Narratives ofthe Trans-Mississippi Frontier SCOUT AND RANGER BEING THE PERSONAL ADVENTURES OF JAMES PIKE of the Texas Rangers in 1859-60 Reprinted from the edition of I 865, with Introduction and Notes by Carl L. Cannon PRINCETON ·· PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS ·• 1932 PRINTED AT THE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A. London: Humphrey Milford Oxford Uniuersity Press SCOUT AND RANGER ··'"" .. :_ .. :j-·~ ~~.. _:, ,,.( /~\?~i _;:-.... RANGER PIKE COPYRIGHT, 1932, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS NARRATIVES OF THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI FRONTIER CARLL. CANNON, General Editor ROUTE ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS By OVERTON JOHNSON and WM. H. WINTER EDITED BY CAlU. L. CANNON A JOURNAL OF THE SANTA FE EXPEDITION UNDER COLONEL DONIPHAN By JACOB S. ROBINSON EDITED BY CARLL. CANNON THE EMIGRANTS' GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA By JOSEPH E. w ARE EDITED BY JOHN CAUGHEY THE PAST AND PRESENT OF THE PIKE'S PEAK GOLD REGIONS By HENRY VILLARD EDITED BY I.E ROY R.. · HAFEN HALL J. KELLEY ON OREGON A collection of five of Kelley's published works and a number of hitherto unpublished letters EDITED BY F. W. POWELL SCENERY OF TH1E PLAINS, MOUNTAINS AND MINES By FRANKLIN LANGWORTHY EDITED BY PA UL C. PHILLIPS THE EMIGRANTS' GUIDE TO OREGON AND CALIFORNIA By LANSFORD w. HASTINGS A facsimile of the edition of 1845, with Introduction and Notes by Charles H. Carey SCOUT AND RANGER By CORPORAL ]AMES PIKE EDITED BY CARL L. CANNON PRINTED AT THE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A. ADDENDUM After this edition of Scout and Ranger had gone to press, the following additional facts came to light : Pike's f a11iily history as given by his grand­ niece, Grace F. Spiegel, of Cincinnati, shows that he was a grandnephew of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, discoverer of Pike's Peak, who fell at Toronto in the War of I8I2. His great-grand­ father, Zebulon Pike, was an officer in the Con­ tinental Army in the Revolutionary War. The first of the name mentioned in the family Bible is John Pike, born in Stokes County, _M orth Carolina, in I772. His son Samuel Pike, father of the author of the accompanying narrative, was born in Westmoreland, Virginia. James was born of Samuel's second wife at Leesburg, Ohio, July IJ, I834. The Pike homestead at Leesburg, now a hun­ dred and fifty years old, is ou.,1ned by _Miss Spiegel, and leased by her to Lucia Weeks, who conducts it as the George and Martha Inn. PREFACE HIS edition of Ja1nes Pike's Scout and Ranger has been considerably reduced froni the Cincinnati T 1865 original, but has lost none of its ·interest for readers of Western Americana thereby. Corporal Pike's narra.tive falls naturally into tu10 parts: his career as a Texas Ranger inunediately preceding the Ci·vil vVar, and his services as spy in the Union Ar1ny during the ensuing conflict. Since this series is restricted to Trans-111 ississippi narratives, and since the author's Civil War experiences, while interesting, add little to the flood of reminiscences evoked by the war between the States, it was thought best to cut the book in half and reprint the Texas adventure, 1.uhich 'li.J'ill alu1ays remain an au.thentic piece of frontier literature. The fact that Te.r:as narratives of the late 'fifties are not particularly ple·ntiful, coupled 'With the absolute scarcity of this particular work, caused the decision to include it in the Princeton series. When, in the course of time, Am.erica' s pioneer experiences become nothing more than mildewed history, men of that future generation will, we hope, still enjoy following the exploits of the restless Ohio boy who went to Texas for adventure-and found it. C. L. C. RANGER PIKE AND TEXAS IN 1859 TTLE is known of the author, James Pike, beyond what appears in his narration of his Texas and L Civil War experiences. Some few personal remi­ niscences have come down to us, however, through his first cousin, Frank Weaver, of Columbus, Ohio, whose daughter, Angie W. Wright, was kind enough to relate them to the editor. ~Mrs. Wright is the wife of Major L.B. Wright_. U.S. Army, Fort Hayes Barracks, Ohio. The facts of James Pike's boyhood and parentage go far toward explaining his character. His father, Samuel Pike, was a man of some education, and not lightly to be S1J..1erved from his own point of view. He was first and last a sniall-town editor, and his journalistic career was full of excursions and alarums. A disputatious tendency that in milder days might have been dissipated in political bicker­ ing, became, in the violent passions engendered by civil