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Biography of Zebulon PikeName: Zebulon PikeBirth Date: January 5, 1779 Death Date: April 27, 1813 Place of Birth: Trenton, New Jersey Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: explorer, soldier Zebulon Pike 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 …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…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). |