Zebulon Pike
Among about 4,500 names on the walls of the Soldiers, Sailors and Pioneers Monument in Hamilton is Zebulon Pike. In question is which Zebulon Pike is commemorated as one of Butler County's pioneers. It could represent two men -- father and son with the same name.
Zebulon Montgomery Pike served in the American Revolution and survived the humiliating defeat of the army that marched out of Fort Hamilton in 1791. Three years later he was part of Gen. Anthony Wayne's victorious army. His son, also named Zebulon Montgomery Pike, claimed to have been a member of Wayne's force that defeated the Indians in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.
It was the son who later took credit for discovery of a majestic mountain in what became Colorado. He called it Grand Peak. Later it was named Pike's Peak in his honor.
Fort Hamilton was completed Sept. 30, 1791, as Gen. Arthur St. Clair -- also governor of the Northwest Territory -- moved a frontier army north to confront Indians who were contesting settlement in the Symmes Purchase. The log stockade was built as a fort of deposit, or supply center, for the army that planned to advance toward Kekionga, a Miami settlement near the site of present Fort Wayne, Ind.
Fort Hamilton -- built at a ford on the Great Miami River -- was at the end of an 800-mile supply and communications line from Philadelphia, a trip of four weeks at best.
St. Clair had only 2,300 men Sept. 30, 1791, not the 3,000 he expected. It was a hastily-assembled, poorly trained, ill-equipped and uninformed army. It was facing a fight with a competent Indian opponent, mostly Miami and Shawnee, capably led by Little Turtle, a veteran Miami war chief.
The army left the fort Oct. 4, crossing the river into uncharted wilderness. The soldiers didn't get very far that day. They camped that night on the banks of a creek that they named Two Mile Creek, the distance they had traveled. Today that camp would be along Washington Boulevard, west of Eaton Avenue, near the Hamilton West YMCA and Hamilton High School.
The first day advance presaged what followed. St. Clair's army trudged only 80 miles in 30 days by nightfall Nov. 3. Scouts kept Little Turtle informed as St. Clair's command dwindled to about half the soldiers that departed Fort Hamilton.
The surprise Indian attack the morning of Nov. 4, 1791, inflicted what is regarded as the worst defeat suffered by the U. S. military. About 680 soldiers were killed and 270 wounded -- a casualty total of 950 out of about 1,100 men. Of 52 officers on the field, 46 were casualties, including 39 killed. Not counted in the army's loss were about 200 women and children who weren't supposed to be there.
Among the dead was Gen. Richard Butler, a popular leader who was second in command to St. Clair. Butler -- commemorated when Butler County was named -- was wounded early in the fight and died amid the battlefield chaos.
Captain Zebulon Pike's company was part of Butler's command and Pike is credited with rallying troops and helping to organize a withdrawal.
According to one account, Pike suffered leg cramps and collapsed as the retreat began. It appeared he would be left behind, certain to be killed by pursuing Indians. An army surgeon on horseback recognized the captain's perilous position and rescued Pike.
Pike was among the survivors who returned to Fort Hamilton. He would fight again after Gen. Anthony Wayne assumed command of the frontier army in 1792 and ordered Fort Hamilton nearly doubled in size.
In 1794. when Wayne's army moved through Fort Hamilton, Zebulon M. Pike, the father, and Zebulon M. Pike, his son, would be in its ranks. Wayne's second in command was Gen. James Wilkinson.
A few years later, Wilkinson and Pike, the son, would be key principals in two mysterious explorations on the western frontier, both launched as the nation awaited the return of the Lewis and Clark expedition (May 14, 1804-Sept. 30, 1806).
Next week this column will review the military career of the younger Zebulon M. Pike.
