Zebulon Pike

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The career of Zebulon Pike (1779-1813), American soldier and explorer, was dominated by ambiguously motivated explorations of the American West. During one of these he unsuccessfully tried to climb the Colorado mountain named for him, Pike's Peak.

Zebulon Pike was the son of a U.S. Army major of the same name. Zebulon was born on Jan. 5, 1779, in Lamberton (now Trenton), N.J. He entered his father's company as a cadet and was commissioned a first lieutenant when he was 20 years old. He served on the frontier with the Army but made no particular mark until Gen. James Wilkinson chose him to lead an expedition to find the source of the Mississippi River.

Pike left St. Louis, Mo., on Aug. 9, 1805, in a keelboat. He got 100 miles above the Falls of St. Anthony in Minnesota before winter closed in on his 20-man party. He took a few men onward, hauling supplies on sleds, and decided that Lake Leech was the source of the mighty Mississippi. He was wrong; Lake Itasca is the actual source. Wilkinson may not have cared where the true source lay. There were rumors that Wilkinson was using Pike to test British reaction to American invasion of the fur-trapping country. Even more likely was the story that the expedition was a dry run to test Pike for a venture closer to Wilkinson's heart.

Returning to St. Louis, Pike was sent out again on this pet expedition of the wily Wilkinson. Ostensibly, Pike was to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers and to "approximate" the settlements of New Mexico. Perhaps no one will ever know exactly what was in Wilkinson's mind, but the American general, who was a paid secret agent of Spain, was not above double-crossing the Spanish. If Pike had questions, he was too good and obedient an officer to balk at the orders of his general. He set out on April 30, 1806, mindful of Wilkinson's impossible admonition not to give alarm or offense to the Spaniards. He knew that relations between the United States and Spain on their common frontier had never been good, but especially so since the expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1804-1806.

While Pike was making his preparations in St. Louis, Spanish spies in the United States were rushing word of the proposed march to Chihuahua, Mexico, where Don Nemesio Salcedo y Salcedo maintained his headquarters as commander in chief of the northern provinces of New Spain. The general ordered a force of cavalry under Lt. Don Facundo Melgares to move north out of Santa Fe, pick up Native American allies, and stop Pike.

Pike moved from the Pawnee Indian villages on the Republican River to the area of modern Pueblo, Col., and tried - unsuccessfully - to climb Pike's Peak. He then explored South Park and the head of the Arkansas River in the Rocky Mountains before turning southward in search of the source of the Red River, as ordered. Crossing the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Pike halted on the Conejos fork of the Rio Grande and built a fort of cottonwood logs. This was intended as a defense against Native Americans, not Spaniards, according to Pike. Melgares did not find Pike in the great open spaces of the High Plains, but another Spanish detachment did. They came up to Pike's stockade and invited him to visit Santa Fe with them. Pike told them that he thought he was on the Red River, not the Rio Grande, but accepted the "invitation" and went to Santa Fe; here Melgares took over, escorting him to Chihuahua.

If he was indeed a prisoner, Pike was treated very well by the Spaniards. However, they confiscated most of his papers. (He managed to conceal some notes in his men's rifle barrels.) Finally, after a year's absence, he was returned to the United States at Natchitoches, La., by a Spanish escort.

Pike's name was now linked with Wilkinson's, and the young explorer had to protest his innocence directly to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn. The latter absolved him of all complicity in any plot against Spaniards or anyone else. Though the information that Pike brought back on the western plains region and the Rocky Mountains was useful, it pales when contrasted with the rich and detailed journals of Lewis and Clark.

Resuming his military career, Pike became a major in 1808 and a colonel in 1812. After the outbreak of the War of 1812 he was promoted to brigadier general (1813) and took command of the troops attacking York (now Toronto), Canada. In the assault he personally led his men to victory. Rifle fire and shore batteries were keeping off the landing of the American troops at York when he personally took command, telling one of his aides: "By God, I can't stand here any longer. Come on, jump into my boat." He then led the assault on the heavily defended town. The British withdrew but they deliberately exploded their powder magazine. Forty of their own men were killed in the blast along with 52 Americans. Another 180 U.S. soldiers lay wounded, among them Gen. Zebulon Pike. He was in terrible pain from a piece of stone which had broken his spine. Moved to a boat and then to the flagship Madison, he lived long enough, in agony, to hear the cheers of his victorious men and to have a captured British flag placed under his head as a pillow. He died on April 27, 1813.

