— Or — Has Pike Peaked?
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Zebulon Pike and American Popular Culture — or — Has Pike Peaked? by Michael L. Olsen ith his deatb at the Battle of York in 1813, Brigadier General Zebulon Montgomery Pike entered the pantheon of genuine American military heroes. As with many of those he- roes, however, his heritage and his exploits largely have been forgotten. Had Pikes Peak, W heralded today in Colorado as "America's Mountain," not been named for him, he might be as little remembered as General James Miller, Commodore Joshua Barney, or Captain Lewis Warring- ton, and other heroes of the War of 1812.' Even when Americans do remember Pike, tbey have mistaken impressions of his achievements. He did not discover the source of the Mississippi River, although he came close, and his journey to Leech Michael L. Olsen earned his Ph.D. from the Universily of Washington. He teaches history af Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Spritif-s, Colorado, after a thirty-year tenure at Neiv Mexico Highlands University. Las Vegas, New Mexico. His major research interest is in the social and ethnic history of the Santa Fe Trail, and he has published extensively on trail history. The author thanks Jessy Randall, archivist at Colorado College's Tutt Library, the staff at the Interlibrary Loan Division —Pikes Peak Public Library District, and librarians at Pikes Peak Community College, all in Colorado Springs, for aid in obtaining many Pike items. The author thanks Neil Argo for the information he provided, the Pueblo City-County Library for the loan copy of the documentary video Zebulon Pike and the Blue Mountain, and Ken Purvis, senior program officer. Historic Fort York, for the infor- mation and photograph he provided concerning the Pike memorial. 1. All of the preliminary research for this article, and much of the subsequent development nf that research, was conducted via the Internet. In fact, before the advent of this modern intelligence network, an analysis of Pike's place in American culture would have been difficuit and expensive, and have taken years to complete. Now, with the stroke of a key, every entry conceming Pike in the Library of Congress can be noted, and memorials to Pike as far-flung as Toronto, the San Luis Valley of Colorado, and southern Louisiana can be viewed and visited. Ten U.S. counties named for Pike all have Web sites. Even the minutes of the No- vember 17, 2003, meeting of the Board of Trustees of Sackets Harbor, New York, concerning current investigations into the location of Zebulon Pike's grave can be accessed online. All such URL citations were current as of March 15, 2006. Kansas History: A journal ofthe Central Plains 29 (Spring 2006): 48-59. 48 KANSAS HISTORY THE PERSHINQ TRANSPORT ROUTE PIKES PEAK OceantoOcean PRICE 25<t PUBLISHED BY WALTER B.MONTGOMERY Among the many aspects of popular culture tliat drew upon the Pike mystique zras the Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway, a transconti- nental road that dcz-'eloped around 1912. This road stretched cast-west across northern Kansas, following whalis now Highway U.S. 36. (Fac- ing page) Memorial to Pike at the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk, Pike Plaza, Pueblo, Colorado. HAS PIKE PEAKED? 49 Lake, Minnesota, in the winter of 1805-1806 is a saga of Now that two hundred years have passed since Pike endurance against great odds. Nor did he climb Pikes ascended to his place in American history, and given the Peak, although he made a valiant effort to do so. His relatively checkered career of his heritage, has Pike's repu- Southwest Expedition in 1806-1807 should be known as tation peaked? If so, when was it at full tide and when did one of the most arduous yet productive in the annals of it begin to ebb? Must it now be said of Pike, as expressed American exploration, but even at the time it was over- in the well-known words of a popular World War I song shadowed by the feats of Meriwether Lewis and William immortalized by General Douglas MacArthur, "old sol- Clark, as it has been again recently during the bicentenni- diers never die; they only fade away?"' al celebration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Pike's most enduring legacy perhaps rests in the places On the other hand, most histories of American expan- named for him in the land that was becoming America. Be- sion, especially collections issued periodically touting tween 1814 and 1833 the residents of no fewer than sixteen "America's great explorers," do include accounts of Pike, counties and towns chose to call themselves after the hero his men, and their sufferings. These accounts most often of the Battle of York. His name, for two decades at least, cover his search for the sources of the Arkansas and Red readily came to mind as Americans moved west. Counties Rivers. Pike's