General Fremont Nylon Flag
$64.95
General Fremont Nylon Flag – The Fremont Flag, designed and made by Jessie Benton Fremont, 1841. General John Charles Fremont, also referred to as the “Pathfinder”, first unfurled the Fremont flag on the crest of the Rocky Mountains on his First Expedition westward into United States territory on August 15, 1842.
About Our General Fremont Nylon Flag
Knowing he would enter territories beyond national boundaries, Fremont realized he could not carry the Stars and Stripes. His bride, Jessie Benton Fremont, solved the problem by designing and making a flag that incorporated elements of the national flag, with a distinctive motif (the eagle's talon holds a peace pipe or "calumet" instead of the traditional olive branch) intended as a message of peace to the Native people. In his memories, Fremont wrote he flew the flag on "Snow Peak", now known as Fremont Peak in present day Wyoming, and "unfurled the national flag to wave in the breeze where never a flag had waved before." On returning from his expedition, Fremont gave the flag to his wife, who backed it with a piece of her lilac silk wedding dress and embroidered upon it, in gold, the words "Rocky Mountains, 1841"--the year the expedition set forth. The flag was later said to be carried and used on Fremont's Third Expedition in 1845-1846, an expedition that historians remark as a turning point in California history. The flag was donated to the Southwest Museum by Fremont's daughter, Elizabeth, on May 3, 1905 and which she later rose on the day of the Museum's groundbreaking in 1912. It is unknown if this is the flag Fremont flew in California.
