Zebulon Pike – Hard Luck Soldier & Explorer
Zebulon Montgomery Pike, a name that echoes faintly in the annals of American exploration, often evokes a sense of unfulfilled potential and misfortune. As Donald Jackson aptly stated in his foreword to the annotated edition of Pike’s journals and letters in 1966, "Nothing that Zebulon Montgomery Pike ever tried to do was easy, and most of his luck was bad." Unlike the celebrated figures of Lewis and Clark, Pike, a pathfinder who frequently found himself lost, remains a somewhat indistinct historical figure, his accomplishments often overshadowed by circumstance and controversy.
Born in 1779 in New Jersey, Zebulon Pike followed a military path carved by his father, also named Zebulon, a veteran of the American Revolution. At the age of 20, the younger Pike joined the U.S. Army. The early years of Lieutenant Pike’s service were spent along the Ohio frontier, primarily in the role of a regimental paymaster. Despite his military duties, Pike harbored a deep desire for formal education, often carrying books into the wilderness and engaging in voracious reading. Descriptions paint a picture of a slim, blue-eyed, and somewhat pompous young man, noted for an unusual habit of tilting his head. Beneath this outward appearance lay a highly ambitious and efficient individual eager to prove himself.
Pike’s career trajectory shifted when he became the protégé of James Wilkinson, the commanding general of the U.S. Army. Wilkinson, a figure of considerable notoriety and moral ambiguity, was secretly a double agent for Spain. In the summer of 1805, Wilkinson entrusted Pike with a challenging assignment: surveying the upper Mississippi River. While Lewis and Clark were charting the uncharted territories at the headwaters of the Missouri River far to the West, Zebulon Pike departed from St. Louis, Missouri, with specific objectives. He was tasked with exploring the Mississippi, securing sites from American Indian tribes for future military outposts, and bringing influential chiefs back to St. Louis for diplomatic discussions.
Pike assembled a force of 20 men and embarked on their mission aboard a 70-foot keelboat, departing from Fort Bellefontaine on August 9, 1805. The expedition traced the course of the Mississippi River into present-day Minnesota, venturing as far as Cass Lake, which they erroneously identified as the river’s source. The expedition concluded on April 30, 1806, with their return to St. Louis. While Pike’s interactions with the Native American tribes yielded only modest success, the expedition provided invaluable geographical information about a relatively unexplored region of the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.
Zebulon Pike’s second major undertaking, the expedition of 1806-1807, was more multifaceted in its aims. It was designed to escort Osage Indian travelers back to their villages from St. Louis, mediate peace between the Kanza and Pawnee tribes, and establish contact with the elusive Comanche people inhabiting the high plains. Further, Pike was instructed to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas River, proceed southward to locate the source of the Red River, and then descend it to the Mississippi. Crucially, Pike was to gather intelligence on Spanish activities along the ill-defined southwestern border of the Louisiana Purchase.
For this expedition, Pike assembled nearly all of the soldiers from his Mississippi River exploration, a group he humorously referred to as a "Dam’d set of Rascals," yet he maintained confidence in their abilities. Lieutenant James Biddle Wilkinson, General Wilkinson’s son, accompanied the expedition part of the way, before leading a small detachment back to St. Louis via the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers. The expedition was launched by General James Wilkinson without the explicit authorization of President Thomas Jefferson or the War Department, although it received retroactive approval. The political climate was tense, with escalating tensions between the United States and Spain, leading many Americans to anticipate an impending war.
During this period, Wilkinson, in his capacity as Governor of Louisiana, was ordered to conduct intelligence operations against Spain, even employing army officers disguised as traders if necessary. However, Wilkinson’s true intentions remained shrouded in mystery. It is believed that he was involved in a conspiracy with Aaron Burr, possibly plotting a coup in the West. Whether this was a treasonous scheme to separate the western territories from the Union or a plan to conquer Spanish territory without official U.S. government involvement remains a matter of historical debate. Regardless, Pike’s expedition to the Spanish borderlands served both the official and unofficial purposes of James Wilkinson. Zebulon Pike was likely unaware of the full extent of the Wilkinson/Burr intrigue but understood the importance of his role as a spy for his country. A letter exchanged between Pike and Wilkinson on July 22, 1806, suggests that Pike was to scout as close as possible to Santa Fe, New Mexico, even entertaining the possibility of capture by Spanish authorities. In the event of discovery, he was to claim he had become lost en route to Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Zebulon Pike commenced his expedition on July 15, 1806, accompanied by 18 enlisted men from the First Infantry Regiment, his second-in-command, Lieutenant Wilkinson, a volunteer physician named Dr. John H. Robinson, and Baronet Vasquez, an interpreter from St. Louis. The expedition traversed Missouri, successfully returning the Osage people to their villages near the present-day Lake of the Ozarks, before proceeding diagonally across Kansas. Pike convinced a Pawnee band to lower the Spanish flag flying above their village and replace it with the Stars and Stripes, despite the recent visit of a 300-strong Spanish cavalry troop.
