Pike expedition

United States Army Captain Zebulon Pike led the Pike expedition (July 15, 1806 – July 1, 1807) to explore the south and west of the Louisiana Purchase. Roughly contemporaneous with the Lewis and Clark expedition, Pike's excursion was the first American effort to explore the western Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and marked the discovery of Pikes Peak.

Purpose of the Expedition

Initiated by order of the Governor of the newly-formed Louisiana Territory James Wilkinson, the Pike expedition had several overt goals, and at least one covert one. The most prosaic purpose was the return to their native soil of 50 Osage Nation prisoners who had been held hostage by rival Potawatomis and liberated by the US Army. More ambitious and vague were orders to negotiate a peace settlement between the Kansas and Pawnee people, and to establish relations with the Comanche. Finally, the expedition was to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers, and explore the length of the Red to its mouth on the Mississippi.

Related Topics:
Louisiana Territory - James Wilkinson - Osage Nation - Potawatomi - Kansas - Pawnee - Comanche - Arkansas - Red

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The covert purpose of the mission was to determine the strength and location of Spanish forces in what is now Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and northern Texas. The Louisiana Purchase had just been completed, and large swathes of the southwest edge of the territory were disputed between the United States and Spain. Pike and his outfit were to determine what ability Spain had to defend that claim, if pressed.

Related Topics:
Spanish - Colorado - Kansas - New Mexico - Texas - Louisiana Purchase

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Wilkinson did not have approval from his superiors in Washington DC for any of the more important points of this mission. Some of the goals, such as the prisoner repatriation, would fall under a territorial governor's jurisdiction, but the more important exploratory and military ones were beyond his authority. After the expedition's departure, however, Wilkinson presented the mission as a fait accompli to the War Department, and received explicit approval.

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