Zebulon Pike

Zebulon Pike: Hard-Luck Explorer or Successful Spy?

In August 1817, the first steamboat to arrive in St. Louis came chugging up the Mississippi River. Named the Pike, it was the herald of a new era in transportation and in the fame and fortune of St. Louis. It would be interesting to know how many St. Louisans watching from the bluff that day could reflect upon the man for whom the boat was named.

Who was Zebulon Pike? Most Americans could, with reason, ask that question. Most who could draw a reasonable map of the route of the Lewis and Clark expedition would have little idea of where Zebulon Pike explored, or when. And few historians, if challenged, could name a single man who explored with Pike. The only remembrance we have of Pike is a famous peak in Colorado, but whether Pike ever saw the peak, or ever climbed it, is also a mystery to most Americans

Donald Jackson, the editor of Pike's letters and journals, wrote: "Nothing that Zebulon Montgomery Pike ever tried to do was easy, and most of his luck was bad." Dubbed "The Lost Pathfinder" by his biographer, W. Eugene Hollon, Pike remains an indistinct historical figure. Pike has been called a "poor man's Lewis and Clark;" and his expedition to the southwest in 1806 characterized as "second only to Lewis and Clark" in the annals of frontier exploration. In reality, Zebulon Pike was a relatively unlettered military man who was ill-prepared to lead the important explorations to which he was assigned. Further, Pike's 1806 mission to the Southwest compares to Lewis and Clark's voyage of discovery as apples do to oranges.

The grand purpose of the Lewis and Clark expedition was to find a practical water route to the Pacific Ocean and set up a fur trade enterprise in alliance with northern Indian tribes. In addition, Meriwether Lewis was given special scientific training to insure accurate reports of flora, fauna, Indian customs and lifeways, geology and cartography. Lewis was ordered westward by President Jefferson himself.

Zebulon Pike, on the other hand, was ordered westward by Gen. James Wilkinson, initially without the knowledge of President Jefferson. Pike made no scientific discoveries because of his lack of education and the fact that, unlike Lewis, he had no specialized training in observation. While on the one hand Pike's dogged determination cannot be taken away from him, comparisons with Lewis and Clark's masterful scientific assessment of North America are not favorably made. If Pike was such a bad explorer, what was he doing in the southwest? If he does not really deserve the title of Jeffersonian explorer, how should we classify him?

Young Zebulon's formal education was necessarily limited, although he enjoyed reading and learned French and some Spanish as well as the English language. At age 15, Pike entered his father's regiment as a cadet, and was put in charge of supplying frontier posts in Ohio. Pike later claimed that he had taken part in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, but no historical evidence supports this. He certainly would have met Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who were fellow junior officers in the small American army, during this period. Pike later followed his father to posts further to the west, serving at Fort Massac in Illinois.

By 1799, when he was 20 years old, Pike was commissioned a first lieutenant in the First Infantry Regiment, stationed in western Pennsylvania. He was a zealous and efficient soldier, not above hiding in the bushes outside the fort to catch his men drinking and wenching, and not above turning them in for harsh punishment. A fellow officer described him as having a military appearance, with the exception of a peculiar habit of cocking "his head to one side so that the tip of his chapeau touched the right shoulder on parade." Pike stood 5'8" tall, with a ruddy complexion, blue eyes and light hair. He liked outdoor sports, was a crack shot and had great physical endurance, probably the result of his childhood on the frontier. He did not drink liquor.

Lt. Pike's early duties along the Ohio frontier consisted of service as a regimental paymaster. He became familiar with many families who lived along the Ohio. One such family was that of Gen. John Brown of Kentucky, Pike's maternal uncle. Pike fell in love with Clarissa Brown, the general's daughter and his first cousin. Refused permission to marry, the two eloped to Cincinnati in 1801. Maj. Brown cut off the young couple, and Pike's father tried to mediate the affair, but to no avail. Young Zebulon wrote his father that he would "willingly receive the advise of those either my superior in rank, [or] age. . . but whilst I have the breath I will never be the slave of any man. . . " This statement is quintessential Pike; independent and headstrong, with a lofty sense of honor and a healthy dose of self-righteousness. It seems that Pike's mother fought with Maj. Brown over the marriage for many years afterwards, and that the father kept his daughter at arm’s length until he died in 1824. Although Zebulon and Clarissa Pike had several children, only one, a daughter, reached maturity. She married a son of frontier governor and later President William Henry Harrison.

