Dream West (Part 3)

It is 1847.  General Kearny arrests Lt. Col. John C Fremont with plans of court martialing him for mutiny, among other things.  The trial takes place in Washington, where Senator Thomas Hart Benton sits behind his son-in-law; the long break between Benton and his daughter Jessie is at an end.  Fremont is found guilty and ordered dishonorably discharged.  He counts on a Presidential Pardon, which comes but does not absolve him entirely.  He resigns the army and sets out on his 4th expedition.

Kit Carson was unavailable, so Fremont hired Bill Williams (Anthony Zerbe) as guide.  The expedition is a disaster as the men are stranded in the snows of the Rocky Mountains.  Several die of starvation.  When Fremont finally gets to California and reunites with Jessie, he is a rich man.  There is gold on the ranch he purchased.  With this, he financed yet another expedition, his 5th and final one, mapping a path through the Rockies for a railroad.

In 1856, Fremont is the first Republican nominee for the presidency.  Abraham Lincoln (F Murray Abraham) is among the delegates who nominate him.  He loses by a large margin.

1858.  Thomas Hart Benton is on his death bed.  Jessie visits.  Her father agreed that she was right about Fremont all those years ago.  She chose a very fine man.

In 1861, the Civil War has begun and President Lincoln named Fremont to command the Western Department, with a particular interest in preventing Missouri from joining the Confederacy.  In St. Louis, Fremont immediately confronted the rebel sympathizers in the city.  Time to stop treating them with kid gloves.  He went so far as to post a proclamation freeing slaves from rebels.  Lincoln viewed this as a huge overstep on Fremont's part and sent General Hunter (James Cromwell) to replace him.

It 1887, Fremont and his wife live a modest life on Staten Island.  All their wealth was lost on bad investments in the railroads.  They depend upon Jessie's writing to support them.  In a final train journey back to California, they encounter a man and his son.  The man gushes about Fremont and his book enabling his parents to travel west and thus provide him the prosperous life he now has.

The final chapter is a hodgepodge.  Where the first two episodes had a smooth flow with the rise of Fremont (episode 1 covered 4 years or so) and Fremont at War (episode 2 covers 4 years or so), this one covers the rest of his life (40 years). That's a lot of time to cover and it feels rushed.  The disaster of the 4th expedition is fully explored, even dragging at times.  The 5th expedition, which sees the return of Kit Carson, felt rushed by comparison.  The presidential campaign started with Fremont's nomination at the Republican Convention and ended almost the next scene with his defeat.  Next thing you know, it's the Civil War.  None of Fremont's battles are filmed; it is all camp and HQ.  This chapter feels more like a history lecture than an engaging story.

Though I like F Murray Abraham, he is badly cast as Abraham Lincoln.  He is in so much makeup that he almost looks to be wearing an Abe Lincoln mask.  The look is unconvincing to the extent of being distracting.  He lacks the towering stature of Lincoln.  His conversation with Jessie where she chides him for withdrawing Fremont's emancipation proclamation made Lincoln look small.

Overall, the miniseries is good.  It is too lenient on Fremont, but it is telling the story from his point of view.  My reading of the man shows him to be brash and arrogant.  He had a high opinion of himself and was not prone to humility.  Chamberlain's Fremont does not come across as a man who grew up in South Carolina.

Recommended.

Dream West (Part 2)

John Charles Fremont (Richard Chamberlain) finished his expedition by testing a raft on the river.  Loading all the gear and valuable data into inflatable boat, the explores raft back toward civilization.  Unfortunately, they were not ready for the rapids.  Much of the equipment is lost but the records are recovered. Back home, it is now time to write the report, but Fremont finds he has not talent for it.  Jessie (Alice Krige) gladly takes over.  She has a talent for making the report readable.  When the book is published, it proves to be a great success.  During a celebratory dinner, Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft suggested that Fremont should travel to California on his next expedition and be ready for war between the United States and Mexico.  However, no written orders were provided.

With Kit Carson (Rip Torn) at his side, Fremont set out on his 3rd Expedition.  Once in California, his wanderings drew the ire of General Castro.  Fremont was ordered out of the state.  While in Oregon, a Marine Lieutenant, Archibald Gillespie (Johnathan Frakes), arrived.  Fremont needed to get back to California, but there are still no written orders.  Soon, Fremont is nudging American settlers to overthrow the California Government, infuriating John Sutter (Jerry Orbach).  The Bear Flag Republic is born.  Only weeks later, the US Navy raised the US flag over California.  Eager to report the success to Washington, Fremont sent Kit east with dispatches.  On the way, Kit encountered General Stephen Watts Kearny (G D Spradlin) heading toward California with his column of US Dragoons.  Kearny roped Kit into leading the column back to California.  When Kearny arrived in California, he immediately clashed with Fremont.  Fremont declined to follow Kearny's orders; after all, Commodore Robert Stockton was in charge of California.

