Disunion: General Frémont’s ‘She-Merrimac’

Those who knew Jessie Benton Frémont found nothing surprising in her confrontation with the president. No stranger to Washington, the daughter of five-term Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton had grown up in the capital, where her father introduced her to the leading politicians of the day and ensured that she received an education far more extensive than most women of her era.

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