Biography of zebulon montgomery pike inge

American general and explorer (–)

Zebulon Pike
Portrait by Charles Willson Peale,
Born	Zebulon Montgomery Pike ()January 5, Lamington, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	April 27, () (aged&#;34) York, Upper Canada(now Toronto, Ontario)
Cause&#;of death	Killed in action
Resting place	Military Cemetery, Sackets&#;Harbor, New York
Occupations
Spouse	Clarissa Harlow Brown &#; &#; (m.&#;)&#;
Children	5
Relatives	Emory Jenison Pike (great nephew)

Zebulon Montgomery Pike (January 5, – April 27, ) was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named.

As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions through the Louisiana Purchase territory, first in – to reconnoiter the upper northern reaches of the Mississippi River, and then in – to explore the southwest to the fringes of the northern Spanish-colonial settlements of Novel Mexico and Texas.

Pike's expeditions coincided with other Jeffersonian expeditions, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the Red River Expedition in ^[1]

Pike's second expedition crossed the Rocky Mountains into what is now southern Colorado, which led to his capture by the Spanish colonial authorities near Santa Fe, who sent Pike and his men to Chihuahua (present-day Mexico) for interrogation.

Later in , Pike and some of his men were escorted by the Spanish through Texas and released near American territory in Louisiana.

In , Pike published an account of his expeditions, a book so popular that it was translated into several languages for publication in Europe.

He later achieved the rank of brigadier general in the American Army and served during the War of until he was killed during the Battle of York in April , outside the British colonial capital of Upper Canada.

Early and family life

Early animation and education

Pike was born on January 5, , in Lamington, New Jersey.^[2][3][4] He was the son of Isabella (Brown) and Zebulon Pike, and followed in the footsteps of his father, who had begun his retain career in the military service of the United States in at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.

Through his father, he was a conduct descendant of Robert Pike, who was famous being an opponent of the Salem witchcraft prosecutions of ^[5]

Zebulon Pike Jr. grew to adulthood with his family at a series of outposts in Ohio and Illinois—the Merged States' northwestern frontier at the time.

He was commissioned as a second lieutenant of infantry in and promoted to first lieutenant later that same year.

Marriage and family

Pike married his cousin Clarissa Harlow Brown in ^[6] They had one kid who survived to adulthood, Clarissa Brown Pike, who later married President William Henry Harrison's son, John Cleves Symmes Harrison.

They had four other children who died before reaching adulthood.^[7]

Military career

Pike's military career included working on logistics and payroll at a series of frontier posts, including Fort Belle Fontaine near today's St.

Louis. General-in-ChiefJames Wilkinson (), of the United States Army was appointed by third President Thomas Jefferson (, served ), as first Governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory and headquartered there, becaming young Pike's mentor.

In , Pike shadowed the expedition of General Georges Henri Victor Collot (), a Royal, then Imperial French Army officer who had been tasked to tour the Mississippi frontier and draw maps that France might use if it were to try and seize the lightly settled heartland territory of the Mississippi River valley basin from the nascent United States further to the East.^[8]

First expedition

In the summer of , General-in-Chief James Wilkinson ordered young Lt.

Pike to locate the northern root of the Mississippi River, scout the northern portion of the newly created and beginning to organize the Louisiana Territory, and expel any British / Canadian roving fur traders illegally trading within the new western borders of the expanded United States.

Pike left St. Louis on August 9, , proceeding upstream by pirogue.

From General Zachary Taylor letters.∼Zebulon Montgomery Pike Inge, son of Richard Inge, a Revolutionary War soldier, and Mary Sturdivant Inge. Born Granville County, North Carolina Died 9 May at the Battle of La Resaca De La Palma, Mexico (present-day Brownsville, Texas).

He and his crew reached the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers on September 21, where he negotiated a Treaty of St. Peters agreement with the native Dakota Indians, purchasing the future site of Fort Snelling. The expedition proceeded further upriver, stopping to construct a winter camp at the mouth of the Swan River, south of present-day Little Falls, Minnesota, on October On December 10, they continued upstream along the frozen river on foot, visiting several British North West Company fur posts along the way.

They reached the fur post at Leech Lake on February 1 and stayed nearly three weeks. Pike informed the traders they were within the new boundaries of the United States and henceforth required to abide by its American laws and regulations.