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842. May 12, 2004 -- Pike's Peak explorer led questionable western expeditions:
Journal-News, Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Pike's Peak explorer led questionable western expeditions
By Jim Blount
Soldiering was a career for Captain Zebulon Montgomery Pike, who survived the U. S. Army's Nov. 4, 1791, defeat 80 miles north of Fort Hamilton. Years earlier he had fought in the American Revolution. He remained in the frontier army in 1792 when Gen. Anthony Wayne took command and mounted another campaign against the Indians fighting settlement in the region. This time, Pike would be joined by his son, also named Zebulon Montgomery Pike.
The son was born Jan. 5, 1779, in Somerset County, N. J., while his father was in Gen. George Washington's colonial army. Some of his childhood was spent in Cincinnati while his father served in frontier army.
In 1794, at age 15, Pike entered Wayne's army as a cadet, joining his father's regiment. He claimed to have fought Aug. 20, 1794, at Fallen Timbers -- the decisive battle that quelled Indian resistance in Ohio -- but historians haven't found records to verify his presence.
Father and son remained in the army, moving to posts west of Ohio. Both continued to be closely linked to Gen. James Wilkinson, a former commander of Fort Hamilton. Because of his frequent presence, a two-story log structure on the river side of the fort was called the Wilkinson House. Wilkinson, also a veteran of the revolution, was second in command to Wayne through the Fallen Timbers campaign. He became commander of the U. S. Army after Wayne's premature death in December 1796.
Biographers haven't been kind to Wilkinson. He's been called "one of the sleaziest characters ever to wear an American uniform" and "a drunkard, hopelessly addicted to intrigue" who was "an agent in the pay of a foreign power" and "corrupt, greedy, dishonest and remarkable mostly for his numerous escapes from criminal prosecution; known as the general who never won a battle and never lost a court-martial."
Wilkinson was providing information to at least one foreign government (Spain) while directing troops at Fort Hamilton. Because of association with Wilkinson, the career of the younger Zebulon Pike remains under suspicion.
In December 1803, formal transfer of the Louisiana Territory to the United States was completed. Gen. Wilkinson joined Gov. William C. C. Claiborne of the Mississippi Territory in receiving the Louisiana Purchase from the French at New Orleans. In 1805, when Louisiana Territory was created, Wilkinson was named its governor.
By then, President Thomas Jefferson had ordered exploration of the vast territory. May 14, 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition departed its base near St. Louis. From his St. Louis headquarters, Wilkinson ordered additional explorations, including two led by Zebulon M. Pike, both started before the Sept. 30, 1806, return of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
Without Jefferson's knowledge, Pike left St. Louis Aug. 9, 1805, ordered to head north to find the source of the Mississippi River, negotiate with Indians for future fort sites and spy on the British fur trade in the region. Pike's 20-man expedition incorrectly identified Cass Lake as the Mississippi's source before completing the trip April 30, 1806.
Pike's second venture -- also unauthorized by Jefferson or the war department -- began July 15, 1806, with orders to settle differences between warring tribes, explore the headwaters of the Arkansas River, find the source of the Red River and spy on the Spanish along the unsettled southwestern border of the Louisiana Purchase.
After his 24-man force split, Pike reached the Rocky Mountains, noting a spectacular mountain Nov. 15, 1806, he called Grand Peak. He never reached the 14,110-foot summit that was renamed Pike's Peak in 1820.
His wide ranging course led to Pike and his men becoming prisoners of Spanish troops Feb. 26, 1807, and escorted into Mexico. Remnants of Pike's group returned to Natchitoches, La., July 1, 1807. A result of his foray was a break in U. S.-Spanish diplomatic relations.
The motive for Pike's missions remain in doubt. Was it to gain information for the U. S., or for a Wilkinson land scheme? From 1804 to 1807, Wilkinson had meetings with Aaron Burr, raising questions about Wilkinson's motives and patriotism. Was Wilkinson involved in the mysterious Burr Conspiracy? Or, was he gathering information to use against Burr? Was Pike a co-conspirator, or a soldier following orders?
Pike was a brigadier general April 27, 1813, while leading 1,700 U. S. troops against British forces at York (later Toronto) during the War of 1812. Despite his heroic death in that battle, historians recalling his questionable explorations have labeled Pike "the Lost Pathfinder" and "the poor man's Lewis and Clark."