In Washington, Jessie sought help for her husband.  Bancroft denied any orders for Fremont to topple California.  When she met with President Polk (Noble Willingham), he was equally adamant that no such orders were conveyed.  Unsurprisingly, Kearny placed Fremont under arrest for mutiny and marched him east for an eventual court martial.

This episode gets several things wrong.  Firstly, Lt. Gillespie is killed during an Indian attack.  This came as a real shock when I watched it, as I thought it was going to be fun to have Commander William Riker of Star Trek play second fiddle again.  Nope, he's barely arrived when he is killed.  In truth, Gillespie was second in command of the California Battalion during the conquest.  He survived the war.  Polk is portrayed more like Andrew Jackson.  Polk was quite mild, letting folks convince themselves that he agreed with them by being pleasant.  Here, he denounced Jessie for implying that he sent Fremont to conquer California.  The initial conquest of California saw almost no fighting whereas this has a montage of battles as Fremont leads his men from town to town, guns blazing and cannon firing.  Senator Benton (Fritz Weaver) is still avoiding his daughter more than 5 years after her marriage.  In fact, the ostracism was quite brief, but it is ongoing throughout this chapter.

As with the previous episode, there are numerous historical figures beyond those already mentioned who get cameos: Tom Fitzpatrick, General Jose Castro, Ezekial Merritt, and Sagundai.  For a TV production, it is quite immersive of the period.

Recommended.

Dream West (Part 1)

It is 1839.  John Charles Fremont (Richard Chamberlain) is exploring the land between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.  He is second in command of the expedition.  While exploring, he comes upon a dead family who got lost in the wilderness; a faulty map is among their belongings.  Fremont commits himself to publishing accurate maps to Oregon.

Back in Washington, Fremont is introduced to Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, a strong proponent for westward exploration and expansion.  However, Fremont is more interested in the senator's daughter, Jessie (Alice Krige).  Romance soon follows but Senator Benton does not approve.  Fremont and Jessie marry behind his back, creating a split between father and daughter.

In 1842, Fremont sets out on his first expedition.  Unable to hire Jim Bridger or another well-known guide, he hires Christopher 'Kit' Carson (Rip Torn).  Carson proves to be an outstanding guide and a lifelong friend.  While mapping the Oregon Trail, they happen upon Jim Bridger (Ben Johnson).  Bridger says to go back or take a different route; the local tribe is up in arms.  Fremont will not be dissuaded and rides directly into the Indian camp.

The first episode of a miniseries from 1986, it is headed by Mr. Miniseries himself.  It does an excellent job of painting the era and showing the life of Fremont.  Many historical figures appear, some with little more than a brief cameo (Senator John Crittenden, Jim Bridger, Provost) and others get bigger roles (Maria Crittenden, Stephen Watts Kearny, Edward 'Ned' Kern, Karl Preuss, Joseph 'Papa Joe' Nicollet).  Where many such adaptations use fictional characters around the core of historic ones, this production followed the history.  David Nevin, who wrote the novel, has good attention to detail in his historical stories.

The series combines the first (1842) and second (1843) expeditions into one.  Likewise, the break between Jessie and her father was mended in short order (before Fremont left for his first expedition) while it lasts until the final episode of the miniseries.

This open episode leaves one eager to see the next chapter.  Recommended.

Death Valley Days: Camel Train

It is 1847 as Edward Beale (Stanley Lachman) and Kit Carson (William Reynolds) ride through the southwestern deserts.  It is difficult terrain but Beale claims that camels would be ideal.  He intends to lobby Congress to buy some camels from the Middle East.  Back in Washington, he convinces Senator Jefferson Davis (Harry Fleer), who promises to get funding.  Unfortunately, the rest of Congress is unconvinced.  Years pass.  In 1853, Davis is Secretary of War and is able to push funding for a Camel Corps.  Beale hears the good news from David Dixon Porter (Ed Hinton).  Porter explains how he will go to the Middle East to purchase camels and deliver them to Texas.  After that, it will be up to Beale.  Eventually, the camels arrive and Beale uses them on a trek from Texas to California.  He has high hopes but then the Civil War!  The War Department has no use for a camel corps and wants to cut costs on this unneeded program.