war, a bitter opposition to Republican leadership. As a result, he lost both prestige and friends. Born in Kentucky, he became a Northern Democrat who never missed an op­ portunity of voicing his political faith. His moves were so frequent that he 'li'as reputed to have been connected with more newspapers than any man of his time. From Ohio he ranged into Indiana, then to Illinois, Kentucky, and back to Ohio, and like the rolling stone, gathered little moss. His personal reputation ranked high, and his pleasing social manners procured for him the honorary title of Colonel. Corporal Jam.es Pike, home from the front on furlough, found his home closed. blinds dozvn, and the family gone. Proceeding through the streets of Hillsboro to his father's Vlll SCOUT AND RANGER office, he saw an armed mob milling in front of the door threatening destruction to the building, and death to the editor. The son soon discovered the cause of the animus­ anti-administration editorials-and acted with characteris­ tic energy. Through the persuasion of his army pistols he not only dispersed the mob, but caused them to remove the packing cases which had been piled against the print shop with a view to setting it on fire. The incident is typical of both father and son. The father would never surrender his right to state openly what he believed to be true; the son, froni an early age, had learned to act with clear-headed energy in the face of danger. The father's restiveness and desire to be on the move are repeated in the son. I a.mes' s tenacious and outspoken defense of his right to vote in T_ezas are likewise charac­ terist-ic of the Pike family strain. The boy must have managed to obtain a fair common­ school education in Leesburg, Ohio, as well as to imbibe a feeling for literary expression from his fat her' s conver­ sation and the "style" of the newspaper, for he was early taught how to "stick type." It was his trade of printer that took him to Springfield, Missouri, in 1858, from whence, in the year fallowing, he departed for Texas with the "colonel" and his herd of stolen horses. Even before he left Leesburg he began making long and lonely expeditions about the countryside. He bore a reputa­ tion amon_g his neighbors for courage and honesty. He was big-boned as he grew to manhood, with a swarthy com­ plexion and heavy hair, long and black like an Indian's. His Civil War record is introduced here, not because of its intrinsic interest, but because it throws light on Pike's character and reliability. He nientions in the first chapter of the book his service 'With a number of oittstanding major . RANGER PIKE AND TEXAS IN 1859 1X generals of the U nlon Army. His military record has been verified from the files of the Adjuta.nt General's office in Washington. M oreor}er, Pike's belongings after his death at a IVestern army post in the late 'six-ties were divided among the remaining n1.embers of the farnily. Along with. the military accoutrements-ivory-handled pistols, uni­ forms, sabres, etc.-came a packet of letters 'lVhich passed into the possession of his cousin, Frank Weaver, and later into that of his daughter, Mrs. Lowell B. Wright. These letters were front ·various major generals u,hom Pike had served as a scout. Most of them are interesting, but only three are selected for reprinting here-again for the reason that they throw light on our author's reputation in the army. The first is as follows: Head-Quarters Military Division of the 11:ississippi Nashville, Tenn., April 16th, 1864 Corporal James Pike Co. A. 4th Ohio Cavalry, in October 1863, carried a message from General Grant to me at Iuka. He got a canoe at Whitesbury opposite Huntsville and came down the Tennessee, over Muscle Shoals-all alone for one hundred miles of river, every mile of which was picketed by the enemy, and reached me safely as stated at Iuka. It was that message which hastened my movement at Chat­ tanooga. The ,vhole affair is highly creditable to the skill, courage and zeal of Corporal Pike. w. T. SHERMAN Maj. Gen. The second £s from the meniber of Congress in Pike's home district. X SCOUT AND RANGER UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THIRTY SEVENTH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON, D.C. Dec. I 7th, I 862. General Martindale .A.cting Gov. District Columbia. Dear Sir:- The bearer hereof, Corporal James Pike, Company A. 4th Ohio Cavalry, was taken prisoner in Tennessee last April and was exchanged in October last, since which time he has been sick in Cliffbume Hospital near this city. The company to which he belongs was taken as prisoners on the 18th of October last at Lexington, Ky., and are now on parole at Camp Chase near Columbus, Ohio.