Pike took his bride from Cincinnati to Fort Vincennes (later re-named Fort Knox), Kentucky in 1802. A small frontier stockade housing 100 men, it was not a comfortable place to live for young Mrs. Pike. In 1803 they traveled to a new post at Kaskaskia, Illinois, where Zebulon noted that his wife was "low in spirits and should cheer up and try to be lively — and laugh at half the world's folly and despise the envy of the balance." In another letter Pike stated that "Clara is at present very nervous and her situation here is very lonesome as the ladies are by no means sociable."

In the summer of 1805, while in the midst of conspiring with Aaron Burr at Fort Massac, Wilkinson gave Lt. Pike the difficult assignment of conducting a reconnaissance of the upper Mississippi River. While Lewis and Clark were at the headwaters of the Missouri River far to the West, Pike left Fort Bellefontaine on August 9, 1805, with orders to find the source of the Mississippi, purchase sites from American Indians for future military posts, and to bring a few important chiefs back to St. Louis for talks. He took a force of 20 men on a 70-foot keelboat up the Mississippi, but he had little time to prepare for his trip. There was no interpreter of Indian languages along, no physician or anyone with medical training, and scientific equipment was limited to a watch, a thermometer, and a theodolite (a device to determine latitude).

Pike and his men explored the river and met with American Indians, switching from their keelboat to two barges at Prairie du Chien. On September 23, 1805, they met with Dakota (Sioux) Indians at the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers (today’s Minneapolis-St. Paul area in Minnesota). Pike purchased over 155,000 acres from the Indians for a military reservation — on credit. He wrote to Wilkinson that the land was worth $200,000, but apparently Wilkinson did not agree. The general wrote to the secretary of war that Pike was "a much better soldier than a negotiator." However, later army engineers thought Pike's site the finest on the Mississippi for a fort, and this land purchase may have been the only successful result of his trip. As a postscript, the government was slow to act on Pike's bargain with the Dakota. To the annoyance of the Indians, they were not paid until 1808 by Congress, and then only a paltry $2,000; and the post, later called Fort Snelling, was not constructed until 1819.

Pike was some distance beyond the Falls of St. Anthony when the party was hit with the full force of winter weather. Pushing and pulling boats in freezing waters taxed the men greatly. A large amount of time was spent in hunting, as the men consumed 7 to 8 pounds of meat daily. The trip was so arduous that Sergeant Henry Kennerman, who Pike called “one of the stoutest men I ever knew, broke a blood-vessel and vomited nearly two quarts of blood.” Four other men were severely disabled, and Pike was convinced "that [even] if I had no regard for my own health and constitution, I should have some for these poor fellows, who were killing themselves to obey my orders."

Pike split his party, leaving some of the men in a rude stockade near present-day Little Falls, Minnesota, and continuing on with half the party with their supplies on sleds. Only the hospitality the men received at scattered British trading posts saved them from severe frostbite and possible death. Despite this aid, it was Pike’s duty to inform the British, for whom he had no love, that they were no longer wanted in the upper Mississippi region. These British trading posts were technically on U.S. soil, yet they flew the British flag and paid no duties to the United States. Pike estimated that the activities of these traders cost the United States $26,000 per year in revenues. In addition, the British gave their flags and peace medals to the Indian leaders, thus gaining their allegiance and influencing them against the Americans. Pike’s concerns were well-founded, for during the War of 1812, when British-led Indians ravaged much of the frontier, it was British propaganda that had swayed them. Pike’s dramatic confrontations in 1806 did little to counteract British influence in the region, however.