Zebulon Montgomery Pike served in the American Revolution and survived the humiliating defeat of the army that marched out of Fort Hamilton in 1791. Three years later he was part of Gen. Anthony Wayne's victorious army. His son, also named Zebulon Montgomery Pike, claimed to have been a member of Wayne's force that defeated the Indians in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.
It was the son who later took credit for discovery of a majestic mountain in what became Colorado. He called it Grand Peak. Later it was named Pike's Peak in his honor.
Fort Hamilton was completed Sept. 30, 1791, as Gen. Arthur St. Clair -- also governor of the Northwest Territory -- moved a frontier army north to confront Indians who were contesting settlement in the Symmes Purchase. The log stockade was built as a fort of deposit, or supply center, for the army that planned to advance toward Kekionga, a Miami settlement near the site of present Fort Wayne, Ind.
Fort Hamilton -- built at a ford on the Great Miami River -- was at the end of an 800-mile supply and communications line from Philadelphia, a trip of four weeks at best.
St. Clair had only 2,300 men Sept. 30, 1791, not the 3,000 he expected. It was a hastily-assembled, poorly trained, ill-equipped and uninformed army. It was facing a fight with a competent Indian opponent, mostly Miami and Shawnee, capably led by Little Turtle, a veteran Miami war chief.
The army left the fort Oct. 4, crossing the river into uncharted wilderness. The soldiers didn't get very far that day. They camped that night on the banks of a creek that they named Two Mile Creek, the distance they had traveled. Today that camp would be along Washington Boulevard, west of Eaton Avenue, near the Hamilton West YMCA and Hamilton High School.
The first day advance presaged what followed. St. Clair's army trudged only 80 miles in 30 days by nightfall Nov. 3. Scouts kept Little Turtle informed as St. Clair's command dwindled to about half the soldiers that departed Fort Hamilton.
The surprise Indian attack the morning of Nov. 4, 1791, inflicted what is regarded as the worst defeat suffered by the U. S. military. About 680 soldiers were killed and 270 wounded -- a casualty total of 950 out of about 1,100 men. Of 52 officers on the field, 46 were casualties, including 39 killed. Not counted in the army's loss were about 200 women and children who weren't supposed to be there.
Among the dead was Gen. Richard Butler, a popular leader who was second in command to St. Clair. Butler -- commemorated when Butler County was named -- was wounded early in the fight and died amid the battlefield chaos.
Captain Zebulon Pike's company was part of Butler's command and Pike is credited with rallying troops and helping to organize a withdrawal.
According to one account, Pike suffered leg cramps and collapsed as the retreat began. It appeared he would be left behind, certain to be killed by pursuing Indians. An army surgeon on horseback recognized the captain's perilous position and rescued Pike.
Pike was among the survivors who returned to Fort Hamilton. He would fight again after Gen. Anthony Wayne assumed command of the frontier army in 1792 and ordered Fort Hamilton nearly doubled in size.
In 1794. when Wayne's army moved through Fort Hamilton, Zebulon M. Pike, the father, and Zebulon M. Pike, his son, would be in its ranks. Wayne's second in command was Gen. James Wilkinson.
A few years later, Wilkinson and Pike, the son, would be key principals in two mysterious explorations on the western frontier, both launched as the nation awaited the return of the Lewis and Clark expedition (May 14, 1804-Sept. 30, 1806).
Next week this column will review the military career of the younger Zebulon M. Pike.
# # #
842. May 12, 2004 -- Pike's Peak explorer led questionable western expeditions:
Journal-News, Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Pike's Peak explorer led questionable western expeditions
By Jim Blount
Soldiering was a career for Captain Zebulon Montgomery Pike, who survived the U. S. Army's Nov. 4, 1791, defeat 80 miles north of Fort Hamilton. Years earlier he had fought in the American Revolution. He remained in the frontier army in 1792 when Gen. Anthony Wayne took command and mounted another campaign against the Indians fighting settlement in the region. This time, Pike would be joined by his son, also named Zebulon Montgomery Pike.
