Pike-Expedition

U.S. Army Captain Zebulon Pike led the Pike expedition (15 July 1806-1. July 1807 ), which was to explore the south and west of Louisiana. About the same time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was the first American attempt Pikes excursion, the western Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to explore.

Expedition

Pike left Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis, Missouri on July 15, with a detachment of 20 soldiers and 50 Indians freed. They moved along the rivers Missouri and Osage to a village of the Osage Indians on the present border of Kansas and Missouri. Thither they brought back the freed Indians and held for some time in the Indian village on. Then they moved on to the northwest in the Pawnee area on the Republican River in southern Nebraska. On September 29 In 1806 Pike in a Pawnee village with the great Council of the Pawnees together and told them that the U.S. government had taken over the protection for its territory. He urged them to seek the Spanish flag and instead to hoist the American flag.

After that, the expedition turned south and crossed the plains to the Arkansas River. They reached the river on October 14. Here the group split. The one under the command of Lieutenant James Biddle Wilkinson, pulled the Arkansas River downstream to the mouth and then up the Mississippi to St. Louis back. Pike led the other group upriver to the west. From the Plains Pike was disappointed. He called this landscape in his memoirs, " The Great American Desert ", a term which made ​​the colonization of this land for decades difficult. On November 15 Pike saw for the first time in the hazy distance the mountain he allegedly boarded and " Grand Peak" called. Later the mountain under the name of " Pikes Peak" was known.

It is now known that Pike had not climbed this mountain, though the name stuck exist. Anyway, Pike tried to climb, but was not equipped accordingly in order to climb the 4,300 m high mountain. As the winter approached, the group along the Arkansas River rose up to the spectacular Royal George Canyon at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where they arrived on 7 December. The next goal of the expedition was the headwaters of the Red River. From there, they wanted to pull down the river to the Mississippi and achieve relatively safe area. Due to geographical inability and partly silly mistakes it was not possible the group to find the river. They were also not equipped to lead an expedition through the mountains, nor endure a harsh winter. They moved northwards and came to the southern arm of the Platte River. This they followed to the north and finally reached a river, which they held for the headwaters of the Red River. This they followed downstream, but arrived back at their starting point at the Arkansas River. So you were gone for weeks on end in a circle.

Hungry, caught a cold and exhausted, they moved south over the mountains. Several men had to be left behind due to exhaustion. Pike they still drove on and on. On 30 January, she again reached a river, which they felt that it would be in Alamosa, Colorado the Rio Grande. This time it was the Red River, which they had previously sought. Pike built a fort here and gathered his men, whom he had to leave behind on the road, again.

Capture

On February 26, Pike and his men were captured in the fort of Spanish soldiers from the nearby Santa Fe. They were, which was not far-fetched, accused of espionage. The Spaniards took up the abandoned men, and went with them to the south. Finally Over Santa Fe, Albuquerque and El Paso they reached Chihuahua, the capital of the state. The members of Pikes group were treated by the Spaniards with respect and by the people they were celebrated. During the march, Pike made ​​accurate records of military strength and population of the area.

Chihuahuas Governor Salcedo found himself unable to hold an officer of another country because he did not want to burden the friendly relations of the countries. He ordered that Pike should be released. Some of his men, however, were held for years in prison in Mexico.

Pike and a few of his men were escorted to the north on San Antonio to the border with Louisiana in Natchitoches, which they reached on July 1, 1807. Although the Spaniards protested officially in the U.S. government, but that was all that it would have only been a research expedition.

Ironically gained Pike by his capture and march through New Mexico, northern Mexico and Texas more information about the Spanish troop strength than it has ever been able his expedition.

• North American expedition
• Geography (North America)
• Expansion of the United States
• History of the United States (1789-1849)