When Pike arrived at the Leech Lake Post, he insisted that British trader Hugh McGillis lower the British flag. He refused, and Pike ordered one of the American soldiers to drop the flag by shooting out the pin which fastened its halyard. Despite this hostile act, McGillis sent two of his voyageurs with Pike and one private to Cass Lake, which Pike identified (incorrectly) as the source of the Mississippi. The remainder of Pike’s men stayed behind at McGillis’ stockade.

On the return journey in the late winter of 1806, Pike discovered that Sgt. Kennerman had given away or consumed all the stored meat at the American stockade, along with the other foodstuffs and all of Pike's personal belongings from his private trunk. Kennerman was broken to the rank of private for his misdeeds.

Pike expected and deserved a period of inactivity after this arduous trip. Instead, Gen. Wilkinson immediately ordered him on a second, more fateful reconnaissance. The second expedition was ostensibly designed to accomplish several goals. Pike was to provide an escort for some Osage Indians who had been held as hostages by the Pottawatamies, and take them back to their home villages; negotiate a peace settlement between the Kansas and Pawnee tribes; and attempt to make contact with the Comanche people on the high plains. Pike was also to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas River, then to proceed south, locate the source of the Red River, and descend it to the Mississippi. But his real mission was to find out what the Spanish were doing along the poorly defined southwestern border of the Louisiana Purchase. While in that area, it would be necessary, wrote Wilkinson, to "move with great circumspect, to keep clear of any hunting or reconnoitering parties from that province and to prevent alarm or offense." Pike's real mission was that of a spy. The historian's dilemma has been: to what length was Pike expected to go to obtain his information?

Pike's expedition was launched by Gen. James Wilkinson without the authorization of President Jefferson or the War Department, although it was approved retroactively. Tensions with Spain were high on the frontier in 1806, and many Americans expected a war. Wilkinson, who was still Governor of Upper Louisiana during this period, was ordered to engage in intelligence operations against Spain, using army officers disguised as traders if necessary. Wilkinson was also a double agent and engaged in supplying information to the Spanish. But what Wilkinson was really up to, has remained a mystery. It appears that, in collaboration with Aaron Burr, he was planning a coup in the West. It has never been determined whether this was a traitorous movement designed to separate the western territories from the Union, or a plot to conquer Spanish territory, specifically Texas, without officially involving the United States Government. At any rate, Pike's expedition to the Spanish borderlands would serve the needs, both official and unofficial, of James Wilkinson. Wilkinson and Burr had little idea of the territory to the west of the river, and had just one chart of southeastern Texas prepared by Philip Nolan a few years earlier. Burr also had a copy of a map purloined from the great explorer Alexander von Humboldt. But more information was needed. Where were Spanish forts located, how arduous was travel in the country, and how many enemy troops were quartered there?

Spain had always jealously guarded the approaches to Texas and New Mexico from outsiders. Beyond lay the silver mines of Zacatecas, a source of great wealth for Spain. France’s cession of Louisiana in 1762 had provided an even more extensive buffer zone, but now Louisiana had been ceded back to France and then sold to the United States, a land of Yankee merchants with a population bursting beyond the Alleghenies to the West. These Americans were like a growing cancer on the eastern border of New Spain, and Spanish officials felt they had to be checked at all costs. It was rumored that the Americans had the audacity to claim that the Louisiana Purchase extended to the Rio Grande, rather than the Red River!

Nemesio Salcedo, commandant-general of the Internal Provinces of New Spain, understood it to be his duty to halt the westward expansion of the United States by any means necessary. It was Salcedo who blocked the Jefferson-inspired 1804 expedition of William Dunbar, and the 1806 expedition of Thomas Freeman, both of whom were sent out along the Red River. It was Salcedo who attempted an interception of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and Salcedo who sent Spanish envoys to the Pawnee to influence them against the United States. Salcedo mistrusted Wilkinson, and apparently, despite the fact that Wilkinson was a double agent, traitor and spy, put little stock in anything Wilkinson had to say. To paraphrase one note from the Spanish minister of state, “Are we still paying Wilkinson a pension, and if so, why?”