Pike's An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi. … (1810), though clumsily put together for the press, managed to capture the imagination of a large segment of the American public which was curious about the West. Later editions proved to be more dependable and less chaotic. It is as difficult to judge Pike the writer as Pike the explorer, for he apparently was intent on putting things in the best light. Thus his account is not as honest a work as Lewis and Clark's journals. Still, Pike was a dedicated American soldier and a patriot.

Further Reading

Pike's career has attracted the attention of many historians of the West, and there is no shortage of books and articles about his expeditions. The most scholarly biography is W. Eugene Hollon, The Lost Pathfinder: Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1949). Less scholarly is John Upton Terrell, Zebulon Pike (1968). An excellent edition of Pike's travel accounts is Donald Jackson, ed., The Journals of Zebulon M. Pike, with Letters and Related Documents (1966).

Zebulon Pike
Zabulon Pike Jr. (1779 - 1813)
Born	January 5, 1778 Lamberton, New Jersey
Died	April 27, 1813 (aged 35) Sackets Harbor, New York
Nationality	American
Occupation	General, Explorer
Spouse(s)	Clarissa Harlow Brown
Children	Clarissa Brown Pike

Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. (January 5, 1778 – April 27, 1813) was an American soldier and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. His Pike expedition, often compared to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, mapped much of the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Southwest expedition 3 Subsequent military duty 4 Journals 5 Named for Zebulon Pike 6 Ancestry and family 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Early life

Pike was born in Lamberton, New Jersey, now a part of Trenton.^[1][2] His father, also named Zebulon Pike, was an officer in the Continental Army under General George Washington and served in the United States Army after the end of the Revolutionary War. The younger Pike grew to adulthood in a series of Midwestern outposts — the frontier of the United States at the time — in Ohio and Illinois. He joined his father's regiment as a cadet in 1794, earned a commission as ensign in 1799 and a first lieutenancy later that ya;lskdf married Clarissa Harlow Brown in 1801 and continued his military career in logistics and payroll at a series of frontier posts. His career was taken up by General James Wilkinson, who had been appointed Governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory. In 1805, Wilkinson ordered Pike to find the source of the Mississippi River.

Southwest expedition

Nearly immediately upon his return Pike was ordered out once again to lead an exploratory expedition to find the headwaters of the Arkansas River and Red River. Near St. Louis on July 15, 1806, Pike led what is now known as "the Pike expedition" from Fort Bellefontaine to explore the southwest.

Calhoun never successfully reached the summit of the famous peak that bears his name. He attempted it in November 1806, made it as far as Mt. Rosa to the southeast of Pikes Peak, and gave up the ascent in waist-deep snow after having gone almost two days without food.

This journey, which he is most remembered for, ended with his capture on February 26, 1807 by Spanish authorities in northern New Mexico, now part of Colorado. Pike and his men were taken to Santa Fe, then to Chihuahua where he appeared before the Commandant General Salcedo. Salcedo housed Pike with Juan Pedro Walker, a cartographer, who also acted as an interpreter and as a transcriber/translator for Pike's confiscated documents. It was while with Walker that Pike had access to various maps of the southwest and learned of Mexican discontent with Spanish rule. Pike and his men were released, under protest, to the United States at the Louisiana border on July 1, 1807.

Subsequent military duty

Pike was promoted to captain without his knowledge while on the southwestern expedition. In 1811, he was listed as Lt. Col. Zebulon M. Pike with the 4th Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Tippecanoe. He was promoted to colonel in 1812. He continued his role as a military functionary, serving as deputy quartermaster-general in New Orleans and inspector-general during the War of 1812.

Pike was promoted to brigadier general in 1813.^[1] Along with General Jacob Brown, Pike departed from a rural military outpost, Sackets Harbor, on the New York shore of Lake Ontario, for his last military campaign. On this expedition, Pike commanded combat troops in the successful attack on York, (now Toronto) on April 27, 1813. Pike was killed by flying rocks and other debris when the retreating British garrison blew up its ammunition without warning as the town's surrender negotiations were going on. His body was brought by ship back to Sackets Harbor, where his remains were buried.

