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rifle. Frémont soon saw three riders on horseback approaching at full gallop.
• "They did not slacken their pace until they came directly up against me, when the foremost touched me. It was Louison Freniere (a guide accompanying the expedition.) A reward had been promised by Mr. Nicollet to the first who should touch me and Louison won it. And this was the end of my first buffalo hunt," Frémont wrote.
• A historic marker about 15 miles east of Pierre, off SD Highway 34, states that in 1839 the nearby river was called Medicine Knoll River by Nicollet and Frémont, "who held a 4^th of July pyrotechnic display on the Medicine Knoll 12 miles up the creek."
• Frémont, 1813-1890, was an explorer, soldier and political leader.
• He led many surveying expeditions in what is now the western United States. He was dubbed "The Pathfinder" by the tabloid-style newspapers of the day. Frémont's reports touched off a wave of interest in the West. Under Frémont's influence, American settlers in California revolted against Mexican authorities.
• Frémont became the first Republican candidate for president of the United States. He was married to one of the most desirable women of the time - Jessie Benton, the daughter of powerful U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. The discovery of gold on Frémont's property in California made him rich.
• But if Frémont knew the peaks of glory, he also knew the valleys of despair. He was court-martialed, relieved of his command in the Civil War, and lived much of his later years in poverty.
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• This moment in South Dakota history is provided by the South Dakota Historical Society Foundation, the nonprofit fundraising partner of the South Dakota State Historical Society. Find us on the web at www.sdhsf.org