It is not known why Wilkinson tipped the Spanish off to the fact that Pike was going to be traveling in their territory, but he did. Perhaps, Wilkinson thought, whether or not Pike was captured, he would return with valuable information for the Burr conspirators. Or, as another theory runs, perhaps it was the plan all along that Pike should be captured; in other words, Pike was trying to be captured to obtain a "free ticket" into Spanish territory, long closed to Americans. One theory is that by 1806, Wilkinson no longer believed that Burr’s conspiracy could succeed, and so he abandoned Burr by sending out Pike. Pike’s men would be captured and remain as hostages for Wilkinson’s good faith. According to this theory, Dr. John H. Robinson, a physician-scientist- “gentleman volunteer” who accompanied Pike, went along as an emissary from Wilkinson to the Spanish, ensuring them of the peaceful intentions of the U.S. so that a Spanish war or uprising would fail.

Pike’s correspondence reveals that he almost certainly knew nothing of the Wilkinson/Burr intrigues, but was aware that his service as a spy for his country was important. Pike seems to have had a naive faith in Wilkinson and did not suspect any of the general’s more sinister designs. A letter written by Wilkinson on July 22, 1806, however, leaves little doubt that Pike was supposed to scout as close as possible to Santa Fe, allowing for the possibility that he might be captured by Spanish authorities. If discovered, he would use the cover story that he had become lost while en route to Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Zebulon Pike set out on July 15, 1806, again from Fort Bellefontaine, where his family remained during most of his trip. His party was composed of an assortment of 17 enlisted men from his Mississippi River exploration; two new volunteer soldiers; his second-in-command, Lt. James Biddle Wilkinson, son of the general; a volunteer physician, Dr. John H. Robinson; and Baronet Vasquez, an interpreter from St. Louis. Pike called his soldiers a "Dam'd set of Rascels," but they retained the confidence of their commander. Unlike Meriwether Lewis’ meticulous plans for his expedition, Pike’s men were woefully unprepared for the ordeal which awaited them. They were dressed in summer uniforms because Pike believed that they would encounter no cold weather. They did not have enough horses, very little scientific equipment, and only the copy of the von Humboldt map to guide them. This time out, Pike brought along a telescope.

The group of 23 men made their way west along the Missouri River, returning a group of 51 Osage people to their villages on the border of modern Kansas. The group stayed with the Osage for a short period, and Pike recorded ethnographic information about them. A runner brought Pike a letter from Wilkinson, which included a letter from his wife Clarissa which informed Pike that his little son was very ill (he died about one month later). Putting this information in the back of his mind, Pike led his men out across the plains of Kansas, which he described as a "hunter's paradise," thick with game. It was here that the former sergeant, now Private Kennerman, deserted, never to be heard from again.

Pike, guided by several Osage warriors, next entered a Pawnee village on the Republican River near the border of the modern states of Kansas and Nebraska. Noticing the Spanish flag which flew above the Pawnee village, Pike talked the Indians into hauling it down. He replaced it with the Stars and Stripes, despite the fact that a troop of Spanish cavalry 300 strong had recently visited their earth lodges. The Spanish had been specifically looking for the Pike party. It is interesting that the recently-promoted Capt. Pike reported this fact with a note of pride, stating that the Spanish expedition was “the most important ever carried on by the province of New Spain” and it was commanded by the respected Don Francisco Malgares. Unlike Lewis and Clark, who might have worried about their mission of exploration being compromised, Pike welcomed the news that his party was being hunted by a large force of Spanish soldiers. As they left the Pawnee village, Pike’s men followed the hoofprints of the Spanish cavalry down what later became known as the Santa Fe Trail.

The Pike expedition continued almost due south to the area of Great Bend, Kansas, where they reached the Arkansas River. Upon reaching the Arkansas, Lt. Wilkinson left the party, traveling eastward with five privates and the last of the Osage guides to explore the lower reaches of the river in canoes. Wilkinson returned successfully to St. Louis by paddling down the Arkansas River to its junction with the Mississippi, then going north. He achieved this goal despite three desertions and a lengthier trip than he expected. In all, it took him 73 days to reach St. Louis.

