=France=, aids Americans, 139; discoverers and explorers of, 49-53; missionaries of, 53, 106-114. =Franciscan friars=, 300-302. =Franklin, Benjamin=, 124, 147-157; early life of, 147-151; portrait of, 148; in London, 150; editor of _Pennsylvania Gazette_ in Philadelphia, 151; founds three great institutions, 151; invents stove, 151; forms first fire department in America, 151; author of _Poor Richard's Almanac_, 151-152; clerk of Pennsylvania Assembly, 152; postmaster-general, 152; plans union of colonies, 153; becomes famed as scientist, 153; experiments with electricity, 153; sent to England to defend colonies, 154; appointed to help write Declaration of Independence, 155, 232; secures French aid for America, 155; helps make treaty of peace, 155; helps make and signs Constitution, 156, 157; death, 157. =Franks=, 479. =Fraunces' Tavern=, 140. =Frederica=, 103. =Fredericksburg=, battle of, 346. =Fremont, John C.=, 283-290; early life of, 284; goes to South America, 284; becomes a civil engineer, 284; loves the wild life, 284; portrait of, 285; marries Jessie Benton, 285; receives permission to explore South Pass, 285; unfurls Stars and Stripes from summit of Fremonts Peak, 285; seeks a more southerly route to Oregon and California, 285; reaches Great Salt Lake, 286; goes to Fort Vancouver, 286; makes a circuit of the Great Basin and crosses mountains to California, 287; third expedition of, 288; in Mexican War, 288-289; elected to United States Senate, 289; fifth expedition of, 289; first Republican candidate for president, 289; major general in Civil War, 290; governor of Arizona, 290; death, 290. =Fremonts Peak=, 285. =French=, in North America, 49-53, 106-113. =French allies=, in Revolutionary War, 139. =French and Indian War=, 114, 121, 126, 130. =French in Canada=, 121. =Friends=, _see_ Quakers. ="Friendship," The=, 194. =Frontenac, Count=, sends Joliet and Marquette to find Mississippi, 53; sends La Salle and Hennepin, 106; "children of," 111. =Frontenac, Fort=, 106, 107, 111. =Fruit growing=, 375. =Fugitive Slave Law=, 407. =Fulton, Robert=, 257-264, 395; portrait of, 258; starts life as portrait painter, 258; meets James Watt, 258; becomes interested in driving power of steam, 258; makes trial steamboat in France, 258; builds the _Clermont_, 259; wonderful success of invention of, 260, 261; death, 261; and the invention of the submarine, 395. =Fur traders=, 56-58 106-107, 243-244. =Gadsden, Christopher=, 173. =Gage, General=, 130, 131, 183. =Galena=, 332. =Galveston flood=, Red Cross relieves suffering caused by the, 411. =Gama, Vasco da=, _see_ Da Gama, Vasco. =Garfield, James J.=, 345-347; portrait of, 345. =Gates, General=, 182.