This is a fairly accurate retelling of the Camel Corps.  After California was secured a second time during the Mexican American War, Kit Carson and Ed Beale rode east together as shown.  The role of George Crossman as the chief proponent for camels and the man who likely bent Jeff Davis' ear on the subject is given to Ed Beale.  David Porter did sail to the Levant for camels and landed them at Indianola on the Texas coast.  Hadji Ali was the chief cameleer and was called "Hi Jolly," Beale mapped a new route across the southwestern deserts with the aid of camels.  The Camel Corps was disbanded and the camels sold on account of the Civil War.  Overall, good history to be had.

The story is almost a documentary in style.  Both Beale and Mary, his wife, break the fourth wall and narrate on several occasions.  That was very strange for a half-hour show.  Being only half an hour, there is a lot of compression.  The narration is clearly to pack in more information given the time constraints.  Even so, recommended.

Kearny's March

In 1846, both military forces and civilian wagon trains crossed the Missouri River and set out for the West.  Winston Groom, author of Forest Gump, details the various movements and shows how they formed the American West.

Stephen Watts Kearny was the commander on the western frontier, based in Fort Levenworth.  Father of the American Cavalry, he was ordered by President Polk to march his 300 dragoons, a regiment of mounted Missouri Volunteers, and a battalion of Mormons west and capture Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Once secured, he was to continue on to California and claim it for the United States.  Having captured New Mexico without firing a shot, most likely thanks to bribing the territorial governor, Kearny spent a month in the area to make sure all was well before moving on to California.  At this point, he dispatched the mounted Missouri Volunteers - commanded by Colonel Alexander Doniphan - to make his way south for the planned rendezvous with General Wool and his army at Chihuahua.  Kearny would take his dragoons directly to California while Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke would build a road to California with the Mormon Battalion.  Kearny had hardly begun when he met Kit Carson, who was returning from California.  The state was already conquered!

Kit Carson had set out for California in 1845 with John C. Fremont the Pathfinder.  Fremont had a force of 60 heavily armed men who had been traipsing through California.  Even though he could not have known the war had begun, he aided local American settlers in the Bear Flag Revolt.  With the help of the US Navy, the state was captured in short order.  Fremont had enlisted the California Brigade of 300 men and worked hand in glove with Commodore Stockton.  Fremont had sent Kit Carson with the news.  When Kearny arrived, Fremont - who was part of the army - chose to follow Stockton's orders rather than those of an army general.  This did not end well for him and led to his court martial.

Meanwhile, Doniphan and his Missourians headed down the Rio Grande and, north of El Paso, had a battle with a Mexican Army.  Despite their unkempt appearance and lax discipline, they soundly trounced their opponents.  Doniphan waited in El Paso for news from General Wool, eventually learning that he had been redirected to Saltillo to fortify General Taylor's position.  Though it was never intended that the volunteer regiment would act alone against Chihuahua, Doniphan boldly struck into the desert to capture the city.  At the end of February 1847, Doniphan attacked a much larger Mexican Army, where his ragamuffin army once again trounced the Mexicans.

The Mormons had had a difficult time in the American Midwest.  Bounced from state to state on account of growing discrimination, the Mormons finally fled west with plans of leaving the United States altogether.  They were camped on the banks of the Missouri River.  As chance would have it, President Polk requested that the Mormons raise a battalion from their ranks and join the war.  Brigham Young saw this as an income stream and a way to get many of the Saints beyond the intolerance of the Midwest.  Soon, 500 Mormons were enlisted at Fort Levenworth and marched to New Mexico.  Too slow to keep pace with Kearny, they also had to take an alternative route to accommodate their wagons.  On the way, the Mormon Battalion fought wild bulls and captured Tucson.

Leaving from Independence, MO, the Donner-Reed Party joined a large wagon train on the Oregon Trail.  However, they had California in mind and left the larger train to take the untried Hastings Cutoff which was said to save 300 miles.  Of course, the route was impractical for wagons.  They tried to race through the pass before the snows arrived but instead got trapped when snows arrived before they were through.  With nowhere near enough food to survive winter in the mountains, starvation and cannibalism followed.  In the spring, after the survivors were rescued, General Kearny went through the pass and saw the carnage.