Pike and the 15 others started west up the Arkansas River on October 28, following the trail of a troop of Spanish cavalry. On November 11, Pike made a bold decision; despite the fact that his party did not have the clothing, equipment or supplies for a winter expedition, they would press on. Pike's decision makes little sense for an explorer; Lewis and Clark would have settled in for the winter and built a fort. Other explorers might have turned back and begun a second expedition the following spring. If we accept the theory that Pike's real mission was espionage, and, further, that he wanted to be captured by the Spanish, his decision makes much more sense.

Pike's decision might easily have resulted in the death of his entire party. There is no doubt that he was a hardy, driven man, but he certainly did not always consider the abilities and health of his men when taking them, so woefully unprepared, into a winter campaign. Another danger upon which Pike had not reckoned was Indians. While making their way across the Great Plains, a hunting party of Pawnee who outnumbered his men two to one suddenly came upon the little group of Americans, surrounded them, and began to parley with them. Pike's relief that the Pawnee had no hostile intentions soon turned to dismay as the Indians, unhappy that they were not receiving enough presents, began to forcibly take supplies and equipment from his men. Finally, Pike made a bold stand, signaling the leader of the party that he would shoot down the next Indian who attempted to take anything. The Pawnee withdrew after a tense scene, which easily could have resulted in the deaths of the entire party.

Proceeding nearly due west, Pike and his men reached the site of modern-day Pueblo, Colorado on November 23. Fascinated with a blue peak in the Rocky Mountains to the west, Pike set out to explore it with two soldiers and Dr. Robinson, leaving the bulk of the men at a base camp. Pike spent several days in trying to reach the peak (which would later bear his name). He made it to the top of a mountain within a few miles of what he called the “ Grand Peak.” Many historians have claimed that this was 9,000 foot Cheyenne Peak, although recent research by John Patrick Murphy of Colorado Springs seems to indicate 11,409 foot Mount Rosa as the most likely contender. Pike realized that the “Grand Peak” was "as high again as what we had ascended [Pike’s Peak is 14,110 feet tall], and it would have taken a whole day's march to arrive at its base, when I believe no human being could have ascended to its pinical." Up to his waist in snow at the top of the mountain, dressed in inadequate summer clothing in 28 degree Fahrenheit weather, Pike decided to return to the base camp. Zebulon Pike never set foot on Pike's Peak, which he, by the way, also did not name. On a map of 1818 by Robinson it is called Pike’s Peak, although the explorer Stephen Long called it James’ Peak; John C. Frémont popularized the name Pike’s Peak after 1844.

Pike next turned his men toward an investigation of the Arkansas River. The river split in the mountains, and, Pike noted, since the "geography of the country had turned out to be so different from our expectation; we were some what at a loss which course to pursue, unless we attempted to cross the sno cap'd mountains..." Food was running out and the men were desperately cold. Pike once more decided to follow the trail of the Spanish cavalry and head up the north fork of the Arkansas, called Four-Mile Creek. This branch soon dwindled, as did the Spanish trail, so Pike turned overland due northward, discovering a river on December 12 which he correctly determined was the south fork of the South Platte. Crossing over a mountain pass, he came to another river which he thought was the Red. In reality, the expedition was back on the Arkansas, 70 miles upstream from where they had left it two weeks earlier. Snow began to fall and drifts to deepen, and Pike was disappointed that he could not reach the source of the river. The men spent Christmas eating buffalo meat near the modern-day city of Salida, Colorado. They had no blankets by this point, for, their socks having worn out, their blankets had been cut up to improvise socks. Having no cover in the freezing weather, they crowded round huge bonfires at night. During the day they worked their way down the river, the ice solid enough to support their horses, the huge vertical walls of the Royal Gorge towering above them on both sides. When they returned to their camp of a few weeks earlier, Pike was frustrated to find that they had traveled in a big circle. In order to get off the Arkansas River and reach the Red River, the mountains would have to be crossed on foot.

