Fremont: the West’s Greatest Adventurer-Two Volumes [Hardcover] Nevins, Allan

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VERY GOOD COMPLETE SET FIRST EDITION two-volume hardcovers, free tracking number, clean text, solid binding, NO remainders NOT ex-library, smoke free; slight gentle shelfwear / storage-wear; volume one frontis partly loose WE SHIP FAST. Carefully packed and quickly sent. 201713803 In this thorough, scholarly, stylistically unpretentious book Professor Nevins has written the first complete life of John C. Fremont, “the Pathfinder” of the West, the politician, the soldier, therailroad magnate, one of America’s most interesting Might-Have-Beens. Viewing his career from the perspective of several generations—one is struck by the regularity with which fortune, in the large sense of the word, almost always evaded him. It was not merely through bad luck; it must have come from some fatal defect of character. He helped wrest California from Mexico for the United States just about the time war was declared against the southern republic, and the upshot of it for him was a court martial in which he was found guilty on several points. He was a candidate for President in the campaign of 1856, and was narrowly defeated, thus missing the opportunity—so historians say—of precipitating the Civil War several years sooner. He acquired a vast estate in California at a ridiculous sum and found gold therein, but the riches acquired thereby were dissipated, if not squandered. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed commander of the Western Department, and before long was embroiled in disputes with politicians and contractors. He issued a proclamation declaring the slaves of Confederate soldiers forfeit, an “emancipation proclamation” which even President Lincoln thought too drastic. He was compelled to surrender his command, was transferred to the Army of the Potomac. Please choose Priority / Expedited shipping for faster delivery. (No shipping to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina or Italy.)