Where most of the books that cover the Mexican-American War focus on the campaigns of Taylor and Scott, this one is almost exclusively concerned with the western theater of the war, though there is a chapter detailing the Battle of Monterrey, which was part of Taylor's Campaign in Northern Mexico.  Here is an outstanding account of the various westward movements that took place in 1846 and 1847, opening the American West to a flood of immigrants.

Highly recommended.

The Journal of Lt. John McHenry Hollingsworth

John McHenry Hollingsworth joined the First New York Volunteers in August of 1846 in response to the call for troops in the Mexican War.  The New York Volunteers were dispatched to California, by sea!  Setting sail in September, the regiment did not arrive in San Francisco until April of 1847.  By then, all the fighting in California was done.  So it was that Hollingsworth found himself in garrison duty in Los Angeles until he was mustered out of the service in September 1848.  Before setting sail, every man knew it was a one-way trip; return expenses would be on them.  As such, the near penniless Hollingsworth and many of his fellows set out for the Gold Rush!  Sadly, a year of effort gained him nothing and he returned to the east coast.

The first half of the journal concerns his time aboard the Susan Drew.  Hollingsworth did not like sailing and found the voyage dreary; he was prone to sea sickness.  He offered considerable details to the stops in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and also Valparaiso, Chile.  During the trip, he had the opportunity to taste porpoise and shark, neither of which he liked.  Also of note, the troops spent much of the voyage in some state of mutiny.  He doesn't go into much detail other than to describe it as mutiny.  During the rare stop at port, the men were soon drunk.

The next quarter of the journal details Hollingsworth's time as a soldier in California.  Surprisingly, many of his entries concern fandangos, parties, and balls.  He details several women he courted or met, showing considerable interest in a couple.  His military service was uneventful, a mix of paperwork, guard duty, service on courts martial, and surveys of the surroundings.  Though some rumors of a Mexican Army or a California uprising reach him, nothing comes of them.

The final quarter covers his traveling to the Gold Rush with his comrades.  This is mostly a series of misfortunes that left him no richer than when he started.  After a year of seeking his fortune, he opted to return home.  Of course, his closing thoughts are that he had partaken in a great achievement, having been in California as it dramatically transformed from a sleepy Mexican province to a vibrant American territory.  Despite his failure to enrich himself, he did win the admiration of those around him.  He was elected to transport the new California constitution to Washington DC.

I was drawn to the journal as it concerned a volunteer during the Mexican-American War, but Hollingsworth missed the war.  The war in California was over when he arrived.  His efforts at courting the ladies of California never resulted in a wife, so he missed there too.  Lastly, despite heading to the gold fields in 1848 and beating the Gold Rush of 1849, he missed out here too.  The most interesting bits of his adventure were when he spent time with Kit Carson and chatted with General Kearny, two men who were participants rather than observers.

Just okay.

Death Valley Days: Spring Rendezvous

With a horse full of fur from his time in the mountains, Kit Carson (James MacArthur) is headed to the Rendezvous at Green River in Wyoming.  He has decided he needs a wife and he knows just the one: Waa-Nibe (Brioni Farrell) of the Arapaho.  However, there is a Frenchman who also has eyes for Waa-Nibe.  Shugar is a giant of a man who is regularly seen trouncing other trappers with little difficulty.  By contrast, Kit is a smallish man, even called Little Man by the Arapaho.  Kit challenges Shugar and the pair mount horses at 200 paces and carry rifles.  Kit's crack shooting wins the day and he marries Waa-Nibe.

Though I cannot speak to the particulars, the gist is entirely true.  In 1836, Kit Carson attending the annual Rendezvous.  The Rendezvous was an opportunity for fur trading companies to purchase all the furs that the mountain men had collected since the previous year.  It was the annual county fair for those living in the wilderness.  Joseph Chouinard (Shugar in the show) was known as the Great Bully of the Mountains, threatening to beat Americans as he had beaten his fellow Frenchmen.  Kit Carson replied with threats of his own and the duel was on.  Though both are shown with rifles in the episode, Carson more likely had a horse pistol.  The two men were on horseback and practically face to face when they shot at each other.  Carson was a split second faster, shooting the Frenchman's hand and ruining his aim.  Even so, Carson had a slice under his right ear and powder burns on his face from the near miss.

Kit Carson was 27 at the time and Waa-Nibe was the first of his three wives.  She died shortly after their second daughter was born in 1841.  Though it was funny to see Hawaii Five-O's Danno as Kit Carson, the episode was an entertaining and reasonably accurate peak into the life and times of a mountain man.