The interpreter Baronet Vasquez and Pvt. Patrick Smith were detailed to stay with the horses in a small, crude and hastily-constructed wooden stockade, while Pike set out with the others to find the Red River on January 17, 1807, through a howling blizzard in Wet Mountain Valley. Nine of the 14 men soon suffered from frostbitten feet, including Pike's best hunters. Pressing on, wading through sometimes waist-deep snow, Pike left three men behind who, exhausted, could not continue. The remaining men were so cold that even the best hunters, even Pike himself, could not steady his shaking hands enough to shoot buffalo for food. Pike finally got one when it ran within point-blank range of his position. Leaving the meat for the sick men, Pike set out with the ten remaining men who could still walk.

Crossing the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the soldiers began to complain. One in particular, John Brown, griped that it was "more than human nature could bear, to march three days without sustenance through snow three feet deep, to carry burdens only fit for horses." A short time later, Pike was able to kill a buffalo to alleviate the hunger of the party. As the men became satiated with the meat, Pike took the opportunity to upbraid Brown, telling him that if he or anyone else ever dared to voice such an opinion again, they would be executed by firing squad.

Pike found the area of present-day Great Sand Dunes National Monument in Colorado and the headwaters of the Rio Grande, which he mistakenly thought was the Red River. On February 1, 1807, a small square stockade of cottonwood logs, 36 feet long on each side with a small 8 foot by 8 foot bastion, was built on the Rio Conejos, near modern Alamosa, Colorado.

When the fort was completed, Dr. Robinson begged leave to contact the Spanish officials in Santa Fe, as he had authority to collect a debt there for William Morrison, a merchant in Kaskaskia, Illinois. Pike gave his permission, and Robinson hiked overland to reach his objective, telling Spanish Gov. Alencaster on his arrival that he had recently left a party of hunters. Suspicious, Alencaster reported the incident to his superiors and sent out patrols in the hope of apprehending some of the doctor's companions.

Pike sent back two relief parties to bring up the horses and his three scattered men with frostbite. Only one of these men returned. The others, too sick to move, actually sent bits of their own gangrenous toe bones to Pike in a macabre appeal not to be abandoned.

On February 26, 1807, a troop of 50 Spanish cavalrymen, supported by 50 mounted militiamen, rode up to Pike's stockade. Five of the Americans were still out on relief parties. The Spanish officers were surprised to learn that there was no gate to the little fort, and in order to attend the parley they had to crawl on their bellies on a log placed over a water-filled moat and then through a small hole sunk under one wall. During the meeting Pike stuck to his cover story, feigning surprise when questioned by the Spaniards about being in Spanish territory and exclaiming, “What! Is this not the Red River?” The Spanish officers informed Pike and his five remaining soldiers that he was in Spanish territory. "I immediately ordered my flag to be taken down and rolled up," Pike wrote. It is ironic that Pike, who had been so sensitive about British and Spanish flags flying within American territory, had now committed the same indiscretion. Or was it an indiscretion? Pike's behavior all along had been that of a man who wanted to be found.

Despite their commander’s bravado, Pike’s men had only the equipment they carried on their backs. Their summer uniforms had been long ago discarded, and they wore whatever clothing and skins they had been able to fashion for themselves. Their hair was long and unruly, and they were bearded, looking more like classic mountainmen than a military expedition. Even Capt. Pike had only his blue army trousers and his sword remaining to mark him as an officer of the United States. The explorer Zebulon Pike was lost and unable to fulfill his stated mission of exploration because of the condition of his men. His Spanish captors were probably, in reality, his rescuers. On the other hand, the spy Zebulon Pike had placed himself at the disposal of the Spanish so that he might enter their forbidden territories. It was here on the Rio Conejos that Pike's mission really began.