Upon reaching the Arkansas River, Lieutenant Wilkinson departed with five men, successfully returning to St. Louis despite facing three desertions. Pike and the remaining 15 men continued up the Arkansas River on October 28, following the trail left by the Spanish cavalry. On November 11, Pike made a crucial decision: despite the lack of adequate clothing, equipment, and supplies for a winter expedition, they would press onward.
The party proceeded nearly due west, arriving at the site of modern-day Pueblo, Colorado, on November 23. Pike was captivated by a prominent blue peak in the Rocky Mountains to the west and set out to explore it with two soldiers and Dr. Robinson, leaving the majority of the men at a base camp. Pike spent several days attempting to reach the summit of the peak, which would later bear his name, but the harsh winter conditions and dwindling food supplies forced him to retreat to the base camp. Zebulon Pike never reached the summit of Pike’s Peak.
As the Arkansas River branched in the mountains, Pike noted the unexpected geography, writing, "since the geography of the country had turned out to be so different from our expectation, we were somewhat at a loss which course to pursue unless we attempted to cross the snow-capped mountains…" Pike chose to follow the trail of the Spanish cavalry, heading up the north fork of the Arkansas River, known as Four-Mile Creek. However, this branch soon diminished, as did the Spanish trail. Pike turned overland due northward, discovering a river on December 12, which he correctly identified as the south fork of the South Platte. Crossing a mountain pass, he reached another river, which he mistakenly believed to be the Red River. The expedition found itself back on the Arkansas River, 70 miles upstream from their earlier location two weeks prior. Snow began to accumulate, and Pike expressed his disappointment at being unable to reach the river’s source. The men spent Christmas consuming buffalo meat near the present-day city of Salida, Colorado. They navigated their way down the river, the ice providing sufficient support for their horses, while the towering vertical walls of the Royal Gorge loomed above on either side. Frustration mounted when they realized they had traveled in a large circle. Reaching the Red River necessitated crossing the mountains on foot.
The interpreter Vasquez and Private Patrick Smith were tasked with remaining with the horses in a small wooden stockade, while Pike and the others set out to find the Red River on January 14, 1807, braving a fierce blizzard in Wet Mountain Valley. Nine of the 14 men, including Pike’s best hunters, soon suffered from frostbitten feet. Continuing onward through waist-deep snow, Pike left behind three men who could not continue. After crossing the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Pike reached the area of the present-day Great Sand Dunes National Monument and the headwaters of the Rio Grande, which he incorrectly believed to be the Red River. A small stockade was constructed near modern-day Alamosa, Colorado.
Dr. Robinson requested permission to contact the Spanish officials in Santa Fe, claiming to possess a document authorizing him to collect debt for a merchant in Kaskaskia, Illinois. Pike granted his permission, and Robinson journeyed overland to reach Santa Fe, informing Spanish Governor Alencaster upon arrival that he had recently left a party of hunters. Suspicious, Alencaster reported the incident to his superiors and dispatched patrols in hopes of capturing some of the doctor’s companions.
Meanwhile, Pike dispatched two relief parties to retrieve the horses and the three frostbitten men. Only one of these men returned; the others, too ill to move, sent Pike gruesome tokens – bits of gangrenous toe bones – as a plea not to be abandoned. On February 26, 1807, a troop of Spanish soldiers arrived at Pike’s stockade, informing him that he was in Spanish territory. "I immediately ordered my flag to be taken down and rolled up," Pike recounted. The Spanish patrol rounded up the frostbitten stragglers, escorting the entire party to Santa Fe. Pike’s papers were confiscated, and he was sent south to Chihuahua. Neither Pike nor his men were mistreated; the majority were returned to U.S. territory at Natchitoches, Louisiana, on June 30, 1807. Dr. Robinson sought asylum in Mexico but was denied residency. Five of the men were detained by the Spanish for two years, and one, Sergeant William Meek, after killing Private Theodore Miller in a drunken brawl, was imprisoned until 1821. The Spanish governor was reprimanded by his king for releasing Pike before receiving an apology from the U.S. Government for trespassing.
Upon his return to the United States, Zebulon Pike was suspected of involvement in the "Burr Conspiracy," an accusation that, although untrue, tarnished his career for a period. President Thomas Jefferson did not extend a particularly warm welcome to Pike, considering him a competent military man but not an explorer or scientist on par with Lewis and Clark. Neither Pike nor his men received additional pay or land grants for their service.
Pike’s opportunity for personal glory arose with the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812. While leading a successful attack on York, the capital of Upper Canada (present-day Toronto), on April 27, 1813, Brigadier General Pike sustained a fatal wound from flying debris caused by a powder magazine explosion. Throughout his remarkable life, this determined and persistent man performed extraordinary feats for his country, yet fortune rarely favored him. Unlike his rivals, Lewis and Clark, he remains relatively obscure today, remembered primarily for lending his name to a mountain he never actually climbed.