Pike met with many prominent Ojibwe chiefs, prevailing on them to surrender the medals and flags given to them as tokens of allegiance by the British and offering American tranquility medals. He also relayed the new United States' desire that the Ojibwe and Dakota cease their mutual hostility and invited the chiefs to attend a peace conference back in St.

Louis (all declined the invitation to travel through several hundred miles of hostile territory). On February 10, they ceremonially shot the British red ensign flag from the fur company's flag pole, replacing it with a fifteen stars and fifteen stripes Star-Spangled Banner American flag.

On a short side trip (February 12 to 14), Pike traveled to the North West Business fur post on Upper Red Cedar Lake (later renamed Cass Lake), designating the lake as the upper source of the Mississippi and taking celestial observations / calculations to determine its latitude.

Pike and his men left Leech Lake on February 18, carrying diplomatic tokens from the Ojibwe chiefs to submit to the Dakota chiefs as a gesture of reconciliation, arriving at their winter encampment on March 5. They re-embarked in their pirogues for the downriver journey on April 7, reaching St.

Louis on April Pike's was the second expedition besides earlier Lewis and Clark, dispatched by the U.S. government into its new western territories, and the first to return.

Second expedition

After Lieutenant Pike returned from this first expedition, General Wilkinson almost immediately ordered him to mount a second expedition, this time to the Southwest to explore, map, and find the headwaters of the Arkansas River and parallel Red River of the South upstream from the lower Mississippi River.

Additional objectives of this exploratory expedition into the southwestern part of the new Louisiana Territory were to evaluate natural resources and prove friendly relations with Native Americans. It is commonly said that his expedition was an guiltless exploration of the West, but that is not the case.

This was a mission to prepare for a possible American invasion of the neighboring Royal Spanish provinces of New Mexico and Texas over the disputed southwest border from France's sale of the Louisiana Purchase of ^[9] Beginning July 15, , Pike led what became famous as the "Pike Expedition".

In early November , Pike and his team sighted and tried to climb to the summit of the peak later named after him (Pikes Peak). They made it as far as Mt. Rosa, located southeast of Pikes Peak, before giving up the ascent in waist-deep snow.

They had already gone almost two days without food.^[10]

They then continued south, searching for the Red River of the South's headwaters, and built a fort for shelter during the winter. However, they had crossed the border, whether through confusion or deliberation.

Royal Spanish authorities captured Pike and some of his party on February 26,

Pike and his men were taken to the old colonial capital of Santa Fe of the Royal Spanish province of Brand-new Mexico and on further south to the Chihuahua City capital of Chihuahua province, and presented to Commandant General Salcedo, who was governor of the state.^[11] Pike was treated well and invited to formal social dinners but still not quite given the treatment of a visiting diplomatic dignitary, and his men were kept prisoner.

Salcedo housed Pike with Juan Pedro Walker, a cartographer who also acted as an interpreter. Walker transcribed and translated Pike's confiscated documents, including his journal. Spanish authorities feared the spread of both their democracy and Protestant Christian sects that might undermine their rule.

During this time, Pike had access to various maps of the southwest and Novel Spain, and especially learned about colonial Mexico's increasing discontentment with Royal Spanish rule. Spain filed official protests with the Together States about Pike's exploring expedition, but since the nations were not at war (and the Kingdom of Spain was resisting against Napoleon Bonaparte's younger brother, who was put in place to rule Spain and was also fighting Great Britain in the Peninsular War), Commandant Salcedo released the American military men.

The Spanish escorted Pike and most of his men endorse north, releasing them at the Louisiana border on July 1,

War of

Pike was promoted to the rank of captain during the southwestern expedition. In , Pike fought with the 4th Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Tippecanoe under General (and future ninth President) William Henry Harrison ().

He was promoted to colonel of the 15th Infantry Regiment in July Pike's military career also included service as deputy quartermaster-general in New Orleans and inspector general during the later part of the War of ().

Pike commanded the advance guard of an American force which was defeated—primarily because of the needy planning and half-hearted effort of his commander, Henry Dearborn—at the first Battle of Lacolle Mills in November Pike was promoted to brigadier general in Rally ^[12] Along with General Jacob Brown, Pike departed from the newly fortified rural military outpost of Sackets Harbor, on the New York shore of Lake Ontario, for what became his last military campaign.