Journals

Although his actual journals were confiscated by the Spanish authorities, and not recovered from Mexico until the 1900s, Pike's account of his southwest expedition was published in 1810 as The expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike to headwaters of the Mississippi River, through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, during the years 1805-6-7^[3] and later published in French, German, and Dutch. His account became required reading for all American explorers that followed him in the 19th century. Pike's account had a dramatic effect on the exploration of the southwest. He described the politics in Chihuahua that led to the Mexican independence movement, as well as the trade conditions in New Mexico and Chihuahua, which descriptions helped promote the development of the Santa Fe Trail.^{[citation needed]}

Named for Zebulon Pike

• Pikesville, Maryland
• Pike County, Alabama
• Pike County, Arkansas
• Pike County, Illinois
• Pike County, Kentucky
• Pike County, Mississippi
• Pike County, Missouri
• Pike County, Indiana
• Pike County, Ohio
• Pike County, Pennsylvania
• Pike County, Georgia and its county seat Zebulon
• USS General Pike
• Fort Pike
• Pikes Peak
• Pike National Forest
• Pikes Peak (Iowa)
• Piketon, Ohio
• Pikeville, Kentucky
• Pike Island in Fort Snelling State Park, Minnesota
• Pike Creek Township in Morrison County, Minnesota
• Pike Township, Marion County, Indiana
• Pike Trail League, Kansas high school activities league
• Pike Valley School District, Kansas School District, U.S.D. 426

Ancestry and family

Pike is descended from John Pike, an early immigrant settler and founder of Woodbridge, New Jersey.

Zebulon married Clarissa Harlow Brown in 1801. Their daughter Clarissa Brown Pike married John Cleves Symmes Harrison, a son of President William Henry Harrison. Zebulon died without a son to carry on his family name, so there are no Pikes who are direct descendants. However there is an active DNA effort to document relatives and there are a large number of Pikes that are related to Zebulon.[1] He is also a relative of Albert Pike, a Confederate brigadier general and a prominent Freemason.

See also

• Pike Expedition
• Pikes Peak

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Valkenburg, Samuel Van (1976). "Pike, Zebulon Montgomery". in William D. Halsey. Collier's Encyclopedia. 19. New York: Macmillan Educational Corporation. p. 46. 
2. ^ Baldwin, Tom. "Where did Pike peak? Colo. explorer got start in New Jersey", Courier-Post, August 25, 2008. Accessed September 19, 2008. "Nineteenth century Jersey explorer Zebulon Pike was born in Lamberton, now a part of south Trenton, but gave his name to Colorado's 14,000-foot Pikes Peak."
3. ^ Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1965), Elliott Coues, ed., The expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike to headwaters of the Mississippi River, through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, during the years 1805-6-7, Ross & Haines, 1895, http://books.google.com/books?id=XrMlAAAAMAAJ 

• Hollon, W. Eugene (1949) The lost pathfinder, Zebulon Montgomery Pike Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

• Works by Zebulon Pike at Internet Archive.
• National Park Service biography
• Battle of Tippecanoe
• "Butler County connections to the Mexican War" Hamilton Journal-News Hamilton, Ohio
• Pike's Explorations - related to Pike's journey to find the source of the Mississippi River and the building of his fort in what is now Morrison County, Minnesota
• Pike's Menagerie - the animals Pike and his men encountered in central Minnesota
• Was Pike a Failure? - an examination of the often-heard critique of Pike's Mississippi River expedition
• Zebulon Pike and the Blue Mountain - award winning film produced with the help of Pike Historian W. Eugene Hollon, the U.S. Army, the Smithsonian and the National Archives about the explorer's time in what is now Colorado
• Pike Surname DNA Project

Military offices
Preceded by Thomas H. Cushing	Adjutant Generals of the U. S. Army March 12, 1813-April 27, 1813	Succeeded by vacant
Preceded by Alexander Smyth	Inspector General of the U. S. Army March 12, 1813-April 27, 1813	Succeeded by vacant

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