Materials relating to General John C. Frémont and the conquest of California, 1885 | WorldCat.org (original) (raw)

Summary:Negative photocopies of two letters and one book chapter relating to Josiah Royce's work on General John C. Frémont and the conquest of California. The first letter, written from Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 14, 1885, is addressed to Frémont's wife, Jessie B. Fremont. In the letter, Royce presents himself as an "historical student" who is conducting an "investigation of the problems of the Conquest of California." He writes extensively of a confidential government mission given to American merchant Thomas O. Larkin in 1845, and which was supposed to persuade residents of California to turn against England and Mexico and attach themselves to the United States, either peacefully or by force. Royce quotes an interview he had with Frémont in which the General denied knowledge of Larkin being made a secret agent. Royce urges Mrs. Frémont to make any knowledge General Fremont had about Larkin known publicly, because he felt that "my book would do harm and not good to General Frémont's renown." The letter is labeled "copy of my letter of inquiry to Mrs. Frémont."