Zebulon Pike- Biography

Zebulon Pike Pike’s Peak, a well-known location in America. Located in Colorado, it’s the first of many mountains called the Rocky Mountains. Mountains that created a giant wall of rock to early Americans as they traveled west. Imagine for a second you were one of the first humans to ever explore this area. This is how Zebulon Pike and his group of 22 men felt when they first approached this mountain, named after the great explorer himself. He was most well-known for his promotion of peace with Indians and is considered the force that drove Americans the west and beyond. Zebulon Pike was not the first Pike, his full name is Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr.. He was born in January 5, 1779 in a time of revolution. He grew up in a brand new country and his father was an army commander. He was raised thought various states because his father moved with the army. At age 20 he joined the military. He was a soldier in a time of peace so very little happened. But he did gain favor with his commander, General James Wilkinson, by marrying Clarissa Brown a family friend of Wilkinson. But then in 1805 a very important event happened in our country’s history, The Louisiana Purchase. And with it became Zebulon’s chance at fame. He had two expeditions into the unknown West. His first was to explore to the North of the Mississippi River and to find its head waters. It was a fairly simple mission to explore a part of the land that the Lewis and Clark expedition would have missed. On his travels he met with various tribes and groups. Each one he meet with he promoted peace with. For example the Lakota Indians, from which he bought 1,000 acres of land. For many years the U.S. had friendly relations with this group. When he returned his expedition was considered a success. He was then commissioned to another expedition this one to the Southwest. This expedition had many purposes, but one of the more important tasks was to escort a group of Osage Indians that were prisoners of war.