The Spanish patrol rounded up Pike's frostbitten stragglers, escorting them separately to Santa Fe. When Pike reached Santa Fe, his papers were confiscated by the Spanish authorities, and they were not rediscovered until the early 20 th century by the distinguished American historian Herbert E. Bolton. Today, Pike’s papers are in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Neither Pike nor his men were mistreated by the Spanish. Two of the privates talked freely, giving the Spanish valuable information and causing suspicion that an American rescue party might attempt to liberate Pike. The Spanish sent militiamen and regular troops out on extended border patrols for several months as a result.

Meanwhile, Zebulon Pike fulfilled the dictates of his mission. He observed the pueblos and missions along the route of their march, and met with priests at each. Pike was an excellent observer, and was able to make mental notes of the placement of forts, the size of their garrisons, the locations of communities, and to prepare biographical sketches of their officers. Pike and his men were led further south to Chihuahua (in modern-day Mexico), and once more Pike had long meetings with priests along the way, gathering information. No effort was made to deny Pike access to priests, officials, or anyone else he wished to talk to. On the march south, each community held barbecues and dances for the men, and according to Pike, the Spanish people possessed "heaven-like qualities of hospitality and kindness." Their route took them through Albuquerque, El Paso, and south 260 miles to Chihuahua. Pike was able to observe Apache Indians, and actually began openly to take written notes. In Chihuahua, Pike met a handful of Americans who had been captured by the Spanish years earlier who begged him to intercede for their release. Pike demurred, since he had no power to do so and felt that he was in no position to ask for favors.

Once Pike's papers were translated by the Spanish authorities, there was no doubt that his expedition had ulterior motives. But Spanish governor Salcedo could do little; he did not wish to antagonize the Americans. He decided to have Pike and his men escorted to the United States border in what is today Louisiana and released.

Lt. Malgares led this trek across Texas. Pike was strictly told that he could no longer make notes, but he was able to do so covertly, and they were hidden in the gun barrels of his men. These notes comprised a detailed report on the culture of the people of New Spain, its natural resources, population, and military arrangements. It was the first adequate report on the Spanish provinces of North America ever brought back to the United States.

Dr. John Robinson claimed asylum in Mexico, but was not allowed to stay. Pike, Robinson, and six of the privates were escorted through San Antonio to Natchitoches, Louisiana, where they arrived on July 1, 1807. Pike recorded that "Language cannot express the gaiety of my heart when I once beheld the standards of my country waved aloft." A strong note of protest was sent by Spain to Washington, demanding an apology for the trespass. Secretary of State James Madison denied that Pike was a spy or that the United States had ever employed a spy, saying that he was an explorer seeking out the source of the Arkansas River. The apology was not forthcoming, and the two nations broke off diplomatic relations. Eight other Americans of Pike’s party were held by the Spanish for two years. One of them, Sgt. William Meek, killed Pvt. Theodore Miller in a drunken scuffle, and was imprisoned in Mexico until 1821. Spanish Governor Alencaster was reprimanded and removed by his king for releasing Pike before receiving an apology from the U.S. Government for trespassing, and, even worse, for sending a suspected spy deeper into Spanish territory so that he could see and report on more of the forbidden country!

Upon his return to the United States, Zebulon Pike was suspected of having a role in the "Burr Conspiracy"; although untrue, this tainted his career for some time. Wilkinson addressed a letter to Pike urging him to speak cautiously "because publicity may excite a spirit of adventure adverse to the interest of our government." He protested his innocence to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn, who cleared Pike’s name in a formal statement. Pike was met in New Orleans by his wife Clarissa and his young daughter, and the family they sailed to New York. Pike was not received with a glowing welcome by President Jefferson in Washington. The President considered Pike a competent military man but not an explorer/scientist on the level of Lewis and Clark. Congress refused to honor his requests, and neither Pike nor his men ever received extra pay or grants of land for their service (as Lewis and Clark’s men did). Pike even tried billing the government for extra pay for his services as a surveyor with no success.

