Zebulon Pike

Zebulon Pike
Portrait by Charles Willson Peale, 1808
Born	Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779-01-05)January 5, 1779 Lamington, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	April 27, 1813(1813-04-27) (aged 34) York, Upper Canada (now Toronto, Ontario)
Cause of death	Killed in action
Resting place	Military Cemetery, Sackets Harbor, New York
Occupations	General explorer
Spouse	Clarissa Harlow Brown ​ ​ (m. 1801)​
Children	5
Relatives	Emory Jenison Pike (great nephew)
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Zebulon Montgomery Pike (January 5, 1779 – April 27, 1813) was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions through the Louisiana Purchase territory, first in 1805–1806 to reconnoiter the upper northern reaches of the Mississippi River, and then in 1806–1807 to explore the southwest to the fringes of the northern Spanish-colonial settlements of New Mexico and Texas. Pike's expeditions coincided with other Jeffersonian expeditions, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the Red River Expedition in 1806.^[1]

Pike's second expedition crossed the Rocky Mountains into what is now southern Colorado, which led to his capture by the Spanish colonial authorities near Santa Fe, who sent Pike and his men to Chihuahua (present-day Mexico) for interrogation. Later in 1807, Pike and some of his men were escorted by the Spanish through Texas and released near American territory in Louisiana.

In 1810, Pike published an account of his expeditions, a book so popular that it was translated into several languages for publication in Europe. He later achieved the rank of brigadier general in the American Army and served during the War of 1812 until he was killed during the Battle of York in April 1813, outside the British colonial capital of Upper Canada.