Letters & Writing

    Some of her most famous writings are from John’s expeditions. He was given command of the expedition to survey the Oregon Trail to South Pass in the Wyoming Rockies. However, when he returned he was unable to write the required government report. Jessie stepped up and volunteered to help him write the report. The report was said to be a “unique collaboration: a vivid and readable document, published by Congress and excerpted in newspapers throughout the nation.”¹ This was not the last time Jessie’s writing skills were used to further John’s career. She also helped write the report on his expedition to the northwestern extremity of the Great Salt Lake and throughout Oregon. It was that report, written by Jessie, “a skillful combination of factual detail and absorbing story,[that] made him a national hero.” ²

    Jessie also kept many journals and frequently wrote letters to friends and family. From those we can glean insight into her family relationships and her relationship with John. One of her closest friends was Elizabeth Lee, a lifelong friend from Washington, whom she once called her "confessional" ³. In her letters to Elizabeth, Jessie spoke of the rift John's presidential nomination caused with her father, a stounch democrate. She wrote “I know both my people too well ever to look for concession from either side. And with Father this is only the expression of years distrust of Mr. Frémont’s judgment”, and that she had "written constantly to Father. I always tell him whatever I think may interest him - never saying politics- but for four months I have not had a line from him…” ⁴. 

 Jessie Frémont wrote about many things, including her journeys and life events. In 1887 the Fremonts returned to California. Jessie's book "A year of American travel" was written to hopefully earn money that they badley needed.⁵

   Within this book in a 1878 journal, Jessie Fremont describes witnessing the emotional toll of emigration in Hamburg, where she notices the heart-wrenching farewells of loved ones. The pain of separation deeply affects her, contrasting sharply with her own experiences, as she reflects on a journey she has yet to undertake. Despite this, she prepares to embark on her own venture to California.⁶

   Frémont also reflects on the emotional complexities of preparing for a journey to California, detailing the unexpected challenges faced by emigrants and the injustices inflicted by the U.S. government on new inhabitants. She contrasts the careful planning of past journeys with the convenience of modern travel, feeling nostalgia for the untamed landscapes of earlier days. Personal experiences, such as receiving letters from General Herran and the support of family friend Mr. Aspinwall, show her connections formed during this time. Fremont stays with Major Cummings, feeling fear and vulnerability she hears sounds of a she-wolf searching for her cubs echo nearby. This moment underscores the tough realities of life on the frontier.⁷

^{1Herr, Pamela, and Mary Lee Spence. “‘I Really Had Something like the Blues’: Letters from Jessie Benton Frémont to Elizabeth Blair Lee, 1847-1883.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 41, no. 2 (1991): 16–31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4519378, 18}

^{2 Ibid}

^{3 Ibid, 23}

^{4Herr, Pamela, and Mary Lee Spence. “‘I Really Had Something like the Blues’: Letters from Jessie Benton Frémont to Elizabeth Blair Lee, 1847-1883.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 41, no. 2 (1991): 16–31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4519378, 23}

⁵Frémont, Jessie Benton. A Year of American Travel. New York, NY: Harper and Brothers,. https://search-alexanderstreet-com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity|bibliographic_details|4262231.

⁶ Ibid

⁷ Ibid