Zebulon Pike

Zebulon Pike
Zebulon Pike by Charles Willson Peale, 1808
Born	Zebulon Montgomery Pike January 5, 1779 Lamington, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	April 27, 1813(1813-04-27) (aged 34) York, Ontario, Upper Canada
Cause of death	Killed in action
Resting place	Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County, New York
Nationality	American
Occupation	General, explorer
Spouse(s)	Clarissa Harlow Brown
Parent(s)	Zebulon Pike Sr.

Zebulon Montgomery Pike (January 5, 1779 – April 27, 1813) was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado was renamed (from El Capitan). As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions, first in 1805-06 to reconnoiter the upper reaches of the Mississippi River, and then in 1806-07 to explore the Southwest to the fringes of the northern Spanish-colonial settlements. Pike's expeditions coincided with other Jeffersonian expeditions, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) and the Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis expedition (1806).

Pike's second expedition crossed the Rocky Mountains into southern Colorado, which led to his capture by the Spanish, 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 1810, Pike published an account of his expeditions, a book so popular that it was translated into Dutch, French, and German, for publication in Europe. He later achieved the rank of brigadier general in the Army and served during the War of 1812, until he was killed during the Battle of York.

Pike was born during the Revolutionary War, on January 5, 1779, near Lamberton, now called Lamington, in Somerset County, New Jersey. He would follow in the footsteps of his father, also named Zebulon, who had begun his own career in the military service of the United States beginning in 1775, at the outset of the American Revolutionary War.

The younger Pike grew to adulthood with his family at a series of outposts in Ohio and Illinois – the United States' northwestern frontier at the time. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant of infantry in 1799 and promoted to first lieutenant later that same year.