henry Steiner is the village historian of Sleepy Hollow.

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