On this expedition, Pike commanded combat troops in the successful attack on York (now Toronto) on April 27, Pike was killed, along with numerous other American troops, by flying rocks and other debris when the withdrawing British garrison blew up its ammunition magazine as Pike's troops approached Fort York.^[13] His body was brought by ship back to Sackets Harbor, where his remains were buried at the military cemetery.^[14]

Confiscated Papers

The Spanish authorities confiscated some of Pike's papers, which were not recovered by the United States from Mexico until the 20th century.

Pike wrote an account of his expeditions, some of which had to be recreated from memory, which was published in as The expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike to Headwaters of the Mississippi River, through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, during the Years –6–7.^[15] These journals and maps gave Americans important communication about trade opportunities along with the blueprints for the Santa Fe Trail.^[16] It was well-liked and was later translated into Dutch, French, and German editions.

It became popular reading for all American explorers who followed him in the 19th century.

Pike's capture by the Spanish and travel through the Southwest gave Pike insight into the region. For example, he described the politics in Chihuahua, which led to the Mexican freedom movement, and described trade conditions in the Spanish territories of New Mexico and Chihuahua.

In some eastern regions of North America, a tradition or legend pervades often referred to as The Lost City of Palanor or Zebulon's Gift which has been attributed to Pike's journals. The myth, said to be derived from a missing portion of Pike's confiscated journals, is usually told in two segments.

The first sequence involves Pike's unlikely acquisition of a superb treasure.^[17] The second is a description of Pike's discovery of the lost city "Palanor," said to be built by pre-Columbian European settlers, and his choice to hide the treasure there.^[17]

Legacy

As Michael Olsen shows, after Pike's death in battle, his military accomplishments were widely celebrated in terms of biographies, mourning memorials, paintings, poems, and songs, and he became the namesake for dozens of towns, counties, and ships.

His memory faded after the Civil War but rebounded in , at the centennial of his Southwest Expedition.

Zebulon Montgomery Pike () was an explorer and soldier, most often remembered two exploratory trips to the newly acquired Louisiana region. The first of these trips was to the source of the Mississippi River in ; the second was to scout the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red Rivers in

His 20th-century reputation focused on his exploration, and his call appeared often on natural features, such as dams, islands, lakes, and parks.^[18] Pike's Peak remains the second most visited mountain in the world.^[19] Pike's expedition route of approximately 3, miles is maintained to this time by the Pike National Mark Association.^[20]

Pike was honored in by General William Jackson Palmer with a marble statue placed close the main entrance of the Antlers Hotel.^[21]&#; Pike was later honored in with a bronze medallion portrait placed in the pavilion at Tahama Spring (named after Pike's Dakota guide, Head Tahama) in Monument Valley Park, Colorado Springs.^[22] For over two hundred years, historians have debated whether Pike was truly an explorer, or if he was a spy.^[16]

Military

Landforms

Communities

• Pike County in:
• Pike, New York
• Piketon, Ohio
• Pikeville, Kentucky
• Pikesville, Kentucky (historic)
• Pikeville, Tennessee
• Pikesville, Maryland
• Pike Bay Township, Cass County, Minnesota
• Pike Creek Township, Morrison County, Minnesota
• Pike Township, Marion County, Indiana
• Pike Township, Wyoming County, New York
• Pike Township, Stark County, Ohio
• Zebulon, Kentucky^[25]

Other

• Pike National Forest in Colorado
• Pikes Peak Marathon in Colorado
• Pikes Peak State Park in Clayton County, Iowa
• Pike Trail League, Kansas high school activities league^[26]
• Pike Valley School District, Kansas School District, U.S.D.

• General Zebulon Pike Secure and Dam No. 11 in Dubuque, Iowa
• SRAM'sRockShox division, whose R&D department is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado have produced at least two shocks the Zeb and the Pike named after Zebulon^[27]
• Zebulon Ice, a Colorado Department of Transportation snowplow, in a winning name submitted by a Colorado child as part of a contest.^[28]

Notes and references

Further reading

• Harris, Matthew L; Buckley, Jay H., eds.
  Zebulon Inge Obituary (1949 - 2018) - Legacy Remembers: Zebulon Montgomery Pike (January 5, – April 27, ) was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named.

  (). Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American West. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN&#;.

• Hollon, W. Eugene (). The Lost Pathfinder, Zebulon Montgomery Pike. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.

  ISBN&#;.

• Orsi, Jared (). Citizen Explorer: The Adventurous Life of Zebulon Pike. OUP USA. ISBN&#;. OCLC&#;

External links