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Details
PIKE, Zebulon (1779-1813). Manuscript document signed (“Zebn Pike”) twice, as Major of the 1st Regiment of Infantry, n.p., 7 August 1807.
One page, 272 x 200mm. (Folds with a few tiny holes and light wear).
A very rare survival from the actual Pike Expedition, the first government exploration of the Southwest, covering the entire period of Pike’s captivity and almost half the Expedition. This report and receipt covers “subsistence” for the first six months of 1807. Zebulon Pike departed for the southwestern borders of the Louisiana Purchase in July of 1806. He had orders to explore the Arkansas and Red Rivers, and to obtain information about nearby Spanish territory. It was on this trip in early November that he attempted to climb the mountain peak later named for him, being the highest peak in the Front Range of the Rockies. Subsequently his party headed south from Colorado, ending up in what is now northern New Mexico, where they were stopped in February of 1807 by Spanish officials and charged with illegal entry into Spanish-held territory. Pike’s capture proved an excellent opportunity for reconnaissance as he was taken to Sante Fe and through Chihuahua, gleaning knowledge of Mexican discontent with Spanish rule. Pike and most of his men were released on the Louisiana border on 1 July 1807. The present document is dated barely a month later and covers the entire period of his Spanish capture and about half of the entire expedition. Pike was killed in battle during the War of 1812 at the age of 34. All documents signed by him are rare, and we trace no other documents for public sale which relate directly to the Pike Expedition.
One page, 272 x 200mm. (Folds with a few tiny holes and light wear).
A very rare survival from the actual Pike Expedition, the first government exploration of the Southwest, covering the entire period of Pike’s captivity and almost half the Expedition. This report and receipt covers “subsistence” for the first six months of 1807. Zebulon Pike departed for the southwestern borders of the Louisiana Purchase in July of 1806. He had orders to explore the Arkansas and Red Rivers, and to obtain information about nearby Spanish territory. It was on this trip in early November that he attempted to climb the mountain peak later named for him, being the highest peak in the Front Range of the Rockies. Subsequently his party headed south from Colorado, ending up in what is now northern New Mexico, where they were stopped in February of 1807 by Spanish officials and charged with illegal entry into Spanish-held territory. Pike’s capture proved an excellent opportunity for reconnaissance as he was taken to Sante Fe and through Chihuahua, gleaning knowledge of Mexican discontent with Spanish rule. Pike and most of his men were released on the Louisiana border on 1 July 1807. The present document is dated barely a month later and covers the entire period of his Spanish capture and about half of the entire expedition. Pike was killed in battle during the War of 1812 at the age of 34. All documents signed by him are rare, and we trace no other documents for public sale which relate directly to the Pike Expedition.