Zebulon Pike

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Zebulon Pike : biography

05 January 1779 – 27 April 1813

The younger Pike grew to adulthood with his family at a series of Midwestern outposts — the frontier of the United States at the time — in Ohio and Illinois. In 1794 he joined his father’s regiment as a cadet at the age of 15, earned a commission as ensign in 1799 and a first lieutenancy later that year.

Marriage and family

Zebulon M. Pike married Clarissa Harlow Brown in 1801. They had one child who survived to adulthood, a daughter. Clarissa Brown Pike married John Cleves Symmes Harrison, a son of President William Henry Harrison. Zebulon died without a son, so left no male descendants.

Ancestry

A Surname DNA project exists for male individuals with the Pike surname. A genetic study of DNA samples submitted show almost 20% of Pike surnames in this project show a genetic relationship to the same male line as Zebulon Pike. This paternal line descends from a male ancestor of the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries. math.mun.ca. 2010-04-02. Retrieved on 2010-04-03.

Journals

The Spanish authorities confiscated Pike’s journals and they were not recovered by the United States from Mexico until the 1900s. He wrote an account from memory of his expeditions, which 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. It was popular and later translated into French, German, and Dutch editions. His account became required reading for all American explorers who followed him in the 19th century.

His capture by the Spanish and travel through the Southwest gave Pike insight into the region. He described the politics in Chihuahua, which led to the Mexican independence movement. He also described trade conditions in the Spanish territories of New Mexico and Chihuahua, which contributed to development of the Santa Fe Trail.

Military career

He continued his military career, working on logistics and payroll, at a series of frontier posts, including Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis. General James Wilkinson, appointed Governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory and headquartered there, became his mentor. In 1805, Wilkinson ordered Pike to find the source of the Mississippi River and he traveled upriver into the northern territory.

"Of Patriots and Traitors" by Joshua Gornitsky, as well as several other sources, state that General Wilkinson was a double agent for Spain. Wilkinson’s double agency was not discovered for over one hundred years until the official records were released by Spain. Wilkinson had gained personal trade concessions. After Pike’s first expedition, Pike was almost immediately ordered by Wilkinson to mount a second expedition in 1806 to explore and map the Red River, evaluate natural resources, and establish friendly relations with Native Americans. On this second expedition, he discovered the peak that was named after him. As Wilkinson planned, Pike was captured by the Spanish who controlled Mexico. As a prisoner in Mexico, Pike was treated well, invited to formal social dinners, but still not quite given the treatment of a visiting dignitary. Mexican authorities feared the spread of both democracy and a different religion that might undermine their monarchy. Eventually, Pike and his men were released. The Red River, which separated Oklahoma Territory from Texas, was next explored by the ill-fated Woolley expedition of 1815, when Colonel Woolley died, and only two sick men returned from the expedition, one of whom later died.

Pike Expedition

Soon after his return in 1806, Pike was ordered to lead an exploratory expedition of the southwestern part of the Louisiana Territory to find the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers. Beginning July 15, 1806, Pike led what is now known as the "Pike Expedition" to explore the southwest. General Wilkinson’s son served as one of his lieutenants.

In early November 1806, Pike and his team recorded the sighting of and tried to climb to the summit of the peak that was named after him (Pikes Peak.) Unprepared for the conditions, they made it as far as Mt. Rosa to the southeast of Pikes Peak, and gave up the ascent in waist-deep snow. They had already gone almost two days without food.