involvement in the schemes of Aaron Burr named for Pike march chronologically and geographically and Ceneral James Wilkinson also receives periodic atten- west from the Appalachians to the Mississippi: Pennsylva- tion, particularly among academic historians. nia (1814); Mississippi and Ohio (1815); Indiana (1817); As might be expected, Americans have eulogized and Missouri (1818); Alabama, Illinois, and Kentucky (1821); commen:iorated Pike most frequently in the quarter centu- Georgia (1822); and Arkansas (1833). ry after his death, both in connection with memories of the Towns named for Pike today range in size from mere War of 1812 and during the patriotic fervor surrounding hamlets to prosperous county seats. Some of them are the Mexican War in the late 1840s and early 1850s. Some- Piketon, Ohio (1815); Zebulon, Kentucky (1821); Pikeville, what ironically, but understandably, he was entirely for- Kentucky (1821); Zebulon, Georgia (1822); and Pikeville, gotten in the decades following the Civil War. Americans Tennessee (1830). The town fathers of present Murfrees- then had other heroes and preoccupations. With the ap- boro, the seat of Pike County, Arkansas, named their town proach of the 1906 centennial of his Southwest Expedition, "Zebulon" in 1833 but then changed the name in 1836. Ze- Pike was once more remembered with celebratory festi- bulon, Georgia, also is the seat of that state's Pike County. vals, new monuments, and a variety of memorabilia. Two A state historical marker there reads, "It was named for Ze- of the four novels based on his western explorations also bulon Montgomery Pike (1779-1813), leader, in 1805 of an appeared at this time." expedition to trace the Mississippi River to its source. Later During the remainder of the twentieth century an oc- he explored the interior of Louisiana. Made Brig. Gen. in casional historic site, or a new dam on the Ohio and Mis- 1813, he was killed at Toronto, Canada, while commanding sissippi Rivers, or a state park in Iowa, would be dedicat- American forces there." Names can be deceiving, however. ed to the memory of Pike and his deeds. The city of Neither of the towns of Zebulon nor Pikeville—both in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the shadow of Pikes Peak, North Carolina—was named for Zebulon Pike/ celebrated the sesquicentennial of his western journey in 1956, although not as lavishly as it had for his 1906 centen- teamboats were another quintessentially nineteenth- nial. It is interesting that Pike has lived on most notably in century phenomenon linked to the westward expan- the pages of juvenile literature. Many of these books pre- Ssion of the United States. And here too, the public sent his boyhood and youth in somewhat fanciful detail amply commemorated Pike in the decades immediately and hold him up as an example to be emulated. following his death. In fact, it is claimed that the Zebidon Pike was the first steamboat to dock in St. Louis, in 1817. 3. E. D. Hirsch, et al,, eds.. The New Dictionary of Cultural Lilcraci/, 3d 2. Pike novels are discussed and cited later in this article. The Kansas ed., 2002, accessed at www.bartleby.com/59/3/oldsoldiersn.html. Gener- celebration of 1906 received extensive overage in "One Hundred years al MacArthur paraphrased the lyrics in his famous speech to a joint ses- Under the Flag. The Centennial Ceiebration of Pike's Pawnee Village," sion of Congress on April 19, 1951, Kniifiiifi HistoricnlCoUcctiom, 1907-1908 10(1908): 15-159. Stvrt/so Amanda 4. As noted, many of these entities maintain Web sites. For Murfrees- Laugesen, "Making a Unique Heritage: Historical Celebrations in Kansas, boro history, sec www.rootsweb.com/~arpcahs/pikehistory.htm. For the 1900-1918," Kiuisiifi Hii^toiy: A Joiinial of the Ccntmi Plains 21 (Winter Pike County, Georgia, historical marker, see www.cviog.uga,edu/Projects 1998-1999): 234-55, /gain fo/courthouses/pikeCH,htm. 50 KANSAS HISTORY Pike's ttiost enduring legacy perhaps rests in the places named for him, for example Pike County, Missouri. Betiveen 1814 and 1833 the residents of no fewer than sixteen U.S. counties and towns chose to call themselves after the hero of the Battle of York. Built at the Fulton shipyard in Cincinnati, it also was the rial," a monody eulogizing him, and a raft of hagiograph- first westem steamboat designed for passenger service. ic biographies. Subsequently at least half a dozen boats bearing the name The "mourning memorial" is a watercolor painting in Pike or General Pike plied the Ohio and the Mississippi. the classic style of the time. It depicts two women dressed The first vessel named for Pike, however, was a United in black pining at a grave marker. A weeping willow tree States warship constructed by the New York shipbuilder overhangs the tombstone, and an angel hovers in the dis- Henry Eckford at Sackets Harbor, New York.