The son was born Jan. 5, 1779, in Somerset County, N. J., while his father was in Gen. George Washington's colonial army. Some of his childhood was spent in Cincinnati while his father served in frontier army.
In 1794, at age 15, Pike entered Wayne's army as a cadet, joining his father's regiment. He claimed to have fought Aug. 20, 1794, at Fallen Timbers -- the decisive battle that quelled Indian resistance in Ohio -- but historians haven't found records to verify his presence.
Father and son remained in the army, moving to posts west of Ohio. Both continued to be closely linked to Gen. James Wilkinson, a former commander of Fort Hamilton. Because of his frequent presence, a two-story log structure on the river side of the fort was called the Wilkinson House. Wilkinson, also a veteran of the revolution, was second in command to Wayne through the Fallen Timbers campaign. He became commander of the U. S. Army after Wayne's premature death in December 1796.
Biographers haven't been kind to Wilkinson. He's been called "one of the sleaziest characters ever to wear an American uniform" and "a drunkard, hopelessly addicted to intrigue" who was "an agent in the pay of a foreign power" and "corrupt, greedy, dishonest and remarkable mostly for his numerous escapes from criminal prosecution; known as the general who never won a battle and never lost a court-martial."
Wilkinson was providing information to at least one foreign government (Spain) while directing troops at Fort Hamilton. Because of association with Wilkinson, the career of the younger Zebulon Pike remains under suspicion.
In December 1803, formal transfer of the Louisiana Territory to the United States was completed. Gen. Wilkinson joined Gov. William C. C. Claiborne of the Mississippi Territory in receiving the Louisiana Purchase from the French at New Orleans. In 1805, when Louisiana Territory was created, Wilkinson was named its governor.
By then, President Thomas Jefferson had ordered exploration of the vast territory. May 14, 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition departed its base near St. Louis. From his St. Louis headquarters, Wilkinson ordered additional explorations, including two led by Zebulon M. Pike, both started before the Sept. 30, 1806, return of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
Without Jefferson's knowledge, Pike left St. Louis Aug. 9, 1805, ordered to head north to find the source of the Mississippi River, negotiate with Indians for future fort sites and spy on the British fur trade in the region. Pike's 20-man expedition incorrectly identified Cass Lake as the Mississippi's source before completing the trip April 30, 1806.
Pike's second venture -- also unauthorized by Jefferson or the war department -- began July 15, 1806, with orders to settle differences between warring tribes, explore the headwaters of the Arkansas River, find the source of the Red River and spy on the Spanish along the unsettled southwestern border of the Louisiana Purchase.
After his 24-man force split, Pike reached the Rocky Mountains, noting a spectacular mountain Nov. 15, 1806, he called Grand Peak. He never reached the 14,110-foot summit that was renamed Pike's Peak in 1820.
His wide ranging course led to Pike and his men becoming prisoners of Spanish troops Feb. 26, 1807, and escorted into Mexico. Remnants of Pike's group returned to Natchitoches, La., July 1, 1807. A result of his foray was a break in U. S.-Spanish diplomatic relations.
The motive for Pike's missions remain in doubt. Was it to gain information for the U. S., or for a Wilkinson land scheme? From 1804 to 1807, Wilkinson had meetings with Aaron Burr, raising questions about Wilkinson's motives and patriotism. Was Wilkinson involved in the mysterious Burr Conspiracy? Or, was he gathering information to use against Burr? Was Pike a co-conspirator, or a soldier following orders?
Pike was a brigadier general April 27, 1813, while leading 1,700 U. S. troops against British forces at York (later Toronto) during the War of 1812. Despite his heroic death in that battle, historians recalling his questionable explorations have labeled Pike "the Lost Pathfinder" and "the poor man's Lewis and Clark."