Death Valley Days: Kit Carson

Death Valley Days went off the air when I was 3 so I missed out on this show. I've heard about it and have watched a couple episodes over the years. I just finished watching one that drew my interest: Samaritans, Mountain Style.  The tale opens somewhere in the West in 1843 or 1844, during the Second Expedition of John C. Fremont (Dick Simmons).  Kit Carson (Phillip Pine) and Frenchy Godey (Michael Pate) are playing pranks on the hapless William Gilpin (Don Keefer).  Gilpin has a low opinion of these rough mountain men, but Fremont says they are necessary for the success of the expedition.  Later, a Mexican man and his son arrive, having just survived an Indian attack which cost them many relatives and a herd of horses.  Gilpin urges Fremont to take action but he declines, stating that his job is to blaze a trail to Oregon, not risk the expedition on fighting Indians.  On their own, Carson and Godey locate the missing horses and snatch them from the Indians.  Gilpin is quite impressed and changes his opinion of mountain men.

It is a simple tale and even true.  Carson and Godey did retrieve horses for a Mexican during the expedition.  Generally, quite enjoyable.  However, the casting is a bit of a problem.  34 year-old Kit Carson is portrayed by 46 year-old Pine.  Godey was only 25 but Pate is 46.  Gilpin was 30 while Keefer is 50.  Lastly, Fremont was only 30 but is portrayed by a 53 year-old Simmons.  Though probably not a problem for most viewers, this took me out of the story repeatedly.  Also, this expedition had around 50 men who brought along a canon.  As shown, Fremont has fewer than 10 men in the expedition.  Changes have been made for budgetary reasons and casting must have depended on the stock of regular actors for the series.

Entertaining and even mildly educational.

Kit Carson (1940)

Kit Carson (Jon Hull) and his band of trappers are coming down from the mountains to return to civilization and sell their furs when they are set upon by a band of Shoshone.  Worse still, these Shoshone are armed with rifles!  Most of Kit's party was killed but he and two others escaped.  Arriving at Fort Bridger, they are offered a job by Capt. John Fremont (Dana Andrews), who is seeking a trail to California.  Moreover, Fremont is escorting a wagon train funded by Dolores Murphy (Lynn Bari), who hails from Monterey, California.  Though Carson refuses Fremont's job offer, he reluctantly accepts Murphy's, mostly because he expects she will get scalped if he doesn't.

In California, General Castro has been arming the Shoshone with specific purpose of killing migrants.  He sends one of his underlings to make sure that Fremont and the wagon train are wiped out before crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Back in the wagon train, John is fallen in love with Dolores but Dolores has fallen in love with Kit.  The love triangle must be put on hold in order for Kit to save everyone from a concerted assault by rifle-armed Shoshone.  When the party arrives safely at the Murphy Hacienda, Kit decides it is time to leave.  Such plans are ruined when he comes upon a Mexican wagon train of weapons and gunpowder.  It turns out that Castro is going to wipe out all the American settlers.  Kit warns the American settlers and they reply by establishing the California Republic and raising the Bear Flag.  Carson and Fremont arrange for a battle with General Castro.  Of course, they defeat him.  Kit kisses Dolores and heads south with Fremont toward Los Angeles to join US forces there in the Mexican American War.

Of note, Ward Bond - a character actor who was ubiquitous in the 40s and 50s - played an Australian with an American accent but he did have a boomerang.  Clayton Moore, who would go on to play the Lone Ranger in the long running TV series, appears as the leader of the wagon train.

Though a fun film, it is wildly inaccurate.  Jim Bridger was only 5 years older than Carson but he is played by 53 year-old Raymond Hatton to the 25 year-old Jon Hall.  Huh.  Carson was only 5'6" but is portrayed by 6'1" Hall.  Huh.  Carson and Fremont's first expedition in 1842 never went to California.  Their second one, in 1843, did.  It was their third expedition in 1845 that coincided with the Mexican-American War and the Bear Flag Revolt.  Jose Castro was the commanding general of Alta California during the war but never engaged in a battle.  In 1840, Fremont married Jessie Benton, daughter of the powerful Senator Thomas Hart Benton, and was therefore unlikely to propose marriage to a woman on her way to California.  Likewise, Carson had married Josefa Jaramillo in 1843, with whom he had 8 children.  The romance angle of the movie is out of place.

Popcorn fun but terrible history.