The Zebulon Pike expedition resulted in an embarrassing international incident, even if it obtained important intelligence for the United States military. Adventures against New Spain ended with Pike. Although other expeditions were on the drawing board in Washington meant to scout in the direction of Spanish-held territory during 1807, they were canceled because Congress had, intentionally or not, forgotten to appropriate the money to fund them. Pike’s foray ended the period of Jeffersonian exploration until the Long Expedition of 1820, which was conducted just as Mexico was ready to expel the Spanish.

After his Southwestern expedition Pike returned to the routine duties of a career officer in the tiny U.S. Army. He was promoted to major in 1808, and colonel in 1812. In 1810 he published An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi and through the Western Parts of Louisiana, which became the principal source for the story of his explorations. Created without notes and from memory, the book was poorly written and organized. In the original edition it was sometimes impossible to understand what Pike was describing, what the date was, and where he was located. Pike received no royalties from this work, for his publisher went bankrupt. His descriptions, as garbled as they sometimes were, provided citizens of the U.S. with their first glimpse at the lands beyond the Spanish border. His maps of the interior of New Spain were unique for many years. Unfortunately, Pike described the lands he had seen as “The Great American Desert,” a name and an image which stuck to the area for over 50 years. He recalled that the deserts were like those of Africa, and that there were “tracts of many leagues where the wind had thrown up the sand in all the fanciful form of the ocean’s rolling wave; and on which not a speck of vegetable matter existed.” Pike felt that this desert territory would serve to restrict further indiscriminate settlement by Americans, and force them into consolidating and solidifying the Union, while the deserts were left to the wandering herds of bison and the American Indians. Pike also pointed out the future importance of trade with the Mexicans in Santa Fe. Although the Spanish tried desperately to keep the Americans out of their territory, traders attempted time and again to reach Santa Fe. Only the removal of the Spanish in 1821 finally opened the doors to the Santa Fe trade with the U.S.

Pike's chance for personal glory came when war was declared on Great Britain in 1812. He was promoted brigadier general in 1813, and given immediate command of troops slated to assault York, the capital of Upper Canada (today's Toronto). His force of 1,700 men was ferried across Lake Ontario from Sackett's Harbor, New York, and prepared to attack the 800 man garrison at York, which guarded important storehouses and government buildings. On April 27, 1813, Pike led the amphibious assault. There was light resistance at the landing place, but this was by design. The British commander, Maj. Gen. R.H. Sheaffe, had constructed and concealed a huge explosive mine, and hoped to lure the Americans off the beach and over the position of the mine before it was detonated. The mine was set off prematurely, however, and killed 42 British soldiers. Fifty-two American soldiers were also killed in the explosion, and another 180 were wounded. Gen. Pike was fatally wounded by a heavy rock thrown up by the mine, which pierced his back. The American forces won the day, but the treachery of the mine and the death of Pike put them in a vindictive mood. Someone began to set fire to all of the public buildings, burning them to the ground. The British army paid the Americans back a year later by burning the White House and U.S. Capitol in Washington in 1814. Pike had always expected the possibility of death in battle. He wrote to his father: "If we go into Canada, you will hear of my fame or of my death — for I am determined to seek the 'Bubble' even in the cannon's mouth."

Dead at age 34, Zebulon Pike was but a minor hero of the War of 1812, and was soon forgotten. For a time, his name appeared on taverns, and steamboats. But fame was fleeting. Throughout an amazing life, this stubborn and persistent man performed extraordinary feats on behalf of his country. Ironically, he is today remembered for the peak he did not climb, and for explorations which were minor at best compared to his rivals, Lewis and Clark. When one thinks of Zebulon Pike, the image of a successful spy does not come to mind, but that is what he was. A true-blue American, a man who loved the flag and his country, a man who, in his own prophetic words "conferred honor even in death on the American name," Pike deserves to be better-remembered today for what he actually accomplished rather than as a second-rate Meriwether Lewis or William Clark. In summary, Zebulon Pike was a frontier patriot, an army brat, a determined military commander, an outdoorsman, a leader of men, a mediocre explorer, and a daring, observant spy for the United States.