John C. Fremont

John Charles Fremont (January 21, 1813-July 13, 1890) was a military officer, an explorer, and the first candidate of the Republicans for the office of President of the United States.

Fremont was born in Savannah, Georgia. He served briefly (from 1850 to 1851) as a Senator from California. On January 16, 1847 he was appointed Governor of the new California Territory following the Treaty of Cahuenga which ended the Mexican-American War. In 1856 the new Republican Party nominated him as their first presidential candidate, but he lost (see U.S. presidential election, 1856) to James Buchanan. He served as a general in the American Civil War and was appointed Governor of the Arizona Territory from 1878 to 1881. He died of peritonitis in a hotel in New York, New York.

Four states named counties in his honor: Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, and Wyoming,